What do you do to maintain your chickens.

[OphyliaOrpington]

Hey y´all! I am just wondering how you take care of your chickens because I am getting chickens soon. Are there any recommendations on maintaining these wonder-foul creatures?

You’ve already gotten good advice from people with a lot more experience than me. I was a first time chicken mom just last Spring.

My advice is PATIENCE. Chickens are chicken. (I say this all the time when I am in a hurry and my chickens are not.). They will run from you. They will be slow pokes. They will change their minds. They get spooked easily. They get stressed out by the slightest change. They won’t eat that delicious treat everyone said they would love the first time you put it out. Chickens are chicken.

They also take a while to produce eggs.

And (I just learned this recently with the help of the very kind and generous folks here), They take even longer to produce eggs that are full size for their breed.

(Most of the time when I google a question it sends me to BYC anyway. That’s why I joined. They have ALL the answers.)

 

[Mother of Chaos]

The bird in my profile pic is my late easter egger Sage who sadly passed from wet fowl pox in fall of 23. She was an absolutely stunning bird who always looked grumpy and had a high pitched voice that made her always sound annoyed. While she liked me, she didn't want to be pet or held at all and if I did catch her, she would lecture me until I put her down. Being someone who hates physical contact myself I found her extremely relatable, thus I made that my signature in tribute of her

My Easter Egger (10 weeks) is exactly the same! I think of your tag all the time, not realizing that Sage was an EE too. I don't want lap chickens, but I do need to be able to pick them up etc before I let them out into the backyard, as well as to just be able to do health checks and so on. The other two screech but settle down quickly. This girl is FAST and elusive.

How did you work around this, or did you?

 

[FrostRanger]

My Easter Egger (10 weeks) is exactly the same! I think of your tag all the time, not realizing that Sage was an EE too. I don't want lap chickens, but I do need to be able to pick them up etc before I let them out into the backyard, as well as to just be able to do health checks and so on. The other two screech but settle down quickly. This girl is FAST and elusive.

How did you work around this, or did you?

I just let her be. Some birds just don't like being handled and Sage was one of those birds

That said, the easiest way to catch a bird for health checks is just to grab them off the roost at night

 

[Barnette]

Keep up with everything so you don't fall behind and get overwhelmed! Clean the coops, refill food/water, treat anyway illnesses, immediately or on a schedule to prevent things from getting worse or piling up

 

[Barnette]

Also, if you're getting hens, I recommend looking into adoption (if that works for your situation)! Here's an article about that: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/adopt-chickens-in-need.79320/

 

[BDutch]

When I'm talking to someone in person about keeping chickens (the other day it was my dentist ) my brain tries to offer up the condensed version...

* HW Cloth (pedators / no to chicken wire).
* Space (Chicks are like a bag of popcorn, be ready).
* 20% protein feed, minimize treats (fat).
* Ventilation (gases / hot / moisture).
* Nice breeds / individuals (makes a big difference in the keeping experience).

Super great condensed version except for the 20% protein feed. This is a high level of protein. No feed in my country contains that much protein. It varies from 14% - almost 20% for chicks. And what level is best, depends on what kind of chickens you have (chicks, heritage breeds, mixed flock, broilers for meat or commercial laying hens) and how/where they live too.

Keep in mind that there is no advice in keeping chickens that fits all.

Some great posts above. We are all unique, we have different goals and reasons for having chickens, different climates, different amounts or room, different experiences, different flock make-ups, different risk tolerances, and a lot else. The details are going to vary a lot.

To me the basic needs are food, water, predator protection, climate protection, and certain things for health. You can get a lot of different opinions on these on this forum.

They need appropriate food. What is appropriate for yours will depend on age, sex, purpose. and your management techniques. You can get some really widely varying opinions on what is appropriate. I'd need to know details before I could make any specific recommendations.

They need plenty of water and it needs to be clean. There are many different kinds of waterers so details will vary as to how you maintain that. If you are watering with an open bowl they can poop in is one situation. If you are using a closed system, say with nipples, then the maintenance requirements change. What does not change is the requirement for clean water.

A lot of different things like to eat chicken. Again, different people have different perspectives on this. Some people that free range may accept an occasional loss due to their perceived benefits of free ranging. Others will be devastated at the loss of one chicken. It is your responsibility to protect them according to your risk tolerances.

Your specific climate will affect what you need to do for climate protection. In most of Texas your winters should not be that brutal and chickens can handle cold much better than many people realize. They do need to be able to avoid cold winds. Snow can be an issue if they are not used to it, not because of immediate danger but because it is strange and they don't trust it. Your summer might be pretty brutal, again depending on exactly where you are. In high heat they need shade and plenty of water as a minimum. Some of us need to go to extraordinary measures to keep them cool enough.

Health is a wide topic. As always, there are lots of different opinions on what is the best way to go.

A constantly wet coop or run is a health threat. When the weather sets in wet you may be challenged in keeping things dry. They need dry places to go to get out of the wet. Try to set things up so water drains away instead of flows to your facilities and stands.

Chickens can get a lot of diseases or parasites. I try to limit their contact with other chickens and use certain biosecurity measures to try to not bring something home to them. Others are a lot more relaxed in this.

I'll put space in this health category. I find the tighter I pack them the more behavioral problems I have to deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have it deal with issues as they come up. If you follow the link in my signature below you'll see some of my thoughts on space. Lack of sufficient space can cause you a lot of misery and aggravation.

Poop management. Dry poop isn't usually that big of a deal. It just isn't. But if it gets wet and especially stays wet it is. If it gets wet it can stink and be very unhealthy. It can make a mess if you step in it or they do. They can track it onto their eggs. That wet may come from water, that's why you need to keep things dry. If the poop builds up to a thickness it can stay wet and never dry out. Lots of different ways to manage poop. Some deal with it daily, some of us use different schedules and different techniques.

Above all, be flexible as you can. Many things do not work out as you expect. That's just the way life is. If something is not working, change it. If you can give us the details of what you are working with and what you want to accomplish we can often help with that. But there are so many different ways you can do practically any of these things I'm not going to try to give you a point-by-point list.

Welcome to the forum and welcome to your chicken journey. It should be interesting and may even be a lot of fun.

Ridgerunner gave the best possible advice.

 

[McChooky]

My advice is don't mix flighty breeds with docile breeds no matter how how cute they may be ! The flightier breeds are more aggressive and will make your docile hens miserable. Don't ask me how I know!

 

[Barnette]

My advice is don't mix flighty breeds with docile breeds no matter how how cute they may be ! The flightier breeds are more aggressive and will make your docile hens miserable. Don't ask me how I know!

True

 

[SourRoses]

the 20% protein feed. This is a high level of protein. No feed in my country contains that much protein. It varies from 14% - almost 20% for chicks. And what level is best, depends on what kind of chickens you have (chicks, heritage breeds, mixed flock, broilers for meat or commercial laying hens) and how/where they live too.

20% is not high. I've often fed 24% with no ill effects.
What does protein do for chickens?
Look at their feathers. Those are constructed from protein. During growth from a chick, they have to grow a whole new set 5-6 times. All chickens share the characteristic of protein hungry feathers.
Now one might say "These aren't show chickens, I don't care"... but it's a metric for health because, if protein is lacking it can affect the internal organs / connective tissue. Not readily apparent, it may show up as sudden death from heart attacks, as intolerance to heat or cold, a lower immune system, and the list goes on. It has many potential damages because the need for protein in the body is so extensive. Feathers are the canary in the coal mine.
Can chickens not in the peak of health still serve human needs? Yes. It's not ideal, and not what I'm ever going to recommend, but yes they can support human needs without having their own fully met.

Earlier in my keeping journey, I fed my chickens a basic layer. For years they looked "fine" to me. But I had never seen a chicken with healthy feathers to compare. To me, the dull appearance of a wide variety of breeds that we kept looked totally normal. Through the season their feathers would get damaged easily and I didn't know that was a symptom of a bigger issue.
Fast forward to when I tried a higher protein feed. I was raising a pure breed I had wanted for a while and the "extra" protein of 22% vs the old 18% chick starter was just to hedge my bets.
I could not believe how much better their feathers looked. Pretty soon all our breeds were on 20% as a minimum, and after they molted I was struck with guilt. I truly felt like I had been a miserly keeper, and not done my proper research.
That's my story and why I believe in and tout protein. Like many, I got into the hobby for the welfare of the birds.

I understand that in many countries it is hard to access a properly formulated chicken feed. That is not your fault, you can only do the best you can with what you have available. If the chickens can provide for your needs, then it doesn't matter too much if their eggs are a bit smaller, feathers weaker, and lives a little shorter. They're still living better than any hen on a factory farm. But if/when a better feed becomes available on the market, I'd like to encourage you to try it out and see the difference after molt.

 

[NatJ]

20% is not high. I've often fed 24% with no ill effects.
What does protein do for chickens?
Look at their feathers. Those are constructed from protein. During growth from a chick, they have to grow a whole new set 5-6 times. All chickens share the characteristic of protein hungry feathers.
Now one might say "These aren't show chickens, I don't care"... but it's a metric for health because, if protein is lacking it can affect the internal organs / connective tissue. Not readily apparent, it may show up as sudden death from heart attacks, as intolerance to heat or cold, a lower immune system, and the list goes on. It has many potential damages because the need for protein in the body is so extensive. Feathers are the canary in the coal mine.
Can chickens not in the peak of health still serve human needs? Yes. It's not ideal, and not what I'm ever going to recommend, but yes they can support human needs without having their own fully met.

Earlier in my keeping journey, I fed my chickens a basic layer. For years they looked "fine" to me. But I had never seen a chicken with healthy feathers to compare. To me, the dull appearance of a wide variety of breeds that we kept looked totally normal. Through the season their feathers would get damaged easily and I didn't know that was a symptom of a bigger issue.
Fast forward to when I tried a higher protein feed. I was raising a pure breed I had wanted for a while and the "extra" protein of 22% vs the old 18% chick starter was just to hedge my bets.
I could not believe how much better their feathers looked. Pretty soon all our breeds were on 20% as a minimum, and after they molted I was struck with guilt. I truly felt like I had been a miserly keeper, and not done my proper research.
That's my story and why I believe in and tout protein. Like many, I got into the hobby for the welfare of the birds.

I understand that in many countries it is hard to access a properly formulated chicken feed. That is not your fault, you can only do the best you can with what you have available. If the chickens can provide for your needs, then it doesn't matter too much if their eggs are a bit smaller, feathers weaker, and lives a little shorter. They're still living better than any hen on a factory farm. But if/when a better feed becomes available on the market, I'd like to encourage you to try it out and see the difference after molt.

My understanding is that the needs of chickens can be met with lower total protein if the manufacturer pays careful attention to the balance of the specific amino acids. In some countries they are more likely to do it that way. In the USA, they are more likely to just add more total protein, which ends up providing the additional amount of certain amino acids that the chickens actually need.

Given that @SourRoses lives in the USA and found that 20% protein worked better, while @BDutch lives in the Netherlands and gets good results with lower protein levels, I'm thinking the difference may be in how the feed is formulated (how much attention the companies pay to the specific amino acids present in the feed.)

I'm sure @U_Stormcrow can explain in more detail if you want, given that I mostly learned about it from his posts.