If you have bought day-old chicks, or hatched them in an incubator, you can provide a hot-water bottle (if you can bear to get up in the night and replenish it) or place a light bulb in thr box. If the chicks are too cold, they will huddle round the light; if they are too hot, they will go to the edge of the box. Make sure you put a blanket arund the boxand over it to insulate it and keep the heat in. If they are too confined, chicks can become aggressive and peck each other badly. They grow quickly, so gie them plenty of room. Put a little sand on the bottom of the box.
Jackie French, The Chook Book, Manna Press, Melbourne, 2010, p. 39.
After a few minutes in the Austen Oven:
Chicks that are but just a day in age require warmth; this may be from a hot water bottle, which necessiates getting up through the night to replenish it, or light from a bulb within the box, around which the chicks will huddle. You must also place a coverlet atop the box, as this keeps the heat inside; and do ensure the box has room enough as they grow, to stop them quarrelling, and has sand on its floor, for cleanliness.
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| A chook is so restful; I adore to watch it caper and scratch, roll cheerfully in the dust, and gather what it can from its meagre existence. |
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