It can be a frightening sight, walking out towards your chicken coop and seeing feathers scattered everywhere.
My first thought is usually the worst- has a predator broken into the coop and attacked my chickens?
Luckily, I haven’t ever lost any of my chickens to a predator and their feather loss is normally something much less serious. The most common reason for a chicken losing their feathers is the annual moult; however this isn’t the only… [Read More]
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘the pecking order’. In our minds eye, we likely see colleagues and co-workers neatly arranged in order of ‘merit’. From the CEO down to the janitor, everyone has a place in the ‘pecking order’.
The term ‘pecking order’ was first coined in 1921 by Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe to describe the hierarchy of flock dynamics and it came into popular usage in the 1930s.
At times the pecking order can make life… [Read More]
Note: This is the second of a two part series on chicken parasites. This article will focus on internal parasites and the first part of the series focused on external parasites.
In the first half of this series we focused on discussing the harm that parasite can cause your chickens. We won’t repeat this information again; however just remember the key takeaway: prevention is far better than curing.
Let’s now turn our attention… [Read More]
Looking for a way to wow your egg customers? Consider adding a couple of pink, blue, green, or dark chocolate colored eggs to your dozen, and sit back and wait for the comments! Beautiful colors, (although of course, tasting exactly the same as any other egg) have a way of drawing ohhhhs, ahhhhs, and possibly more customers to your client list. So, yes, increased demand for colored eggs would be the ‘why’. Before we go… [Read More]
Note: This is the first of a two part series on chicken parasites. This article will focus on external parasites and the second part of the series will focus on internal parasites.
Recently we’ve talked about how to keep your chickens safe from predators but sometimes the worst enemies are already living in the coop!
Chickens are reluctant hosts to a number of parasites which can cause many problems from minor irritation such as… [Read More]