Chicken Care Guide

The 7 Essentials of Caring For Backyard Chickens

Backyard chickens are popping up around cities everywhere and families are discovering that chickens are not only fun, quirky, and entertaining, but they also make the perfect family pet.

Raising your own chickens does take time, responsibility, and commitment, but it's also rewarding and will provide you with a renewed sense of sustainability and confidence as you care for and maintain your own flock. 

With backyard chicken keeping on the rise, there is a lot of information out there about how to raise chickens. To help you get started, we've outlined the essential information you need to know with our 7 core aspects of raising a backyard flock.

In this guide, we will cover the following topics:

1. Caring for Chickens & Chicken Chores
2. Feeding Chickens
3. Handling Chickens
4. Winter Precautions
5. Summer Precautions
6. Fertilizers & Turf Builders – Are They Safe?
7. What to do if your Chickens Get Sick 

#1. Caring for Chickens

Part of the responsibility of having a pet, is keeping that pet happy and fulfilled, and pet chickens have the same basic needs as any other pet. Honestly, caring for pet chickens is pretty easy.

At a minimum, there are basic essentials needed to raise and care for pet chickens properly:

• Safe and secure housing
• Fresh food and water daily
• Socialization and interaction

Basically, your birds rely on you for safety, security, food, and water. Chickens are also flock animals and prefer living with other chickens, so keeping a lone hen isn’t a good idea for you or your pet. Chickens will also bond with their owners, if you interact with them frequently and handle them when they are young. The chicken breeds you choose can make a difference, as some chicken breeds are more friendly than others - so plan your flock accordingly.

If you care for your pet chickens and provide for their basic needs, your flock will not only flourish but will also provide some exciting benefits:

• Chickens provide fresh eggs on a regular basis
• Chickens are natural exterminators and will keep your yard and home pest free
• Chicken manure is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer
• Chickens are silly and quirky and provide hours of enjoyment and entertainment

Keeping backyard chickens is rewarding and beneficial, but it is important to note that these feathered pets do require time and attention.

Chicken Chores

We’ve outlined the chicken chores that are necessary on a daily, monthly, and semi-annual basis, to keep your chickens happy, healthy, and safe.

Daily Chicken Care Tasks

• Fresh, clean water - Make sure your chickens have access to fresh, clean water throughout the day. Chickens can be a bit picky and will not drink dirty water, which can lead to dehydration and quickly result in illness or even death. Shavings, straw, and poop can get in the water throughout the day, so be sure to check the water regularly and refill it as needed. Be sure to clean your waterers regularly, with soap and water, and rinse thoroughly.
  
  
• Daily feeding - Good nutrition is crucial to maintaining a healthy flock. All chickens should be fed a crumble or pelleted diet formulated to meet their nutritional needs. They should get plenty of fresh feed daily and should be allowed to eat as much as they want. Allowing chickens to do what they do, meaning eat insects, seeds and berries they find while foraging, is key, but you will likely need to supplement their natural diet with an organic feed to ensure they receive proper nutrition. Talk to your local feed store for help determining what's best for your brood.
  
  
• Collect and refrigerate eggs - Collecting eggs daily ensures they are as clean as possible.

  Eggs-pert tip:  refrigerate eggs pointy side down for maximum freshness! 

• Observe your birds - Check to make sure your hens look active, alert, and healthy. Active, alert chickens with bright eyes and smooth feathers are a good sign. If you see any signs that your chickens are unhealthy, make an appointment with your vet right away.
  
  
• Tuck your chickens safely in the coop at night - If your chickens roam freely during the day in the yard or in the run, always be sure to close and secure the coop door at dusk, once the chickens are all safely inside the coop.

Monthly Chicken Care Tasks

• Change the bedding in the coop and the nest monthly. This is necessary for sanitary purposes. Excessive ammonia buildup is dangerous and can cause respiratory illness in chickens.
  
  
• Remove chicken poop. Many chicken keepers put chicken poop in the compost bin or use it as fertilizer in gardens and garden beds, as chicken poop is a nutrient-rich organic fertilizer.

Bi-annual Chicken Care Tasks

Twice a year you've got to really scrub your coop and do a deep cleaning. Remove bedding, nesting materials, feed, and water containers and clean everything thoroughly. For a cleanser, we recommend a concoction of 1 part bleach, 1 part dish soap, and 10 parts water. A strong citrus cleanser will also do the trick. After cleaning, rinse the coop well and let it dry before adding fresh bedding. Do the same with the feed and water containers: clean thoroughly and rinse well and replace with a fresh supply. You should be able to do this all in a couple hours.

#2. Feeding Your Chickens

Good nutrition is crucial to maintaining a healthy flock. All chickens should be fed a crumble or pelleted diet that is formulated to meet their nutritional needs. Chickens should get plenty of fresh feed daily and should be allowed to eat as much as they want.

Chickens are naturally born to forage for food and allowing chickens to do what they do best – foraging for insects, seeds and berries, is key to raising a happy and healthy flock. However, you will likely need to supplement their natural diet with an organic feed to ensure your birds receive proper nutrition. Talk to your local feed store for help determining what is best for your brood.

Eat This, Not That:  Foods Chickens Shouldn't Eat

Chickens will eat practically anything, including unwanted food scraps and leftovers, and they love having variety in their diet - but it’s important to know what’s good for them and what’s not. Be sure you’re familiar with the foods to avoid, to make sure you aren’t offering your birds any food items that may make them sick:

We’ve captured the list below of some of the foods to avoid feeding your chickens:

• Citrus fruits and peels (they can cause a drop in egg production)
• Raw peanuts
• Dairy
• Bones
• Potato skins/peels
• Any large serving of meat, or meat that has gone bad
• Garlic, onions, and chives (unless you want your eggs tasting like them)
• Rhubarb leaves
• Uncooked rice
• Candy
• Overly salty foods
• Junk foods, greasy foods, or processed foods
• Dairy

Foods that are potentially deadly for your chickens

• Dried or raw beans – for chickens, these are almost always fatal
• Moldy or rotten food
• Avocado skins and pits
• Raw or green potatoes
• Green tomatoes
• Chocolate

Plants and flowers to avoid in your yard or garden:

• Grass clippings and pulled weeds can lead to an impacted crop, so it is best to let your chickens forage for themselves
• Morning Glories and Daffodils are poisonous to chickens, and even though chickens will generally avoid them, you might just want to keep an eye on them around these plants.

#3. How to Handle Chickens

Handing chickens is an art, and practice makes perfect. The key is finding the balance between being gentle and letting them know that no matter how much they wriggle or squirm, they're not getting away.

First, put your dominant hand (the hand you write with) on the middle of their back. If you're new to chickens, it's helpful to secure their wings as much as possible with your thumb and forefinger. Your other hand will need to take their legs out of the equation. Secure one leg between your thumb and forefinger, and the other between the forefinger and middle finger of the same hand. Then lift them, supporting the lower portion of their body with the heel of your hand and wrist. Your dominant hand should still be on their back. Once you've got them up, holding them close to your body will prevent further wriggling. And again, as you get better at this you won't need that hand on their backs!

#4. Precautions to Take in the Winter

Chickens tend to be cold hardy in general and can handle the winter months far better than the heat of the summer. If you live in an area with cold winters, choosing the right chicken breed will help you avoid problems. Certain breeds, such as those with large combs and wattles, those with smaller body masses, and some of the more fragile breeds don’t do as well in the winter as the breeds considered to be more cold hardy. 

There are many cold hardy breeds of chickens, including: Ameraucana, Buff Orpington, Delaware, Jersey Giant, New Hampshire Red, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Wyandotte.

Chicken keepers want to do what is best for their flocks and during the cold winter months, many consider the question of whether or not to heat their chicken coops. This is actually one of the big controversies among chicken keepers. Our advice is that heating your coop isn't a good idea. Chickens adapt to the cold weather over time. Their body metabolism actually changes along with the seasons. If you heat your coop, the birds will never get used to the colder outside temperature, making them extremely vulnerable if the heat source is ever lost, and could cost you your flock.

If you do live in a climate with extreme cold conditions, there are a few precautions you can take to keep your flock safe and comfortable.

• Make sure your coop is well insulated.
• Consider using the deep litter method (aka chicken coop winter composting), which basically consists of repeatedly turning over the soiled bedding, adding a new layer, and allowing the chicken droppings to decompose on the floor of the coop all winter, at the same time creating heat to keep the coop warm naturally.
• Protect combs and wattles from frostbite by rubbing petroleum jelly or another heavy moisturizer on them every few days.
• Make sure the water supply does not freeze! This is very important as chickens cannot live long without fresh water. If you don't have electricity in your coop and cannot provide a water heater, we recommend that you bring the waterer into your house every night and return it to the coop every morning. Be sure to check the water at least once or twice a day to make sure it's not frozen.
  
  

Excessive heat is a real risk to chickens and when temperatures rise, your birds can struggle to keep cool. A chicken’s core temperature is naturally high, making it especially susceptible to heat stress. Chickens can also dehydrate easily and cannot live long without fresh water, so make sure they have access to fresh, clean water at all times. Placement of the coop and coop ventilation are crucial in helping your birds survive the summer. Provide them a source of shade outside and as much ventilation as possible inside.

• Choose heat-tolerant breeds – some birds are better suited for hot climates, such as Ancona, Andalusian, Buttercup, Catalana, and Leghorn, which have light feathers and large combs and wattles that help them to stay cool. 

• Prioritize shade – make sure your coop and run are located in a shady spot or consider adding protective shade elements. 

• Watch the water – providing your flock constant access to fresh water is important all year long, but it’s critical in the summer. We suggest keeping waterers in a shaded spot and refilling them with cold water several times a day. You may also want to add electrolytes to drinking water, to replenish what your chickens are losing in the heat. 

• Encourage air circulation in the coop – airflow helps chickens stay cool. Open the windows to get a breeze moving through the coop, but make sure you have hardware cloths securely attached to each pane, to keep out predators. If you have electricity in your coop, the easiest thing to do is install a fan, as air movement is going to cool them more than anything else. 

• Change your flock’s feeding schedule – digestion increases body temperature, so we suggest feeding your flock in the mornings and evenings, when temperatures are cooler. Consider adding frozen treats to their meals, such as frozen pineapple or watermelon as these fruits contain a lot of water and can help keep your birds cool and hydrated.

• More ways to keep your chickens cool – standing in a small wading pool can help your chickens cool their bodies and feet, but be sure to clean it often so that your birds aren’t drinking dirty water. You can also place large, frozen bottles of water throughout the coop, to give your birds cool places to perch.

Expert Tip:  Your hens may lay fewer eggs during extreme heat, which is a sign of stress, but laying rates will return to normal once the heat recedes.

#6. Avoiding Fertilizers & "Turf Builders"

If your birds are free-ranging on your lawn, abstain from applying fertilizers or "turf builders". These products often contain pesticides, herbicides and other harsh chemicals that are extremely dangerous and often deadly for your chickens. Not only can these chemicals cause illness in your birds, but they can also be present in your eggs – and who wants to eat that

#7. What To Do If Your Chickens Get Sick

Inevitably, if you are raising chickens you will have to deal with a chicken illness sooner or later. The good news is that most chicken illnesses are curable if they're caught in time. If you suspect one of your chickens may be under the weather, take the precautionary measure of isolating her from the rest of the flock to help prevent illness from spreading. We also recommend making an appointment with your veterinarian right away.

The following symptoms may indicate illness:

• Mangy appearance
• Visible mites
• Abnormal stool, including blood, visible worms, diarrhea, or droppings that are all white. (Normal stool is brown with a white cap.)
• Sneezing
• Loss of energy or depression
• Sudden, drastic reduction in position in pecking order
• Loss of appetite
• Stunted growth

Remember, the most important part of keeping your chickens healthy is disease prevention. Having the right coop specifications and following the care instructions above will help you keep a happy, healthy flock. However, as with any animal, there's still a chance of illness, which is why we recommend checking on your birds daily, so you'll catch the illness early and increase the chance of a positive outcome.

Good luck and enjoy your flock!