Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
C
ARING FOR
Y
OUR
C
HICKENS
Like any animal under your care, chickens will need a certain amount of attention. There are
chores that must be done on a daily basis, and there are chores that must be done less fre-
quently on a monthly and on a bi-annual basis. By completing these tasks, you are ensuring
that your chickens stay happy, healthy, and provide a good return on the investments you
have made into them.
They must be fed and watered daily. If they have a feeder instead of having feed spread out
for them, depending on your preferred method of feeding your chickens, make sure that the
feeder is topped off daily so that it stays full. The water must be changed out on a daily basis
or more frequently if one day it gets particularly dirty. Chickens are less likely to drink dirty
water and would rather dehydrate themselves than guzzle that down. If the bird becomes
dehydrated, the chances of it becoming ill or dying increase exponentially. Make sure on a
daily basis that all your chickens look healthy; a droopy bird is a sign of an unwell bird,
and you will want to take listless birds to the vet as soon as it is noticed to prevent any pos-
sible contamination between the healthy birds and the ill birds. At the same time each day,
whether it is in the morning or in the evening, be sure to go through and collect all the eggs.
All eggs should be stored point down in a refrigerator for maximum freshness. A labeling
system to let you know how fresh the eggs are should be implemented. Either special egg
cartons may be ordered or old egg cartons may be reused with the date collected written on
the side to ensure no mix up occurs. Each time the coop door is opened, always be sure to
count your chickens before closing up the coop and going back inside. You want to make
sure all of your chickens are present and accounted for each and every time. If a chicken gets
loose and is not caught, that's a potential loss on your investment right there.
Just because these tasks should be done every day doesn't mean that you cannot set up
something that will allow you to be able to leave your chickens for a few days. Chickens,
so long as you have a proper feeding and watering system setup, may be left for up to ten
days. All eggs that pile up during that ten day period are still edible and will not cause any
issues in humans. The logic behind this is that each clutch of eggs that a chicken lays con-
tains 10-12 eggs. At an egg a day, this means that by the last egg, the first egg is still good
and able to become a living chick, if fertilized; because it is still able to turn into a living
creature after that time, it is still viable to be eaten as well.
Another important thing to note is that the eggs may have slight traces of dirt or chicken
poop on them. The outside of the egg has a membrane called a bloom that prevents foreign
matter from entering the shell of the egg itself. If the eggs are scrubbed too hard it will break
that membrane, making the egg susceptible to bacteria, et cetera which is not what you want,
especially if you are storing the eggs for a while before using them. If you feel the need to
