Grandma's guide to raising backyard chickens

by A.H Smithers

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright © 2013

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. The basics

3. Chicken breeds - Egg layers

4. Chicken breeds - Meat Chickens

5. Chicken Coops

6. Chicken run, nests etc.

7. Caring For Your Baby Chickens

8. Chicken feed & Grandma's Homemade    feed

9. Chicken coop bedding and gathering eggs

10. Cleaning, checking & preserving eggs

11. Chicken Behaviour

12. Breeding Chickens, hatching & incubating Chickens

13. Increasing Egg Yield

14. Keeping Your Chickens Happy

15. Predators and protection

16. Disease and problems

17. Once the Bird Is Healed, wing clipping and free ranging.

18. Butchering

19. Summing up

1. Introduction

In the 80’s when my Grandma starting rearing chickens, it was not the in-thing to do. Other than farm owners, the majority of people did not see the value in producing their own food. However my Grandma was never one to follow trends and as well as keeping her busy, she swore she found the whole process relaxing. I must say, as a child, looking through the chicken coup and finding eggs was almost as good as the Easter egg hunt!

These days’ people breed chickens for health reasons. With caged and battery hens all but a thing of the past (and rightly so in my opinion), this has meant that the price has spiked of both meat and eggs. People are also more aware of the health benefits of organic eating and directly correlate that to how good it tastes (sounds a fair assumption to me).

In my book, I details all the tips my Grandma gave me on raising backyard chicken’s; choosing the correct breed for your needs, building a coop, how to treat infection, collecting and handling eggs, testing for bad eggs, how to make your chickens deliver maximum results as well as butchering. This is a beginner’s guide for someone who wants to breed a few chickens in their back garden and get a good knowledge base be it for eggs or meat.

2. The basics

Raising backyard chickens is a great way to provide your family with fresh, antibiotic and hormone free chicken and eggs, and it’s fairly easy to do once you know the basics.

Are Chickens Legal In Your Area?

Before buying your baby chickens, check to see if chickens are allowed in your areas.  Major cities and developed areas may have restrictions regarding how many chickens you can raise and how large a lot you must own.  Most major and minor cities allow a certain number of chickens, providing you do not own any roosters and you have enough land to house your chickens hygienically and safely.

"http://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/3/Laws" Backyard Chickens has the best gathering of information on city and state rules and regulations, and they provide links to find more information.

Buying Baby Chickens

If you know someone who has their own chickens and regularly hatches chickens, you can ask them if you can buy a few chickens from them.  If you don’t know anyone, lots of feed stores sell baby chickens from early spring until early summer.

3. Chicken breeds - Egg layers

Chicken Breeds

There are over 60 breeds of chickens.  Some are great for laying eggs.  Some are good for meat, and some are designed solely to be used as show chickens.  This book will focus on egg laying and meat producing hens.

Egg layers

There are four breeds of chicken that are good for egg laying and perfect for beginners, including the Ameraucana,  Australorp, Easter Eggers, and Sussex.

Ameraucana

The Ameraucana is a multi-coloured chicken that can be black and white with brown speckles, white with black speckles, or any combination of the above three colours.  They can live in any climate, including cold climates.  Each Ameraucana lays blue eggs and can lay up to three of them per week.  They are friendly and very docile and make great chickens for first time chicken raisers.  It’s important to give them enough space to roam in the summer and to supplement their food with extra calcium and protein.  Unless breeding, the Ameraucana hens and roosters should be housed separately.  The roosters can be aggressive.

Australorp

The Australorp are considered good egg laying hens.  They can produce up to five brown eggs per week after they reach the age of five months.  They should be fed a diet rich in minerals, including calcium and phosphorous.

Australorp have a very good temperament and are easy to handle for first time chicken raisers.  Their hen houses should be insulted in the winter and open in the summer.  Australorp chickens prefer natural sunsets and sunrises.  If you plan to use electric lights in your henhouse, make sure the lights are timed to turn off and on gradually.

Australorps can be butchered for their meat.  The optimum butchering age is 18 weeks.

Easter Eggers

Easter Eggers lay multi-coloured eggs in brown, pink, purple, and green, and they are highly prized for this ability.  Both the hens and the roosters are calm and docile and make great backyard chickens.  They can live in all climates, and they lay five to seven eggs per week.  They need a diet that is high in calcium and protein to create hearty eggs and shells.

Sussex

Sussex chickens lay eggs all year round and can live in any climate.  They typically produce between four and five eggs a week all year.  They can be butchered for their meat and make great backyard chickens.  However, potential owners should look for light colour Sussex chickens that are not speckled.  The darker colour and speckled chickens tend to get moody.  Sussex chickens can be kept in a chicken pen or left to free range in a fenced yard or large chicken run.

4. Chicken breeds - Meat Chickens

There are four breeds that are great for beginning chicken raisers who want to raise their chickens for the meat, including the Dorking, Faverolles, Java, and Jersey Giant.

Dorking

Dorking chickens make great meat birds and they produce up to 140 eggs every year.  They are not aggressive and can live in any climate if their combs are trimmed.  Dorkings with untrimmed combs are prone to frostbite in the winter.

Dorkings make great chicken parents as they love to sit on their nests.  Unfortunately, this can irritate owners who want lots of eggs because they’ll sit on their eggs and hatch them rather than lay more eggs.

Dorking chickens are readily identified via their five toes.  The fifth toe sits high on their ankle and curves upward toward their butt.

Dorkings can take up to two years to fully mature, but their meat is highly prized by chicken connoisseurs.

Faverolles

Faverolles can be used for both meat and eggs.  They lay an average of three eggs per week, and the hens and roosters are both docile, which makes them great as backyard chickens.  They are mature and ready for slaughter when they weight between seven and nine pounds.

They do not fly well and tolerate fenced pens.  Although, it is recommended to give them lots of space so they can forage.  Faverolles should not be raised with other chicken breeds.  They are low on the chicken hierarchy because of their very laid back demeanours.

Java

Java chickens can be used for their egg laying abilities and their large size.  Each bird can lay up to two eggs per week, and they are ready for butchering between six months and one year.  They prefer warm climates.

Individuals wishing to raise them in colder climates need to ensure that their coops are well insulated and heated.  Java chickens should be given plenty of space to forage as they prefer to receive up to 50 per cent of their nutrition by foraging.

Jersey Giant

Jersey Giants are excellent for meat.  They grow up to 20 pounds.  However, they take nine months to fully mature.  They will lay up to two extra-large eggs every week.  Owners who wish to breed Jersey Giants for more chickens will need to remove the fertilized eggs from the nest and put them into a hatchery.  The large size of the bird can result in many broken eggs and crushed baby chicks.

They are very docile and can easily be raised in backyard environments and in chicken coops.  They prefer cold climates and do well in the winter.

5. Chicken Coops

Once you have made the decision to purchase a few chickens, you need to build a coop.  The coop needs to be built before you ever purchase the chickens so they have a home when you bring them home.  You can order a to-be-assembled coop online or build one yourself.

Coop Size

First, decide what size coop you’ll need for your chickens.  A good rule of thumb is to give each chicken four square feet of space.  This ensures that each chicken has enough room to fulfil all of their needs, and they’ll be less likely to peck and injure their flock mates.  This measurement does not include the space needed for the chicken roosts (sleeping areas) and nests.  If you are going to have a lot of roosts and nests, add one to two square feet extra per chicken.  Keep in mind that the chicken coop is where your chickens will sleep and lay their eggs.  This does not include the chicken run.

For Example:

Let’s say you plan to have six chickens.  If you give each chicken six square feet of space, you’d need a 36 square foot chicken coup.  This could be accomplished by building a square six foot by six foot coop or a four foot by nine foot chicken coop.

Buying a Pre-built Coop

If you decide to buy a pre-built coop, make sure the coop dimensions are at least as large as your initial calculations.  Buying bigger is not a problem.  Your chickens will appreciate more space, and you can add chickens to the coop without expanding the building.

Building a Coop

Many people opt to build their own coops.  This is much cheaper than buying a pre-built coop and can result in considerable savings.  Of course, you’ll have to spend the time to build the coop.

Supplies and Equipment

2’ by 4’s for the corners, support beams, and walls.

Plywood

Screws

Nails

Electric drill

Electric Circular Saw

Hammer

Roofing Materials (sheet mental or shingles and tar paper)

Concrete

Concrete Blocks

Shovel

Level

Paint

Paint Brush

Chicken Coop Plans

Plans

Chicken coop plans can be found online. A few great places to look include :-

http://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

http://www.todaysplans.net/free-chicken-coop-plans.html

http://www.freeww.com/chickencoops.html

6. Chicken run, nests etc.

Chicken Run

A chicken run is comparable to a dog run.  It is a place where the chicken can go outside and get some fresh air and forage.  This is typically a specific set of square feet that is set aside, framed with wooden posts and fenced in with wire or chain link.  A good rule of thumb is to provide between four and six square feet of chicken run space for each chicken.

Nests

It’s important to provide each of your hens a place to lay their eggs.  These spots are called nests, and they are comprised of short wooden walls in the shape of a square, filled with straw or shavings.  Pine and cedar work the best for the shavings.  The nests should be kept very clean and broken or cracked eggs should be removed immediately and thrown away.

Roosts

In addition to nests, it’s important to have enough roosts for your chickens to sleep.  If the chickens do not have enough places to sleep, they may sleep in the nests, which will increase the filth in the nesting boxes and may contribute to more broken eggs.  Your coop should have at least one roost for each chicken, and they should be located at the highest points in the coop.

Perching Bars

Don’t forget to give your chickens lots of perching boards.  These are narrow boards that are designed so the birds can stand on them.  They are similar to the bars found in domestic bird cages and serve the same purpose.

7. Caring For Your Baby Chickens

Your chicks will not need the chicken coop right away, but they will need a brooder, a heat source, an automatic waterer, pine bedding or something equally absorbent, and chick food.

Brooder

Brooders can be made out of almost anything.  You can use a large plastic storage tub, rabbit cage, large wire dog crate, or anything similar.  The idea is to keep your chicks in one safe location, which is warm and comfortable.

Waterer's

Chick waters can be found on the Internet or at your local pet food store.  The trick to finding the right waterer is to make sure that it has an open bowl on the bottom so the chicks can peck at it and get water.  Red is also a great colour because chickens are attracted to the colour red.

It’s also important to pick a waterer that is heavy and will not tip over accidentally.  Baby chickens need fresh water 24 hours a day.

Heat Source

Baby chicks need to be kept in an area that is 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first seven days.  After the first seven days, you can turn the heat down by five degrees each day.  This allows them to slowly become accustomed to the ambient room temperature, without shocking their fragile systems.  A heat lamp is a good way to provide your baby chicks with warmth.

The heat lamp or other heat source should be placed and focused in the centre of the brooder.  This allows the chicks to get warm when they need warmth and walk away when they are too hot.  You do not need to heat the entire brooder box.

8. Chicken feed & Grandma's Homemade feed

Commercial Chick Food

The best feed for chicks is “chick starter feed,” and it can be purchased relatively inexpensively at most farm and feed stores.

Homemade Chick Food

If you’re leery about the ingredients in the commercially prepared chick starter food, you can make your own.  The most important thing to remember is baby chickens need their feed to consist of 18 to 20 per cent protein.  The recipe below will create a mix that is between 19 and 20 per cent protein, and all of the ingredients can be purchased at your local feed store and grocery store.

Ingredients

9.75 Cups of Whole Corn (Feed Store)

6 Cups Soybeans (Feed Store)

1 Cup Oats (Grocery)

1 Cup Alfalfa (Feed Store)

3/4 Cup Fish Meal (Feed Store)

1/4 Cup DE (Feed Store, make sure it is food grade)

1/2 Cup Poultry Vitamins

Food Processor or Coffee Grinder

Large Bucket with a Lid

Large Spoon

Put the corn in a heavy duty food processor or grinder and crack the corn.  Do the same with the soybeans.  Both should resemble pellets by the time you are finished grinding.  Pour the corn and soybeans into the bucket.  Put the oats into a food grinder and pulse a few times.  You want the large flakes broken into smaller pieces.  Be careful not to turn the oats into a powder.  Pour the oats into the bucket.  Add the alfalfa, fish meal, DE, and poultry vitamins.  Mix the feed together until it is thoroughly combined.  It is now ready to feed to your baby chicks.  Just scoop the mixture into their feed bowl.  The remainder of the food should be tightly sealed with the lid.

Emergency Chick Food

If you accidentally run out of baby chick food or you can’t find all the ingredients in a timely manner, you can feed your baby chicks rolled oats for up to three days without affecting their growth and development.

9. Chicken coop bedding and gathering eggs

Chicken Coop Bedding

There are two ways to handle the bedding in the chicken coop, including standard and deep bedding.

Standard

With the standard bedding method, the chicken coop is cleaned out weekly or every two weeks and a fresh layer of bedding is placed in the coop.  Bedding should be two to three inches thick, the best bedding is white wood shavings, although you can also use hay.

Deep Bedding

The “deep bedding method” involves leaving the old bedding in the coop and adding enough fresh bedding to cover the old bedding every two weeks.  With this method, the coop should be cleaned out every four to six months, depending on smell and filth.  Many people who raise chickens prefer this method because there is less cleaning of the coop.  It is also recommended to add a few cups of DE to the bedding while using this method.

Gathering Eggs

If you keep the chicken nests clean, the eggs should also be very clean.  To collect them, simply go inside the hen house, pick up the eggs and place them in your basket or bag.  If you notice a cracked egg or a broken egg, remove it immediately and change the bedding.  The straw or cedar or pine bedding should absorb all of the broken egg’s moisture.

If you notice broken egg on the wood of the nesting box, a more thorough cleaning will be needed.  To deep clean the nesting boxes, get a mop bucket and fill it with warm water and add a little mild dish detergent.  Use a sponge or scrub brush to clean the inside of the boxes.  Rinse the soap out of the box and let it dry completely before adding new bedding.

Frequency of Egg Gathering

Eggs should be gathered on a daily basis in the evening.  Gathering the eggs in the evening prevents the hens from sitting on the eggs all night and breaking them.  It also prevents the chickens from succumbing to their natural brooding instinct.  Brooding hens will stop laying eggs until their current batch of eggs has hatched.

If you forget to gather your eggs for an evening or two, that’s fine.  The eggs can sit in the nest for up to 10 days.  After 10 days, the eggs will lose their “Bloom” coating, and if they are not fertilized, they will slowly turn rotten.

10. Cleaning, checking & preserving eggs

Cleaning Eggs

Once you’ve collected all your eggs, take them inside and clean them.  Cleaning the eggs is best done with a dry, non-abrasive scrubbing sponge, and the eggs only need cleaned if you find visible bedding, debris, or manure on the egg.  If you find those items, buff them off with the cleaning sponge.

It’s important to not clean the entire egg as they are laid with a coating known as “Bloom.”  This protects the egg from bacteria and keeps it from going bad.

If you notice an egg that has yolk stuck to it or a lot of dirt, debris or manure, you may need to clean it with warm water.  To do this, run a tap of warm water and grab a clean sponge.  Soak the sponge in the warm water and clean the dirty sections of the egg.  You do not need to wash the sections that are clean.  After washing them with warm water, allow them to completely air dry.  Never wash the eggs in cold water as this could make the egg more susceptible to bacteria and allow bacteria into the egg through the shell’s porous surface.

Once the eggs are dry, place them in their cartons and put them in the refrigerator.  The eggs should stay fresh for up to 60 days.

Preserving Eggs

Long term preservation of eggs can be done with mineral oil or Jojoba oil.  To preserve the eggs, heat 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.  It just needs to be warm.  While you are waiting on the oil, take all of the eggs out of the carton and place them in a bowl.

Put on a pair of latex gloves.  Food service gloves work the best.  Coat your gloves in mineral oil and pick up an egg.  Coat the egg with the oil on your gloves.  Make sure that the entire shell in coated in mineral oil.

The mineral oil will act like an artificial “bloom” and will protect the egg from bacteria and air.  The amount of oil doesn’t matter as long as the egg is completely covered.

Put the coated egg into the egg carton with the narrow end down.  Repeat this process for all of your eggs.

The eggs will stay good for up to nine months if you store them in an area that is below 68 degrees.  If the eggs have never been in the refrigerator, they do not have to be stored in a refrigerator after they have been coated with the oil.  You can store them in a cool pantry or in a cellar.  If they have been stored in a refrigerator or you bought them at the grocery, continue to store them in your refrigerator.

Testing For Bad Eggs

If you suspect your eggs have gone bad, fill a container with water that is at least twice as deep as the height of the egg.  Put the eggs in the water.  If they float or stand on end, they are bad and should be thrown away.  Likewise, if they smell rotten after you break them, throw them away.

11. Chicken Behaviour

Chickens are incredibly smart, and they learn by observation.  If one chicken picks up a bad habit, all the chickens will learn that bad habit.  Therefore, it’s in your best interest to stop bad habits as soon as you notice them.  This could mean isolating or culling birds that are overly aggressive.

Hierarchy

Chickens, like all other animals in the world, have a hierarchy.  It’s called the pecking order, and it is determined by the chickens.  One chicken will be at the top of the hierarchy and can do anything it wants, including pecking the other chickens.  There will be a second in command and a third, and just like a normal hierarchy, the lower chickens cannot do anything to the upper chickens without severe repercussions.

You should not attempt to influence the hierarchy of the flock while it is forming.  There will be some scuffles, but the chickens will eventually determine their own pecking order.  After the pecking order has been established, you shouldn’t notice any other major scuffles in the coop or chicken run.

Aggressive Birds

If you notice any aggression or feather pulling after the pecking order has been established, remove the aggressive birds and quarantine them.  Take your injured bird or birds and spray Blue Kote on their injuries and spray all of their feathers with Hot Pick.  The Blue Kote will heal the wounds, and the Hot Pick will keep the other birds from pulling out their feathers and pecking them.

Keep the aggressive birds out of the coop until the injured birds are completely healed and have regrown their feathers.  If you introduce the aggressive birds and the aggressive behaviour continues, you will need to destroy the aggressive birds.

12. Breeding Chickens, hatching & incubating Chickens

Chickens and roosters become fertile between 4.5 and 5 months of age.  This is when the hens start laying eggs and the roosters start producing semen.  Hens and roosters will mate on their own if you put the rooster in the hen house or you house all of your chickens together.  A good rule of thumb is to have one rooster for every 12 to 20 hens.  This ensures that each rooster has enough hens to stay occupied.

It’s important to note that you can leave all your chickens in the same coop.  The only reason to separate them would be if the rooster is overly aggressive, and in that instance, you only want to put your rooster in the hen house when you want them to breed.  After breeding, the hen is fertile for up to seven days.  This means all the eggs your hens lay in those seven days could be fertile.

You can still collect and eat fertile eggs.  They will not harm you and will not turn into baby chicks in your refrigerator.

Hatching Eggs

There are two ways to hatch eggs.  You can let the hens do the hatching and rearing of the baby chicks, or you can do it yourself.  If you want the hens to hatch the eggs, simply leave the eggs in the nests.  The hens will do what comes naturally.

Incubating Eggs

The second way to hatch eggs is to incubate them and hatch them yourself, using an incubator.  Most feed stores sell chicken incubators.  You can also order them online.  All you have to do is choose what incubator you want and determine if you want one with or without windows.  If you want to watch the eggs hatch, it’s best to purchase an incubator with windows as you cannot open the incubator while the chicks are hatching.

Turn your incubator on between 24 and 48 hours prior to inserting your eggs and add the recommended amount of water.  This is to ensure that your incubator is the proper temperature and humidity before you introduce your fertilized eggs into the environment.

Insert the eggs into the incubator with the narrow side down.  Close the door.

Turn your eggs a minimum of three times a day for the first 18 days.  This ensures the egg does not stick to the inside of the shell and will help ensure that the fertilized egg turns into a baby chick.

After the 18th day, the eggs no longer need to be turned.  On the 20th day, place a rag or a little extra water in the incubator to slightly increase the humidity.  The eggs should start to hatch on the 21st day and will finish hatching by the 22nd day.  Any eggs that have not hatched by the end of the 22nd day will not hatch.  They need to be thrown away.

As your chickens are hatching, do not open the incubator.  It is very important that the temperature and humidity stay constant during the hatching time.  You don’t need to worry about the chicks that hatch early.  Baby chicks can live for up to three days without food and water.

After your chicks have hatched, move them to your brooder.  This can be the same brooder you used when you initially purchased your chickens.  Make sure there is plenty of food, water, and heat in your brooder.  At this point, you can raise them exactly as you raised your first batch of chickens.

13. Increasing Egg Yield

There are several ways to increase egg production in your hens, including changing their diet and inducing a malt.

Chicken Diet

If you notice eggs with weak shells or notice fewer eggs from week to week, you need to increase the calcium and protein content in your chickens’ diet.  To increase the protein, ensure that you are buying chicken feed or making chicken feed that has at least 16 per cent protein.  If your feed does contain 16 per cent protein, buy a feed that has higher protein content.  In addition to buying better feed, you can also feed your chickens meal worms, high-protein scratch, and crickets.

To increase the calcium content in your chicken feed, add some crushed oyster shells to their feed and give them more time in the yard to forage.  In addition, you can also hang whole heads of cabbage and entire stalks of broccoli in their coop and run.  This will increase the calcium and vitamins and minerals in their diet.

Grandma's Tip !

Feed their own egg shells to chickens, broken up and mixed in their feed, this will make sure that their future eggs will be harder and break less easily. Be sure to clean all the egg off the shells first though!

Provide Light

One of the easiest ways to increase your hens’ egg production is to ensure that they have enough light each day.  Chickens need between 12 and 16 hours of light.  If they receive less light, their egg production will decrease, and they may even stop laying eggs.

To ensure your hens are receiving enough light, you can install electric lights in the coop and set them to turn off and on via a timer.  It’s important to never turn all the lights on or off at the same time.  A good rule of thumb is to set a few lights to turn off or on  immediately.  Ten minutes later, have a few more turn off or on, and 10 minutes after that, turn the rest of your lights off or on.

Forced Molting

If you notice your hens are producing unusually small eggs or not enough eggs, according to their breed, you can increase their production by forcing them to perform their first molt early.  Hens will produce more eggs and larger eggs after their first molt.

To induce a molt, withhold food from your chickens for up to seven days.  The lack of food will cause your chickens stress, and their natural response will be to molt all their feathers.  After seven days, feed your chickens as normal.  This is not an ideal solution as some of your birds may not recover from the starvation process.

14. Keeping Your Chickens Happy

Keeping your chickens happy is as easy as giving them plenty of space to roam and providing lots of things for them to do during the day.  In addition, you want to ensure that each hen has a place to sleep and a place to lay their eggs.

Space

Give your hens and roosters at least four feet of outdoor space.  This means that if you have 20 chickens, you need to ensure that your chicken run is at least 80 square feet.  It is fine to provide more space and even recommended.  Chickens with very little space will destroy all the vegetation in the space, which will reduce their ability to forage and remain occupied during the day.

If you can only provide the minimum outdoor space requirements, consider letting your birds free-range for a couple of hours each day.

Chicken Toys

Chickens love to peck and forage.  To ensure your chickens have enough to peck, scatter chicken scratch in the chicken run, provide peck blocks, and hang broccoli, cabbage, and other vegetation in the run.  This will provide enough activities to keep your chickens active and happy all day long.

Nests and Roosts

Make sure each of your chickens has a place to sleep at night.  If a chicken does not have a place to sleep, they may sleep in the nesting boxes or on the floors or roosting boards.  This will greatly increase the filth in your coop because chickens poop wherever they sleep.

Ensure that your nests are clean and free of chicken poop.  Lay at least two to three inches of straw or bedding in the nesting boxes.  This ensures that the eggs stay clean and that the chickens remain oblivious to the eggs.  Chickens forget about their eggs if they cannot see them.  This reduces the likelihood that the chickens will eat the eggs.

It is also important to inspect the nesting boxes when you gather eggs.  If any box is exceptionally filthy, clean it and change the bedding immediately.

If you want to prevent your chickens from sleeping in the nesting boxes, cover the boxes at night with plywood.

15. Predators and protection

Chickens have lots of predators, including raccoons, dogs, hawks, foxes, coyotes, weasels, and squirrels; and keeping them out of your chicken coop and run is incredibly important.  Raccoons can open doors and windows, so the best prevention is to buy locks and handles that are raccoon proof.  For coop windows, chicken wire can be stapled to the interior of the coop.

Chicken wire can also be stapled around the bottom of the coop and along fences.  This will keep squirrels out as well as the raccoons.

In addition, you can also install an electrified fence around your coop.  This will discourage all predators from getting into your coop.  Many chicken owners also buy and train dogs to ward off predators.

Foxes

Foxes are exceptionally good at stalking, killing, and eating chickens, and they will stake-out a chicken coop once they find it.  If they manage to get into the coop, they will kill as many chickens as possible.  To identify a fox problem, look for chickens with broken necks and missing feathers.  You will also find feathers outside of the chicken coop and run, as well as missing birds.  The fox will carry some birds away for later consumption.

Foxes get into chicken coops by digging under the fences and climbing over the tops of the fences.  To stop a fox from getting into your coop, you need to completely cover the top of the chicken run from the edge of the coop to the end of the chicken run as if you were building a roof.  There cannot be any gaps where the mesh roof meets the fence or the chicken coop.

To prevent foxes from digging under your coop, dig a one foot trench around your chicken coop and run before you install the fence.  Bury the fence posts inside the trench.  You can use concrete and concrete blocks to set the posts.  Simply put the blocks in the trenches where you want your posts.  Insert the posts into one of the holes in the block and fill the hole with liquid concrete.  This will keep your posts in place while you run the chicken wire or chain link.  Run the chicken wire as you would normally, ensuring that the bottom edge of the wire is flush with the bottom of your trench.  Attach the wire as normal to the poles.

When you finish installing your poles and wire fencing, fill the trenches with dirt.  This will prevent the foxes from digging under your chicken run and entering your coop.

16. Disease and problems

Feather Plucking and Cannibalism

Chickens are prone to pulling the feathers out of each other and cannibalism.  This can be caused by a lice infestation or boredom, and it’s important to find out the reason and immediately stop the behaviour.

Lice

There are two ways to cure a lice infestation, including DE and Poultry Protector, and depending on the degree of infestation, it might be wise to use both methods initially.

Grandma's tip !

Mix left over garlic husks in the hay straw bedding this stops lice and fleas entering the roost and will prevent your chickens having a lice infestation.

Poultry Protector

Poultry Protector is a spray that can be used in the coop and on the chickens.  It should be applied weekly until all signs of lice are gone.  While using Poultry Protector, it is very important to clean and remove all lice infested feathers on a regular basis.  Lice infestations happen most often in the fall and early winter.

DE

DE is a natural delicer and can be added to the bedding of the chickens.  It prevents and kills lice and other buggy pests.

Poultry Ticks

Poultry ticks are small, soft-bodied ticks that can infest poultry and other birds, and they can infest your chickens if they come in contact with other wild birds.  The ticks are nearly impossible to find during the day as they leave the chickens during the day and hide in the crevices of the coop.  You will not find them on your birds when you perform lice inspections.

The best way to identify a potential tick problem is by watching your birds.  If they suddenly molt, appear lethargic or agitated, and refuse to go into the chicken coop at night, you may have a tick problem.

To find the ticks, use a putty knife and stick it in every crevice in your coop, especially the ones right below where your chickens roost.  If you have a tick problem, you will find blood, tick dirt, and live ticks in the crevices.

Once you have found evidence of a tick problem, immediately remove the roosts and power wash them.  Vacuum any visible ticks with a wet-dry vacuum.  Remove all the bedding from your coop and discard it immediately.

Next, remove all perching boards and any boards that contain gaps.  The ticks will be found in the gaps between the wood pieces.  Power wash your entire coop and vacuum all the ticks and filth with your wet-dry vac.  Allow the coop to dry completely.

Once the coop is dry, replace every board and fill every crevice and knothole with caulk.  Make sure to wipe the caulk until it is seamless with the coop.  If the caulk contains raised edges or is not seamless, your chickens may peck at the caulk.

Next, spray your coop with an insecticide.  Orange Guard works really well for this purpose.  It is an organic insecticide that contains FDA approved ingredients.  It will not harm people or pets, nor it will not contaminate food, but it will kill every insect that comes in contact with it.

Add bedding to your coop and mix in a healthy layer of DE.

This should kill all the ticks in your coop and prevent new ticks from entering.  To ensure the treatments worked, you can check your birds and the coop on a nightly basis for more ticks and kill any surviving ticks.

Boredom

One of the main reasons for feather plucking and cannibalism is boredom.  Chickens love to peck.  It’s what they do all day, and if they run out of things to peck, they will peck each other and pull out feathers.  If healthy feathers are pulled from the chickens, they will bleed, and chickens love the colour red, which will increase the frequency of plucking.

It’s important to stop this behaviour before it starts.  To prevent your chickens from pulling out each other’s feathers, make sure to have enough items in the coop and chicken run to keep your chickens occupied all day.    This could include chicken toys, scratch, lots of high-protein snacks, and lots of fresh vegetables.  Hanging heads of cabbage and bunches of broccoli in your chicken coop and in the run will keep your chickens occupied.  There are also special feed blocks that are designed to be pecked.  They can be found at most feed stores.  Purina sells a great brand of peck block.

If you’ve already noticed plucking within your flock of chickens, you need to identify which chickens are doing the plucking and separate them from the rest of the flock.  It may seem wiser to remove the pecked chicken or chickens, but it’s actually more beneficial to remove the peckers.  Chickens learn by observing, and if one or two chickens have picked up the bad habit, soon all of the chickens will have the bad habit.  By pulling out the offenders, you are stopping the rest of the flock from learning the behaviour, and stopping the potential for cannibalism.

Treating the Injured

Purchase a can of Blue Kote from your local feed store.  It’s a yellow aerosol can with a blue cap and retails for around $5.  This seals and disinfects the wounds on the chicken and promotes rapid healing.  It also tastes bad to the other chickens and discourages pecking.

Pine tar is another effective wound treatment for chickens.  It disinfects the wound, prevents bacteria from entering the wound, and is not palatable to the other chickens, which discourages pecking.  There are several different types of pine tar and not all of them are designed for animal wound care.  The type of pine tar you want to use is manufactured by Bickmore.  The can is black with a picture of a horse, and it is typically used to treat wounds on horses.   It retails for between $10 and $13 at most tack stores.

Lastly, you should purchase a spray bottle of Hot Pick.  This is not a wound treatment, but can be sprayed over the wound treatment and on the other feathers of the injured bird.  It contains a mix of bitter herbs and hot spices that discourage the other birds from plucking the feathers from the injured bird.

17. Once the Bird Is Healed, wing clipping and free ranging.

Once your injured bird is healed, you can reintegrate the offending birds into the flock.   It’s a good idea to spray all of the chickens in the flock with Hot Pick except the pecking birds.  This should discourage them from pecking anymore feathers.

If you notice anymore pecking within your flock, identify the birds that are doing the pecking.  Ninety-per cent of the time, it will be the original birds.  At this point, you can safely assume that the bad birds will continue to pluck feathers, which will lead to cannibalism.   They cannot be left in the flock, and the only solution is to harvest them for their meat.

Wing Clipping

Chickens are capable of flight.  Therefore, most chicken raisers opt to clip one wing to prevent the chickens from flying out of the coop.  This does not hurt the bird and does not prevent future flight feathers from regrowing after the chickens molt.

To clip the wings of your chicken, take a sharp pair of shears and hold out the feathers on one wing.  The feathers used for flight are the longest feathers on the wing of the bird.  Simply clip them down to the size of the other feathers.  This will not be noticeable when your chickens are walking around.

If your chicken run is covered and you do not allow free ranging, you do not need to clip the wings of your chickens.  They will not fly out of the cage.

Free Ranging

It is recommended to let your chicken’s free range for a few hours each day.  Free ranging involves letting your chickens out of their chicken run and into your back yard.  This works best if you have a completely fenced back yard.  Otherwise, you risk your chickens escaping your yard, and potential predators may enter your yard and injure or kill birds in your flock.

Chickens that free range are generally healthier than ones that do not.  This is because they forage while they are walking around your yard and get extra nutrients from the grass and small bugs they find.  They are also less bored and less apt to cause havoc within the flock.

Clipping the wings does not affect the bird negatively, but may cause those feathers to stay on the bird during molting.  Once your chickens enter their molting stage, check them to make sure the clipped wings are being molted.  If they are not falling free from the bird, gently tug on them to remove them.  These fathers need to molt just like the rest of the feathers.  After the chickens have completed their molting, you will need to re-clip their wings.

18. Butchering

Butchering a chicken is not for the faint of heart.  Most individuals are unfamiliar with slaughtering animals for food and are grossed out by the process.  This is completely normal and will go away with time and practice.

Before butchering, stop feeding your chickens 24 hours ahead of time.  This will clean out the intestines of the chicken.  Dealing with faecal matter during the butcher is disgusting and potentially dangerous.

To get started, you will need a large sink.  It’s best if you have a sink that you can use outside so that you do not get chicken guts and blood all over your kitchen.  Next, you need a chicken lung remover, a sharp knife, a butcher’s steel, a boning knife, a large cooler filled with cold water and ice, a large pot, a waste bucket and a vacuum sealer.

Get your chicken out of the coop.  Grab it by the neck and swing it around until you hear its neck break.  You need to do this quickly to minimize the bird’s suffering.  Next, chop off its head with an axe and hang it from a tree branch by its feet.  This will allow all the blood to drain from the chicken.  You do not want any blood left in the chicken.  Wait five to ten minutes until the stream slows to a trickle.

While you are waiting for the bird to drain, fill a large pot with water and heat it to between 130 and 140 degrees.  Keep a hold of the feet and dip the bird in the hot water.  This is called scalding the bird.  It makes the feathers easier to pluck from the skin.  Scald the bird for a minute to a minute and a half.

Hang the scalded bird upside down and pull the feathers from the bird’s body.  Once all the feathers are removed, take the bird to your outdoor sink and rinse it off with cold water.  While rinsing, scrub the skin and remove any remaining pin feathers.

Once the bird is clean and free of feathers, lay the bird on your counter and cut off its feet at the joint.  Next, cut the chicken’s neck and the skin on the neck.  This is best performed by using a sharp knife and pulling on the skin to create tension.  Chicken skin is very hard to cut through without adding tension.  Do not remove the neck.  This is done later.

Next, locate the crop and grasp just below the area.  Gently work the crop, oesophagus and trachea out of the bird.  If this is done right, you’ll pull everything from the crop to the gizzard out of the chicken.

Next, finish removing the neck.  This is best done by locating the neck and making a cut between the chicken’s shoulder blades to loosen the meat.  Then, cut into the side of the neck until your knife hits bone.  Again, be careful not to cut entirely through the neck.  Do the same to the other side of the neck.

Grip the chicken by the neck and twist the body until the neck moves freely.  Pull the neck out of the chicken.

The next step is to remove the oil gland.  This gland is located at the base of the chicken’s butt and is easily identifiable as a pointed bulge.  To remove, simply cut the gland off with your knife.  The gland is yellow, and you will need to remove all the yellow to fully remove the gland.

Next, you will need to create an opening at the butt of the chicken in order to remove its intestines.  Make a small cut with your knife by lifting up on the skin and cutting with an upward angle.  This is to avoid accidentally nicking an intestine.

Nothing should come out of the bird.  If any liquid exits the hole, immediately throw the bird away.  It is not safe for consumption.

Next, widen the cut with your fingertips by pulling it apart.  If faecal matter escapes, immediately stop the butchering process and rinse the butt of the chicken in cold water until all the faecal matter is gone.  If you accidentally contaminate your work space with it, rinse the area thoroughly and clean with a diluted bleach solution.

After you have opened the back end of the chicken, reach your hand inside the body cavity.  You want to do this slowly and keep your hands and fingers along the bones of the chicken.  You are done reaching into the chicken when your hand cannot go any further.  At this point, curl your fingers down gently and start pulling the guts out of the chicken.  You want to do this very slowly so you do not break the gall bladder or any of the internal organs.

Once you have the guts out of the chicken, visually look for the gall bladder.  It is a green sack.  You need to find it and ensure that it is not broken or seeping.  If the gall bladder is damaged or ruptured, throw the chicken away.

Next, cut around the vent of the bird and remove it.  Be careful not to cut the intestines.

Now, it is time to remove the lungs and heart.  The heart is located in the centre of the bird’s chest and is easily removable by hand.

To remove the lungs, you will need to use your lung scraper to scrape the lungs out of the chicken.  Spraying a good dose of cold water into the cavity helps loosen the lungs.

Once the lungs are out, flush the inside of the chicken with cold water.  This will remove all the rest of the internal bits and pieces.

Once you’ve removed all the internal organs and flushed the cavity, it’s time for a thorough cleaning.  Rinse the chicken completely.  This involves running cold water along the inside and outside of the bird.

Next, put the bird in the cooler of ice and water.  This will chill the body and stop decomposition.  After about an hour in the cold water, the chicken is ready for cutting and bagging.

Remove the chicken from the cooler and take it inside the house to your vacuum sealer.  You can vacuum bag the whole chicken as it is and store it in the freezer, or you can cut it into parts and individually vacuum seal the parts.  It’s entirely up to you.  At this point, the chicken is exactly as you would have purchased it at the store.

19. Summing up

Well I hope you liked the book and it has given you some helpful tips in raising your own backyard chickens.  It was a pleasure to write and yet again pick my Grandma's brain!

If you would like to receive a free book of any of the other Grandma's book series, please write a review on Amazon of the book and email me a copy of your review at ahsmithers@gmail.com and I will happily send you a copy of a free book

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Table of Contents

Copyright

1. Introduction

2. The basics

3. Chicken breeds - Egg layers

4. Chicken breeds - Meat Chickens

5. Chicken Coops

6. Chicken run, nests etc

7. Caring For Your Baby Chickens

8. Chicken feed & Grandma's Homemade feed

9. Chicken coop bedding and gathering eggs

10. Cleaning, checking & preserving eggs

11. Chicken Behavior

12. Breeding Chickens, hatching & incubating Chickens

13. Increasing Egg Yield

14. Keeping Your Chickens Happy

15. Predators and protection

16. Disease and problems

17. Once The Bird Is Healed, wing clipping and free ranging.

18. Butchering

19. Summing up

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