8 Ways to Keep Your Chicks Healthy

Chicks can be resilient, but given their small size, they are more vulnerable to health issues and disease. Keeping your homestead brood healthy will be a full-time job! These 8 ways to keep your chicks healthy is the perfect solution to help you feel confident that you are giving your chicks the best start in life. Most of these tips involve using natural supplements to boost your brood’s immune system and help them mature in healthy adults. A complete chick starter ration is essential, but natural supplements can also be incorporated into your brood’s diet on a daily basis! These natural supplements for chicks are ones that will help them stay healthy and grow up strong!

a tray of natural supplements for chicks including eggs, oats, herbs, and honey

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Tips for Giving Chicks Supplements

Before we get into what supplements you can give to your baby chicks, I need to emphasize the importance of moderation and common sense! When we take supplements, it is usually based on our body weight and/or age. The same goes for chicks.

They are so small and so young that any addition to their normal feed will replace some of the nutrients provided by the feed. If the supplement is nutritious, then it should be fine to offer on occasion because it will still be providing essential and helpful nutrients.

Here are a few principles to keep in mind when using supplements with baby chicks:

use the free-choice method- this allows your chicks to eat what they want of the supplement
limit food item supplements- you don’t want the chicks to fill up on supplements and not eat their starter food
everything in moderation- since the chicks are small, they only need small amounts of the supplement
only on occasion- some supplements should not be offered every day, I will talk more about this for each supplement we cover

Make sure you know how to use feed supplements properly before giving them to your chicks.

#1. Give them Probiotics

The first thing I usually start my chicks off with are probiotics. Probiotics are actually live micro-organisms that are beneficial to the health of baby chicks. These live micro-organisms promote the growth of beneficial gut flora and keep a chick’s digestive system healthy and well balanced.

When a chick first hatches, the only thing it has in its stomach is the yolk that it absorbed while in the egg. Right from the get-go, the gut starts building microflora, which can be good or bad bacteria. Chicks that are hatched by a mother hen will sample some of her poop to gain beneficial microflora (which they can only obtain if the mother hen is healthy).

Chicks that are hatched and placed in a brooder are often limited in what types of good microflora they can build up in their gut. That’s where probiotics come in! They help the gut build up a good population of beneficial bacteria that will ward off harmful bacteria through competitive exclusion (competition for resources).

Here are some of the great benefits probiotics offer chicks:

Probiotics help build the immune system by warding off disease.
They are helpful during stressful times (like being moved from an incubator to a brooder) since they minimize the effect that stress has on the population of good gut flora.
Probiotics help to replenish lost good gut bacteria after illness or medications.
They improve the utilization of nutrients in a chick’s food by enhancing digestion.
Probiotics are natural and environmentally safe!

I use Fresh Eggs Daily probiotics for my chicks! It gets applied right to their water for the first few days of their life.

homemade electrolytes for baby chicks to combat dehydration

#2. Use Electrolytes when Needed

Electrolytes are a good supplement to have on hand when raising chicks. Under normal circumstance and if your chicks are eating and drinking properly, they shouldn’t need electrolytes. However, stress, illness, prolonged periods of not eat or drinking, and diarrhea could all warrant a little electrolyte boost.

Electrolytes help the body retain water and aid in keeping the pH level at the proper alkaline/acid level. When a chick is stressed or ill, its pH levels may be thrown off. When a chick stops eating or drinking or has diarrhea, it will lose water that is not being replenished, causing dehydration. Electrolytes help restore a proper pH level and help retain enough water to replace the water lost during dehydration.

You can buy electrolytes for chicks, but I prefer to make my own when I need it. The main ingredients in homemade electrolytes are salt, baking soda, sugar, and water.

Electrolyte Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons blackstrap molasses or raw honey
1/8th teaspoon salt
1/8th teaspoon baking soda

Combine all of the ingredients and stir until everything is dissolved and incorporated. Offer the electrolytes to chicks who are looking lethargic or are ill.

Do not give healthy chicks electrolytes! It will mess up the electrolyte balance that is already in place and may cause illness.

#3. Make some Honey Water

You may have heard the tip of giving your new baby chicks some sugar water. Sugar water is a great way to give the chicks a boost in starting life off right. Many sugar water recipes call for just generic sugar, however, I highly recommend using raw honey instead.

Honey is a natural sugar that also contains a multitude of beneficial properties. Honey is….

antibacterial (kills bad bacteria)
an antioxidant (removes toxins)
a respiratory soother (keeps a chick’s sensitive respiratory system healthy)
a good source of calories for baby chicks

The main reason we give our baby chicks sugar water is for the boost in calories. Chicks need calories to grow and be active. However, it is always better for a chick to drink before it eats. Honey water is the perfect solution! It provides water and calories all in one sip!

I give my chicks a sip of honey water as soon as they come out of the incubator. That way they have some fast burning calories to use during their first few hours of life as they navigate the brooder and find the real food, water, and heat source.

Chicks should only need a sip of two of sugar water during the first 1-2 days of their life. After that they should be eating their regular chick starter feed. Too much sugar water can cause pasty butt in young chicks.

Honey Water Ratio:

1 tablespoon raw honey per 16 ounces warm water

brooder set-up and chick care checklist printable

two black chicks standing next to a glass of milk and some eggs

#4. Offer them Scrambled Eggs

After the first few days of life, when the chicks are mostly getting water supplements, you can start incorporating food supplements. One of the most nutritious food supplements you can give them is eggs.

It’s what they started life with and it’s what they can consume all throughout life as well! Eggs contain all the essential nutrients and vitamins that chicks need to survive. Here are some great benefits of giving your chicks eggs:

great source of protein
contain all the essential life-giving nutrients for chicks
are an easy supplement for a chick’s digestive system to digest
not too high in fats and carbohydrates which would mess with their other food rations

When giving your baby chicks eggs, you want to make sure that the eggs are in a form that is easy for the chicks to eat and digest. Scrambled eggs or chopped up boiled eggs are usually a good option. Each chick only needs a little sampling since the eggs are a supplement, not their main food.

It may take a little bit for your chicks to get used to new foods. Try acting like a mother hen and play with the food yourself and make noises to encourage them to try the supplement. Pretty soon you will be mobbed as soon as you put the supplement in the brooder!

*Make sure the eggs are warm (not hot) or at room temperature before giving them to the chicks.

#5. Give them Whole Oats

Whole oats are another great supplement for your chicks to start consuming during their first week of life. There have actually been quite a few studies done about the benefits that whole oats have for baby chicks.

One of the main reasons you hear of people feeding their baby chicks oats is to prevent or treat cases of pasty butt. Oats do help with pasty butt because of their high fiber content, however, there are other benefits that are just as important. Pasty butt can be caused by many other factors, so oats are a not cure-all for pasty butt.

Instead, oats should be given as a supplement to your chicks for added nutrition to their diet. Feeding whole grains, like oats, from an early age will help the chick develop a strong gizzard and digestive system that will help them as they get older and eat more hard grains and other foods.

Some more oat benefits include:

oats are high in vitamins and minerals that promote healthy growing
they are antioxidant rich
the fiber that oats contain helps move things through the digestive system
they provide a source of protein

When I give my chicks whole oats, I chop the whole oats up into small pieces for them to easily eat. Once the chicks realize that the oats are something they can eat, they quickly dive into the supplement as soon as I give it to them! Whole, raw oats are the best kind of oats to give the chicks starting off.

You will also want to supply a source of chick grit for your brood whenever you offer them a new supplement that is different from their regular feed.

For more information on giving your flock oats and oatmeal, check out Is Oatmeal Good for Chickens?.

guide to using herbs for backyard chickens FREE printable

a baby chick standing next to a galvanized chick feeder

#6. Incorporate in some Vitamins

Your brood’s starter ration should have the appropriate amount of vitamins they need to grow and stay healthy. However, supplemental vitamins will help prevent against disease, manage the affects of stress, combat any nutritional deficiencies, and help your chicks thrive.

You can buy pre-packaged vitamins for chicks at farm stores or online, but I like to stick to more natural supplements. Many natural supplements provide great vitamins to add to your brood’s diet.

Here are a few of my favorite vitamin rich chick supplements:

parsley- parsley is a mild herb that is a nutrient powerhouse, especially high in B vitamins
brewer’s yeast- brewer’s yeast is a good source of B2, which helps with healthy bone and nervous system development
dandelion- any part of the dandelion plant is great for baby chicks, it is rich in vitamins and minerals
oregano- oregano is a strong herb, so it is best used in moderation, however, it contains powerful properties that fight disease
kelp- kelp contains many essential vitamins and minerals for promoting overall health and good growth

When I give my chicks a plant form of a vitamin supplement, like parsley or dandelion, I just put the whole plant right in the brooder for them to peck at! Brewer’s yeast and kelp are a little more tricky, but they can be served free-choice in moderation or sprinkled into some feed.

a baby chick standing in a mini shopping cart

#7. Add Garlic to their Diet

Garlic is a fantastic supplement for baby chicks! While garlic is related to onions, which contain a compound that is harmful to chickens in large amounts, it has been proven to be safe and beneficial for poultry to consume.

However, because baby chicks are so small, they only need a small amount to still receive the benefits. Here are some amazing benefits garlic has for baby chicks:

garlic helps boost the immune system to ward of disease
it is anti-viral and anti-bacterial
helps promote the growth of good gut bacteria
it stimulates the appetite so baby chicks will eat proper amounts of their chick starter ration
if left crushed for 24 hours, it helps with detoxifying the liver and has anti-parasitic properties

Crushed garlic is the best form of garlic to give your chicks. Once crushed, all the compounds in the garlic are released to provide maximum benefits. Starting your chicks off on garlic from a young age will make them more accepting of the flavor as they grow older.

Many times, crushed garlic is put in water to be fed to older chickens. However, with baby chicks I prefer to give them crushed garlic free-choice. This allows them to eat what they want and prevents the issue of whether or not the chicks are drinking enough water due to the change in taste.

a young Svart Hona chick standing next to a vase of wildflowers

#8. Give them some Weeds

Lastly, a not so commonly thought of supplement for chicks are weeds! I love giving my chicks clumps of weeds and they love it too! Weeds provide great stimulation and some health benefits too.

First let’s go over a few tips for picking out the right weeds to give to your chicks:

don’t use weeds that have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals
pull the weeds up and leave some of the roost system and dirt attached, this will provide a source of grit to help the chicks digest the new supplement
start with small clumps of weeds, you don’t want to overwhelm the chicks by giving them a whole forest of weeds!
the best ‘weeds’ are herbs and dandelion of course, but you can also do grass clumps
if you are unsure if a certain plant is safe for the chicks, don’t give it to them

If you use herbs or dandelion as a weed supplement, then the chicks are getting some great benefits from the weed itself if they eat some of it! Even if you don’t use a herb, grass clumps can still provide benefits. The dirt that clings to the roost system will expose the chicks to small amounts of bacteria and microorganisms. In small amounts, these organisms will help the chick build up immunity to disease and parasites.

Any time you introduce an element of the outdoors to your chicks, you are exposing them to environmental sources of the cocci parasite. This is a good thing! As long as your chicks have a strong immune system, the gradual exposure to the cocci will help them build up immunity to the parasite.

Tips for ‘Weed Time’:

My chicks love their weeds so much that I have to limit their ‘weed time’ each day. Usually, I have one weed clump that I set on a plastic lid to put in the brooder. The chicks always mob the weed as soon as I place it in the brooder. After some supervised ‘weed time’ I remove the weed clump and save if for the next day. The chicks always take a long nap after ‘weed time’!

I also use ‘weed time’ to introduce other natural supplements. I like to sprinkle crushed whole oats or crushed dried grubs in the weed for the chicks to forage for as they explore the weed. The weed will provide a nature source of chick grit at the same time to help them digest the new supplements.

These amazing supplements for chicks will keep them healthy and help them grow into strong adult chickens! Your chicks are going to love these new additions to their diet. The natural supplements can function as entertainment and provide health benefits at the same time! It is a good idea to rotate which supplements you give your chicks each day. That will help keep variety and balance in their diet. Water supplements, like probiotics, and food supplements, like whole oats, are the perfect way for your homestead chicks to get a great start to life!

As your chicks grow, there are more supplements you can offer them! Check out 8 Natural Supplements for Chickens!

Also, if you are wondering if it’s even worth it to raise your chicks naturally, you may want to check out my free ebook on The Truth About Raising Chickens Naturally or join our modern pioneer newsletter community for tips on how to raise chickens like a pioneer!

by Alexa