7 Great Tips For First Time Chicken Owners Start with chicks or mature birds instead of eggs Choose dual-purpose chicken breeds (meat and egg layers) Keep your first coop simple Keep your coop clean Get a heated water bowl Use natural foods and scraps from your own kitchen Establish a daily routine for filling feeders, […]
You probably know you can get your kicks on Route 66, but did you know you also can get your chicks on Route 66? Cackle Hatchery® opened for business in downtown Lebanon, Missouri, in 1936, just ten years after the opening of historic Route 66. Four blocks off Route 66, the hatchery today is one […]
Before eggs can develop into chicks or other poultry, they must experience a specific amount of heat and humidity for a specific length of time. Most hens instinctively know what to do. Here are 6 reasons you may instead prefer to hatch poultry eggs in an incubator. Reliability Hens of your chosen breed may not […]
Coccidiosis is the most common disease of brooded poultry. It affects primarily chicks and poults (baby turkeys). But it may also (though rarely) affect keets (baby guinea fowl), ducklings, and goslings. It is the most common cause of death in young poultry. What Is Coccidiosis? Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease caused by protozoa. It most […]
Broodiness is a hen’s instinct to hatch eggs and mother the chicks. A hen that’s thinking of brooding will sit on the nest most of the day and may cluck like a mother hen during the brief time she leaves the nest to eat and eliminate. While she’s on the nest she will puff out […]
In addition to the miniature versions of large warm weather chicken breeds, five other bantam breeds also do well when the temperature rises. Of those described below, four of the five bantam breeds that tolerate warm weather are true bantams. Bantam Chickens The history of bantam chickens follows that of the Industrial Revolution. As families […]
Once you have weighed the pros and cons of keeping peafowl, and have decided the pros outweigh the cons, you are ready to embark on your peafowl-raising venture. To help you get started, here are six tips for raising peafowl. Brooding Peachicks House peachicks in a brooder until they grow enough to stay warm on […]
Furnishing nests for your ducks to lay in helps keep the eggs clean and protects them from being cooked by sun, washed by rain, or frozen in cold weather. Eggs laid in nests are easier for you to find than eggs hidden in the grass. And, buried in nesting material under cover, they are hidden […]
If a hen and her newly hatched chicks are left to wander around the poultry yard, the babies may fall prey to house cats, hawks, and other predators. And baby chicks can slip through most yard fences that are properly built to confine mature poultry. Chicks wandering around a yard can get chilled in damp […]