Chicken Care Guide...healthy chickens! Information about chicken diets can be found on the back of...
Transcript of Chicken Care Guide...healthy chickens! Information about chicken diets can be found on the back of...
THE COOP
CHICKEN CARE GUIDE
Your chickens need a special home to reside in. The perfect chicken coop
includes an entry way, roosting bars, nesting boxes, draft free ventilation
(an air way above them but no airway below), and a walkway ramp.
COOP SECURITY
Chickens have A LOT of predators, some of the most common include
hawks, racoons, opossums, minks, foxes, and coyotes.
A well secured coop includes an enclosed run with a door, another
external fence (mine is metal), bird netting, and ground digs/underground
wire.
CHICKS
Baby chicks need a heat lamp until about 5 weeks old unless they are
being raised by a hen who provides a natural source of heat.
At 5 weeks old most chicks are ready to be introduced to their coop
although if it is very cold out, it is recommended extending the wait until
their feathers fully grow in to ensure they don’t get too cold during the
night.
CHICK DIETS
Chicks require “chick starter” to get the right nutrients and grow into
healthy chickens! Information about chicken diets can be found on the
back of most chicken feed bags.
COOP INTRODUCTIONS
At 5 weeks old your chicks are now ready for their forever home, the
coop! Placing your chicks in the coop area during the day will give them
time to observe their new environment but they should be monitored at
this time to ensure they can’t escape through your fence.
Once the sun starts to go down you may need to place your chicks inside
their coop. For the first few weeks we closed our entry door in the evening
and let the chicks out in the morning once the sun came up. Eventually this
became a routine and they learned to go up by themselves.
THE PECKING ORDER
Once your chicks start to get older they will sort out the “pecking order”.
Some pecking and fighting is normal but if it gets to the point where a
chicken is bleeding or having feathers completely picked out, it may be
time to intervene by seperating the bully from the flock for a few days.
Your roosters may fight more so than the hens when it comes to
establishing dominance.
ROOSTERS
Roosters act a bit different than your hens! They don’t lay eggs, crow, act
as protectors of the flock, and are often times more aggressive.
One of the best parts about raising a rooster is seeing his colors come in
and listening to his first crows!
ROOSTER F IGHTING
Your roosters may fight with eachother until one has established his
leadership and the other has accepted his place although sometimes
roosters will fight to the death.
There will be a lot of blood during a rooster fight no matter wha, the key is
to watch for signs of over aggression. If one roosters runs away and
continues to be chased down and further attacked by the dominant
rooster, this may signal they need to be seperated.
When we started our flock we had 7 chickens with 3 roosters. Life was
good until about they were 6 months old, the roosters had established
their pecking order but as Munchy (3rd in the pecking order) got bigger
he decided to start challenging Carmen (2nd in the pecking order).
We tried to let them resolve their issues but eventually the fighting kept
getting so bad that our head rooster would join in and we decided to
seperate Carmen. Carmen was introduced into our all bantam “littles”
flock of ladies only. He now enjoys life being a head rooster and will still
try to peck at Munchy through the fence!
MEAN ROOSTERS
Roosters are notorious for being mean and attacking! This is because of
their natural instinct to protect the flock. You should try to establish
dominance over your rooster early on but often times, roosters will be
roosters!
There are a few methods people recommend for “rooster training”
although I’m not really sure if any of them truly work. One is taking your
rooster and holding his head towards the ground (I do not mean pick him
up and turn him upside down, NEVER do that to your chicken. I mean
literally holding him in place on the ground and forcing his head down.)
Another method is using a stick to swat at their tail feathers.
I’ve had our head rooster attack me only when I’m not looking, he likes to
“sneak attack”. Sometimes it’s because I’m wearing red (chickens hate
red) and other times I’m not sure what triggers his behavior. I’ve handled
all of my chickens since we got them at 5 weeks old but like most animals,
breed and personality play a factor in the outcome of your chicken’s
behavior.
1ST EGGS
You can usually expect your first egg around 6 months but chickens are
less likely to lay during winter! If you don’t have designated nesting boxes
your hens might find their own “egg laying spot”.
FREE RANGING
Free ranging is DANGEROUS, yep dangerous. Our chickens enjoy life
inside of their fence unless I’m outside to closely supervise free range
time!
I try to let my chickens free range at least once a day but sometimes life
just gets in the way.
There is heavy debate about free ranging but I’ve read way too many
stories about hawks, foxes, even dogs swooping in to steal chickens during
free range time to let mine free range alone.
Many people think chickens who don’t free range aren’t happy but that
dœsn’t seem to be the case with ours! Our chickens started laying in the
middle of winter, enjoy weekly dirt baths, and can be seen enjoying the
great outdoors from their secured area everyday.
CARMEN MUNCHY
CHICKEN RESOURCES
REMEMBER TO FOLLOW THE FLOCK ON INSTAGRAM!
Hopefully this guide has given you some great tips about raising and
caring for your flock but there is still so much to learn!
Some of my favorite resources:
Backyard Chickens Facebook Group
Chicken Keeping 101
Backyard Chickens Community
www.theflock4you.com