Frequently Asked Questions

Keeping your brooder and coop area clean and dry is essential if you want to protect your precious baby chicks and older birds from aspergillosis. Also known as "brooder pneumonia," baby chicks are especially vulnerable to the symptoms produced by the spores of the Aspergillus fungi that may grow in your brooder if it fluctuates between wet and dry conditions. Keep reading to find out more: Aspergillosis Also called Pneumonia, coop or brooder pneumonia, mycotic pneumonia, pneumomycosis Prevalence Infrequent Signs General signs - Respiratory symptoms, including discharge from nares (nostrils) and/or eyes, loss of appetite, coughing, panting, gasping for air,...

No, your chickens should not eat anything with mold on it. Just as moldy or rotten food can make you sick, it can make them sick. Sharing some leftovers you don't want with your chickens is a good idea (in moderation). We often give our chickens leftovers there aren't enough of to bother keeping... but they must not be moldy or rotting . Stale bread can be okay, although it probably won't have it's full nutritional value... but mold? No. Certain types of mold can be quite dangerous. The same goes for their regular chicken feed: if you see mold,...

Should I give my hens vegetarian feed? |You have probably seen labels on grocery store eggs claiming they have been laid by "vegetarian-fed hens," so is this something you should be looking for with regard to your own hens' feed? Well... yes. And no. Sort of. But not really. Got it? No? Well, let me explain. NO, you don't want to restrict your chickens to vegetarian food in that chickens are omnivores. They eat mice, frogs, snakes, lizards, grasshoppers... basically any creature small enough to swallow, and occasionally some creatures just small enough to kill and eat in pieces, like...

Chickens LOVE treats, and they have their own individual tastes and preferences, of course. But we hate to break it to you: they have almost no taste buds, so their preferences are probably not based primarily on fine taste nuances. Humans have around 10,000 taste buds, while chickens have a maximum of only around 350 taste buds. They don't have any receptors for capsaicin (spiciness), and have a good tolerance for sour, although they're attracted to neither bitter nor sweet nor salty. And in fact, the taste buds of a chicken are located so far back on the tongue that...

Crack a fresh, unincubated egg into a bowl in good light. If you have sharp eyes, you will see that a fertile egg has a faint bullseye, the fertilized blastoDERM, on the yolk, while for an infertile egg, it will just be an irregular spot, a blastoDISC. If you don't have sharp eyes you might make use of a magnifying glass--or ask someone to help. Remember to check the bottom of the yolk; sometimes the way your egg lands in your dish will make the bullseye difficult to see. Illustration by Ray Yang for My Pet Chicken There's a problem,...

Secrets? No. Tricks? A few, maybe. First of all, take a few moments to review the 8 things you SHOULDN'T do for your chickens in cold weather. You can read some more in the "related questions" below, too. (Here is a hen happily foraging in below-freezing temps!) You'd be surprised at how well chickens do in the cold when allowed to acclimate over time, with the changing seasons. That said, if you live in the mountains of Vermont or Colorado, or in bitter Minnesota or North Dakota where temps are regularly in the single digits, some folks like to help...

Chickens love to eat mosquitoes and ticks--that's great news! But if you keep chickens, will that mean you can dump your other bug protection methods? Probably not, but your chickens will certainly help! Ask yourself: if you spent all day swatting mosquitoes one or even a few at a time--and even if you were GREAT at hunting them down--would your yard suddenly be free of mosquitoes? That's doubtful. Mosquitoes will just fly in from your neighbor's yard. They don't know a whole lot about property lines. If your neighbor has a wet spot where they breed--even just puddle beneath a...

All about Lymphoid Leukosis (Avian Leukosis) disease|caLymphoid Leukosis is a tragic disease that affects a chicken's liver and can cause a painful death. Because of that, humane euthanasia is usually recommended to ease the suffering of poor birds that contract this illness and to help prevent the spread of the disease to other members of the flock. You'll definitely want to consult with a veterinarian if you suspect a member of your flock has this disease. Read on to find out more: Lymphoid Leucosis Also called Liver cancer, Liver disease, LL Prevalence Common Signs General signs - Fatigue, weakness, ruffled...