Frequently Asked Questions

A chicken's hackle feathers are the feathers around the neck. These feathers can sometimes be showy in roosters. People that "fly tie" (for trout fishing) usually use long, slender hackle feathers from a rooster. Hackles are actually differently shaped in hens and roosters. Rooster hackles are longer and pointier. But don't be fooled. Hen hackles can look a little pointy, too. However they're not as thin or as long as rooster feathers. Take a closeup look at hen hackles: Now here's a closeup of rooster hackles to compare: Notice that you can really tell more of a difference in the...

A chicken's crop is a part of her digestive system, and is located on her breast. You see it in the illustration below, closest to the front. When it fills up with food, it may stick out a little bit. It will be smaller in the morning before she has eaten, and larger after she is full. The crop or craw holds food before it goes further down their digestive tract. Chickens basically store food in their crops; it is like a chicken lunchbox. Then it moves into the stomach or proventriculus and gets soaked with digestive juices, before finally...

No, grass clippings would be bad for your flock. Most people will find this advice counter-intuitive, because chickens love to eat grasses, right? However, when chickens eat grass, they nip off of the tip of the blade; they eat tiny pieces, a little at a time. Putting a big pile of lawn clippings will give them longer pieces that they'll eat too much of, all at once. What can happen is that the long, fibrous strands from the mower get bound up in the digestive system and cause a blockage. They can get tied in knots that won't pass, and...

It really depends on what you grow. The leaves of nightshade-family veggies such as potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and the like are not good for your chickens any more than they're good for you. On the other hand, your chickens may quite enjoy bits and bobs like chopped up beet tops, pea leaves, or carrot greens. They'll probably also enjoy your pumpkin seeds---that is, if you don't toast them up for yourself. And they always seem to enjoy the leftover watermelon rinds. If your tomato has been chewed on by a caterpillar, your chickens won't care! However, you won't want...

Yes, but you probably won't want to add too much, too often. There may be some entertainment value in adding a few fallen leaves sparingly to your run, because your flock will enjoy scratching through them to look for bugs. If you scatter some treats through them as well, their excitement may also entertain you! However, chickens won't eat fallen leaves, so they aren't something to forage on directly. And in too much quantity, fallen leaves in your run can cause problems. Why? Well, for one thing, they don't make good bedding, since they're not absorbent. In many cases, they...

A chicken whose tail always twists to one side has "wry tail." This is a condition that is exactly what it sounds like: your chicken's tail is held at a wry angle when in a relaxed position. It's a little crooked, like someone might have a crooked finger or a crooked nose. Wry tail is almost always genetic and not a cause for concern in terms of life quality. It causes no pain to your bird, and will not negatively affect your bird's life. Even though wry tail will not negatively affect your bird, it is still considered a fault...

A droppings tray is a great coop feature, if yo're lucky enough to have it! It's like a shallow drawer in your coop that can be pulled out and dumped or scraped to make for quick and easy cleaning. This prevents you fram having to scoop or shovel out dirty bedding. Droppings tray The droppings tray usually located under roosting poles, because that's where most of the mess occurs (your flock remains on the roosts for long periods at night). In smaller coops, it may make up the entire floor! Again, just pull out your droppings tray, then turn out...

"Fancy feathering" refers to unusual feathering that some varieties of chickens have. There are different types of fancy feathering. Crestedness, for example, is when a chicken has a crest or puff of feathers on the head. Rumplessness refers to a chicken that naturally (not from plucking or molting) has no tail. Araucanas are rumpless. Tuftedness refers to feathers up near the ears. They grow out of a fleshy nub called the peduncle. Note that tuftedness is a fatal gene; that means that chickens that get two copies of the gene typically die in the egg before they hatch. Since tuftedness...