It has been nearly three years since we first welcomed chickens into our lives. The daily task of tending to our flock and collecting fresh eggs are such an integral part of our daily lives that it is difficult to imagine a time before we were chicken keepers. It’s also hard to imagine ever returning to a life that includes buying eggs from the grocery store instead of from our backyard coop.
Not long after the first baby chicks arrived here at 1840 Farm, I began contributing to Community Chickens. I have shared the details of the entire experience from finishing the construction of our coop, surviving a hurricane with a little help from our hens, and helping our hens to survive the hot summer temperatures. Last summer, I wrote about our Independence Day plans and the connection between chicken keeping and our nation’s history of celebrating our independence.This experience has been far from one-sided. Your comments on each post have helped to inspire meto keep writing and sharing the news from our coop and farm. You have offered your ideas and suggestions when I found myself with a chicken keeping dilemma. I have enjoyed reading every comment and have learned so much from each of them.
Part of what has made it such a fantastic experience has been the diversity of voices offering equally diverse opinions. So much of life, and chicken keeping, is personal and individual. There are as many ways to tend to chickens as their are people who tend them. I find that I am constantly learning new strategies by reading and sharing with other keepers.In the coming months, I’d like to offer a place where we can share a little friendly advice with each other. We can trade tips and advice regarding some of the most common chicken keeping questions and challenges. I’ll start by asking you which topics your are most interested in. What is your biggest challenge when tending to your flock? Leave me a comment and I will hope to provide my experience and also ask our Community Chickens community to do the same.
I look forward to reading your comments and participating in the conversation with you. In the meantime, I hope that you and your family enjoy a safe and happy holiday week.
19 Comments
I have 10 hens that are a year old. This spring wanted to add some 2 to 4 more birds-starting as chicks. Of course, will keep them separate until they are bigger, but am concerned when I want to put them together eventually there will be problems. Advice?
I have four hens. 2 Ameracaunas, 1 Rhode Island Red, 1 Faverolles. One Ameracauna has finished molting. The second is just about featherless with new feathers coming in. The Faverolles is molting small areas at a time and the RIR has hardly list any feathers! This is their first molt and today is December 11. My question is how long can molting last per chicken and flock. And why are they Not eating voraciously as they did before molting. They drink and eat some regular feed but nit much. If I give kibble, bird block, sunflower seeds as treats they gobble these up. If I give no treats they still don’t eat very well.
So I give some type of treat every other day. I’m concerned about eating. What do you think? Please let me know. Susan
Thanks for the comments. Each of the roosters were born here & raised with the flock. This new speckled sussex is the same, raised by one of my hens. He is 6 weeks old now. I had wondered if that was happening because of the rooster being young & over-excited. Will have to wait & see I guess
I have been trying unsuccessfully to raise a rooster that is good with my hens. As I have many hens that go broody on me (I am always getting fertized eggs from the neighbor) A couple of them have been males. The 1st one after he started breeding seriously hurt a hen. I found her next with deep gouges one eye gone & as you can imagine lots of blood. That rooster was history. Last year same thin from another young rooster except this time. Killed one hen, & tore the comb & her head up on another. Once again that rooster was history. This year I purchesed a speckled sussex male. He is coming 6 weeks old. I dont want this to happen again. What causes this to happen & is there anything I can do to prevent it.
I, also, have had to get rid of a rooster who was about a year old. He was a Barred Rock and weighed about 13 lbs. He just got too rough and then became very aggressive with anyone near the pen. I hated to get rid of the bird, but after being flogged 2 times and having chickens with shredded feathers etc., we took him to another farm where they have free range chickens. Mine have a large fenced in chicken yard. We thought maybe if he had more space that he would be OK. However, he didn’t integrate well, and took off into the woods– At least, I feel that we didn’t kill the beautiful proud bird, and allowed him to be with the other chickens. I haven’t checked with the farmer to see how he integrated eventually. Now, I have no rooster, and the hens are much happier, and are gradually feathering out again. I think I’ll stay rooster free. My egg production actually had decreased as the aggressive behavior got worse.
As a chicken keeper for many years, I have not had any bad problems with roosters. A BAD rooster equals roast chicken dinner.
Bill
Be sure to introduce any new birds (especially a rooster) to a flock gradually. I put the new bird in a wire cage (or a pen next to the one I want it in) inside the pen for at least a couple of days before releasing it. Don’t release the roo and then walk away. Be prepared to monitor the situation for a bit, half an hour or so is usually enough. I try to raise a rooster with the hens he will cover – less likely to have problems if they’ve grown up together. And finally… an adolescent rooster is a new lover and absolutely tends to be too eager, vigorous and clumsy. If he’s seriously damaging the hens, you have to take him out. When the hens have gotten over the trauma (Until fully healed, or a couple days if no healing is necessary) let him have another try. A good rooster should catch on to the benefits of dancing for the hens (foreplay, lol) within a few days of practice.
need some suggestions- I have been having a predator taking my eggs, durring the day, and eating them just outside the pen area. The only thing I can see are crows in the area. I set up an animal trap, but have caught nothing. I’m prone to think it’s the crows, but I have no clue how to stop them. We live a bird protected area, in a subdivision, so target practice is out.
How is it that the crows know there are eggs nearby? Don’t your hens have a private nest box out of view inside a henhouse? Maybe attaching a “curtain” in front of the nest boxes would help. Vinyl tablecloth works well, and split it up the bottom in several places so that it falls into strips that the hens can easily move through to get into the nest. Best wishes!
I have trouble with egg eating with several different flocks. I feed quality feed, fresh water and occasional scraps (no egg shells). It happens quite regularly. I also put egg shaped rocks in the nest boxes. Suggestions?
If an egg accidentally breaks in the nest (say, by falling on a rock), the hens will eat it. Once they’ve learned that eggs are good food, it may be hard to help them forget. I’d start by replacing the rocks with wooden eggs (or just remove them). Also, make sure the nest has plenty of soft nesting material (deep straw) for a cushy landing. For several days at least, I would collect eggs very often. Also, bored hens or an overcrowded henhouse can result in this problem, so make sure they have plenty of nesting boxes and time outdoors. Good luck 🙂
What a cool idea to form a group. I would love to join. I already follow your blog directly so I will be watching for a future post about the group.
Wishing you a happy & safe 4th of July!
Poop management is our greatest challenge. We have 22 adult chickens, 4 “youngsters” and 4 juveniles, so there is no shortage of chicken-spun fertilizer. The vigor of our shrubs, trees and wildflowers are testimony to the benefits of weekly wheelbarrows of poo, but wow, my back and shoulders would really like to shrug off the natural exercise. (I do not use fresh poo in our vegetable gardens for safety’s sake, instead, I work it into a soil bed for next year’s use.) -Inga
I was recently given 3 red sex link chickens that were supposed to be a little over a year old, and after a couple weeks, I put them in with my other 3 golden buffs. However, I’ve only had a couple of eggs from the newer chickens…I’m wondering if they are older than I was led to believe or if the lack of eggs is possibly because of the hot weather, coupled with the stress of the move and integrating with the other chickens. To look at them, I’d say they aren’t “old”, but is there any way of telling how old a chicken might be? I know my golden buffs are around 4.
For anyone with young pullets in the hot weather, I save my milk jugs , fill them with water and freeze, I place one in each brooder or coop and it works out great and they love it.
Love the article, and loved the red,blue lace wyandotte, I have a blue Wyandotte, my blue girl gets broody too, and its so hot, just a little note I live in FLA, and it gets pretty hot, so I freeze in cool whip containers with water and blueberries in them every morning I give them fresh water and a nice ice block with a surprise in it, as the saying goes early bird gets the worm. everyone have a great 4th of July
ps other than that they are perfectly happy chickens… typical eating, typical exercise, daily activities ect….
help! my chickens (all one year old, in their second summer now (they were born last spring) are not laying eggs! I have 3 chickens and typically get 2 eggs a day, but for the past month or so there has only been two or three eggs total. I thought they were molting because there are a lot of feathers everywhere, but how long does molting take? I don’t think it’s predators/rodents because it’s a pretty sound coop/cage, I have a great pyrenees dog who protects them and there are no broken egg shells laying around. Anything else I should consider?
If they are molting, it can take several weeks for them to complete the cycle. Summer heat can also have an impact on their egg production. Extreme weather can definitely affect a flock’s production. Have you been experiencing extreme summer weather lately?