Chicken Care

Housing

Floor area should be a minimum of 1 square foot per bird (large fowl) or 8" square for bantams. If you can give them more space then so much the better bearing in mind they will be spending time in the henhouse sheltering from the rain and wind. Perches should allow a minimum of 9" for large fowl and 6" for bantams and be 2" wide.

It is advisable to have your coop slightly raised off the ground to deter vermin from nesting underneath. Cleaning once a week is best to deter red mite which do like to live in the nooks and crannies of the coop, many people advise not using felt roofs but red mite can still occur in the wood joints of the house, basically keep the coop clean.

Make sure there are perches for your hens to roost, nest boxes, usually in the darkest part the coop, for your hens to lay your lovely eggs and straw or shavings for the bedding, hay is not recommend due to mould spores from the hay that will give your hens breathing problems. Make sure there is adequate ventilation in the house, wire mesh 2.5cm square over a small opening at the top of the coop to ensure there are no draughts.

MOST IMPORTANT, make sure your house is fox proof with a strong bolt and coop's pophole is shut everynight, the night you forget to close it,you can guarantee, is the night Mr Fox will pay a visit.

Feed

The most popular way to feed your hens is with a pellet ration, for your egg producing hens it will be layers pellets you require, Always check the label of the feed you are buying that it has a minimum of 16% protein listed, dont forget what you put in is what you get out and at the end of the day you will be eating the eggs. Also to remember chickens do not have teeth, they use grit in their gizzards to grind up food.

There is two types of grit:

HARD - for digestion

CALCIUM - which dissolves in the stomach and provides calcium for egg production - crushed oystershell is the most common.

You can also give mixed grain as a treat - Chickens are food-tame - they will come to you because you have a treat in your hand and will eat grain out of your hand. They also love vegetables, salad & fruit choppings, but not potato peelings and not too much bread, which gives them the runs!. They also love cooked pasta but be careful as it is loaded with carbs, which will make your hens fat.

Chickens love and need greenery like grass - scientific studies have shown they prodce better eggs with less cholestrol and more Omega-3 fatty acids (currently good for you!)

Caring for Day Old Chicks 

Rearing Day Old Chicks can be great fun for all the family, and one of the great advantages is that they will be handled a great deal forming a wonderful bond between chick and human BUT there are several things to consider before you buy day old chicks. Chicks are fragile creatures in their first few weeks of life, I have listed below all the necessary equipment you will need to raise them, you might also consider cockerels, Can you keep the cockerels? If not what will you do with them, sometimes childrens farm parks or farms will have them.

During the first few weeks of your chicks life they will need to be kept in a warm brooder box, a cardboard box will be fine to start with. Chicks are not able to maintain their own body heat easity so an external heat source will be required, If they are to be kept indoors i do find I can get away with a 60 watt bulb suspended over the box, if they are outside they will definately need an appropriate heat lamp, A less expensive way is to keep the chicks warm is to buy a terracotta pot (one with a hole in the bottom) get a 60 watt bulb, get a bulb fitting and flex with plug on the end of flex cable. All you need to do is attach the terracotta pot as if it were a lamp shade around the bulb. place the pot on the floor with the bulb inside and switch on the bulb, the terracotta pot will heat up and if the chicks are cold they will cuddle up to the pot if they are too warm they will move away, make sure your box is big enough for the chicks to move away from the heat source if they are too warm. The temperature should be around 35 degress for the first week, and then slightly reducing the temp a few degrees each week until they are able to with stand normal temperatures with no heat source, normally around 6-8 weeks depending on the weather.

Wood shavings is a good bedding for chicks, as i dries quickly if gotten wet, its not slippy, which can cause leg problems with newly hatched chicks if the are kept on a slippy surface, and it is easy to clean.

Good Hygiene is a must when caring for chicks, never let the food get wet, as bacteria can kill your chicks in a matter of days, chicks also drink more water than you would expect, make sure they access to clean water at all times, water must be kept in a shallow dish, (chicks can drown in deep dishes) or use an appropriate chick drinker, We stock both chick feeders and drinkers if required. They will be fed on a high protein Chick Crumb for the first six weeks then begin to change over to growers pellets then onto layers pellets around 18 weeks, We can also supply you with chick crumb if needed.

A disease common in young chicks is coccidiosis, this can occur when chicks are kept on damp bedding, look out for blood in the droppings, if you do find this you need to get some "coxoid" immediately.

 

Don't forget we are here for any advice you need regarding your chicks, if in doubt about ANYTHING, please don't hesitate to email us we will gladly help.

Questions Most Commonly Asked

Do they Bite?

No chickens dont bite they peck, they dont really hurt when they peck, sometimes if you have gold on i.e. braclet, ring, they will try to peck it thinking it is food.

Poo?

Chickens do poo rather alot, sometimes it is runny, sometimes it is yellow, this is all perfectly normal, however if your hen's poo is yellow all the time this is an indication that worming is needed.

Also too much lettuce can give your girls diarrhea.

How much food do I give them? 

Chickens dont need their food to be rationed, keep your feeder topped up all the time with layers pellets. hens can only hold around 4oz of food in their crops, which they digest during night, This is the reason why we suggest you only give treats in the afternoon, thus ensuring they have eaten a good quantity of pellets before you fill them up with other treats.

Should I leave food and water in the coop?

Generally not advisable, once the hens go into the coop and night, they will just settle down and go to sleep, they do not need food and water during this period. Also keeping food in the coop can attract vermin into your hen house, rats will and can chew through wood to get to food.

Laying tiny eggs/eggs with soft shell?

When you hens start to lay their first eggs, they can be all manner of strange shapes and sizes, some can be the size of a marble while others can be the size of a medium egg. Also they can lay with a very soft shell or even with no yolk in at all.

This is all perfectly normal, and things tends to settle down once they have gotten into the swing of things, and eggs do get larger.

Note: if your hen is older and has suddenly started to lay soft shell eggs then this can be an indication of a calcium deficiency, a bowl of mixed girt with shell is an excellent way of helping them get the extra calcium they need.