It’s been a rough summer for our hens here in Phoenix. The temperatures have soared to 117 and averaged around 110 for more than 35 days since June. And… only one day of rain, in the last 4 months. But my hens are doing great! Why, how? Well, my girls are in a large 10×10 covered pen inside a covered shedrow barn. They have shade tarps on the south, east & west side for protection from the sun. I hang a simple box fan on their pen, and a mist system far enough away to keep the pen dry, but cooler.
Shedrow BarnCoop Inside
Here they are today, the outside temperature is 110, and 108 in the barn, no panting, or holding their wings away from their sides. They are smart enough to find just the right spot where they can catch a cool breeze from the mister, and as you can see, they are resting comfortably. 🙂
This year we are raising Ameraucana (Easter Egger hybrids) and Silver Laced Wyandottes. The Easter Egger will lay blue-green medium-size eggs and the Wyandottes lay brown medium-large eggs. Both breeds are docile and friendly, however, the Easter Eggers’ personality is best described as aloof.
This flock will begin to lay these beautiful colored eggs in about 5-6 months.
Young chicks commonly suffer from fecal impaction, and if left untreated they will die. The warning signs are listlessness, stumbling, and sometimes a swollen abdomen. Most likely your ailing chick has a dirty bum with caked on fecal matter hindering the ability to poop.
The brooder is where your chicks will live until they are fully feathered. This article will help you keep them comfortable by understanding their behavior while using a traditional heat lamp or today’s radiant heat alternative.
Brooder For Your Chicks TBN Ranch
A brooder for chicks is a special enclosure or container designed to provide a warm and safe environment for newly hatched chicks to grow and develop until they are fully feathered. Learn More
It is often the stronger or larger birds that rank highest in the social order. This article will help you learn how to minimize drama when bullying becomes excessive.
The primary role of a rooster in a flock of chickens is to fertilize the eggs laid by the hens. Aside from fertilizing eggs, roosters also play a protective role in the flock. They are naturally aggressive and territorial animals that will defend their hens from predators… Continue Reading
Seasonal Chicken Keeping
Keeping Chickens in Extreme Heat TBN Ranch
Is your chicken yard and coop suitable to sustain the well-being of your flock in the summer? It’s essential to prepare for extreme heat, or your birds may suffer from heat exhaustion… Read More
Which coop is right for you and your flock? Traditional, unique, DYI, or maybe you’re looking for an elaborate set-up? View Now
Drinkers / Waterers TBN Ranch
So many to choose from, but which one best fits your flock’s needs? Auto-fill, nipple, standard fill, or DIY, view them all in one convenient place HERE.
Nest Box & Bedding Gallery | TBN Ranch More than 100 to View!
Nesting boxes are essential and extremely useful for chickens and their keepers. A clean, private, and peaceful space encourages hens to lay eggs all in one place. Without nest boxes, hens will lay their eggs in random places, which is inconvenient for keepers. Here are many ideas to help you find the right nest boxes for your flock. View Now
Creative Roost Ideas TBN Ranch
There are so many different types of roosts, which one is best for your coop? Your birds need something suitable to roost on at night, it can be an old ladder, or maybe something you design from scrap lumber. Or… you can be creative and come up with something totally unique. Here are over 50 types to inspire you. View Now
Building a flock? There are many beautiful chicken breeds to choose from, each having something special to offer. The breeds we chose in this article are primarily birds we are familiar with. Details are specifically about temperament, egg size, egg color, egg production, primary use, and weight.
If you buy your birds as chicks, you can expect to feed and care for them for 22 to 24 weeks before they reach their point of lay. However, this depends on the breed, time of year, and the level of care they have received. Learn in detail how to determine the point of lay HERE.
The freshness and safety of eggs can vary depending on several factors, including how they are stored and whether they are raw or cooked. However, I can offer you the basic safety guidelines to follow. There is also an easy float test that can determine the age of an egg. Read Article
A list of our favorite hatcheries & retailers. We have purchased chicks from all these hatcheries and have always been satisfied. Online retailers are also included, especially useful for those hard-to-find items.
Research, Plan, and Prepare, Everything you Need to Know
Raising chicks can be easy if you just do your homework before you buy. Knowing when to plan for your chicks’ arrival is also something to take into consideration. Of course, it makes good sense to have your coop set up and supplies ahead of time. But it would also be helpful to be informed of what’s new in today’s chicken-keeping market. For example, the use of radiant heat instead of heat lamps, or all the new ideas for drinkers and feeders that are designed to save you time and money. Before you bring home chicks you’ll need a brooder box to raise them until they are fully feathered. Need help choosing the best type? No problem, here are a ton of ideas, BrooderBox Ideas. It can be anything from a cardboard box to something more extravagant as shown in the pics below. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it needs to be convenient for you to manage, and be comfortable for your chicks. See more Brooder pics. While your chicks are in the brooder, you’ll have plenty of time to get their coop ready. Whether a DIY project or not, every coop size and style imaginal can be found HERE. Research, have a plan, be prepared, and know what to expect, these four things will help ease your commitment so there’s more time to enjoy your birds. It’ll be helpful to have some understanding of Basic Chicken Terminology, this reference article will help you through the maze of chicken lingo.
If you are raising bantams, day-old, or mail-order chicks who may be weak from their long journey, line the brooder box with paper towels for the first week. Use a drinker & feeder designed specifically for chicks and place it directly on the paper towels. Your chick’s feed is readily available at all feed stores, ask for Chick Starter. The bag will say Chick starter or Chick Starter/Grower, they’re the same. You have one other feed detail to decide upon, Medicated or Non-Medicated, this is a feed containing antibiotics. Personally, if my chicks are mail-ordered from a hatchery, I feed them medicated for the first week, if bought from a feed store and the chicks are a week old, I feed non-medicated. Sometimes, baby chicks act lethargic or weak from either a long trip or other stressful conditions. In this case, you may want to give them a little electrolyte boost for two or three days. Simply add Sav-a-chick electrolytes to their water source. It’s available anywhere chicks are sold, also on Amazon.
If you bought your chicks from a feed store, they’re probably a few days to a week old, and most likely accustomed to pine shavings for their bedding. It’s okay to continue using pine shavings at this point. This will help keep the brooder smelling fresh, changing it every day is good practice. Your chicks will need enough space to move freely, and after the second week will need the box covered with chicken wire. One-half of the brooder shouldn’t have a heat source at all. The other, preferably radiant heat which will be further explained later in this article. Watch for poopy or pasty butts! This is a common problem usually bought on by stress, or uncomfortable living conditions during the first two weeks. Using a wet paper towel, or baby wipes, clean those fuzzy butts because this condition hinders fecal elimination… which is often fatal. As your chicks become more active, keeping the food & drink sources clean is challenging, so here are a few tips. Raise the drinker to the height of the smallest chick’s back, this will minimize the litter from landing in their water. Use bricks, 2×4 pieces, flower pot saucers, or even a bowl upside down will do the trick. Tip: Set their feeder in something that will catch the feed they scratch out, this will substantially minimize feed waste. Be creative, use a flower pot saucer, a pie tin, etc.
Temperature Control in the Brooder, Radiant Heat vs Heat Lamps
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Keeping the temperature right can be a chore, especially if you depend on a heat lamp. You’ll spend a good deal of time raising and lowering it during the day as temperatures change, which is exactly why I rarely use them. I never raise chicks indoors, they’re always kept in a shed or garage during a time when overnight temperatures seldom drop below 55-60. Heat lamps have their place, but I only use them if a cold spell occurs before my chicks reach a month old. My primary heat source is radiant heat. It doesn’t heat the brooder, it only provides warmth when the chicks settle underneath it. Your chicks will be happiest if they can touch the surface, so keep the unit nice and low, you can easily raise it as they grow. Radiant heat is certainly more natural, chicks have been settling under their mothers in cool climates to keep warm since somewhere around 6000 BC! Radiant heat is a sufficient heat source for chicks if the ambient temperature is at least 55 degrees. Again, this is why seasonal planning for your chick’s arrival is important. Keep a thermometer inside the box to monitor the temperature, but watching the chick’s behavior is the best indication of their comfort. Rule of Thumb: If they’re huddled together, they’re cold. If some are eating or drinking, others sleeping, and the rest under radiant heat, you have happy chicks. There’s no worry about your chicks finding the radiant heat, place them under it when you bring them home and they will return to their comfort zone all on their own. Note: Important Fact about Radiant Heat: The thermometer in the brooder should read at least 55 degrees. You won’t feel the heat when placing your hand under the radiant heat unit unless you touch the plate. Remember, radiant heat doesn’t heat the brooder at all, only the chicks when they are under it… so try not to stress over what seems cold to you. What If There’s A Cold Spell? If it’s necessary to use a heat lamp on a chilly night, avoid placing it directly over the chicks when radiant heat is available to them. A heat lamp near the coop to keep the ambient temp around 55 degrees works well. Note: Heat lamps for chicks in feed stores are almost always only available at 250 watts. That is a lot of heat! You already have a heat source, so there’s no need to blast them with a 250-watt heat lamp. There’s an easy fix to that, 50, 75, and 100-watt heat bulbs are easily found on Amazon, choose a wattage that will keep the ambient temp at or around 55 degrees. You can often find lower-wattage heat bulbs at pet stores in reptile supplies. Always use a red bulb, the light from the clear bulb is too bright and the chicks may become agitated, which inevitably leads to the unwanted problem of frustrated chicks pecking each other.
Keeping Chickens Indoors? There is no need for a heat lamp at all if you use radiant heat. They will be much happier with natural lighting and far less likely to have pasty butts, which often is the culprit of chick fatality. But, there are drawbacks to raising chicks indoors, I won’t tell you not to, but here are three reasons why I don’t. First, when chicks are ready to be moved to the coop they’ll need to acclimate to harsher weather conditions and fluctuating temperatures. Second, by the time they are three weeks old, well… they’ll stink, to put it bluntly. Trust me, You’ll be cleaning their brooder box constantly and wishing they were anywhere but your living space. They will also be very active in what has probably become very cramped quarters at about three weeks old. And Third, chicks mature slower. The rule of thumb is to keep chicks at a controlled temperature until they are fully feathered, which is somewhere around 5 -7 weeks. Chicks raised in cooler temperatures with a moderate heat source are often fully feathered earlier. To sum it all up… plan to buy chicks when they’ll be comfortable in a garage or outdoor shed using primarily radiant heat. This will depend on where you live, for most folks it’s springtime. For others, like the lower desert southwest, mid-February. Three weeks is a good time to introduce a perch for your chicks. A tree branch or one-inch dowel rod will be sufficient. They’ll be reluctant to explore this strange new object, but in a day or two their curiosity will get the best of them. Learning to perch now aids in their transition to roost as adults. Why is this important? It’s good practice to keep nest boxes clean for obvious reasons… and hens sleeping where they lay is anything but. In every coop a roosting bar should be provided, it is instinctual for birds to roost elevated, so this won’t be a difficult task to accomplish. There are however exceptions to the rule of roosting. Silkie Bantams are often reluctant to venture any higher than 3 feet… if at all. Three weeks is also the perfect time to introduce a little grass for them to enjoy, but there are three rules. 1, No long pieces. 2, Not too much. And 3, Have grit available in the brooder to help them digest this strange new food. The grass is a good distraction to an array of possible problems in the brooder as well, such as pecking each other, or bullying. It keeps them busy! Just keep in mind, problems always occur for a reason. Most commonly, overcrowding, bright lights, or undesirable temperatures. Moving Day, Brooder To Coop: When your chicks are fully feathered they are ready to leave the brooder and be moved to the coop. It should be well-ventilated, spacious enough to include a roost bar, and have shelter from wind, rain, inclement weather, and protection from the sun. Provide at least one nest box for every two birds. Two square feet of ground space per bird would be adequate, but the more space you give your flock the better. Crowding is the perfect recipe for bullying when establishing early and continual pecking orders. Feed and water should be elevated to the height of the smallest bird’s back, this will help keep their food and water clean. You can either hang them, or simply find something stationary such as bricks, or a cinder block. Note: Some chicken keepers prefer to move their chicks to a grow-out pen before the coop. This is just a smaller coop where they’re housed until bigger. Grow-out pens are especially important if you have an existing flock, where a whole new set of rules applies for introductions. Diet / The First Egg At the point of lay, (5-6 months) your birds are ready for a change in their diet. This is the perfect time to switch from chick starter/grower, to Layer Pellets. You can expect the first egg from your pullets anytime now.
Don’t Forget to Protect your Flock from Predators! Watch out for these guys! They are bad news.
CoyoteRacoonsHawksBobcats
Don’t think for a minute that your flock is immune to a predator attack. There’s no place on the planet where chickens are safe from predators…. not even in your suburban backyard. And guess what, not in your coop either, unless you’ve made every effort to predator-proof every nook and cranny. That means, no animal will be able to dig under the coop or get in over the top. It means there are no gaps around doors and windows, and the coop door has a secure latch to keep them safe at night.
Read ArticleReady To Choose A Coop?Learn More
Looks like you’re ready to bring those babies home, enjoy the journey!
Chickens have a strong homing instinct which drives them to return to the same place to roost at dusk. Those who for whatever reason have decided otherwise can easily be picked up when it’s dark and placed in the coop. After a few days to a week at most, they usually give up the tree limb, fence, or corner they fancied and join the others in the coop without your interference. Make sure it’s dark though! Because as soon as you turn your back they’ll run back to where you took them from. It’s very common for youngsters to choose a corner on the ground away from the coop. Just pick them up and place them where you want them to be and they’ll catch on after a while. However, don’t be concerned if your young birds pile up together in the coop, just be glad they’re in there! As they mature they’ll find their way to the roost, usually at around five months old. This four-month-old Leghorn chose this spot to roost for the night. After a few evenings of fetching her off the fence and putting her in the coop, she gave up and now joins the others on her own.
Do all Chickens Roost? No, don’t ask me why… some, such as Silkies for example, are known to hunker down for the night in the coop, off the roost. I have four one-year-old hens that refuse to roost, it doesn’t matter, as long as they are safely confined at night I just let them choose their comfort zone.
Night Behavior A chicken’s behavior is dramatically different at night. During the day they are full of life, feisty, and confident, but when the night comes they turn into total milk duds, almost as if they were in a hypnotic state. Take advantage of this time, this is your hassle-free ticket to handle, inspect, and doctor chickens. Especially the ones that are difficult or impossible to catch during the day. Chickens are so docile at night that you can usually sneak a new bird in the coop after dark, it will most likely go unnoticed until morning. Some chicken keepers choose to introduce birds this way. But I must warn you, a chicken’s night stupor disappears the moment they march out of the coop at the crack of dawn. Be prepared to witness a whole new ball game of unkind introductions, to say the least! Learn more about Introducing Chickens to an Existing Flock.
Mamma hen was separated from the flock five weeks ago to hatch and raise her baby chicks in a quiet and safe environment. The chicks are now two weeks old and it’s time to move Mamma and her babies back to the coop. To keep harmony among the flock, I’ve closed off a corner with hardware cloth to allow visibility between the existing flock, Mamma, and babies. The frame is merely PVC pipe cut in 3-foot sections with wire attached using zip ties.
Here’s the set-up I’m using from Nursery to Coop
Moving the hen with her chicks is best done at night when all the birds are sleeping. Last night wearing my handy headlamp, I headed out to the nursery coop. Throwing a blanket over the nest, I took Mom and her chicks, (nest box and all), and placed it in the designated transition pen inside the coop. Come morning it will be introduction time! Safe, peaceful, and everybody is happy. After a week or so, I’ll allow Mamma to take her babies out of the enclosure. She will protect her babies from the existing flock, and at about five weeks, she will begin putting distance between her and them. Note: Many chicken keepers allow their hens to hatch their eggs in a secluded area within the chicken coop. Others move hen and eggs back to coop three or four days before the hatch, both ways are certainly okay. I just like to give my hens a quiet place to do their mothering, it’s merely a personal preference.
Chicks just out of the brooder aren’t ready yet to greet the world and are not ready to join an existing flock. So, there needs to be a middle ground created. This middle ground is called a Grow Out Pen, which is just a fancy name for a safe enclosure for young birds to grow up in!
The guidelines for transitioning chicks from the brooder to a grow-out pen is when the chicks are fully feathered, which is between six and eight weeks. Allow young birds to mature in a grow-out pen until they are around four or five months old. This is important because, in the chicken world, size matters. Introducing small/young birds to a mature flock is a sure ticket to a drama show, and it could be a bloody one too! Grow-out pens slowly introduce juveniles gradually to an existing flock, making the transition easier for future interaction. You’ll want to keep your grow pen in plain view of the adult flock. They will be very curious about the youngsters for a few days and then return to business as usual. The chicks will be timid, or hide for the first few days, then will accept their onlookers as nonthreatening and return to normal behavior. Introduce Change Slowly The whole key to enjoying chickens is to avoid those problems that cause chaos in the chicken yard. Nothing good comes from rushing introductions or changes. The pecking order is serious business, and it’s a given that feeders, drinkers, and nest boxes have already been claimed and will be protected by an existing flock. When your juveniles are ready to join the flock, add more of those sought-after necessities so the new birds aren’t bullied.
Ready to Leave the Grow Out Pen? No problem, the trick is to not overthink it. Your existing flock is quite used to seeing the young birds already, and the juveniles are very unlikely to make a mad dash to freedom the minute the grow-out pen door opens. It’s all a process, one that will naturally go smoothly if you let them exit the grow-out pen on their own. They’ll take a few steps out, then run back in for days, even a week. That’s fine, just close them in at night, and in the morning open the door again. Social ranking among your chickens will begin almost immediately. Sometimes it’s hard to watch the fuzzy babies you raised all these months to get pushed around, you’ll want to intervene and protect them. My advice to you is to walk away and don’t look for problems. I guarantee, if you look for trouble you’re going to find it. The flock will work everything out on their own over time. You’ll know when you have to step in, and when to let nature take its course.
TBN Ranch Chicken Keeping Resources 