We have chicks that have just hatched. My question is how do we give them food and water. When holding them in our hands they do not seem interested. Does the hen that is sitting on the eggs look after them in some way?

I hope your chicks are doing ok now and that this is not too late. Dip their beaks in water to encourage them to drink, sprinkle some starter crumbles on a piece of paper so they can find it easily. They can be fed by hand with a moist crumb of bread put in their beak (gettingit open is a project sometimes, gentle nudging may help, I think that is what the mom hen does). Good luck, tell us how they are.

Thanks for your suggestions. I guess that is basically what I did and now they are eating and drinking fine. We now have 4 babies and they are doing fine. We are getting 3 white layers (day old chicks). Do you think that the hen we have sitting on our current babies will look after the white layer chicks if we put them together or is this a bad idea? I really appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.