The Beginner’s Guide to Incubation

This guide is intended to help people new to incubation learn how to properly incubate and hatch eggs.
It will walk you through how to incubate and hatch most common types of poultry, such as chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, etc.  Read Article

by: Backyard Chickens
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Taking Chicken Keeping a Step Further, Candling Eggs

Are you still in the dark about candling eggs?  This article will walk you through it with descriptive and detailed pics. Or, you can be lazy like me and just wait to see if your eggs hatch!
These informative articles will help you to better understand the candling of eggs.
So you’ve got chooks and a rooster and you want some chicks. But how do you know if the rooster is doing his job? The way to check eggs to see if they are fertile is called “candling”.  Continue Reading

by Jono’s Urban Farm

More Help: Candling Eggs Progression Through Incubation :
There are some particular detailed signs to look for at all stages of growth

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Help your Chickens Beat the Heat This Summer

Forget the ice cubes and frozen water bottles, if your chickens live in triple digits, ice is going to melt in minutes and be of no help at all.  In Arizona, we have to be much more clever than that!

Mist systems aren’t always helpful because some chickens will avoid them, but I still use them. The best way to help your chickens survive the heat is to give them a more natural way to keep cool. Dig them a shallow pond and put a hose on a slow drip. This will bring up worms, and that’s a sure way to keep chickens interested in staying right where you want them. You don’t have to go through a lot of trouble, keep it simple. Watch the sun, and make sure your little oasis will be in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
Put a drinker in different places so there is always water in the shade. If you can’t find suitable shade, make some. Make use of mesh shade tarps, shade cloth, shade sails, etc. Be creative, I found an old pallet, covered it with shade cloth, leaned it up against a fence, and put a drinker under it.

shade cloth

Today it is 107, and by the end of the month it will be 115+, these are brutal temperatures and can be fatal to chickens. With something as simple as a shallow pond, they will be fine. Wherever you live, there is dirt, water, and I’m guessing you own a shovel… it’s that easy!
Tip: if you have bushes or trees by your chickens, spray them with water during the day. Your chickens will be drawn to the cool air around the trees and have a chance to recover from the heat.

cool the air
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