Common knowledge that an inexperienced person should know?

[BigBlueHen53]

Here's one. They are BIRDS. They are tough and sturdy. You don't need to knit sweaters for them to wear in cold weather. They do NOT need a heated coop. If wild birds can survive, so can they. If you can keep them dry and out of drafts, they will do well. Protect them predators and they will do well.

 

[Idaho Chicken Bungalow]

Spend at LEAST 10 minutes a day observing your flock. I swear by this as I found a prolapsed vent on a sunny early spring day. This last spring was so cold, I found a sunny spot.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Here's one. They are BIRDS. They are tough and sturdy. You don't need to knit sweaters for them to wear in cold weather. They do NOT need a heated coop. If wild birds can survive, so can they. If you can keep them dry and out of drafts, they will do well. Protect them predators and they will do well.

Sorry, protect them FROM predators, etc.

 

[Dakota8472]

Hi everyone

I own a very small flock (2 turkeys, 4 chickens, some quail and recently newly hatched chicks)
I am very new still to owning poultry and theres alot i do not know, but when i initially decided to get them i did alot of researching of what they needed, diseases, common problems, how to enrich them and so on. Or so i thought...

Recently one of my hens developed an impacted crop (she is perfectly fine btw, it wasnt a bad case and i noticed it early). And prior to this and even though i did alot of research i had not heard of this even though its fairly common. I now know it was entirely my fault due to me allowing them to eat long grass and weeds. again i just didnt know about such things.

So i will get to my point. what are some common things about chickens or other poultry that someone should know but dont usually find out until it happens? It doesnt have to be health related either.

Im genuinely curious as to what people have discovered during their time with their fluffy bums.

Ill give some of mine that i discovered
- quails will randomly jump straight up in the air for no apparent reason.
- turkeys (atleast mine do) get the zoomies similar to what dogs and cats do.
-chickens try to mimic some things they see me do. They saw me kicking around a tennis ball and now they all suddenly scratch at small balls to move them around.

thank you

if u free range ur flock, only add food in the coop at night. then ur not chasing them and pulling them out of trees.

 

[lisacraig]

Im on my second year with 5 1yo and 8 4mo hens, who free range. Here is what i learned/dealt with and i thought i had read up on everything but found myself scrambling for answers. I do have a well supplied first aid kit. I lost a chicken to sour crop (nose blind)…i check my chickens crops regularly now. Had some feather loss and thought it was mites and learned i should be dusting them and coop occasionally (altho in this case it wasnt mites and they were fine). Deworming should be done twice a year. Look out for bumblefoot and know how to treat including cutting it out (just had my vet do but he recommended i do it next time). Have had some soft eggs and vet said i should be putting oyster shells in w food too not just on its own. On that i also changed food to purina layena+ oyster strong.

Advice on first aid kit per my vet: use antibiotic CREAM not ointment. Ointment does not help the healing process (ie w bumblefoot). Also add PRID salve to kit. Can get at drug store. And do not use anything with lidocaine (or use sparingly) as its not good for chickens.

 

[weedblossom9]

The chickens don’t care about your soy-free, non-GMO, organic super-feed mixed with herbs and spices that you special ordered and costs $50 for a 30 pound bag. And they don’t care about your intricate watering system that you scrub out everyday with white vinegar and Dawn*, and supplement with ACV and probiotics.

I’ve watched my tiny raptors tear apart (yes, and eat) a mouse that dared to stumble into their personal space; and I’ve watched them drink out of a mud puddle that my dog literally just peed in. They’re a lot tougher than we give them credit for; and sometimes less really is best.

*NOT saying we shouldn’t be diligent about keeping waterers generally clean because ew.

 

[DanetteGrace]

I just want to get a roo to alert me when this pesky teen hawk is around. Chickens are in a giant run so the hawk cant get to them but the hens only react when the hawk is basically right next to them.

I had a bit of trouble with hawks and I bought an owl decoy. Haven't lost a hen since (it's been almost a year now).

 

[JHH3]

As others have said, chickens are tough.

I've had chickens get gashed so bad that you can see the meat under the skin (picture a chicken from the store with the skin flopping around) and by the time I find them they're already scabbed up and will heal such that you won't even know they were injured, just have to make sure the other chickens don't pick at them.

Also, roosters will occasionally cause said gashes if they are clumsy mating or the hen tries to escape.

From personal experience they'll take temperatures as low as -25 outside with no coop heat as long as they've good ventilation, aren't moist and there's no wind blowing on them. So no need to worry too much about cold.

 

[Aprilxoxo]

I had a bit of trouble with hawks and I bought an owl decoy. Haven't lost a hen since (it's been almost a year now).

Ill give that a try thanks

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

Chickens are a lot more intelligent and observant than people give them credit for. They seem to always be watching you and looking at what you are doing. They know when you wear something out of the ordinary. They know if there’s a speck of something different on your arm, face, etc. I do not know how they can tell when I have a speck of brown paint on my arm that isn’t the usual freckle lol. They can remember up to 100 different faces of chickens, humans, and other animals. They know who our cats are, which dogs are ours (they like our cattle dog but not our shihtzu lol) and which people give treats. They also know the difference between hawks in the sky, vs crows and ravens. Not exactly sure if this is common knowledge but it’s just something that I’ve noticed.

A second thing that I want to mention is that bio security is a really important part of keeping chickens. Chickens are experts at hiding illnesses and you can bring in seemingly healthy birds and end up with an incurable, lifelong illness. If you are to bring in adult or juvenile chickens you should quarantine them (including chickens from friends or family’s flocks). I go as far as to not introducing any new chickens except day old chicks or hatching eggs from npip sources, I have read too many horror stories of people ending up with mg or something like that after introducing adult chickens. Illnesses can even be tracked in from feed stores, swaps, and poultry shows on your shoes, clothing, etc. I keep a separate pair of shoes for my chicken yard. There’s many articles for people to learn more about bio security and the measures you can take!