Tag: Chicken

Tetherball Toys: Chickens love to peck, and if what they are pecking moves, so much the better. Hang an edible treat from a chain or rope into the coop, and let them peck at the makeshift tetherball, chasing it around as it moves. A head of lettuce or cabbage, several apples, or melon rinds are […]

Bringing home your baby chicks is an exciting milestone in raising backyard chickens. The three key essentials for raising strong baby chicks: Warm, water and feed. Start chicks strong by providing a complete chick starter feed from day 1 through week 18. How do you keep baby chickens alive? Give your chickens lots of space. […]

Using a heat lamp, preferably one that emits 250-watt infrared heat, is your best bet for keeping chicks happily toasty. What temperature is too cold for baby chickens? Baby chickens don’t have fully grown feathers. Therefore, they can’t tolerate the cold. They can’t tolerate temperatures as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit, especially when they are […]

Hot water bottles. If you don’t mind the thought of getting up in the night to tend your chicks,2 hot water bottles can be used as a safe heat source. You will need to insulate the bottles with a towel or other similar item so the chicks can’t directly access the water bottle. Can chickens […]

Baby chicks do not need light at night but they do need to be kept warm. It is usual for keepers to use a combined source of light and heat, hence they get both 24 hours a day. Below: Baby chicks in a brooder with red light. Artificially reared chicks are usually given light for […]

Chickens reproduce via sexual reproduction: a rooster mates with a hen, who then lays a fertilized egg. Can chickens reproduce without a mate? Hens will lay eggs with or without a rooster. Without a rooster, your hens’ eggs are infertile, so won’t develop into chicks. If you do have a rooster, eggs need to be […]

Sudden death syndrome occurs in rapidly growing young broiler chickens. The etiology is uncertain, but it may be a metabolic disorder that predisposes birds to cardiac arrhythmia. Affected birds die suddenly and have no specific gross lesions. What causes sudden death in chickens? The cause of sudden death syndrome in broiler chickens is unknown, but […]

Bottom line, try to go into chickens mentally prepared for losses. When they happen, mourn. Then address anything addressable, and move on the wiser. No matter how long you keep chickens, you’ll always have losses, we’re sorry to say. Do chickens get sad after death? Chickens are emotionally intelligent creatures. Much more so than many […]

When hens eat a diet that’s heavy in yellow corn, they lay eggs with medium-yellow yolks. A diet of wheat or barley results in eggs with lighter-colored yolks, and a colorless diet (such as white corn) produces nearly white yolks. Is the yellow yolk The baby chicken? The yolk of the egg is what we […]

But a new Oxford University study involving feral chickens has revealed that females fight back: hens are able to eject sperm directly following copulation and, when they do, on average 80% of the ejaculate is expelled. Can a hen reject sperm? Hens, however, often don’t have a choice in mates. They prefer males at the […]

It’s called a chalaza. There are two chalazae in an egg, one that suspends from the top of the shell and one from the bottom. Essentially, these rope-like structures are made up of protein, and they attach to the yolk to protect it from bumping into the sides of the eggshell. Is the white stuff […]

03/7Not killing a life. NOT KILLING A LIFE: Much to contrary belief, neither fertilized nor unfertilized eggs contain chicks that are meant to be born. Is a unfertilized egg alive? Yes, it is a mobile carbon-based lifeform. It is a living organism itself, speaking of the sperm of course. The egg, or Ovum is basically […]

The edible hen’s egg is a single cell containing both protein and fat component. The egg develops into a chicken with the division of the single cell leading to the development of the embryo. Hence, the entire egg behaves like a single cell. How many cells is a chicken egg? Oddly enough, the large, edible […]

Avian eye anatomy Birds’ eyes are generally pretty big. They are about 15% of their head mass (ours are only about 1%) and have three eyelids (upper, lower and a clear one called a nictitating membrane). Also, they aren’t shaped like ours. How do chicken see humans? Chickens possess not only the three basic color […]

Chicken Hearing Range They can hear sounds in the 10-12,000 Hz range, while the human ear generally hears sounds in the 20-20,000 Hz range, meaning that chickens can hear sounds that are inaudible to humans. And chickens have better hearing than humans below 64 Hz. How far can chickens hear? 1, the absolute thresholds of […]

Chickens are tetrachromatic It means that they have four types of cones that allow them to see red, blue, green, and ultraviolet light. As a result, they see a much more comprehensive range of hues and tones than we do. Can chickens see green? Chickens are tetrachromatic. They have 4 types of cones that let […]

So, what birds look like chickens? The Plain Chachalaca, Wild Turkey, Scaled Quail, Gambel’s Quail, California Quail, Northern Bobwhite, Ruffed Grouse, Black Grouse, and Rock Ptarmigan are the most common bird species that have similar appearances to chickens. What is the closest bird to a chicken? The galliform birds are sometimes called the chicken-like birds. […]

Although chickens won’t run away, they can sometimes wander off as they scratch and graze for food. Will chickens come back home? Chickens are creatures of habit, and once they know where their roost is, they will return to it every night–like clockwork. How far can chickens wander? Keeping chickens inside the run and coop […]

What about meat? Yes, chickens will eat meat. Chickens are omnivores, meaning they will be both meat and plant products. Chickens also do not seem to be picky eaters. What kind of meat do chickens eat? Chickens are omnivores, this means they will eat just about anything (including meat). Meat scraps are perfectly fine for […]

The Bird ID app makes it easier to find, save and learn about wild birds. We are a bird ID app that allows you to quickly find birds. Our bird ID app allows you to identify and learn about all your favorite birds. Is there a chicken identifier app? One of the first poultry apps […]