One of the most delightful experiences in homesteading is raising baby chicks. From the moment they hatch, these tiny birds display instinctive behaviors that fascinate and entertain. By their first week, chicks are already exhibiting natural patterns—scratching, pecking, dust bathing—that will define their behavior for life. Understanding these behaviors and providing appropriate support ensures your chicks develop into healthy, productive laying hens. This comprehensive guide explores chick development, natural behaviors, and best practices for raising strong, confident birds from day one.
Understanding Chick Development: The First Week
The first week of a chick’s life is critical. During these days, chicks transition from the incubation period to independent living. They’ve just exited their shells, wet and exhausted from the physical effort of breaking out. Within hours, they dry out and develop their fluffy down plumage. Their first instinct is to find food and water, and within 24-48 hours, most chicks are eating and drinking actively.
Physically, chicks at one week old are still tiny—just a few ounces—but they’re growing rapidly. They’re also naturally curious, exploring their environment constantly. This curiosity drives much of their behavior and is essential for their cognitive development. Chicks that are restricted and unstimulated develop poorly compared to chicks given adequate space and enrichment.
Emotionally, chicks at one week are forming bonds with caretakers and each other. They learn to recognize their brooder mates, the sound of a feeder opening, the person who feeds them. These early social bonds influence their temperament as adults. Gentle handling at this stage produces friendlier, more manageable adult birds.
Natural Chick Behaviors: What They Do and Why
Even at one week old, chicks exhibit the full repertoire of chicken behaviors. Understanding these behaviors helps you recognize healthy development and provide appropriate environments.
Scratching and Pecking: Baby chicks scratch at bedding and ground, exactly as adult chickens do. This behavior searches for food, investigates materials, and manages heat. It’s so instinctive that newly-hatched chicks perform scratching motions even before they’ve eaten. Providing appropriate scratching materials—sand, leaf litter, small pebbles—encourages this behavior and enriches the brooder environment.
Dust Bathing: Perhaps most endearing is dust bathing, the behavior captured in our video. Even one-week-old chicks instinctively know to roll in dust or sand, a behavior essential for feather health and parasite control. By providing a dust bath area, you support this natural behavior and prevent problems that develop when birds can’t dust bathe.
Dust bathing works because dust particles work their way into feather follicles and displace parasites and excess oils. Regular dust bathers stay healthier than birds denied this opportunity. Chicks begin dust bathing at just a few days old and continue throughout life. This is why it’s valuable to introduce a dust bath area even in the brooder—young birds learn good habits that persist.
Roosting and Sleeping: As chicks grow, they naturally gravitate toward roosting areas for sleep. Initially, they pile under heat lamps, seeking warmth. As they grow and the brooder temperature decreases, they seek out perches. Providing low perches in the brooder encourages this healthy behavior and prepares young birds for coop living later.
Vocalizations: Chicks communicate constantly through various chirps, peeps, and calls. Healthy, comfortable chicks produce cheerful chirping. Distressed chicks—cold, hungry, separated from flock—produce louder, more frantic peeping. Learning to interpret these vocalizations helps you respond to chick needs appropriately.
Essential Care During the First Week
Successful chick-rearing starts with proper brooder setup and management during these critical early days.
Temperature Management: Temperature is the most critical factor in chick survival during the first week. Chicks cannot regulate their body temperature and depend on external heat. The brooder should be 95°F (35°C) at the chick level for the first week. Decrease temperature by 5°F each week until reaching ambient room temperature. Using a heat lamp, heating plate, or other heat source, maintain consistent warmth.
Watch chick behavior to assess temperature. Comfortable, warm chicks spread out, play, and eat actively. Cold chicks huddle directly under the heat source, piling on each other. Overheated chicks stay away from the heat source, panting with open mouths. Adjust heat until chicks distribute naturally throughout the brooder.
Nutrition and Hydration: Chicks need high-protein chick starter feed (20-24% protein) and constant access to fresh, clean water. Chicks consume remarkable amounts relative to their size—a week-old chick might eat 5-10% of its body weight daily. They grow incredibly fast, and protein supports this rapid growth.
Provide water in shallow containers where chicks can drink safely without drowning. Some keepers place marbles or stones in water dishes to prevent chicks from wading and getting soaked. Wet, chilled chicks often develop illness.
Bedding and Environment: Use absorbent, non-toxic bedding like pine shavings, aspen shavings, or sand. Avoid cedar and oak, which contain oils toxic to chicks. Keep bedding dry—wet bedding promotes disease. Plan to change bedding at least daily, more often if necessary.
Brooder size should be generous. Chicks need at least 0.5 square feet of floor space per chick during the first week, increasing to 1-2 square feet as they grow. Crowding increases disease risk and behavioral problems.
Light and Enrichment: Provide 18-24 hours of light daily during the first week, gradually reducing to natural light cycles after the first two weeks. Light encourages eating and drinking while chicks are adjusting to independent life.
Enrichment items maintain mental stimulation. Dust bath areas, small perches, objects to explore, and variety in bedding materials all encourage natural behaviors and reduce stress. Bored chicks can develop behavioral problems like feather pecking.
Health Monitoring and Disease Prevention
Disease is the primary killer of baby chicks during the first weeks. Most diseases are preventable through proper management.
Cleanliness: Clean, dry brooder conditions are essential. Change bedding daily. Wash waterers and feeders daily. Any sign of caked, dirty bedding should be immediately replaced. Chicks are prone to coccidiosis, a parasitic intestinal disease spread through contaminated droppings. Keeping the brooder scrupulously clean prevents this devastating disease.
Isolation: Keep chicks separate from older birds and other animals during these early weeks. They lack immunity to many pathogens and are vulnerable to infection. Once they’re established in the brooder and growing well (usually 4-6 weeks old), they can gradually integrate with older birds.
Observation: Watch your chicks daily for signs of illness: lethargy, lack of appetite, diarrhea, labored breathing, or unusual behavior. Sick chicks decline rapidly; early intervention saves lives. Isolate sick chicks and seek advice from experienced poultry keepers or veterinarians.
Handling and Socialization
Gentle, regular handling during the first weeks produces friendly, manageable adult birds. Chicks handled frequently become accustomed to human contact and associate it with safety and food. As adults, these birds are easier to handle for routine tasks like nest checks, health exams, or transport.
Handling also allows you to check chick health—observe their weight, look at their droppings, check for injuries or parasites. Physical familiarity helps you notice subtle changes that indicate health problems.
Watch the Full Video
The Journey From Chick to Hen
The tiny chicks you marvel at in the first week will, in just 16-20 weeks, be approaching egg-laying age. Watching this transformation—from fuzzy, vulnerable chicks to confident, productive hens—is one of homesteading’s greatest rewards. Good care during these early weeks creates the foundation for healthy, productive birds that will provide eggs for years.
If this is your first time raising chicks, expect to be amazed. They’re more entertaining and engaging than most people anticipate. They develop individual personalities, form bonds with you and each other, and demonstrate remarkable intelligence. By the time they start laying, you’ll have invested emotionally as well as physically—and every egg they produce will taste sweeter because you raised the bird from day one.
Key Takeaways
- First week is critical for chick survival and development
- Natural behaviors (scratching, dust bathing, roosting) begin immediately
- Proper temperature management is essential—95°F first week
- High-protein starter feed and fresh water support rapid growth
- Clean, dry, adequately-sized brooder prevents disease
- Gentle handling produces friendly, manageable adult birds
- Disease prevention through cleanliness and isolation is critical
- Good early care creates foundation for productive adult birds
Have you raised baby chicks or thinking about starting? Share your experiences in the comments! What surprised you most about baby chicks? Subscribe for more homesteading guides, animal care tips, and charming moments from our flock!