Summer is in full swing. Temperatures are in the 90s, and people are looking for shade. What better time to chill with your chickens in the backyard? Just, make sure your chickens have ways to stay cool, too.
Dehydration Dehydration is the first sign of possible heat-related problems. Just like humans, chickens' electrolytes become unbalanced when dehydrated. It is a good idea to add electrolytes to their water to lessen the impact of dehydration. See here for a recommended resource about heat stress. Make sure their water is cold. Cold water helps regulate a chicken's temperature so keep it readily available during hot weather. You may need to change the water periodically to keep it cold. To keep chickens hydrated, place berries in water and freeze overnight. Set the frozen treats out the next day. The chickens will peck at the ice and berries, creating another way to keep them hydrated. Cooling Make sure the chickens have a shady place to rest. If possible, construct their coop to provide ventilation. You could consider placing a fan in their coop, but only operate it in the daytime when you are at home. Reduce the bedding in the coop to a minimum. Thick bedding acts as an insulator, holding heat in the coop. You can mist the chickens and the coop. If misting isn't enough, you can wet down the coop and create cold water puddles for the chickens to walk through to cool off. Activity Leave the chickens alone as much as possible. Chickens generate heat when they interact with other chickens and with humans. In close quarters that could significantly increase the surrounding temperature. Cut back on hard to digest foods. Chickens generate heat when they digest their food. The harder their system works the more heat it generates. See if your chickens like to swim. Fill a kiddie pool with an inch or two of cold water. Watch them jump in, or not. As you look for ways to stay cool when the temperatures rise, remember these tips for keeping your chickens cool.
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It's hard to imagine a world without chickens. Thankfully, we don't have to. Have you ever wondered about the history of the chicken? They don't really look like other birds, and they can't fly long distances, but it seems to us that they have always been around. Here are a few facts about how the chicken we know today came to be.
Domestication According to the Pennsylvania State University extension website, the chicken belongs to the genus Gallus of the family Phasianidae. Gallus domesticus is the classification of the domestic chicken. Its ancestry can be traced back to wild jungle fowl from Southeast Asia; specifically, the Red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus or Gallus bankiva). It is believed that chickens were first domesticated at least as early as 2000 B.C. The chicken of today came to be after many centuries of careful selection and breeding. Introduction to the United States The Smithsonian website states that archeologists believe that the domesticated chicken was first brought to the New World by Polynesians who reached South America a century or so before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Valued particularly as a source of eggs, they played a minor role in the American diet until well into the 20th century. The breakthrough that turned chicken production from a casual enterprise to the broiler industry of today, came with the fortification of feed with vitamins and antibiotics. Common Breeds Some of the most popular breeds of chicken in the US include the Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Ameraucana, Orpington, and the Golden Laced Wyandotte. All of these are egg-laying breeds. Urban Chicken Farming In rural areas of the country, raising chickens has always been a common source of fresh eggs and meat. The backyard chicken craze that is so popular in urban centers today, began as more people want to take part in home-grown agriculture, the local-food movement and the desire for really fresh eggs. Grassroots movements have successfully lobbied to overturn city ordinances that outlaw backyard poultry farming. Because there is worry about noise, odor, and public health, some cities have adopted a limit as to how many chickens can be kept per household. The backyard chicken farm is here to stay because not only do chickens provide a prized commodity, they also make wonderful pets. So, add to the urban craze, and don't forget to treat those backyard chicken pets right by supplementing diets with Popworms! Eco and Popworms! Pro today! Just like our digestive tract, that of the chicken is lined with trillions of tiny bacteria. Most of these bacteria are good, keep the digestive tract (and rest of the body) healthy, and even help with digestion. One way to keep the digestive tract of a chicken happy and functioning properly is to create a balanced environment of bacteria. We can help with this process by supplying our chicken friends with more beneficial bacteria, called probiotics. Probiotics are live bacteria that are added to an animal’s diet, they line the digestive tract and interact directly with the chicken’s own cells to help food digestion and promote immunity. Probiotics have also been considered as good alternatives to treating animals with antibiotics. Although it is not completely understood how these bacteria promote health, the use of these beneficial bacteria in both humans and farm animals is an area of intensive research.
Choosing the Right Probiotic Choosing the right probiotic is very important, as some that may be good for humans may not be good for chickens. It is important to do your research for studies showing positive (and negative) effects of probiotics on chicken health. One probiotic that has received a lot of attention for its positive impact on chicken health is Lactobacillus acidophilus. This is a Gram-positive bacterium that does not cause disease, and actually has been shown to reduce disease-causing bacteria! Below are some summaries of research using L. acidophilus to promote chicken health and performance. Effects on Feed Intake and Growth Performance One study on supplementing chicken diets with L. acidophilus showed a significant beneficial effect on body weight gain between 15–28 d and improved feed conversion rate in the overall period. Along with this, litter moisture and pH were not impacted. The researchers found a significant difference in decrease of potentially harmful bacteria, results that were attributed to the improvement of the intestinal microbial balance by competitive exclusion (crowding out the harmful bacteria). Another study showed similar results, with better feed conversion ratios. Broiler meat quality has also benefited from probiotic supplementation. Effects on Egg Production and Quality Probiotics such as L. acidophilus added to diet improved daily egg production in hens, and some studies showed direct increases in egg production that also corresponded to increases in daily probiotic supplementation. While I could not find any studies showing differences in egg shell hardness with probiotic supplementation, one study showed higher egg weight from Lactobacillus fed hens. Others have also shown decreases in egg yolk cholesterol, presumably due to the ability of L. acidophilus to absorb cholesterol. Pathogen Reduction The use of probiotics has been shown to improve natural defenses against pathogenic bacteria. Studies have shown that L. acidophilus and other probiotics can inhibit the growth of Campylobacter jejuni, an important source of intestinal illness in humans. Another important finding was that newly hatched chickens could be protected against infection by Salmonella enteritidis. In addition to this, L. acidophilus increases antibody production against viruses such as the one causing Newcastle disease, a devastating respiratory disease, that also leads to depression, nervous manifestations, or diarrhea in the chickens. The positive effects of L. acidophilus encompass more than I can include here, such as reducing diarrhea and smelly feces, and these bacteria also aid in suppressing pest flies…just to name a few! One way to add these beneficial bacteria to your flock’s diet is with PopWorms! PRO. Chickens love these black soldier fly treats, and each bag is packed with L. acidophilus that delivers natural nutrition! To help us celebrate the launch of this new product, use the coupon code PRO for $2.00 off each bag of PopWorms! PRO you buy (valid through 7/7/2019). Check them out today! Chickens are not just great for having fresh eggs every morning. They can actually be quite entertaining! If you are considering adding backyard chickens to your homestead, here are some fun facts about chickens that we're sure will encourage you to do so.
1. Chickens are very intelligent. Research has shown that chickens have much higher cognitive, emotional, social, and personal attributes and abilities than originally believed. They understand object permanence - something that young children don't understand until later - and are able to use Machaivellian manipulation to get what they want. They can even be trained! A quick look at this video is sure prove this fact...plus put a smile on your face. 2. Chickens feel emotions. Chickens care! Scientists tested mother hens' responses to distress of their chicks and found that they were affected by the emotional state of their chicks. 3. Hens enjoy classical music. On accident, a farmer who was playing opera and classical music during some minor construction on his farm, discovered that his hens laid more, larger eggs when they listened to it. Apparently, the soothing sounds block out noises that hens might find distressing. 3. Hens communicate with their chicks while they're still in the shell.Not only that, but the un-hatched chicks will chirp back to their mother. Mother hens are very protective of their young. 4. Hens lay an average of 350 eggs per year. However, this number can vary depending on the breed and weather/lighting. The largest recorded egg according to the Guinness Book of World Records is 15 ounces and was laid by a White Leghorn in New Jersey, in 1956. 5. Chickens can see better than humans. Not only can chickens see (and dream) in full color, but they can also see ultraviolet lights that humans cannot see. 6. Chickens, however, can't taste as well as humans. Humans have around 9,000 tastebuds throughout their mouth but chickens only have a fraction of this located in the backs of their mouths which means they don't even taste the food they're eating until they've swallowed it. 7. Chickens can make great pets. Since chickens are clearly intelligent, emotional, and social, it's no surprise that raising back yard chickens has boomed in popularity in the U.S. While you might originally begin raising chickens for the eggs or meat, you might find that you just fall in love with this quirky, funny fowl. Does my chicken's crop look normal? Is my chicken having diarrhea? Why is my chicken eating rocks? If you're asking yourself any of these questions, you might wish to learn a bit more about how your chickens eat, digest, and excrete their food. Chickens have some organs that are similar to mammals such as large and small intestines, pancreas, and liver, but other aspects of chicken anatomy are very different and can be confusing to new chicken owners. Here's an overview of how a healthy chicken's digestive system works.
Pecking and Swallowing Chickens are omnivores and will probably eat just about anything you feed them. However, that doesn't mean that they should eat anything. Healthy chickens eat foods such as corn, seeds, greens, worms, and more. Chickens also eat grit, or small stones, to help them chew their food, since they don't have teeth. In order for your chickens to be healthy, it's very important that you research what your breed of chicken should be consuming. As human children, we were always told to not swallow without chewing our food. Chickens, however, don't have any teeth! Instead, they simply gulp down their food whole. In the chicken's mouth, food is mixed with a small amount of saliva and digestive enzymes. Next, the food travels down the chicken's esophagus and is temporarily stored in their crop to be digested later. A chicken's crop will naturally look larger after eating since they have food stashed there. Food can stay in a chicken's crop for up to 12 hours, and it is slowly sent down the esophagus to the next destination. Digestion After exiting the crop, the food moves down into the chicken's version of a stomach, called a proventriculus. Similarly to the stomach of mammals, the food is mixed with hydrochloric acid and other enzymes to help digest it. However, the food still hasn't been chewed yet. This happens in the second sort of "stomach" called the gizzard. In the gizzard, the food is ground up by small stones (or grit) that the chicken ate earlier. Make sure that you keep small pieces of metal and glass away from your chickens, because sharp objects will get stuck in the chickens' gizzard and poke a hole in it, eventually killing your chicken. Next, the food is digested further in the small intestines, pancreas, liver, and gall bladder. The large intestines then remove nutrients from the food. After the large intestines, the chickens have ceca, which are two pouches where they extract more nutrients by fermenting the remainder of the food that isn't digested yet. Every day, the chicken empties its ceca with an excrement that is pasty and light brown. The final parts of the chicken's digestive system are the cloaca and the vent. In the cloaca, urinary waste is mixed with the digestive waste, since chickens don't have bladders. Finally, the waste is excreted through the vent. Common Digestive Problems Some common chicken digestive problems include an impacted crop, sour crop, or pendulous crop. An impacted crop means the opening to the esophagus from the crop is blocked. This happens because something has gotten stuck in the crop such as string or tough, long pieces of grass. Your chicken might have an impacted crop if its crop is always full even if it hasn't eaten in a while, if the crop feels hard, or if the chicken is acting out of the ordinary. Sour crop is a yeast infection in the crop, similar to thrush in humans. A sign of sour crop is that the crop is full and feels squishy, the bird's breath smells sour, or the bird has white patches in the mouth. Pendulous crop is when the crop has been stretched out and swings lower than it normally would. Pendulous crop can sometimes be caused by an impacted crop. The chicken may seem like it's okay, but the muscles in the crop are being damaged and require medical attention. If you're looking to further benefit your chicken's digestive health, check out the delicious, nutritious treats for chickens at PopWorms. Anyone with a home flock has, or will, experienced times of reduced egg production. While it is normal to have a period of low or no production during your bird's yearly molting period, there are steps you can take to increase your birds production throughout the year. Here are 4 tips to encourage your home flock to fill their nests.
Feed, and Treat, Your Flock Right Even if you free range your flock, 90% of their intake should come from a balance commercial layer product. You can choose mash or pelleted form, but keep their feeders full at all times. Clean water, and free feeding of grit and calcium will support their egg production by improving digestion and good shell formation. Offer treats like vegetables and kitchen scraps, and black soldier fly larvae for added protein and fat in the afternoon. This practice of later day treat offerings will ensure your birds have an adequate intake of their layer feed. If you supplement free range hens with only corn you'll cut your egg production in half. Hens Need Light Routinely Egg production will slow in the winter months, and anytime your birds aren't getting enough light. Hens need at least 14 hours of daylight to produce eggs. You can successfully use artificial light to encourage egg production during the shorter days of late fall and winter. Laying Hens Are Socially Influenced Gather eggs a few times a day. If eggs remain in their nest your hens might instinctively behave like mothers and reduce laying to incubate eggs instead. A brooding hen won't lay eggs. Keep nest boxes clean, and remove the eggs from the nests to keep hens laying. Adding new members to the flock causes some social upset. So, if you add hens, you might see a temporary reduction in eggs as the pecking order is reestablished, but this practice is a great way to keep your production high in a home flock. Age & Breed Influence Egg Production Pick a layer breed for the best production. Hen's lay the most eggs in their first laying cycle. Starting at about 20-weeks of age, where you can expect about an egg a day per young bird in the first cycle. This will slowly reduce over time. By the 3rd laying cycle production may drop off sharply. If you don't want to let go of your favorite hens, consider adding a few new members to your flock for continued productivity. Why did the chicken lay the colored egg?
Different chickens lay different colored eggs. The color of the egg is determined by genetics. All eggs start out white when forming inside the hen. Before the hen lays the egg, the pigment is deposited that will give the egg it's color. Chicken eggs can come in a diverse range of colors from white to cream, green, pink, blue and even chocolate brown. Taste the rainbow. A lot of people say that they think brown eggs taste better than white eggs. Others may question how good a green egg could possibly be. However, the egg flavor and nutrition is not based on the egg, but, rather, the diet of the chicken that the egg originates. A chicken with a diet high in grasses, seeds, vegetables, and herbs will produce a better tasting egg. The diet of the chicken can also change the color of the yolk inside. Where some chicken eggs have a darker yellow color yolk, some have a lighter color. The whites in the eggs can also vary in color. The color of the whites reflects the amount of riboflavin (producing greenish egg whites) and carbon dioxide (cloudy colored egg whites). Some eggs also contain a white sometimes stringy mass in the whites. That is called chalazae. They are a natural part of the egg and anchor the yolk in the thick white. The size of the chalazae will determine the quality of the egg. The more prominent the chalazae, the higher quality in the egg. Want to add to your chicken and egg nutrition? Feed them PopWorms! ECO. What color egg will your chicken lay? The two most common color of eggs is white and brown. The white eggs that you buy in stores often come from Leghorn chickens. They can lay up to 280-300 eggs a year. They are very active and hardy birds. Other chickens that lay white eggs are Andalusian, Ancona, Lakenvelder, Polish, and Hamburg. Australorp chickens are popular and have easy care. They lay about 250 brown eggs a yea. Australorp chickens are good for both their eggs and their meat. While Australorp chickens lay a lighter brown egg color, Welsummer, Barnevelder, Marans, and Penedesenca chickens lay a darker brown color. Blue eggs are relatively rare. The most common of these breeds are the Cream Legbar chickens. This breed is still relatively rare. Cream Legbar chicken hens lay around 200 eggs per year. There is one breed of chicken that does, in fact, lay a rainbow of colors. The Easter Egger lay blue, green, pinkish, and cream eggs. Easter Eggers area variety of chicken that lays large to extra-large eggs. Shades vary from blue to green to olive to aqua and sometimes even pinkish. They are friendly and hardy birds making them a great choice for a family flock. So much to choose from. With so many different types of chickens laying so many different colors, it is hard to choose which chicken is right for your coop. Before starting your flock make sure you do plenty of research so you know just how to care for your new feathered friends. Backyard Poultry is a great place to look for information. The Old Farmer's Almanac is another great source of information on which breed to go with and how to care for them. The taste of deviled eggs immediately takes me to family Christmas parties, July 4th celebrations, and Easter get-togethers. They have always been a staple in my family. My mother was the designated deviled egg maker for our large family and would make dozens at a time. She would let my brother, sister and I “stuff” the eggs, but always warned us not to eat the stuffing UNLESS there was stuffing leftover after all of the eggs were filled. But most of the time, she would end up boiling extra eggs to account for the extra stuffing that we would eat. I would like to say that I have outgrown that temptation, but I have not.
Deviled eggs are creamy, yummy little packages of flavor. They are extremely versatile and can be sweet or savory, and can be topped with just about anything. I never say no to eggs, and now have many from my mother and friend’s backyard chickens. So, in coming up with what to do with the eggs, the first thing that came to my mind was deviled eggs. I was going to make deviled eggs topped with pickled shrimp, but a friend of mine suggested topping with candied bacon. Though the shrimp topping is tasty, I was intrigued by the combination of crispy, smoky-sweet bacon topping the decadent eggs. This recipe also introduces a tiny bit of heat by also dusting the bacon in cayenne and topping the eggs with slices of pickled jalapeno. I also mixed sweet and dill relish for the stuffing, and added just a touch of cayenne. In the end it is a wonderful cornucopia of flavors of sweet and sour, with just the right amount of heat! Thanks so much to my friend for this suggestion; It is definitely a keeper! I served the eggs with pimento cheese, toast, stone-ground mustard and sweet gherkins. Make and Enjoy! Servings: 12 deviled eggs Ingredients: 6 eggs, hard boiled and peeled 4 slices thick-cut bacon ¼ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons cayenne powder and more to taste ¼ good quality mayonnaise 1 teaspoon yellow mustard ½ tablespoon sweet relish ½ tablespoon dill relish Salt and pepper to taste 12 slices pickled jalapeño, cut in half Paprika if desired for garnish For the bacon:
For the eggs:
Raising baby chicks can be a lot of fun for the whole family. They're adorable, funny and so sweet. However, they are live animals and any baby animal must be treated with care. In addition to the regular care you should take with raising birds, there are also several chick diseases you want to watch out for. Here are two of the most common diseases or conditions along with treatment method and preventative measures you can take.
Coccidiosis This is the number one killer of baby chicks and the disease you most need to worry about. This is a highly contagious parasitic disease of the intestinal tract. This disease can kill your chicks so quickly, you may not know they have it until you've already lost it. Sick chicks may be weak and listless and have bloody or foamy stool. Prevent Coccidiosis by buying pre-vaccinated chicks or making sure chicks you hatch at home are vaccinated or fed medicated feed early on. Treat sick chicks with a Corid 9.6% liquid solution. The dosage is 9.5cc to a gallon of water for five days. Make sure to isolate sick chicks from all other chicks. Dehydration Dehydration is both very serious and a very easy condition for chicks to come down with. Dehydrated chicks can die very quickly from dehydration so you should always take all measures to prevent this and treat it very quickly if it happens. Dehydrated chicks will become pale in the face, start to pant or breathe heavily and become listless and weak. To prevent dehydration always keep clean, cool, fresh water available in a place the chicks can easily reach. Change it frequently as chicks will get their water dirty very quickly. To treat dehydration, wrap the chick in a tow and provide water with electrolytes via medicine dropper a few drops at a time. You can also provide the water and dip their beak in to encourage them to drink. Hatching Backyard Chickens from Eggs
Picture an elementary school classroom. On a desk at one end sits a small incubator with a few quiet eggs. Little faces peer with wonder through the glass. As the children watch with rapt attention, a little beak moves. The little chick works. She works and works, poking and pecking at the outside of her shell until finally she's out. Wobbly, she stands next to the broken egg shell as the children cheer. You don't have to be a child to experience the childlike joy and wonder that comes from watching a chicken hatch from an egg. Anyone can hatch chickens from eggs in an incubator. You can set it up right in your living room. Once the chicks hatch and grow into adult chickens, you can add them to an existing backyard flock, or use them to start one. Hatching chickens from eggs is a fun and rewarding experience. Here's a list of things you will need if you want to get started: The Incubator There are a lot of choices for incubators so try not to get overwhelmed. You could buy one from a supplier, or, if you think this is a one-time project, rent one. Try calling agricultural schools, farms or schools in your area go see if they have one you can borrow or rent. If you don't have any luck finding a local place to borrow one from, try searching for incubator rentals online. You can find a place like this one that can rent you an incubator for a short period of time. If you decide to buy, a quick internet search will get you a ton of options. Some things to keep in mind when choosing your incubator:
All your set up efforts would seem kind of silly if you didn't get eggs, right? But where? Again, local agricultural schools and farms are a good resource here. If you go with a local farm, you may not have much of a choice over what kind of chickens you get. If this is important to you, you should probably turn to the internet. Many hatcheries will ship fertile eggs to you, and you can pick the breed of chicken. Pick a breed based on your needs. If you want power layers, go for something like the Rhode Island Red, or another one from this list. If you are working with limited space, bantams are a good option. They're mini chickens, but they can still give you delicious eggs. Other Stuff
Once you've got everything ready, you sit back and… wait. Your incubated eggs will take approximately 21 days to hatch. As they say, the waiting is the hardest part! |
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