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What Do You Call a Group of Chickens?
A group of chickens is most commonly called a flock. Unlike a murder of crows or gaggle of geese, there is no clever collective name for a group of chickens. However, there are a few names and terms you might hear in association with your birds. If you’re raising chickens, it helps to know the […]
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How to Breed Chickens
Breeding chickens will require a rooster, hens and probably an incubator to help with hatching the eggs. It’s a bit tricky to successfully breed your own chickens, but it’s one of the easier types of small-scale farming and can be very rewarding. Before you get started, you’ll need to check the legality of breeding chickens […]
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How Long Before Chicks Reach Market Weight?
Broilers, or chickens bred for meat production, reach maturity between 7 and 9 weeks. These breeds grow faster than chickens that are kept for egg-laying purposes. Layers mature after about six months, at which point they start laying eggs reliably. Most broilers weigh about four pounds when they’re slaughtered. Chickens at this size, below the […]
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How Smart Are Chickens?
Conventional wisdom suggests that chickens aren’t clever, but research has shown otherwise. Chickens are social animals with a surprising level of intelligence and understanding. People who keep chickens as pets and take the time to get to know them soon realize that these birds have distinct personalities and can be quite clever. Compared to other […]
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How to Clip a Chicken’s Wings
A chicken’s wings can be clipped by trimming the 10 primary flight feathers on each wing. To prevent injury, you’ll want to cut on the white part of the shaft, which can be viewed on the underside of the wing. Sharp scissors will do the job nicely. The purpose of clipping a chicken’s wings is […]
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How to Keep Chickens out of Your Garden
The easiest way to keep chickens out of your yard or garden is to fence them out. Chickens are poor flyers, and most cannot easily clear 6′ fence. Alternatively, you can keep your chickens corralled in a covered and fenced-in chicken run that will keep them confined only to the part of the yard you’d […]
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Why Can’t Chickens Fly?
Chickens can actually fly, but there are several surprising reasons why they don’t. Because modern domesticated chickens have large bodies and small wings, they are too heavy to get very high off the ground. Smaller chickens can and do fly short distances. The modern domesticated chicken is the result of 10,000 years of selective breeding. […]
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What Time of Day Do Chickens Lay Eggs?
An adult hen will usually five to seven eggs a week. Chickens predominately lay eggs in the morning. You can check your nesting boxes each day for fresh eggs from your hens. You do not need a rooster in order for your hens to lay eggs. A rooster is only needed if you want fertilized […]
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How to Deal with Mites on Your Chickens?
Mites and other blood-sucking insects can pose a very serious threat to your flock’s health and safety, with health effects ranging from itchy or scaly skin to anemia and even death. Fortunately, both the prevention and the cure to an infestation of mites are relatively easy, and they all come down to keeping your chickens […]