The First Flock Timeline

Day-old chicks to fresh eggs in about 20 weeks. This book tells you exactly what to do each week along the way.

Most chicken books are organized by topic. The First Flock Timeline is organized by time: an eight-week prep countdown before your chicks arrive, then a week-by-week plan for brooder heat, space, feed, the move outdoors, and the run-up to the first egg.

• The Prep Countdown: check local rules, choose breeds, order chicks and build a predator-proof coop before day one
• The brooder weeks: the 95°F-and-down heat schedule, reading chick behavior, pasty butt, and space that grows with them
• Feed made simple: starter, grower and layer, when to switch, oyster shell and grit, and an honest look at medicated feed
• Moving out and settling in: when chicks are ready for the coop, and how to introduce them to older hens
• Eggs: collecting, cleaning, storing and cooking them safely
• Healthy flock, healthy family: CDC hygiene habits, USDA biosecurity, warning signs and who to call
• Troubleshooting for pecking, egg eating, broody hens, fewer eggs and predator losses
• The master timeline on one page, a worked example with dates, and five fill-in worksheets

Every number is drawn from university extension, USDA and CDC guidance, with sources listed.

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed in the book.