 The goal of brooding your chicks without a mother hen is to keep them warm and safe. You provide warmth through various artificial means. You provide safety by brooding in a secure location where chicks cannot be harmed by predators nor wander far from warmth, food, and water. Growth is achieved by providing easy access to a high quality feed and fresh clean water. Keeping chicks warm is important to their survival when they are young. A brooder guard is a plastic or cardboard barrier that is 12 to 18 inches tall and surrounds the heat source so chicks cannot wander away and become chilled or lost. A round brooder guard ensures that chicks cannot get stuck in a corner. Brooder guards are usually only used for the first few days as chicks become familiar with their surroundings and then the guard is removed. A brooder lamp with a heat bulb is another commonly available option. It is very affordable and can be found in most feed stores. Brooder bulbs need to be at least 18 inches above the bedding. They must be attached securely to the brooder or else they can fall and cause a fire. Having two brooder bulbs ensures that if one bulb burns out then the chicks will not become chilled. A more recent addition to the backyard flock owner's brooding supply list is the infrared heater. Some sit on the ground in the coop while others can be hung overhead. They are much more energy efficient and will not break the bank on your electricity bill. Of course, if you are starting with a hen and she is hatching eggs, then she herself is the source of heat that the chicks need. The drawback with this method is that you may not be able to vaccinate in a timely manner for marics disease which should be done on day one. Also keeping the hen out of the chicks starter diet will be nearly impossible. Even though there are several pitfalls in keeping your chicks warm, the easiest solution for determining if your brooder is warm enough is to place a thermometer at the height where the chicks are located. Brooders should be maintained at 95 degrees Fahrenheit during week one and then decreased 5 degrees Fahrenheit every week thereafter until the average outdoor temperature is reached or until the chicks are fully feathered at 6 to 7 weeks old. Your brooders should be located so that the chicks are your first visit of the day. No equipment from older chickens if you have them should come in contact with the chicks. You should wash your hands before and after carrying for your chicks. You should also clean your feeders and waterers daily to keep diseases away from your chicks. If you are brooding your chicks indoors, then be sure they cannot be accessed by predators including the family dog and cat if you have these pets. If you are brooding outside, then make sure your brooder is inaccessible to coyotes, raccoons, rats, or several other animals that like to eat chicks. Your brooder should be well ventilated but free from drafts. A chilled chick may die quickly. Place your brooder away from heating and cooling vents in the house. Lastly, run your hands over the inside of all surfaces of your brooder to feel for sharp objects that need repair. Chicks are very clumsy for the first week or two and bumping into a sharp object can lead to an injury. Some injuries may need veterinary care. To ensure that your chick grows into a healthy adult, you need to provide feed and water at all times. Your chicks and also your chickens should never ever run out of feed or water. Stillfeeding is only recommended for advanced breeding programs where diets are specifically formulated and controlled for production purposes. Feed and water need to be easily located by your chicks during brooding. Depending on the size of the space you are brooding in, you may need to provide more than one feeder or water. Chicks need to be fed a chick starter only. Grower and layer diets are for older birds, not for chicks. Chicks should be kept on a starter diet, which is 20-21% crude protein for 6-8 weeks. Scratch grains are not an acceptable diet, nor a balanced ration for chicks. Chicks need to be given a feed that is small enough for them to consume. A mash diet is one that is still in powdered form. A crumble diet is a mash diet that has been passed through a pellet machine and then crushed back down to a smaller size for smaller chickens. The benefit of pelleting feeds is that the heat from the pellet machine works on the fibrous elements of the ingredients, making them much more digestible, which makes a crumble diet the feed of choice for your chicks. While you are brooding your chicks, you can remove any equipment that is specifically designed for laying hens. This includes any dividers for nest boxes. If you cannot remove nest box dividers, then block off the nest boxes with a brooder guard or else your chicks may get lost in them and become chilled. Full roosting purchase can also be taken out. Place your brooder guard in the center of the coop. It should be arranged so that it is roughly circular in shape. Add your bedding. Spread your bedding so that the surface is even inside your brooder space. Avoid creating gaps in the bedding next to the brooder guard where chicks might flip over and get stuck. It is best to have your bedding slope upward against the sides of your brooder guard for the first couple of days of brooding. If you are not using a brooder guard, then spread the bedding evenly across the entire coop floor. There are many different types of acceptable bedding, including pine or aspen shavings and sawdust, as well as rice hulls or crushed corn cobs. Straw is not an acceptable bedding because it is non-absorbent unless it is chopped less than one inch and also because it carries aspergillus spores. You should never brood chicks on newspaper or magazine paper because it is too slippery and will lead to sproutle leg. Your bedding should be at least 3 inches deep. Once your bedding is in place, test out where your equipment will go in your brooder space. Will you have enough room to have several feeders and waterers? Can you put the thermometer in a spot that is easy to view? Does your waterer sit level on the bedding or will it tip or spill making the bedding wet? These are a few questions you should ask yourself to help make adjustments to your brooding space. Add chick starter to your feeder. Pour slowly and carefully so you do not spill any onto the ground. Once full, shake down your feeder and that will distribute the feed into each hole of the chick feeder. Continue filling the feeder with more feed until it is completely full. You can place a paper plate with some feed on it in the center of the brooder so that the chicks get used to the sight and the smell of feed. The paper plate can be removed after 24 hours. Add fresh, clean water at least 24 hours before your chicks arrive so that the water reaches room temperature. Chicks need neither cold nor hot water when adjusting to their new space. Have you ever wondered what the chick sees when they move into your brooder for the first time? What they should expect to see is easy access to a heat source, a water source and a feeder. Your chicks will gradually explore the entire space but for their first day they will be happy with what they can see easily and walk through in a short distance. Whether you are bringing chicks home from the store or getting them in the mail, they will need to quickly orient themselves to water. It is the most important nutrient. Take the time to dip each chick's beak in the water and then lift them up to see them swallow the water. Do this twice for each chick. You can however dip your chicks beak in feed just after dipping their beak in water. By dipping their beak in feed they learn what feed smells like and where it is in the brooder. Lastly, gently place your chick down next to the heat source and let them roam freely in the brooder. You will enjoy getting to know your new flock as they grow.