Comments on: How to Care for Chickens

on 11/22/2005 Never let your chicks live without a lot of food (to get them fat), they will not get as cold. Also get a red light for them decrease it by 5 degrees every week till you are at 70F. Keep them out of reach from hawks, dogs, cats, snakes and other predators that might eat them.

on 11/22/2005 If you have fruit trees, allow your chickens to access the fallen fruit as they will enjoy the grubs. If they eat these larvae, the larvae will not form beetles or flies and the fruit left on the tree will be bug free. Good for you and the chickens. You could even build their coup around the tree.

on 11/22/2005 Chickens eat everything but onions and other members of the onion family (leeks, shallots, scallions, garlic and such). Instead of throwing leftovers to the trash, or using your garbage disposal, give it to the chickens and they will love you for it. I always have a small pot in the kitchen for the chicken leftovers.

on 11/22/2005 I recently bought six new hens from a flea market. And it turns out that they were all sick. I had to put two of them down. And now all of my other chickens are sick too. Be careful and choose the right chickens. Make sure that you never buy animals at a flea market, they could be sick!

on 11/22/2005 Don't be complacent! A fox is watching your hens all the time.

on 11/22/2005 when ur chicks arrive dip there beak in the water so they know where its at and put feed on newspaper when ur chickens grow up a local feed store might mix a feed called swine 14% this has all the nutrents that a chicken needs all u will have to give them extra is grit and water the feed is a lot cheaper than laying feeds with my flocks this feed has had better laying and its like 3 dollars a bag compared to 10 to 12 plus oyster shell

on 8/29/2007 Sometimes chickens peck at their own eggs and break them. To keep them from pecking at them, put a few golf balls in the nest, this also helps promotes chickens to lay eggs.

on 11/22/2005 If you put too many roosters together they start to fight. I had four roosters and when I would come home from school they would have wounds on their combs. So be sure to keep your roosters away from each other.

on 11/22/2005 Make sure there are no holes in your fence! A fox (or other predator) could get to your chickens and kill them.

on 11/22/2005 When raised in the right environment (not just a little coop) you will notice that chickens will actually grow to be a lot smarter. Spend a lot of time with them, and give them toys (like you would with a parrot). I've tried it on my second flock, and they definitely act a lot smarter, and are a lot happier than my first flock.

on 11/22/2005 If your chicks are tightly huddled together, it means that they are cold.

on 11/22/2005 If you are always around your chicks and handle them (don't handle them roughly), they will come right up to you when you go to pick one up.

on 11/22/2005 Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise, becaues it is not possible for a chicken to lay more than one egg per day. One hen can only lay, at the most, seven eggs per week while most chickens lay fewer. A hen that lays one egg every day is a good layer.

on 11/22/2005 If you have a lot of weeds, you might consider getting chickens. Chickens can kill the weeds, and they keep there pens very clean. Get a small cage, add a chicken, place the cage in the area you want cleared of weeds. You've got yourself a perfect weed killer.

on 11/22/2005 Roosters can make fine pets when kept with hens. Simply limit the number of roosters. There should be a 1 to 6 rooster to hen ratio. If you want to keep more than one rooster, there must be plenty of hens, and they have to grow up together. Roosters also make good guards against rats and stray dogs.