Hand-feeding
volume & schedule
Weigh the chick, enter the weight and its age, and get the feed volume per sitting plus the schedule for that stage.
Volumes are a percentage of body weight per feed. Weigh before the first feed of the day, on an empty crop, and use that weight all day.
Stop when the crop is comfortably full and rounded, not tight. The figure above is a target, not a quota: an unwilling chick is telling you something.
The whole schedule
| Stage | Feeds | % of body weight | At 48 g | Consistency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1–3 | Every 2 hours, including overnight | 8–10% | 5–7% solids | |
| Day 4–7 | Every 3 hours, one night feed | 10–12% | 10% solids | |
| Week 2 | Every 4 hours, no night feed | 11–13% | 15–20% solids | |
| Week 3–4 | 4 feeds a day | 10–12% | 25–30% solids | |
| Week 5+ | 3 feeds a day, dropping to 2 | 8–10% | 30% solids | |
| Weaning | 1–2 feeds, plus solid food offered | 5–8% | 30% solids |
Parent-reared beats hand-reared, almost always.
Hand-feeding is a rescue, not a routine. A chick left with competent parents grows faster, weans better and is less likely to develop the behavioural problems that come with imprinting on a human.
Pull a chick when the parents have stopped feeding it, when it is being injured, or when the hen has died. Not because a hand-reared bird sells for more.
Plot every weigh-in against the weaning curve for the species.
See chick growth tracking