Raising Baby Chicks at the Homestead! 

Comment names below!

I wanted chickens this year, my husband was so smart, he said we had to get baby chicks so he could bond with them. He knew he'd be doing most of the work and that he would enjoy it more if he loved them. They are now 8 weeks old, spent 6 weeks in our living room. My husband kisses them on the head, his plan worked!

This just makes me want to have chickens even MORE!

Anyone else noticed that while you were talking up Miss Lavender, and were about to try to not say she was a favourite, Buttah jumped on your arm as if to remind you who is really your favourite girl? LOL. That was so cute!

💕💕awww that’s how I raised mine too. They’re so needy! I can’t go anywhere without it them following me! I always wait to name mine, a name always comes. The one I rescued stole a chip out my dads hand a couple weeks after we had her so no guesses to why her name is chip 🤣🤣🤣 they seem to choose their names round here 🤣 can’t wait to follow this journey

They will get out and be hard to find and poop everywhere! Nice work!

The homesteaders I watch have the chick feed in tubs with tops, to avoid rodent intrusion. You really selected some adorable ones!!!

YAY so fun! Congrats Kevin, so eggciting!!! We absolutely love ours, we ordered 2 more chicks this year. We named our Lavender Orpingtons Laverne and Shirley, our buffs Reba and Dolly, and our Black Australorps Morticia and Wednesday. ❤

For names I love teh idea of having herb names. So Lavender, Thyme, Rosey for Rosemary and so on.

You should name one of them Henrietta. Also you should start raising your own mealworms. They eat table scraps, and your chickens would love them.

I have 30 babies in a big plastic tub in the mudroom. It works fine, no need for anything fancy… they just crap on it anyway. 😂 Orps are super friendly, you will probably find the buff to be the most affectionate of the flock. This year I have buff orps, black copper marans, cuckoo marans, blue andalusians, Araucanas, and still waiting for my sapphire gems to come in.

They are adorable! Socializing them is great! I used to run around with my mom’sflock when I was little. She actually had roosters. I thought the chickies were all magnificent.

So cute!!! Glad you are handling them so much. I made the mistake of not doing that. Live and learn. (they do respond to my voice so that is a plus) Our girls are named "old lady" names...and they LOVE to 'gossip.' Bernice likes to 'talk' loudly about the neighbors. Sadie 'talks' about her sisters. Blanche and Agnes chime in on all of the 'gossip'. When I work from home and have the back door open they tell me everything going on in the neighborhood. Makes my days so my better!!!

Pine Shavings are perfectly fine to use and is what we use! You can still do the deep litter system with pine shavings as well. They break down to dust and it works really well when you throw in some of their treats into the litter for them to dig around themselves so they can mix it up for you. We throw our old litter into their run for them to dig through even more and its great!

My chicks are six weeks old today. Pine shavings has worked well for me. I moved them to the coop three weeks ago (Texas). I have 3 Silver Laced Wyandottes, a Lavender Orpington, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 3 Black Cooper Marans, two Easter Eggers, a Black Australorp, and a Speckled Sussex. I hope I don’t end up with a bunch of roosters! Thanks for sharing your experience.

I was literally just thinking: "When will there be a new Epic Homesteading video" - and here it is! Great job as always Kevin & Jacques.

Your silver one should be called Sterling.

Kevin, well, I guess that Floppy, Mopsy, and Cottontail are out as far as chicky names go.🤣😂 When our daughters were young, we got a Siamese kitten which my husband named Lady. He didn't like it when I called her Ladybug, but it wasn't long until we all called her Bug because she loved to get into everything. Whatever you decide to name them, it might change once their personalities start to emerge. Have a safe and Happy St. Paddy's day everyone! 🍀☘

Truthfully I've brooded baby checks twice very successfully using a watermelon box from Costco. These are open at thew top and are 3 feet tall and about 4 feet square. The store will give it away for free and by the time the chicks can fly up to the top of the box it's time to move them into the coop anyway (e.g. when about 8 weeks or so because they will be label to tolerate temps below 50-60 degrees. That trough is really low and they grow *really* fast, they'll be flying to the top of that tub in no time lol.

please tell me you're giving them names 😍 personally i think naming them after famously unhinged female literary characters would be fun edit: got too excited by cute chickens and didn't watch through lol. how about Marple (after agatha christie) for the Cream Legbar?

😂🤣 On the heater box it looks like the chicken is watching a tv

Maybe Sage, Ginger, or Nutmeg. Or another theme of country singers- Dolly, Reba, or Patsy. I don't really listen to country music but seeing chickens made me think of it. lol.

Seems clear to me that the silver-laced wyandotte should be Tiffany.

If they’re in San Diego, where in the world is Carmen?

I made my brooder 'pen' from an IBC. We cut the top 1/3 off and made a hinged wooden lid. It's big enough to warm a lamb in if needed.

Congrats on your new chickies! Your Gold-laced Wyandotte has a very prominent comb and I'm 70% sure he's a boy. Pine shavings are good, just don't get the fine ones as they sometimes get mistaken for food. Take the babies on field trips outside so they can acclimate. Congrats on your new chickies!

Lavender is such a cute name!! 🥰 And Gucci is cute too lol

💕💕💕I named my girls after famous beautiful women. Marilyn, Eva, Ginger, Lucy, Sophia, Gracie, & Vivian. I’ve also had Zsa Zsa, Maryann & Goldie. Any name you chose will be great. The names you already chose are adorable. 🥰🥰🥰

My chickens names are pecky, karen, Drumstick, cupcake, vroom vroom, buttons, bluey, bonnie, rosie, and red feel free to use them if they fit your girls. We waited awhile to name them until we knew their personality. We also have all them same kind so they needed to colored ankle bands and they came with charms on them which helped us name them. I love the the 'Gucci' ..wayyyy cute!

Opal, Sprout, and Lola are my name suggestions! I'm so excited to see their journey!

We just got our first 4 and went back to watch all your chicken videos. Definitely a huge help thanks so much. My boys love them Sky, Cloud, Beauty, and Orca

Precious!!!! You could call the lavender one "Fluer". Since lavenders are flowers and she looks like a sweet little girl who needs a sweet little name. I love the name Gucci for the gold one, too funny. Rosetta would be cute for the red one. This is really exciting. I love chickies!

My gold laced Wyandotte was my biggest fluffy butt and my best broody hen. I called her Big Mama.

Super cute! I like Lucy/Lucille for the Rhode Island Red, for the others Dolly, Clementine and Moonshine.😄

So cute!!! Sigh... I'm just waiting for the day. 🥰 I would maybe put one of those little plastic socket covers in that empty one.. Or are they not quite THAT inquisitive..? 😉

We got a few new chicks and gave 2 to a friend. We already have 5 chickens and our city has a limit as to how many we are allowed to have. The names of the new ones are Sophia, Nugget, Hennifer Lopez, Reese Featherspoon. My kids picked out and named Sophia, and Nugget, so Hennifer and Reese went to live on my friends farm.

I love my chicks. Once we hung the feeder it was a game changer. No more poop in the feed or scratching it out. Nipple waterers are the best

When we had chicks as a kid there were three that had chipmunk-like markings so we named them Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Simon was the only boy, and my favorite of the bunch

The Rhode Island Red could be named "Auburn".

Looks like you got it in the correct order in getting your coop created and then order your chicks... lol. Our oldest chickens are turning 5 months old and I've only just started cutting lumber for our coop.

Surprised to see a Tractor Supply in San Diego of all places...

It's been fun to watch your videos. I think it's funny that you're going to a feed store I used to live right next to (but never visited) and now I'm out in Texas with my own flock of chickens.

We started ours right in the coop. Just ran an extension cord out there for the brooder.

I am currently using a modified dog kennel and it works well because you can slid out the bottom to clean.

Our chicks will be one year old on Monday! We recieved them as chicks and had the brooder in our side room till they were coop sized, the chirping was a great addition to the home.

This is awesome! I am picking up my chicks today and I really like your set-up of using the metal planter. I wasn't sure what to use once they grow out of the puppy crate but I like that I can repurpose that in the garden afterwards. Thanks for all the great content you produce.

Cinnabar (Rhode Island Red) and Silvestra (silver laced Wyandotte)

Excited to follow this, I got my chicken coop in the mail yesterday and hope to get it set up and start my chicken adventure soon. So your videos are perfectly timed for me.

I love baby chicks and grown chickens. They are very friendly and will follow you all over. So sweet!

The silver should be named Sterling. The chick food as apposed to layer feed is higher protein to help them grow and feather.

I'm planning on adding chicks this spring and this gets me twitching to get everything ready...

I have a Silkie chicken called Lavender as well. Snowball is broody at the moment and I am planning on setting her on 6 eggs. Love Gucci and you could stay with that theme. Congratulations on your little family. Just wait till you get your first egg. I took a pic of my first dozen eggs as I was just so thrilled.

So cute! Will love to see them grow.

They are adorable.

I got my chicks delivered from backyardchickies today. Excited to get started...

I love when they do they're flutterby's (it's what I call it) when they learn to fly

I think Biscuit and Nugget would be cute names!!

Congratulations to your new Epic Chicks, I'm sure they will create a wonderful addition to the Epic Family . Also If you have a Lavender you must have a "Lace" or "Lacey " or just go by there personality now that you've gotten to spend some time with them.😊

Kevin, The reason pine shavings & other conifer products are bad for birds is because the resin in conifers exude fumes that, over time, can cause respiratory issues. I'm asthmatic & know 1st hand the effect conifer resin fumes can have on lungs. Additionally, if ingested, the resins increase the chances of bowel impaction. Laura, of Garden Answer, uses an Espoma product for her chickens--worth checking into.

They are so cute 😍 I also live in San Diego County and got my first backyard flock last year. Watching this video makes me want to get some more chicks in my living room brooder lol. I just love my chickens and I'm so happy to see you enjoying yours. I have a buff orpington, a silverlaced wyandotte, an easter egger, an olive egger and a silkie.

The chickens are here! So excited to see them grow 😍

hanging their food and water from a bored or the top of your coop works really well for helping keep the shavings out of the food/water. You should get a silkie and a polish. Both very fun chickens.

Silver wyandotte named Pearl? RIR named Ralph ?! I love naming chickens. The best I ever had was Stevie Chicks or Chicki Minaj. Cluck Norris is always fun, too. Have fun this is the cutest, I love all the lil chirps. Also, I love buttah, so cute.

I've been waiting for the chicks! Yay! Soo, soo cute!

Thank you! Love this video!

Awwww they are so cuteee Hope they will all do well at the epic homestead

LOVE LOVE LOVE THE BABY CHICKS!!! Are you giving them a little grit too?

We love our lavender Orpington. We used to hold her while watching tv.

100% doing this! Y’all are such inspirations.

Lavender is going to be a beautiful friendly hen

I was shocked how much fun chickens are to have around. Have fun.

Adorable lil 🐥

Ahhhh, we have 8 chickens. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Another tip: put the mason-jar type feeders inside a cookie tin (like the kind your grandma had those horrible butter cookies in). It’ll catch the raked out food, and you can pick out any debris and pour it back into the feeder.

I just got 4 lavender orps and they are just gorgeous 😍 💜 I don't have names yet either. And I have buff orps and black australorps coming on Thursday. I cant wait. But for now the lavenders are my fave, that light purple is so nice and true.

Our chicks are about 3 weeks now. We’ve named four of the five so far: Lady, Chica, Scratch, Coco. My kids named them.

CUTE! I bet you can’t wait til they start laying eggs too!

Congratulations, so cute! Pine shavings are fine, you’re doing great. I suggest offering some chick grit separately as you begin treats like the worms. My chicks loved scrambled eggs mixed with oats.

The orpingtons will probably be the chillest as they grow up. The legbar will likely be flightier. As soon as I saw that tub I was gonna say, you need a cover... lol. You'll need a different feeder. They're getting too big for that little chick style. I firmly believe that everyone should start with chicks if you're going to have chickens. I just think it's a right of passage LOL.

What you bought for the chickens is fine. As they get older you can move up to the larger feeder and waterers. Your cream leg bar will be a beautiful adult as will the Wyandottes. Your Buff and Rhode Island Red will be almost solid color yet still beautiful!. Lavender will be an awesome hen!

congratulations on the new chickies!!

I'm so happy you decided to raise them yourself! I'm looking at buying land and cannot wait to get some chickens!

I recently incubated my own chicken eggs, first time ever doing anything like that and surprisingly all six eggs hatched. Watching the Lil babies hatch from an egg is a whole experience in itself, and luckily one I got to share with my younger siblings and nephew, they loved it! My set up was a bit more complicated but just as simple, my grandfather made his own brooder out of wood. It's essentially just a wooden chest, with little trap doors in the floor, leading to a cage attached to the side and heat lamps set up inside. I used newspaper as substrate coz it was easily cleanable, and opened the little doors everyday for them to come outside and explore. And when it came to water, I had this special cap that screwed onto a soft drink bottle, fill her up and turn it upside-down and I had my own Lil drinker. And for food I just used some old little dog food tins, they didn't have sharp edges and only stood to about 2 or 3 cm tall, perfect for my little chick's. I wasn't as successful with my duck eggs, I only got two out of six to hatch and one ended up passing away, which was my fault. Once the ducks hatched I moved the chickens into their coup, they were old enough to do so too. And once the duck grew old enough to leave the brooder I gave him his own rabbit hutch. I was worried he'd get lonely, but I noticed when the chickens approached him he would desperately follow them around and interact with them. After a while he started hanging out with the chickens, and I noticed instead of going back to his hutch for bed, he'd lay by the door of the coup. So one night I put him in with the chickens and he's been apart if the flock ever since. It melts my heart to see how well they work together too, when the chickens scratch at the grass and dirt, the duck comes waddling over and pecks around where they've scratched. And the chickens don't mind, they just move on and keep scratching I rambled alot there but my point is, I highly recommend hatching your own chickens, and if not then I highly recommend raising them from chicks, It's a whole new experience, and a great opportunity for children to get involved, annnd it's easier then you'd think. It won't always be successful but it's worth the risk. These little chick's you have here are absolutely gorgeous! They are going to love thier palace of a coup!

They’re so cute!!! I can’t wait till I can get my chicks in a few years. I loosely plan to name them after different herbs/spices but who knows what’ll happen by then

Oh my goodness! Such fun! I got my first 5 baby chicks and they are hanging out in a plastic tub in the bathroom. I can’t believe how much they’ve grown in 4 days. Kristen, of Carolina Coops, told me I can use the soon-to-be-delivered henhouse as a brooder. I’m in NC and temps are a bit cooler here. Love how they play on your hand. Interesting about your site…..last year I was a “gardener” and as of last Fri, I became a “homesteader”. Chicks and seedlings are thriving and ready to go outdoors! Thanks for another great post, Kevin!

Loooove how you pointed out fresh new cuts. Where are we going TRACTOR SUPPLY lol. Perfect place to meet a future Mrs Epic!! Jacque semi new - like hey imma look good but im taken lol Fresh cuts needed :-)

Your gonna love those babies! Even when they grow up!

Little Chicks are ssssooooo CUTE🐥

You’ll need a ventilated cover for your stock tank because they will be hopping out within a week. 😀

Free tip....cover the top of your brooder with press-n-seal wrap. Then you just peel and replace when it gets covered in poop. And it will.

You absolutely need to add an Americana blue egg layer! Awesome mix, otherwise. Gold laced Wyandotte has my favorite feathering.

I got my chickens from Renee too!!! Yeah!!

Socket protectors! Inquisitive little epic chickens are pretty close to that outlet! 😉🐣

Ready for a chick update!! How are the liking the amazing Carolina Coop??

Chickens are so fun - they have so much personality 😁

Rubbles, Flakes, Chicklett, Lays... congrats to you new babies!!!!

I love Lavender! I have a pekin duck with the same name and she’s a sweetheart 🤍 they’re all so beautiful!

Look at the bay bayes 🐣 🐥I love my bay bay chicks so much they are pets🙏🌺🐾🐶🤍💕

Love love love!!! I can't wait to watch them grow. Maybe Mabel for the little red?

Herbs 🌿and spices🌰: rosemary, clary sage, nutmeg, cardamom. Or fruits! I have a Plum and Rhubarb in my flock. Good luck, chicks are too fun!