Congratulations MamaNini! You won a beautiful coop from Handcrafted Coops! - Page 19

Pull up a chair.
seriously.
Have a chair out in the middle of all the fun. Throw some scratch down or even meal worms or crickets.
Be prepared to have your shoes untied, your feet sat on(and pooped on), your lap, shoulder, and eventually head turned into roosts.
Be prepared to laugh till it hurts, and to see your blood pressure drop.

Basically, enjoy them. They are fun and quirky with tons of personality who will bond with you the giver of treats if you let them.

It's very important to make sure you clean out your hens nest (or egg-laying) boxes on a regular basis... not doing so will not only be harmful to your girls' health but it can cause a decrease in egg production. Hens sometimes have leftover poop on their rumps and will unintentionally contaminate the nest box, so I try to clean out the boxes in my coops at least twice a month. Also, mites tend to be much worse in old and filthy nesting material, which will make hens not want to go in the boxes and lay their eggs.

What you use for nesting material is also important~ lots of people use just straw or hay, but I've found that using cedar or pine shavings will not only make everything smell better, but it acts as a natural repellent to help keep the mites off the birds as well. You can still use hay or straw on the top layer if you'd like, but always put a layer of shavings down first, then make a top layer with hay or straw.

One final note~ it's not a good idea to use pine shavings around baby chicks~ pine shavings are usually very fine and the chicks have a tendency to eat them and it could get stuck in throats and cause them to not be able to digest their food. Cedar shavings are best for chicks.

1. Biggest mistake people make: CHICKEN WIRE. Use hardware cloth and lock up at night.
2. If you aren't sure if your neighbors will mind, bring it up casually BEFORE you get chickens and/or a coop. My neighbor knew about our plans before we even got the chicks and now she loves to see them over the fence.
3. Electrolytes are great but antibiotics are only to be used as needed.
4. Apple cider vinegar in plastic waterers to bust slime
5. Chickens WILL get dirt/shavings/poop in the waterer. Nipple waterers are the way to go, especially f you can mange to fill it via hose without carrying anything.
6. If you have certain breeds in mind and the feed store lest have any, don't settle for a breed you don't want. Because you will feel and likely act upon the urge to expand your flock. (even and esecally if you have a legal limit on he number of birds you can have.)
7. If you are using a run and not free ranging, make all or most of it tall enough for everyone in the family to comfortably stand up in (by comfortably, I mean that You are not very likely to hit your head and you don't need to hunch over too much.).
8. Open up the pop door in the morning and close it at dusk. Simple as that.
9. Again with the neighbors; maintain a good relationship with them so you can find a willing sitter if you go away. Often neighbors will check on the chickens in the morning and evening for you accepting the eggs they collect as full or partial pay.
10. Enjoy your chickens along with the fresh eggs! Socialize with them often from a young age and they will trust you to hold and watch them.
Ten useful facts, will add more if I think of any!

My best advice would be to be VERY careful when adding new chickens to your flock. Don't take in adult chickens or chicks from anyone. You never know if they are healthy or not. I feel even if you keep them separated for a month or more, you are still at risk. Always get your chickens from a reputable hatchery!  I started out with 9 chicks that I got from my local farm supply. I have let my hens raise chicks maybe 4 times over the last 3  years and now have 31 wonderful ,healthy chickens. I feel it is very important to maintain a closed flock if possible. It has been a wonderful experience to raise these chickens from day one. They are all VERY sweet. They know their names and come when called. They LOVE to sit in my lap and snuggle. Raising chickens has been a great experience!!! I would say nothing is worth losing your whole flock over a couple of new chickens!!!

I have heard so many horror stories about adding new chickens and then they end up losing their whole flock to respiratory infections. I can't say I have learned this by personal experience but by  learning from other mistakes. I love my girls TOO much to put them at risk!

Raise them for eggs, Raise them for meat, Take them to a show, Just give them a treat! Hens sing their songs, A rooster crows, Dirt bathes, chicken scratch Our little flock will grow. From the eggs in the incubator to the gardens they will roam, My advice to you, Happy chickens,happy home.

Garlic Benefits for Chickens
I have learned that garlic has AMAZING benefits for chickens. It is a natural antibiotic which helps increase chickens' immunities. You can feed it to your chickens crushed or by adding it to their water, either way you have to start out slow and gradually increase  the amount so they acquire a taste for it. If you add it to their water, start out with one clover per gallon gradually working up to 4 or 5 cloves per gallon. It also works best if you can start chicks out on it in their starter feed (crushing small amounts and mixing with feed). 

A true "backyard" chicken raiser here from the concrete jungle of Miami Florida. My advice to any one interested or not even aware of the benefits of backyard poultry is to invest your time and efforts in activities that bring the skills of our basic traditions back into the lives of Americans. This is especially important for the food deserts that exist in our urban and suburban areas. Exploring elements of backyard food production is a phenomena not only tightly knitted with American history but is also a sustainable living venture. There is a movement progressing within urban communities to bring back these elements, which includes keeping chickens, growing kitchen gardens, and the planting of fruit and nut trees. Recognize the importance of raising our own sustenance from the communities we reside in and take the plunge into raising your own chickens. After hatching my own chickens, providing the security, rations and care, I, now, collect my own eggs on a daily basis. Take the plunge... it's worth it.

 

Good luck all... this is a great event!

Chickens will help you master the context of the English language above all! When you are given your first few girls then decide later to raise some baby chicks with your five year old you and you put them together for the first time after asking the advice of your dentist, neighbor, husband's mother, children's Montessori teachers and fellow faculty members ( because you all love and raise chickens) you come to understand what "establishing the pecking order" really means. When you keep checking out your bedroom window (that of course had a view of the hen house) all night on the really snowy and blustery nights, and run outside before you feed the kids, the pleading cats, your husband and of course yourself to feed and give water to the "girls" and let them out into the first streak of sun on any above freezing morning, you use the phrase "cooped up" with much more respect! When you love your birds so much you see the regal reflections of peacocks in their shadows, and come to love the summer eves so much more for the extra hours it allows them to stay out plucking your best strawberries off the vines, or roosting just high enough in your pine trees that you have to drag step ladders outside to reach them while your kids hold flashlights so you can see from below that guide you to deliver the chickens safely in your arms back to the sleeping coop - you look at the idea of "free-range" and "cage-free" from a totally new perspective and value. My advice is give thanks to these "feathered friends" indeed that teach me and my children each day a bit more than "the fox in the hen house" ever figured out about the quality of life, how we truly "are what we eat" and the importance of respect for great and small- even the tiny first eggs a chicken ever lays taste as sweet and perfect as the handful you get from your best layer because they are filled with promise!

My best advice is to know your flock and your individual birds as well as you can.  If someone is off feed or not acting right, an investigation is in order.  You can detect a lot of issues early if you just pay attention and trust your gut.  Then come here, to backyardchickens.com, to ask others what might be going on!  There are so many knowledgeable people here!!!  :)

what I found to be helpful was to spend 20 to 30 minutes with your birds at least each day. talk to them while you are tending to food and water etc.and I also keep a small radio on in their coop. I find that the music does help sooth the wee beasties. Plus it helps with your talkative visits to keep their stress levels down. Happy Birds are Productive Birds! ...And try not to knock yourself out  on the top of the door frame walking out of the coop. Your birds will laugh at you.....or maybe that was my kids? :) 

 

Just remember that things happen and stress factors will effect your birds.