Spring is a time of new life, when we revel in the greenness, the youngness of things. It is a time when we relish being outdoors with our children, whether gardening, running around the yard, or just playing on the porch. If you’re looking for a project that will celebrate the season and teach your children something about life, one lovely family activity is baby chicks.
Raising chickens with kids is an amazing experience! I love sharing the many lessons about life with our kids – everything from responsibility and chores to biology and how to repair a fence. If you’re new to swinging a hammer – these are things you can learn alongside your kids and a mentor or youtube. Be bold!
And, if you are just interested in some low-key farm fun, you might visit a farm. Caromont Farm near Charlottesville is popular with their goat-snuggling sessions. Extra fun, add some native butterfly plants or try my tips on building your hens a beautiful safe coop!
Chirpy Companions: Why Kids Love Chicks
Children love baby animals—many of us have a still-fresh memory of bringing a puppy home for the first time, so small it would fit in our chubby hands, or of watching the classroom rabbit grow from a baby to an adult in the course of a school year.
My husband remembers his kindergarten class raising a brood of chicks from eggs, and he still talks about the wonder of hearing those first pips as the babies broke out of their shells, watching the tiny birds turn from wet to fluffy, and feeling sad that he couldn’t take one home to live in the backyard. Raising chickens with kids can be an amazing experience – and thee are ways to make it easier on yourself so you can have the most fun!
Choosing the Right Chickens for Your Family
If you decide that your own yard is a wonderful place for chickens, you have several choices to make:
- Size: Do you want large chickens or bantams, which weigh about a quarter as much and lay smaller eggs?
- Breed: Do you want fancy birds with frilly bonnets and feathered feet, or a Leghorn to lay lots of eggs? Consult the Standard of Perfection, published by the American Poultry Association, for descriptions of each breed.
- Source: Hatch your own chicks or purchase young ones from a supplier? For your first brood, I recommend buying already-hatched chicks and avoiding the challenges of incubating. You can order chicks online from a commercial hatchery, visit Tractor Supply in Spring or look on Facebook Marketplace for a farmer. This is my favorite choice you can learn a lot from chatting with them and you’ll get to see how they set up their coop too.
If you purchase very young chicks, you’ll probably get a mix of males and females unless you request sexed chicks from a hatchery. And if you’re planning on eventually hatching chicks from the eggs these chicks produce, you’ll need a rooster!
Tip: Chickens are social, so start with at least three. Some may not live to maturity, so beginning with more than your ideal number can be wise.
For Peeps: What Baby Chicks Need
Your baby chicks need food, water, shelter, and warmth. To keep your chicks comfortable and healthy, you’ll need a brooder—either a purchased one or a large cardboard box. Keep the floor lined with newspaper and covered in pine shavings. You will change it every couple of days or as needed.
Because our family regularly hatches chicks I have turned an extra large storage bin into a brooder. Raising chickens with kids has been a favorite family project for many years. The kids have varying degrees of interest in gardening and taking care of our goats, bunnies, turtle and chickens. All do agree they have learned a lot and even their friends would chime in that it has always been interesting at our house! Our eldest (pictured above in her Easter dress many years ago) is now a science teacher and loves to hatch chicks with her students each spring.
How to Make An Easy Brooder Box for Chicks
First, I punched the sides of the box at top so there is lots of air. This will be a damp space and you need circulation for healthy pets. Next, I took a heavy-duty box cutter and cut the center out of the lid leaving about 3 inches on the outer edges. Now, I added wire here. Chicken wire, hardware cloth, anything you have in the garden shed will work. The wire can be the place you set your heat lamp and it will keep the chicks from jumping out when they get bigger.
You can buy a chick feeder or use an empty tuna can. Chicks eat a special high-protein ration supplemented with grit. A heat lamp keeps them warm, and a thermometer helps you monitor temperature. Cold chicks cheep loudly and huddle under the lamp. Happy chicks spread out, eating, drinking, pecking, and sleeping.
A commercial waterer is best so that chicks don’t walk through the water, fall in, or spill it. For more detailed advice, check out Chickens in Your Backyard: A Beginner’s Guide (Rodale Press, Inc.).
Listen In: Sage Mother Podcast
Our Publisher Jen had the joy of joining the Sage Mother Podcast for a heartfelt conversation about some of her favorite topics—gardening with kids, raising backyard chickens, and nurturing a love of the outdoors. She talked with Andrea and Kristin about simple ways families can slow down and reconnect through nature, engaging all five senses and savoring the everyday magic found right outside our doors.
Tune in here to listen: Sage Mother Podcast – Episode with Jennifer Bryerton
It’s a conversation full of encouragement for parents who want to cultivate wonder, togetherness, and a little more dirt under their fingernails.
Moving Out: The Coop Life
Your chicks can spend time outside in warm weather after a week or two, but they’ll live in the brooder until they’re 4–6 weeks old and mostly feathered. Then it’s time for a coop, which should:
- Offer 4 sq. ft. per large bird or 2 sq. ft. per bantam
- Contain perches and nesting boxes (one per four hens)
- Include a droppings pit covered with ½” mesh to prevent disease
Chickens love to scratch, flap, and socialize. They’ll enjoy roaming the yard—but you might want a wire-enclosed run for protection. Lay chicken wire under the run to stop predators from digging in. At right, you can see my coop has steps into a run that we’ve enclosed with 2×4 wire top, sides and bottom.
Look closely at the latch above the welcome sign. The steps fold up to close the door at night if we desire and the latch twists down to close. See our blog on creating a predator proof coop for my Virginia fox-tested design tips.
When I need a break, you’ll find me with a lemonade on the garden bench watching “the girls” explore. This may just be my favorite thing about raising chickens.
Local Regulations & Community Resources
Before you begin, make sure your area allows chickens:
- Charlottesville City: Chickens are allowed, but must not roam freely. Learn more here: Charlottesville City Code §4-38
- Albemarle County: Rules vary by zoning. Check with the Community Development Department or visit albemarle.org
Join local groups like CLUCK (Charlottesville League of Urban Chicken Keepers) to connect with other chicken families, get advice, and attend fun events: CLUCK on Facebook.
A Backyard Project That Grows With Your Family
With a few preparations, your chickens will grow and thrive in your backyard. The best part of raising baby chicks is that they don’t stop being entertaining when they grow up. With their unique personalities and amusing interactions—sometimes like a game of tag, other times a family squabble—they’ll delight your children for years to come.
Chick-Raising Starter Checklist
- Brooder box
- Chick starter feed
- Chick-sized feeder and waterer
- Heat lamp and thermometer
- Pine shavings or newspaper bedding
- Grit supplement
- Chick-safe enclosure for outdoor time
- Long-term coop and run plans
- Book: Chickens in Your Backyard
- Local support: Join CLUCK on Facebook
JENNIFER BRYERTON, Ma Ed., our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, started her career in teaching, Co-founded CharlottesvilleFamily and is a mom of four. A believer in experiential education and an avid gardener, beehives, a fruit and veggie plot, perennial borders and a chicken coop dot the family lawn west of Charlottesville. Jen also enjoys sharing travel, museums, theater performances and nature attractions with her family.