Have you heard of Diatomaceous Earth? Listen closely, for it is the best thing since peanut butter and for chicken keepers it is your best friend. Take heart if you’re interested in keeping medications to a minimum, because it is non-toxic and totally natural. Plus, it’s accepted in organic feed regimens.

Diatomaceous Earth, at the microscopic and macroscopic

What is it? Is is the skeletal remains of little creatures called diatoms that used to inhabit the waters of fresh water lakes (eons ago) when the southwest held large bodies of water. As they died and fell to the bottom of the lake, they accumulated and now in some areas, since the water is no longer there, the diatoms exist to a depth of 400 feet deep, What good is it? It is good to keep lice and mites out of your coop and off of your chickens. I put it in my chicken feed at the recommended ratio of 1lb for every 50 lbs of feed and, though there’s no scientific data as of yet to prove this, we backyard chicken keepers wholeheartedly believe it keeps our flocks worm-free. And listen to this: it has killed all the fire ants in my yard.

My husband used to poison the ants and they would pack up and move. Once I got chickens we could no longer spread poison and that’s when I discovered Diatomaceous Earth (DE for short). When we started using it the fire ants disappeared. It kills all manner of bugs except the earthworm. It penetrates the waxy protective cuticle on bugs and absorbs many times its weight in moisture, so the bugs die of dehydration. (And beware: it’s a dessicant, so it’ll absorb moisture and dry your hands out, too!)

I use DE in my nest box to keep the lice and mites away from my fine feathered friends. When I clean the coop, I sprinkle some on the floor and in the corners, cracks and crevices. Then I mix some more into the fresh shavings. I sprinkle a small amount of DE where my chickens take their dust baths, too, so it gets nice and close to their skin when they dust themselves.

But there is MORE. It is good for your garden! (See our other blog posts on chickens and gardens here, by the way. Most of us at MPC love our gardens, too.) I sprinkle it on tomato plants, beans, peas, anything. Since it is non-toxic and food-grade, it is safe as the vegetables themselves and the bugs can not take it. It penetrates their hides and gets in their eyes and causes them to dry out and die. My dwarf peach tree use to lose EVERY leaf every year to the Japanese Beetles. Not any more – that tree hasn’t lost a leaf in two years, thanks to DE. You can also use it in your kitchen to get rid of ants and perish the thought, roaches. Just name the bug and DE comes to the rescue.

If all that isn’t enough, it also works on fleas in your carpet and on your pets, their beds and kennels and, it is sure okay if Fluffy licks herself because again, it is a food-grade quality product. I hear some people even use it on themselves to get rid of heavy metal poisons in the body. Don’t believe all these wild claims? Read about DE on Wikipedia.

A WORD OF CAUTION – DE is also used in swimming pools and that is NOT food grade quality. It originates from salt water sources and chickens and salt do not mix. Also, “regular” quality DE has higher levels of silicates, which you don’t want. to be sure never to use what is intended for swimming pools and only purchase the food grade variety. The other things you have to watch out for with DE are:

1. Your hands: wear gloves while applying, or they will get irritated and dry.
2. Breathing: be careful when you apply it not to go shaking it into the air and breathing it in. It’ll mildly irritate your lungs.
3. Don’t use too much of it. A little goes a long way.

Of course, we offer the good food-grade Diatomaceous Earth at My Pet Chicken. You will find it listed under chicken health and the brand name is Perma-Guard. Told you, best thing since peanut butter.

Well, bye for now.  I have talked myself into a peanut butter sandwich.

Amazing Chunky Chicken Caviar

Whoa. This is so unreal, I just had to tell you right away. We’ve been testing out Chunky Chicken Caviar as a feed supplement for one of our rare breed flocks that was struggling with poor egg laying and fertility rates. I got the results in today, and I’m absolutely floored: within a month, this flock’s fertility and egg laying rates increased 650% and 518%, respectively.

Is that crazy, or what?

All of us on staff at MPC (we call ourselves “peeps”) who have tried this product can attest to how crazy our personal flocks go for it. Even the skittish birds had no problem coming right up to us after a week of offering it every day. And it sure seemed as though the hens laid better after eating this special treat–but we didn’t want to go crowing about that all over our website without any real data to back it up.

But now we have some data, and we’re crowing. Cock-a-doodle-doooooo!

Chunky Chicken Chickie-Puffs

A couple of weeks ago, we put Chunky Chicken Caviar and all of our other Chunky Chicken brand products on sale for 25% off. We’re not making any money here; we just want you to see how cool these supplements are, with the hope that you like them so much you purchase them again down the road. If you prefer pellets or crumbles, we have those, too, as well as a baby chick supplement we call Chickie-Puffs those babies go absolutely bonkers for. (You can see how bonkers on this video.)

And the awesome thing about all these products is that they’re healthy. Chicken scratch can be so fun to give your flock because of how much they love it, but it’s like ice cream: it can be downright detrimental to their health if you offer too much. All of our Chunky Chicken products are balanced and healthy, made chiefly from Musca Domestica (the common housefly!), with other key ingredients like flax, kelp, spirulina, oyster shell, corn, wheat and alfalfa. (Caviar has the rendered beef kidney suet kicker, which ups the fat content to over 38%, an excellent choice for a stressed-out flock!)

Anyway, just had to share the news with you. Hope you give it a try!

Close-up of a Scissor Beak (the top and bottom don’t line up)

Crossed Beak / Scissor Beak, can be severe, but many times, this beak malformation is not hazardous to your chicken’s health.   This condition can afflict any breed, but seems to be more prevalent in Easter Eggers or Ameraucanas.

My only experience with cross beak / scissor beak occurred with one of my Blue Wheaten Ameraucana pullets that I had so proudly hatched in a homemade incubator.   Thankfully, her crossed beak wasn’t severe and the problem didn’t show up until she was several weeks of age.

Enjoying life – who cares about a funny looking beak!

I do remember being quite concerned that the poor baby would not be able to get enough to eat or have trouble free-ranging, but I needn’t have worried.  This sweet gal can keep up with the best.  She eats as much as her sisters and is a nice plump size.   My pretty Ameraucana loves to free-range with her buddies and has even tried her hand at being broody.

I trim her beak every 2-3 months with clippers, since the tips are not able to be filed down naturally, but other than that, she receives no special care and is now just over 2 years old.   My Pet Chicken has some helpful information on Crossed Beak / Scissor Beak  here.

My Crossed Beak girl is one of 3 (my triplets, I call them) – Can you pick her out?

For people new to chicken keeping, deciding how they will manage their flock—free range or confined— can be pretty daunting. Part of the problem is that there isn’t really one BEST way to keep a flock. A lot will depend on your own situation.

For instance, my chickens free range in the true sense. That is, they literally have no fences to keep them confined anywhere, so they are out ranging all day long on our nearest acres. We can do this because we’re lucky enough that we don’t have any close neighbors. There is no one for our hens to bother, unfettered as they are. They won’t be getting into a neighbor’s yard, won’t be pooping on a neighbor’s walk or porch, won’t be scratching in a neighbor’s garden. At night they retire to the coop, and I lock the door when they’ve gone to bed. In the morning, it’s opened up again.

We can do this true free ranging by virtue of our location, and the amount of space we have… as well as the fact that I work from home, so I’m almost always here to make sure everything is okay. Our birds spend their days hunting, scratching, grazing and foraging for bugs. When it gets cold, they huddle together or may choose to stay in the coop. When it’s hot, they take shade under our old locust tree with a view of our little holler.

You're facing the wrong way to enjoy the view, Bunny.

But that’s not the only way to manage your small flock. The second way to range your hens is confined ranging. Most people manage this way. If your yard or run is fenced, your birds are enjoying confined range.  With fences or enclosures, your flock can’t wander willy-nilly into a neighbor’s property, or into the road and traffic. Presuming the yard is large enough for your flock to have access to green pasture, confined ranging often works out to be much the same thing as fenceless ranging, so far as the birds are concerned. The birds themselves don’t get to define their territory like they do without fences, but they do have a large outdoor territory that they can explore freely during the day. In some cases, chicken people will use mobile “tractor style” coops that are moved to fresh pasture every day. Thus, the birds are always on fresh range, and are also always safely confined.  This is a truly ingenious method of flock management, especially for urban and suburban chicken keepers with limited space and/or close neighbors.

The third way to range your hens is part time ranging. This is a great way to operate in some situations. It may be necessary to supervise ranging time, for instance if your neighborhood has many stray dogs, or there is a danger of other predators. Or, if you’re not home to supervise during the day, your family may decide to let the hens out only in the evenings or on weekends when someone is around, in case there is any trouble. Part time ranging is very popular, too.

Some urban and suburban keepers don’t range their birds at all, but instead have full-time confinement. This is probably less common–or at least we hear about it less often! Full time confinement occurs  when a flock has access to the outdoors, but not to green pasture, not even on a part time basis. For people who keep pet chickens confined, these birds are usually still quite pampered. They probably get fruits and veggies as treats, maybe meal worms, sunflower seeds, caviar or crumbles. Plus, the confined space will be roomy presuming they observe space recommendations. The advantage of not ranging at all is that, if your coop and run are secure, there is no danger of predators. There is always some danger of predators with other methods. The disadvantage, though, is that there will be a lot more cleaning involved, and birds will be more prone to boredom and behavior issues like pecking, egg eating and the like. Illnesses and infestations can also spread more quickly through the confined flock. Plus, it may be a bit more expensive, since the birds will have no ability to supplement their diet by foraging.

As you probably know, even full time confinement is WAY better than factory farm “free ranging.” This needs to be mentioned here, although no one in their right minds would count it as one of the “Four Ways to Manage your Small Flock.” Free ranging in factory farm terms is not free ranging at all, in any objective sense. There is no free ranging about it. In fact, the “free range” label has become just one of those doublespeak terms co-opted by big agro in an effort to confuse or delude you about how your food is produced. Their hope is that when you read that your eggs are produced by free range hens, it’s natural for you to picture true free ranging, confined ranging or even full time confinement with the type of space-per-chicken provided to backyard flocks.  Instead, what you really should picture is this:

Our girls free range at the top of a beautiful West Virginia ridge; that's our coop in the background.

Factory Farm Free Range

“Free ranging” in factory farm terms is just a vast warehouse filled to capacity with chickens. Somewhere there is likely a door to a small concrete pad outside where they can “range” if they happen to be near the door. It’s unlikely there is any grass or pasture available, and they certainly don’t have treats of fruits and veggies, meal worms and sunflower seeds like backyard chickens do. Nonetheless, big agro can legally call that sort of arrangement “free range,” in the hopes you won’t know any better. (Way to institutionalize dishonesty,  Big Agro!)

For your small backyard flock, the bottom line is this: the more greens and bugs they can supplement their diet with, the better… whether they are truly free range chickens or whether you are bringing in treats for a pampered flock that must be fully confined.  You’ve heard it from us before: chickens with access to pasture lay healthier eggs. Studies show they have 1/3 less cholesterol, 1/4 less saturated fat, 2/3 more vitamin A, 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids, 3 times more vitamin E, and 7 times more beta carotene than the eggs of chickens without access to pasture. They are also healthier in other ways; for instance they are much less likely to spread food-borne illnesses or contain other things harmful to our health.

So, how do you range your hens… true free ranging, confined ranging, part time ranging or full time confinement? Did you start out imagining you would care for your flock one way, and end up doing it another? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Our personal flock recently had its very first illness, and I am 100% to blame. In seven years, we’ve had to worm our flock ONCE. That’s the single solitary health problem we’ve ever had.

Then, I had to go and get dumb.

Although I’m smacking my forehead and slightly embarrassed about my lapse in judgment, I’m going to share it with you so you don’t make the same mistake I did. Here’s how it started…

The Colin McEnroe Show episode on chickens

At a recent stint on Connecticut Public radio to discuss the backyard chicken trend (The Colin McEnroe show–what an incredibly bright guy and excellent radio host, by the way), the “chicken” guest sitting next to me was a lovely, small-scale organic farmer, who proudly gifted Colin a baggie of beautiful, deep brown, finely composted chicken poo before the show. I was shocked–my chicken compost looks nothing like that. The conversation went something like this:

Me: How long does it take your bedding to compost down like that?
Her: Shrugs. A few months.
Me: Mine takes FOREVER to break down that well. What’s your trick? Do you use that compost starter stuff?
Her: I bed my chickens on hay because pine shavings take too long to decompose.
Me: Lightbulb!!

Hay does NOT make good bedding for chickens

Sure, I know that hay is not a good bedding material. I’ve been telling you all that for years. But, I never tried it. Could it really hurt all that much? Hay is cheap, I figured–no harm in giving it a try just to see what happens. Maybe it’ll be awesome!

Of course, you all know what happened. The hay didn’t absorb the poo and moisture very well. I didn’t change it often enough, thinking I could treat it like pine shavings. My coop got too damp. My chickens got sick. First came the sneezing, then the side-to-side head shaking, then the chest-rattling. Some of my hens became listless. I was worried and feeling like a total moron–which, of course, I kind of was.

Enter the coolest vet, Dr. Kimberly McClure Brinton, a backyard, free-range, pet chicken keeper herself.  She came out to our coop, checked the chooks’ mouths for phlegm, eased a thermometer up their you-know-where to check for fever, and listened to their breathing with a stethoscope. She checked for mites and gathered stool samples for the lab, to check for intestinal parasites, which weaken the immune system (we didn’t, even though we free-range our birds!). After extensive examination, Dr. Kim determined that our respiratory problem was pretty mild, and limited to the upper respiratory tract.  It would be very expensive and time-consuming to figure out the exact cause–bacterial or viral–and we couldn’t wait to find out before we started treating them, for fear they’d worsen. She advised us to treat them with the antibiotic Oxytetracycline. If they weren’t improving after 3-4 days, she’d move us on to Tylan.

But it worked. Within a few days they were obviously feeling better. We administered the antibiotics for 10 days, and continued to withdraw (throw out) the eggs for another 5 days after that, as she recommended. (The antibiotics do pass through to the eggs, so you really shouldn’t eat them.)

And, at some point during the antibiotic treatment, I remembered: that lovely small farmer said she changed her bedding once a week. She looked at me like I was an alien when I told her I change mine every month or more–and it’s no wonder. SHE was smart. SHE moved their poop on out before it got too damp in her coop. I probably let it go 3-4 weeks.

Bottom line: I knew better than that. And I’m slightly embarrassed, but not too ashamed to tell you about it, because I hope to prevent you from making the same mistake.

My flock is all better now

Since then, I’ve been researching ways to kick-start the composting process on my spent bedding. We already turn it occasionally; we add all sorts of kitchen compost including egg shells; we add water when we feel it’s too dry. The Seattle Tilth website has some good general rules of thumb for composting chicken poo, which we loosely follow. What interests me is this issue of whether to add a compost starter–the beneficial micro-organisms that start the breakdown process–or whether simply adding some dirt on top of the old, poopy shavings you’ve removed will suffice. What do you do, readers? How do you compost your chicken bedding? How’s it working out for you?

Finally, I’ve learned two things about pine shavings that make them more attractive. First, I can change them less frequently if I take a shovel and turn the bedding every so often, to keep them from getting compacted or too wet in any one area. Second, many plants including blueberries love both shavings and chicken manure–and we love blueberries–so we’re now “prepping” a 30′ x 30′ patch for an autumn blueberry bush planting by dumping our spent shavings on it. Easy peasy. I guess pine shavings aren’t so bad, after all.

Fox family living in a drain. Photo by Heather S. of Colorado.

When I go out in the morning to bring treats to my girls and collect our little egg gifts for the day, I’m greeted at the run door by hens begging for me to let them out. How could I turn down those sweet little faces?

Sadly, I feel I have to. In the early days of my chicken keeping, I wanted to give them the best of everything… even freedom. After losing some of my favorite birds to dogs, foxes and hawks, I came to realize free ranging just wasn’t for me.  At first, I was heartbroken, thinking they’d be coop-bound forever. But instead of getting mad, I got smart.

First things first: I secured aviary netting to the top of my run to keep out hawks and other birds of prey (see my prior post on Blue Heron). Second, I buried galvanized hardware cloth 12″ deep to keep out diggers like foxes and dogs–and rodents. With the run secure, I had no problem letting them out, but still they were pouty about being imprisoned, and no wonder.

So, the ladies and I came to a compromise.  Some days, right before sunset, I let them out. I stay outside in the garden and watch over them while they graze. They know the day is ending and don’t wander off too far. (That saying, “chickens come home to roost” is really true–every night, faithfully, they’ll return to their coop.)

After weighing my options, this routine is best for me and my girls. So many of you I’ve spoken with on the phone prefer to free-range your flock all day. You know you’ll lose some to predators, but you prefer them to live the happiest, healthiest lives possible, even if those lives are occasionally cut short. Ultimately, so long as your chickens are respected and given a healthy, clean living environment, the rest is up to you. No matter whether you choose to free-range them all the time or just once in a while, they’ll still be much, much happier than factory farm birds living the whole of their lives indoors.

Hot Shot

Oh, me, did I ever bite the bullet. One of my lovely chickens, a Campine/Black Marans cross named Hot Shot, developed a foot infection, commonly called bumblefoot. Off we go to the vet and she had surgery to open up the infected foot and came home to live in the house and get her daily foot baths and foot wraps. Everything seemed fine for 10 days or so and it was just lovely having a Talkie Talkie chicken beside me in the rabbit cage while I worked for My Pet Chicken all day.

Hot Shot was so very cooperative, never complained and did a first rate job of endearing herself to me forever more. What she also did, however, was learn to beg with the best of them. Grated cheese was her absolute favorite, with blueberries running a close second. She quickly figured out the system and she sure got my number by cackling her head off every time the refrigerator door opened.

It was so nice to hold her and talk to her while she struck a noble pose in my lap with one foot in a pot of warm water. She even laid on her back in her long suffering manner with her sore foot in the air and relaxed while I bandaged her Bumble. You’ve got to love a chicken like that. And after every wrapping she got her treats. Talkie, talkieing her delight the whole while.

As I said, all was well for a while and then the foot swelled up even more than before. Back to the vet. Now we are talking big time surgery with a two day stay. Home again. More soaking, more wrapping, more treats but alas 2 weeks later it all ballooned again. I crumbled. There was no way, after already having spent $600, that I could consider another surgery with no guarantee that it would work. So with a very heavy heart, a very somber trip to the vet was made and I left my dear Hot Shot there to be put down. I drove home in tears. Well, more than tears… I was bawling my head off.

I consoled myself with the knowledge that I really had done everything I could do and that it would be beyond all reason to sink any more money into a $3 chicken. I cried the next day and the next. I cried a whole lot every time I thought of her patiently standing in her pot of warm water. It broke my heart thinking about her laying on her back with her foot in the air for me to do the wrapping thing and every time I opened the fridge door I cried because there was no Talkie, Talkie begging for grated cheese.

Two weeks went by and the phone rang. It was the vet saying, “I hope you are not going to be mad at me, but the day you brought Hot Shot in to be put down, I had had such a bad day putting down two other animals that I just couldn’t do it again. So I went ahead and operated on her and she is all better now.” I cried again. Tears of such joy. So Hot Shot came home and I promised her cheese for life, and meal worms, and blueberries, and sunflower seeds–I promised her anything she wanted and she said, “Talkie, Talkie.”

Successful small flock owners may have vastly different management styles. Some may hatch their own birds, while others may order from a hatchery or buy from a breeder. Some small flock owners will free range their birds, while others–just as successful–may provide confined range. Some add supplemental light in the winter, while others let their birds experience the natural cycle of light and darkness. Some may keep all one breed, while others keep many different breeds for many different colors of eggs!

Pretty eggs from a successful small flock

Successful small flock owners watch their birds–and why not? They’re so entertaining!

How to prepare your chickens for winter isn’t especially intuitive, and many people may take steps that can actually make things more difficult for their flock rather than helping them to become cold weather chickens!  Choosing cold hardy breeds (if you live in an area of cold winters) is certainly an important first step! But presuming you’ve already made good breed choices, you’ll also want to know what NOT to do for your cold weather chickens.

1. Don’t keep your chickens closed up in their coop when it’s cold.

We like to go outside, even in the winter!

Instead, good cold weather chickens can be allowed to decide when they want to stay in or come out. You might think that your chickens won’t want to go outside in the snow, and sometimes that’s true. Some of your chickens will hate it, and will stay inside most of the day, but others won’t mind it at all. The only time I keep the coop door closed during the day is when the snow is too deep for my cold weather chickens to walk in, or when it’s just so bitter and windy I know no one will come out. (And even then, I sometimes open the door just in case).

Poor Prissy, my Rhode Island Red, sometimes comes outside and only afterwards realizes she doesn’t want to be out in the snow! Here she is having flown to an old chair so she doesn’t have to walk in it, anymore.

2. Don’t tightly insulate your coop. I know that seems strange, but it’s true–tightly insulated coops can cause more harm than good. If your coop is tightly insulated, not only will it retain heat, it will also retain moisture… and retaining moisture in the coop is very, very bad. Chickens create a lot of moisture from their respirations. A lot of moisture also evaporates from their droppings. And in winter, they’ll be spending more time inside, even if just because of the longer winter nights! More droppings build up–and more moisture—and a lot of moisture in the air to condense and freeze will contribute to frostbite. All that humidity also increases the risk of unhealthy conditions in the coop leading to respiratory ailments and mold-related illnesses. Plus, poor ventilation can also cause ammonia gas to build up inside your coop, which is damaging to your chickens’ lungs. Cold weather chickens need a coop to be well ventilated but not drafty.

3. Don’t heat your coop. This is another piece of advice that seems completely counter-intuitive…  however it’s good advice for a number of reasons. Chickens adapt to lower temperatures over time. If the coop is heated, they’ll never become real cold weather chickens—they’ll never get used to the cold winter temperatures outside. Then, if you lose power and their heat goes out, the sudden sharp drop in temperatures with no time to acclimate means you could lose your whole flock in one terrible, fell swoop. Even if it doesn’t come to that, if your chickens are hesitant to spend time outside, they will spend even more time inside the coop making the air wet and breathing the unhealthy, moist air. Finally, heating the coop is often a fire hazard. Remember, chicken coops are generally pretty dusty places, and we hear stories every year from people who have lost their coops—and their flock—to chicken coop fires. The only time I heat my coop is during a sudden, precipitous drop in temperature, just to help ease the transition for my cold weather chickens.

4. Don’t forget to gather eggs more often than usual. If you have cold weather chickens, some may continue to lay during the winter, and the eggs could freeze. While this doesn’t really hurt them, exactly, it IS a risk for bacterial contamination, because the frozen egg contents expand, and can create tiny hairline cracks in the shell you might not see with the naked eye. The cracks can let bacteria into the shell. Of course, at cold temperatures, the bacteria doesn’t grow very quickly, but nonetheless, keeping cracked eggs is just not a good idea. Plus, there’s nothing like opening your refrigerator to find that an egg has thawed and seeped out all over everything—ugh, what a mess!

If I find an egg with a hairline crack, I don’t save it. Instead, I use it right away by cooking up scrambled eggs for the girls, who enjoy some warm treats on a cold day! (It sometimes takes a while to thaw before I’m able to scramble them, though…)

5. Don’t let your water freeze. Keeping fresh, unfrozen water for your flock in the winter can be a challenge. There are always the heated waterers, but—I admit it—I don’t care for these very much. (There are people here at My Pet Chicken who swear by them, though, and they may work for you just fine.) Personally, I don’t like the fire risk, although they are much safer than as trying to heat the coop. I’ve also found them to be generally harder to use and clean than regular waterers. One heated waterer I had filled itself so close to the rim that it needed to be EXACTLY level so it wouldn’t simply pour its contents out on the floor. Another worked well, except for the fact that the chickens kept unplugging it. A third functioned nicely in reasonably mild cold weather, but in very bitter cold, the top of the reservoir would freeze, so that the bottom heated portion where the chickens were meant to drink from would run completely dry. I haven’t found a heated waterer that works very well for me and my cold weather chickens. Instead, I just use multiple waterers. In the morning, I bring in a fresh waterer, and bring in the waterer that was in the coop overnight, and is now frozen. By the time that one is thawed, the other one is nearly frozen, so I switch them out. It requires a lot of walking and carrying, but my preference is to do it that way rather than use expensive heated waterers for my flock.

6. Don’t put off coop cleaning. Because your cold weather chickens will be spending more time inside and creating more droppings inside as a result, the coop will need cleaning more often. For myself, I like to use the deep litter method for managing my coop rather than frequent cleanings, but even doing that, new bedding needs to be added more frequently in the winter to make sure everything stays dry and cozy.

7. Don’t let your birds get too bored. If they have a very small coop and run, there may not be a whole lot to entertain your flock like there is during warmer months. When snow is on the ground, there will be little or no sun bathing. With the ground frozen, dust bathing is unlikely. There won’t be lots of bugs to catch or greens to forage. Bored birds may become snippy or even aggressive with one another if there isn’t anything to think about or do other than reinforce the pecking order over and over again. Alleviate some of the boredom for your cold weather chickens by adding treats to their area. For instance, hang a head of cabbage in your coop for your girls to peck at. As they peck, it swings, making it more difficult to eat immediately, and keeping them entertained for hours. My chickens, seemingly unlike any other chickens in the world, don’t care for cabbage, but there are other treats that can work well for entertainment. For example, suet cakes work well. I prefer to use something high protein, like the Optimal Forage Cake designed for chickens and other domestic poultry, but in winter time something that’s also high in fat (like scratch or cracked corn) can give them the extra calories they need to help stay warm. You can also simply scatter some scratch inside the run for them to forage for—that will keep them entertained, too.

8. Don’t forget to protect their combs. Most cold weather chickens have small combs, but if you have breeds with very large combs, a little petroleum jelly can weatherize them, because it helps guard against frostbite. Spread a little petroleum jelly on their combs. Keep in mind that it needs to be a barely-there, thin layer to help keep their combs from getting chapped. Healthy skin decreases susceptibility to frostbite, so you’re just trying to keep the exposed skin from getting chapped and cracked. Some people assume if a little Vaseline is good, then more is better, but that’s not true! Put on only as much as you’d want on your lips to help keep them moist.

Do you have any other suggestions for preparing your cold weather chickens for winter? Please share below in the comments!

Hey Girls! It’s PUMPKIN and SEEDS!!!

Now is the time to get pumpkins for chickens. Scoop up all the left over, cheap pumpkins you can find from the grocery stores and farmers markets. They should be cheap now, or perhaps even free!

Chickens just love them and they are a nutritional powerhouse for our fine feathered flockers. Pumpkins are loaded with Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and don’t forget the B, C and calcium. All of these offer chickens the same benefits as they offer us humankind.

Pumpkins for Chickens (and people, too)

Vitamin A, which abounds in pumpkins, is needed in chickens for good vision, growth, and bone development. Also, it is called the “anti-infection” vitamin because it helps to maintain the immune system. In addition the linings of the digestive, reproductive, and respiratory tracts all derive benefit in maintaining a healthy status. A deficiency in Vitamin A can cause blood spots in eggs, upper respiratory symptoms called nutritional roup, that resembles bronchitis or infectious coryza and even cause blisters that look like fowl pox. Once these delicate tissues are damaged it opens the door for bacterial or viral infections. A little pumpkin is a wonderful thing when you think about it.

Vitamin K aids in blood clotting and any chicken who dares to show a little blood is going to be in trouble with the flock, so clotting is a must. In addition to wanting the blood to clot quickly you might also want to have a bottle of Pick No More lotion on hand, because that is one product that can help save a chicken from flock picking.

In addition, the B and C vitamins that are contained in pumpkin relieve stress and promote growth and hatchability.

Pumpkin mixture will be thick.

When I have pumpkin around, it goes without saying I like to make pumpkin pie. No recipe here: I just cut it in half and—after giving the insides to the chickens—bake it in the oven. I place the pumpkin, cut side down, on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees till it softens. Then I scoop it out and put it in the mixer bowl till it is about 1/2 full. Add 2 eggs. Brown sugar to taste (1/3 cup?) and a small can of sweetened condensed milk (14 oz) along with a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I mix it a couple of minutes at medium speed and pour it into a pie crust. It will be kind of thick, not runny like canned pumpkin. Then I bake it, using a tin foil over the pie crust edge in the beginning. I probably bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes and uncover it the last 10 minutes.

Pumpkins for chickens ; pies are for people. Chickens just don’t need that extra sugar. (I guess we don’t either!)

With a little ice cream, please!

Bake as many pumpkins as you have and after scooping the pumpkin out put it in plastic bags and freeze it. The chickens will love to eat plain = baked pumpkin all winter long, after you defrost it… and the family will love to eat those pies it takes you two minutes to throw together—so full of good vitamins, minerals and eggs!

Do you get pumpkins for your chickens? Do they like it as much as mine do?

How can you teach a blind hen to forage if she can’t see what’s on the ground? That was the problem that presented itself to us when Hildy learned to go outside.

Miss Hildy, you can’t see it, but you’ve got a feather out of place.

When our blind hen learned to use the coop door to come outside, we were thrilled—but also frightened and worried for her. We were thrilled because, when she had stayed exclusively in the coop, that meant she didn’t have the advantage of foraging like all the other chickens, so exiting the coop meant that she had access to all sorts of healthy foods she didn’t have before. My hens free range and supplement their diets as needed. It produces healthier eggs. They get bugs and grass and seeds and all sorts of good stuff that way… but blind Hildy stayed in the coop and had to eat commercial feed only, as it was the only thing available in there.  Mind you, eating only well-balanced commercial food is not a terrible problem to have; it’s just not the ideal situation. Coming outside afforded our blind hen the opportunity to improve her diet—and be more of a full-time member of the flock. However, I guess you can lead a hen to forage, but you can’t make her eat.

When she came outside she was essentially foodless, since she couldn’t see to forage. Her blindness meant the behavior just never developed in her. Plus, she never did learn to go back inside the coop of her own volition so she couldn’t go in and eat when she needed to. Instead, when she came out to hang with the flock, she also went hungry. What to do?

When I would call the others to come for treats, they all came running. Hildy learned to come running, too. Our darling little blind hen came to the sound of my voice, and also, I think, to the sound of her flock-mates’ running feet and flapping wings. But even though she came when we announced it was treat time, our Hildy would wander around amongst the other girls as they busily ate the sunflower seeds, seemingly confused as to what all the hubbub was about.

Here she is standing on my foot, asking to be picked up. while the rest of the flock is enjoying some treats,

Since she wasn’t eating treats with the other girls or even foraging on her own, to keep her from going too hungry, I’d carry her inside a few times a day so she could eat and drink at the feeders and waterers she was familiar with. But 10 minutes later, she had launched herself out the pophole door again, looking for her sisters. She had learned to go outside, and she just didn’t want to be alone anymore.

It’s not that I hadn’t tried to teach her to forage and eat treats. I had tried. Tried and failed. Occasionally, I would offer special treats to her like sunflower seeds, meal worms and the like… but I was never able to induce her to eat from my hand. A blind hen can’t see treats in your hand. When she felt my hand brushing the front of her chest, she’d try to scoot around it to get to my foot, on which she would stand until I picked her up and petted her.

Out of my way, Hand. I’ll just go around.

Or occasionally when she got very impatient to be cuddled, she tried stepping directly onto my hand as a perch. “You will hold me now!” she seemed to be demanding. How cute is that: Hildy the blind hen, settling down companionably on my treat-filled hand to preen her feathers, then closing her eyes for a nap? But it did nothing to alleviate the problem that she couldn’t eat from anything but the feeders she was familiar with—and the feeders were inside where she couldn’t get to them on her own.

However, my husband decided that he was not going to give up on teaching her to eat treats and forage. He was so patient with her. As I described, when we would toss out seeds or scratch, they would all come running, Hildy among them. Once he decided to teach her, he was there every time. As she wandered around wondering what everyone was doing–what’s with all the activity?–he would be holding his hand in front of her. Sometimes she would walk past, oblivious, or try to step up, and other times she would just stand there pressing herself against him, waiting to be petted. (Of course he obliged–who can resist such gracious affection?) But it wasn’t helping the cause, so he adjusted his strategy. He began raising his hand up so the food would rattle against her beak, hoping that a familiar sensation would trigger something.

Eventually it worked. One day our blind hen had her sort of Helen Keller (“water!”) moment. Rattle went the seeds against her beak. She stopped cold. And then pecked. Rattle. She had hit the food, but failed to retrieve anything. Still, it had dawned on her what we were trying to do, and what all her sisters were doing, why they were so excited. She pecked again, and this time she got something.

Then she went mad. If she had been a puppy, her little tail would have been wagging a mile a minute. Her aim was never good, but it got better and better with more practice. Eventually she was one of the great attractions at our farm for visitors: she would eat from your hands, allow herself to be held and follow you around like a puppy.

Hildy the blind hen charms a young visitor

Teaching a chicken to eat from your hand… okay, it’s not much of a “trick” for most birds, but it’s a breakthrough for a blind hen. Does your flock know any tricks? Or do you have a special needs chicken that was able to learn and adapt?

I love my flock!  Watching their funny antics, getting mobbed when I show up with treats, and being adored by a few lap chickens is rewarding, but being able to supply my family with delicious, healthy eggs from happy hens is one of the main reasons I keep chickens. Hens with access to fresh greens will give you tastier and more nutritious eggs than caged hens that subsist only on chicken feed.

My backyard chickens are enjoying some fresh greens in the form of a head of lettuce that had started going to seed.

Many flock owners don’t need to give a second thought as to how to supply their free-range chickens with fresh greens during much of the year, but not everyone can safely free-range their flock.   Other flock owners, like myself, may live in more inhospitable areas without much grass.

Even though my own hens are able to spend part of each day out in the backyard, my family lives in a hot, desert area, which means naturally growing greens are not that abundant.  My chickens do seem to enjoy dining on the short bermuda grass that grows in my yard, but they enjoy eating the occasional wide-leaved weed and leafy greens even more.  Thankfully there are other ways, besides letting our flocks free-range, for getting those nice, dark yolks.  Gardening is one of them.

Although leafy greens and other vegetables are healthy for chickens to eat, it is not a good idea to give your flock free access to your garden. Unfortunately, chickens are not careful to eat only what we wish and they can demolish your entire garden in one afternoon (trust me, I know).  Besides devouring the tasty parts of your plants, they also love to scratch around and dustbathe in the soft soil. I’ve learned that I even have to lock up the flower pots, lest my flowers be dug up and all my nice potting soil be expelled from the pots during these dustbathing frenzies.

Gardening for your chickens is still a good idea, as long as you offer the plants some protection.  I keep a fence around my garden to keep the chickens and the dogs out and I throw out extra seedlings, weeds, and goodies to the chickens, who gobble them up.  I also planted a My Pet Chicken’s packet of Chicken Salad Seed Mix for my hens last year and they loved it.

Last year, my hens thoroughly enjoyed fresh greens grown from MPC’s Chicken Salad Seed Mix.

You can also try something like this Chicken Run Raised Bed, if you would like to build a special garden for your chickens to dine from.

For the most part, fresh greens can be a healthy part of your flock’s diet, but some plants are not safe for chickens to eat.  You can click here for more information on unhealthy plants and even a partial list of poisonous plants.   You’ll also want to be careful about using chemicals to kill weeds and/or insects in your yard—these chemicals could be toxic to your chickens.   Your chickens may be a bit of help to you in both areas—they like to eat certain weeds and chickens love to eat bugs too!  Be sure to keep your lawn mowed—short grass is much safer for your flock to eat than long cut grass—long grass can cause an impacted crop.

During the winter, when there are no plants left in my garden, I purchase a huge bag of spinach from a warehouse type store so that the hens still get some greens each day.  Besides fresh greens, there are many other healthy treats you can give your flock.  What are some of your chickens’ favorite treats from the garden?

Here’s an article I recently wrote about grocery store egg labels for dLife, a wonderful online resource for folks with diabetes. Many chicken-keepers are already aware of the difference “cage-free” and conventional eggs—and that’s part of the motivation for keeping chickens. For you who aren’t aware, this one’s for you.

Checking out the egg case can be an overwhelming experience. There are so many egg labels slapped onto egg cartons these days, and many are not what they seem! Here we demystify those egg labels:

Conventional – Conventional eggs are those that are not labeled Cage-free, Free-Range or Organic. These hens are raised in extremely tight wire cages, allocated 1.3 square feet per bird, and their feed has been treated with pesticides. Contrary to popular belief, laying hens are never fed hormones or steroids—but they are routinely fed antibiotics. (A recent study found traces of a class of antibiotics banned by the USDA in 8 of 12 samples across multiple states—yikes!) According to a report from United Egg Producers, 95% of all hens are raised in the “conventional” manner.

Cage-free – These eggs come from hens that are raised on the floor, usually in an open barn. The hens have bedding material such as pine shavings on the floor, and have perches and nest boxes to lay their eggs. They, too, only required to have only 1.3 square feet of space per bird. Cage-free eggs are a big step up from conventional eggs, however. The Humane Society cites 16 studies since 2006 finding lower Salmonella rates in cage-free systems vs. conventional, caged systems.

Free-range – These eggs come from hens that should be free to go in and out of a barn or protected area, roaming in an outdoor pen for part of the day. However, the size of the space or the level of access to that outdoor space is not regulated. The outside area may be as small as 10 feet by 10 feet for 20,000 hens, is not required to have any dirt or grass, and is usually restricted by a small door, resulting in no meaningful outdoor access for the vast majority of hens raised in this manner.

Pasture-raised – These eggs come from hens that are raised on real pasture and able to roam and eat grasses and bugs. This method offers humane treatment of hens, and a style of feeding that most closely mimics their natural behaviors. Hens raised on this system will still be offered supplemental feed, and many will be confined in large pens to protect them from predators. There are no national egg brands offering pasture-raised options, but there are many smaller, local producers, which can be found on the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard.

Certified Organic – These eggs come from hens that are raised according to the USDA National Organic Program. Like the cage-free label, organically raised hens are raised in open floor systems and allotted a minimum of 1.3 square feet of space per bird. They are given organic feed and they are not given vaccines or antibiotics.

Vegetarian-Fed – These eggs come from hens that are fed a vegetarian diet. Chickens are naturally omnivores, though, and will eat meat if given the chance – especially insects and small rodents – so this is not necessarily a health benefit to you or the hens.

Omega 3 – These eggs come from hens whose diet has been supplemented to increase Omega-3 levels, usually with such things as fish oil, flax and canola seeds, seaweed, or alfalfa meal. (Pasture-raised hens will have naturally high Omega-3 levels and do not need supplementation.)

We highly recommend you check out the Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard. It details the type of diet and animal treatment you can eggs-pect from all the country’s major egg producers. You might be surprised to know only ONE national egg producer grants meaningful outdoor space to their hens, for instance! The Scorecard also grades local, smaller-scale egg producers, so you can find one in your area that produces the type of eggs you’re looking for.

Of course, you might also consider growing your own! Backyard chickens have become incredibly popular all around the nation for their fun, quirky personalities and gentle nature. Chickens can lay eggs in a rainbow of colors, and they’re bug eaters extraordinaire. If you’re considering keeping a flock of your own, enjoy My Pet Chicken’s free “how-to” chicken care guide.

Sources
WebMD. Are Some Eggs Safer Than Others? (Accessed 01/13)

Mother Earth News: Free-Range vs. Pastured Chickens

Mother Earth News: How to Decode Egg Cartons

Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Egg Scorecard

United Egg Production Report: Impacts of Banning Cage Egg Production in the United States

United Egg Producers website, with FAQ.

Humane Society and 16 studies showing higher Salmonella rates in cage-free systems

Banned antibiotics given to poultry

One of the weird things about owning chickens is that you have to pay a lot of attention to chicken poop. It’s strange, but it’s an important indicator of health or illness, just as it is in humans.

You’d think chicken poop would be private, but no-ooo-oo-o. She has to blog about it.

Healthy chicken poop is generally greenish or brownish, depending on diet, and (when fresh), about the consistency of bean dip (although  not NEARLY as appetizing). It usually has a whitish, chalky “cap” of urates as well.

Normal chicken poop. Important tongue-in-cheek warning: do not mistake for bean dip and sour cream.

Chickens also produce  cecal poo which looks more like chocolate pudding, or—again, depending on diet—sometimes like mustard. Also not appetizing. Cecal poo is sometimes especially stinky.

So you check out your flock’s poo every so often because it can indicate if your chickens are ill. Diarrhea, obviously, is one indications of illness. But so is foamy poo, yellowish poo, mucousy poo and so on. It all means something. But sometimes an odd appearance doesn’t mean anything is wrong. For instance, you may be worried that your chickens are suffering from an illness that causes diarrhea, when the real issue is just a heat wave. When your girls are drinking extra water to stay cool in a heat wave, they may have loose stools that don’t indicate illness, just an increased water intake.

But there’s usually a period of not-quite-panic, at least for me, before a determination can be made as to whether the vet needs to be called.

Case in point: this past week, I noticed a black poo. Then another. Then several. Ye gods, I thought, does this black chicken poop mean I have a sick chicken, or several? Black poop can mean there is blood in the stool, blood that has come from high up the gastrointestinal tract. Is that what’s happening?

Black chicken poop: I worried that something was wrong!

I then took a closer look at the flock to see if there was some sign of illness I had missed, but as far as behavior goes, they were all acting just fine. However, when I thought about it, I had noticed that there seemed to have been more than usual feather damage on the backs of some of the girls, so there was another possible clue. Egg laying had dropped a little, too. Not definitively, but I had gotten fewer eggs over the last couple of days. If they were acting lethargic, feathers ruffled, I would have begun to suspect some sort of parasite, but they were all energetic and active, despite all the black chicken poop I was seeing, and despite the feather and laying issues. What could be up?

After watching them for a couple hours in the backyard–usually we hang out a little more on the front porch–I realized what the issue was. Our mulberries are ripe, and they’re ripe a little early this year. My girls love to scavenge berries from beneath the tree in our backyard, and it colors their poo black or purple, just as it does with songbirds who eat mulberries (and then poop on your car!).

They look much better before they’ve been digested, right?

The mulberries also explained the feather loss and drop in laying. Naturally, I always provide a good quality feed for my girls. But that doesn’t stop them from temporary gluttony when something is in season! When that happens–when the mulberries, blackberries, peaches, cherries, etc., are in season—they indulge, and the drop in protein in their diets mean their feathers may be more susceptible to damage, and they may see a drop in laying. It’s just one of those things that happens with my flock, since they are free range. There are a lot of ways your chickens will freak you out at first, before you know the routine.

For instance, the first spring I had adult chickens, I went through another chicken poop panic. One of my girls was producing yellow chicken poop. Yellow—bright yellow! I was sure she must have worms… but a fecal smear came back with nothing unusual, and she was acting just fine. Finally I realized that she was, for some reason, moved to eat all the fallen yellow forsythia blossoms as they came down.

Looks… tasty?

She was having forsythia poop.

Have you ever had this sort of chicken poop scare with your flock? Please share in the comments!

Ashlee, we woke up this morning to find you had left us. Always the first to come running when you saw us in the yard, always forgiving as our kids endlessly carried you around the yard like you were a doll, beautiful with your white and gray and buff–you will be missed. You gave us hundreds of beautiful, big, sage green eggs. You survived a raccoon attack a few summers ago, with only a small scratch to show for it. You survived bullying and exclusion by a younger batch of hens, after your sister Jessica had passed–but you were savvy. You stayed on the outskirts of the flock for a few months, biding your time, watching and learning, until you charmed your way into their good graces. You eventually worked your way back up to the number two spot in the pecking order.

I am sorry for the way that you passed. Two days ago, I noticed you were a bit slow to leave the coop. Yesterday, you seemed tired. You croaked at me for attention, and I knew something was wrong, but I was too busybusybusy to deal with it right then. If I’d taken a few minutes with you, could I have figured what was troubling you and treated you in time to save you? If not, at the very least, I might have been proud for the way I cared for you, my friend. You gave us so much, and asked for so little. And in the end, when you needed me, I feel that I abandoned you. You deserved better. And you will be missed.

You can tell your backyard pet chickens are too hot when they hold their wings away from their bodies to help release heat; they may also pant with their beaks open to try to cool themselves off. But what can you do other than choose heat hardy breeds…  or move north?

Don’t move; I like it here!

After all, while you may be willing to bring your dog or cat inside to huddle in the air conditioning with you,  most people are not interested in having their flock of backyard pet chickens in the house. I love chickens, mind you, but I don’t want them roosting on my sofa, or flying up to the kitchen table to see what I’m doing! Having one chicken inside temporarily to recover from an injury is not akin to having a whole flock of backyard pet chickens in your house for the air conditioning. Plus, frankly, the chickens won’t be too happy about going from foraging the lovely yard for bugs and greens, to foraging your carpet for lint and fuzz!

This is much better than carpet!

Here are our five best tips for helping your flock of backyard pet chickens beat the heat:

1. Make sure your chickens have plenty of  fresh water. Hens especially need to stay hydrated–it takes a lot of moisture to produce eggs, and they can easily get dehydrated on hot days, even if they’re just without water for a few hours. Even being out of water briefly means they could be off laying for several days if not longer. If they’re without water for a longer period in a heat wave like this, they could die from heat stress.

2. Make sure your chickens have access to shade in their run, especially during the hottest part of the day. Some runs have plenty of shade in the morning and evening when the sun is low, but little or none when the sun is high overhead in the middle of the day. If your run doesn’t have adequate shade for your backyard pet chickens, consider rigging a tarp or setting up a gazebo tent to make sure they have somewhere to escape the beating sun!

The flock takes shade under the pear tree

3. Make sure your coop doesn’t get too hot. Some coops heat up during the day like the inside of a car, so check to make sure ventilation is adequate. In very hot areas, it’s common to have a three-sided coop, with the fourth wall made of secure welded wire like 1/2″ hardware cloth. Some coops in extremely hot areas may have welded wire floors, as well. While being kept permanently on wire can cause foot problems for chickens, if they have a run and access to the ground during the day, it won’t be a problem for your chickens the way it is in some factory farm situations where the chickens must stand hunched on wire 24/7. Your backyard pet chickens will roost at night off the wire, and during the day will spend time on the ground. However, this system won’t work well if you also have cold, icy winters!

3. Keep your chickens’ water cool with ice. Of course, you can simply put ice cubes directly into their waterers, but remember, the larger the block of ice, the longer it will take to melt, so using blocks of ice is usually a better idea than small cubes. Make sure ahead of time that what you are using will fit into your waterer, though. You can buy cold packs and use those, or you can “make your own” by freezing water in plastic bottles. Place your commercial or DIY cold pack  in your backyard pet chickens ‘ waterer.  You can also simply freeze blocks of ice in clean cartons (such as a small paper milk carton), peel away the carton for a black of ice to add to their waterer. Be creative!

4. Offer frozen or refrigerated foods to your backyard pet chickens as a treat in the heat. Chickens especially love refrigerated watermelon—and it’s so high in moisture that it also helps keep them hydrated. Frozen grapes or berries are also good choices, as is frozen corn. Be sure to offer any treats in moderation, as always—and also try to to offer the treats in the shade. Don’t make your chickens come out from the shade in order to get something that will cool them off!

5. Use a mister… or avoid using one! In some circumstances, a mister works well. In others… not so much. If you live in a dry area such as the desert southwest, a pet mister can really help keep your flock cool. By contrast, if it’s very humid in your area, a mister can cause problems. Misters work by cooling the air as the water quickly evaporates, but if it’s very humid in your area, the mist will not evaporate, but will simply create a muddy mess and increase overall mugginess. Mud and moisture also serve as a breeding ground for insects and bacteria, and in some cases, invite the growth molds and mildews. If your area is too humid for a mister, consider getting a small kiddie pool and filling it with an inch or so of ice-cooled water during the heat of the day. Most chickens will enjoy chilling their feet in the cool water, and you can dump out the water at the end of the day (reuse it in your garden or for your landscaping) to keep it fresh.

What are your tips for keeping your flock of backyard pet chickens cool in the heat?

A Listen Lissa reader writes in with a question about her hens’ funny-looking eggs:

I have a question about some funny-looking eggs. My chickens are a year old now, and have been laying for about seven months. Recently, I’ve noticed that two have had extra shell build-up on the outside of their eggs, sort of spotty. Should I be concerned?

Do  your “funny-looking eggs” look something like this one?

The brown egg with the calcium deposits on the right side of this photo was laid by a Rhode Island Red hen

If they do, the short answer is this: there’s probably no reason to worry.

Younger hens and older hens sometimes have egg or shell irregularities that are really nothing to worry about. Funny-looking eggs sometimes happen. Young hens may take some time to get into the groove of laying, while older hens may have some issues when age means everything doesn’t run as smoothly.

That said, your hens are a year old, which is young, but really not so young that their systems haven’t worked out the kinks. They’re not old either. That means it would be a little more unusual for you to see funny-looking eggs from your flock regularly. (Occasional egg shell issues can occur because of stress, for example if a loud thunderstorm or a predator disturbed your hens.)

If it’s a regular occurrence though, take a look at their diet. We always recommend feeding a layer feed to hens (of course!), and offering oyster shell (as a calcium supplement) free choice. I’ve noticed that I see more calcium pimples on my eggs when I’ve replenished the oyster shell; my girls often seem to over-do it with the freshly-filled bowl! If you’ve just refilled your oyster shell, perhaps that’s what you’re seeing.

Another possibility is that some people choose to mix their oyster shell in with their feed. Is that something you do? If so, it isn’t the worst idea in the world, but it does mean your girls may accidentally get more calcium than they need. When they don’t need it, they will have to eat around it and actively avoid it. Excess can be excreted in the deposits and pimples on the shell. Remember, the oyster shell is meant to be a supplement, used by the girls just in case they need it. If you are mixing oyster shell into their feed, stop that for a while—offer it in a separate dish—and see if the problem doesn’t disappear.

It’s possible, too, to see more pimples or deposits when sunlight begins to wane and laying slows down. One of my girls has eggs with calcium pimples only between equinoxes (between September and March) because she lays fewer eggs then, but doesn’t change her diet significantly. In other words, she’s getting the same amount of calcium, but using it to produce fewer eggs.

You may see funny-looking eggs, too, if your hens have run out of water. As you can imagine, that’s bad for a number of reasons, but even being without water for a short time can temporarily stall an egg in your hens’ reproductive tract. If it gets stalled in the shell gland, extra calcium can be distributed on the shell.

Calcium metabolism in chickens is also affected by other nutrients like vitamin D and phosphorus. If you’re feeding a lot of treats—especially when you’re feeding oily treats like seeds—it’s possible for their nutrition can get a little out-of-whack. Cut down on treats to make sure they’re getting a proper nutritional balance. That may work. For instance, too much vitamin D can cause your hens to absorb too much calcium from their diet, which can then be deposited on egg shells, or even cause kidney or bone problems. This is why you should always offer treats in moderation.

Lastly, you may just have a hen whose shell gland doesn’t work perfectly. In other words, she may just be a hen who lays funny-looking eggs. That’s okay, too. Unless your girls showing other signs of illness (lethargy, a lack of appetite, changes in droppings, respiratory issues, etc.), it’s probably not a big deal. If you do notice something that makes you think they’re ill, contact a vet to get a firm diagnosis and treatment options.

If you have a question for Lissa, email info@mypetchicken.com, and use “Listen Lissa” in the subject line. Your email may be used in a future column.

Do our readers have any additional advice? Please share in the comments!

A reader of our chicken advice column has a question about her chickens coming home to roost:

Listen Lissa,

We have a flock of three so far (more in the brooder) who get along great, and have been in the same roomy coop with plenty of roosts since they were chicks.

Baby chickie friends: why aren’t all the chickens coming home to roost?

They’re about 17 weeks now.  Out of the blue, the second hen in the pecking order, (Joules a barred rock), was not in the coop with the other two when we went out to close their door around 8 pm. The others were very quiet.  We looked all over with flashlights and called for her but no sounds.  The next morning we found Joules in the big fir tree near the coop.  They all have roosted in this tree before during the day but it’s not their favorite place.  Now, every evening, I watch the flock do their routine of ambling and snacking on the way to the coop, walking up the ramp, and then all three going in.  About 30 seconds later, I see Joules walk back out. Joules walks back and forth, and calls to the head hen, Roxie (a barred rock also). Joules eyes the fir tree and either hops the fence or walks along the fence out the gate to roost up in the tree.  She’s done this every evening for four days now, despite being taken out and placed back in the coop by us.

Nothing we know has changed in the coop or backyard. I’m just wondering why she’d rather roost in a tree by herself, where it’s not as safe, rather than with her flock in a clean dry coop.  Also wondering if we’re going to have to pluck her out of the tree every single evening.

~Tree topper

My hens, Lily and Galatea, used to like watching the sunset from the porch rail. Luckily, they always eventually went to roost in the coop, even if they were usually the last to retire!

If carrying her back into the coop every night isn’t working to encourage her to develop better, safer, habits, then you might try closing the door immediately, as soon as she goes into the coop. This will mean you’ll have to be watching and ready to go when you see your chickens coming home to roost… as soon as you see Joules go inside, shut the door, because she’ll be back out in only 30 seconds! It’s possible that closing the door before she comes back out will teach her how to settle safely to roost in the coop on her own, and to develop that good habit again. Failing that, you can try keeping them inside the coop for a few days until Joules re-learns where to roost. Make sure to do this in mild weather; you don’t want to have them shut inside the coop on days where it will get too hot inside!

Another possibility is that Joules gets nervous in the dark coop in the evening.  It sounds silly, but sometimes young birds who have been raised beneath a heat lamp can actually be afraid of the dark: a heat lamp that’s on 24-7 produces light as well as heat, and so the darkness might just be alien to her. Joules might simply find it more comfortable outside where it’s a little brighter for longer, or where she has moonlight (or street lights, depending on where you live). So, you might try putting a little tap light inside the coop, and turn it on before bedtime. When they’re settled on the roost, you can go turn it out. A small solar light will slowly dim and go out on its own. (Generally, you don’t want to abruptly turn the lights out on your birds in the evening, because it can be difficult for them to safely roost when the lights go out suddenly. Do make sure they’re safely roosting before turning the light out, or make sure to use a light that dims slowly.)

Lastly, it’s possible Joules is being accosted by something in the coop that you’re not seeing. For instance, a few years ago, I was having a similar issue. While my girls weren’t roosting in trees, several decided to roost on a stone wall beside the coop. I couldn’t figure it out at first. What I eventually discovered was that they were suffering from mites; some mites emerge and feed chiefly in the evening, just when you see your chickens coming home to roost. Joules’s rejection of the coop may be reaction to an “attack” that isn’t immediately obvious to you. Read more about mites—and how to treat your girls—on our website.

Please write back and let us know how these suggestions work out for you! I hope the advice helps. Do my readers have any other suggestions?

To have your chicken question answered by Lissa, send an email to info@mypetchicken.com, and use the subject line “Listen Lissa.”!

Backyard pet chickens don’t normally need to be bathed. There are exceptions; the most common being in preparation for showing your chickens at a poultry exhibition. But there are other occasions where you may need to bathe your chicken, times when an emergency chicken bath may be in order.

Here is Autumn’s hen Isa, after having been bathed for the fair

A reader of Lissa’s chicken advice column writes:

Listen Lissa,

My best laying chicken has a lot of debris by her vent. I have tried washing it with a wet cloth and I can feel hard lumps (I think of dirt or whatever congealed near her rear end). This is disgusting, but I’m afraid she’ll soon have trouble laying eggs with all that junk accumulating. Should I be conerned? If so, how do I clean her?

~Bath Bother

Well, BB, these could be circumstances in which an emergency chicken bath may be appropriate. Compare it to baby chicks who can get pasted. A little poo or debris in a chick’s feathers is not a cause for concern, but a lot can cause serious problems. Young baby chicks are especially vulnerable to “pasting,” a condition in which poo has dried so hard around the chick’s vent that she’s unable to defecate.

Pasting is possible, but isn’t likely to happen in an older chicken. There are other worries, though, that may make an emergency chicken bath something to consider. Usually, an older chicken will groom out dirt or poo in her feathers herself, and frankly, it’s okay for feathers to be a little dirty. Especially if you range your chickens, your birds may occasionally get muddy or dirty. They’re not going to be in that perfectly clean and shiny condition show birds are expected to be in!

However, if poo builds up around the vent, even when it isn’t keeping your hen from defecating, it can be a reason to be concerned.

Concern number one is just that your hen may be sick. Droppings of normal consistency don’t usually get stuck in your hen’s feathers, so having her behind covered in poo can be an indication that her droppings are loose and watery. But before you freak out, consider that this isn’t always an indication of illness, either. For instance, your hens are fairly likely to have watery droppings in heat waves, when they’re drinking extra water to help stay cool. That’s normal. But if your hen’s vent area is covered in droppings, be sure to keep and eye out for any other symptoms that could indicate she’s ill. Parasites like worms can cause loose poo, and there are other serious illnesses that cause diarrhea, too. If tis is the case, you probably don’t want to give her an emergency chicken bath as much as you want to get her to the vet. After she’s recovered, you might consider an emergency chicken bath, depending on your vet’s recommendations.

If she’s not ill, though, there is still concern number two about a bottom covered in droppings: it can attract myiasis, or flystrike. Flystrike occurs when certain varieties of flies lay their eggs in, say, a wound that your chicken has… or in fecal material caught in her feathers near her vent. When large amounts of fecal material are stuck in your birds’ feathers, it can attract flies to lay their eggs in the mass, just as they lay their eggs in any rotting or fecal material. When the maggots hatch, which doesn’t take long, they can cause a severely painful infection. Some will only invade a wound or tissue that is already dead, but others will simply invade the vent itself. Even something as simple as a scratch or bug bite might be enough for some species like screw flies to invade.

This is all very creepy, but don’t get too worried. Flystrike is not overly common in chickens, and the regular housefly is not usually a danger. This usually occurs with specific types of flies, such as bot flies, green/blue bottles or screw flies. Still, even if it’s just a small risk, that’s still a reason to offer an emergency chicken bath to remove large build ups of feces, just as a safeguard. If you’re sure your bird isn’t suffering from an illness causing the loose poo, before going to an emergency chicken bath, you can try a wet wash cloth. If that doesn’t work, you may see if you can enlist the aid of a partner to carefully trim the vent feathers.

If that doesn’t work, either—or if it would leave her bottom too bare!—you may want to give her an emergency chicken bath. Bathe her only when it’s warm, and make sure to use warm (not hot) water. She shouldn’t get chilled. Sometimes plain water should be enough, but if you must use a shampoo, ideally pick up some that has been formulated specifically for birds at your local pet store. Other shampoos can strip your bird’s feathers of important oils that protect them.

Does your chicken need to be bathed as a matter of course? In most cases the answer is absolutely not. But there are times when an emergency chicken bath is in order.

Do any readers have any stories to share about experiences with flystrike? Or how about some chicken bathing tips?

We have some good and bad news about our Salmon and Blue Salmon Favaucanas.

Juvenile Favaucanas are so pretty together! These are mostly blue salmon Favaucanas.

We’ve had nearly 400 people (at the time of this writing) sign up to be notified about when our Salmon Favaucanas—our new “designer cross”—will be available to order.  Those of you who have been following the blog will remember this is a cross breed I started hatching at my WV farm, and which I promptly fell in love with. They’re beautiful and calm, social and friendly, hardy and productive. They lay beautiful sage green eggs in copious amounts, and are great foragers.

And friendly. Did I say friendly? Did I say sage green eggs? Did I say lots of them?

Also look at how beautiful the roosters are. Here’s our Favaucana rooster D’artagnan.

When I provided our CEO (Chief Eggsecutive Officer) Traci with eggs so she could hatch her own Salmon Favaucanas, Traci promptly fell in love with them, too. That’s when we hatched a plan to develop designer Favaucanas for My Pet Chicken to sell—we wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience how awesome Favaucanas are! Once the breeding program was set up, I shared the good news here on the blog, and we provided a place for people to sign up to be notified about when Favaucanas could be ordered.

But you know us. We wanted our Favaucanas to be raised with access (actual, meaningful access) to the outdoors, where they could forage and be… you know… chickens, rather than just egg producing machines. And so they were: our set up was probably very much like the type of set up most of you have at home, lots of space and sunshine and outdoors.

Here are some Favaucanas in my mixed flock at home

Unfortunately, having access to the outdoors also means the outdoors has access to the chickens. Wild birds can get in the chickens’ area, for instance, and while that’s not usually a problem, it CAN be… and it was in our case. My home flock is fine, thank goodness. But the Salmon  Favaucana breeding flock contracted an illness from wild birds and had to be culled. This was tragic not only on a business level, but on a personal level. You know we love our chickens, and having a flock die on us was just tremendously heartbreaking.

Winter sunset and Salmon Favaucana hen

That’s the bad news: we lost the whole Salmon Favaucana breeding flock, and have to start all over with the Salmon Favaucanas.

But on to the good news: the Salmon Favaucanas were not our ONLY Favaucana plan. We’re tricksy that way. We also developed Blue Favaucanas. The Blue Favaucaunas have the same wonderful characteristics of the Salmon Favaucanas–down to egg color!–but with the pretty smoky blue plumage that’s all the rage right now.  And the Blue Favaucanas will be available very soon, so soon we’ve already listed Blue Favaucanas on the My Pet Chicken website.

Blue Faverolles photo, courtesy of Beanwood Faverolles in the U.K. The blue Favaucanas will be similar, but with a pea comb and a slightly less profuse beard

So… we’ll do the same things here that we did for the Salmon Favaucanas: if you would like to be notified when the Blue Favaucanas are available for ordering, please comment below. We’ll notify you FIRST by email!