When the first issue ofChickensmagazine undulate off the printer back in the spring of 2010 , I was a bachelor living in California . I had no kidskin and no plan to have any .
But now I ’m now happily married , living back in Indiana where I grew up , with the two dependable boys anyone could ever have the perquisite of raise ( poker chip off the sure-enough pulley block ! ) .
Things modify , but one affair remains unceasing : undecomposed poultry - keep confidential information are still unspoiled poultry - keeping tips . So we thought it would be fun , 10 age and more than 50 issues afterward , to go through each yield and regain some great information to divvy up .
Whether you ’re fresh to the magazine , have been with us for every one , or did n’t even know we published achicken - specific mark cartridge holder , here are some poultry - restrain tips from the past ten ofChickensmagazine .
1. Overcoming Common Problems
Keep a little surface area around the coop decipherable of snow and ice during the wintertime , so your chickens wo n’t have to freeze their foot just to stretch their leg . From Issue No . 1 , Spring 2010
2. A Breath of Fresh Air
check that your volaille have some admittance to wise air during the day alfresco of the coop , especially when temperature rise . No . 2 , Summer 2010
3. Surviving Fowl Weather
preserve weewee in its liquid form can pose a significant fowl - keep challenge when temperatures take an glacial dive . Some masses will paint the waterer dark and strike a heating plant lamp on it . This keep back the water thawed and also bring home the bacon some passion for the shuttlecock . No . 3 , Fall / Winter 2010
4. Brooder Room Basics
If your bird are huddled together at once under the heat germ , your brooder is likely too cold . You ’ll need to let down the heating system lamp closer to the chicks . No . 4 , Spring 2011
5. Coop Construction
Before building your coop , instal a pad of cement pavers to put the coop on . This prevents any predators from turn over underneath . No . 5 , Summer 2011
6. The Basics of Biosecurity
Observe your doll day by day for signs of sickness , and be prepared to act if malady or death bang . Isolate a sick bird from your other chickens immediately . No . 6 , lessen 2011
7. News & Notes
If you run out of uses for eggs before your hens have stopped laying them , you’re able to freeze them . To preclude the yolks from become gummy , add1⁄2 teaspoonful of salt for each cup to be used in oecumenical baking or breakfast dish . No . 7 , Jan./Feb . 2012
8. First Week Survival Guide
A unbending , fictile kiddie pool fill with teetotal bedding can be a honest temporary first menage for up to 25 baby chicks . No . 8 , March / April 2012
9. Healthy Eggs for Healthy Eating
prefer a uniform time to gather the day ’s eggs . The prospicient eggs sit in the nest box , the more likely they will be walked on or defecated on by your good deal . No . 9 , May / June 2012
10. Marvelous Manure
The compost should be compose of a level-headed carbon - to - nitrogen balance of dark-brown fabric , such as pale yellow or coop bedding , dry out leaves or dry grass , and unripe material , such as chicken manure , green grass clipping and kitchen scraps . Chicken manure is so gamy in nitrogen , so you may be successful using a one part green to one part dark-brown potpourri . No . 10 , July / August 2012
11. First Aid for Fowl
If your biddy is endure through a difficult molt , you might consider fencing her in a separate orbit of the yard , so the other hens do n’t wound her . No . 11 , Sept./Oct . 2012
12. Chilly Chickens
Frostbite is a frigid weather condition - specific poultry - keeping challenge . Protect combs and wattle bycoating them with petroleum gelatin or another grievous moisturizer every few sidereal day . No . 12 , Nov./Dec . 2012
13. Cold Weather Tips
Another moth-eaten - conditions fowl - keeping tip : Collect the eggs as often as you’re able to . Chicken eggs are compose of well-nigh 75 percent urine , so they ’ll freeze and crack cursorily once exposed to the stale gentle wind . No . 13 , Jan./Feb . 2013
14. Raising Your Own
To develop and hatch successfully , eggs should be incubated at a temperature between 99 and 102 degrees Fahrenheit and 50 to 65 percent comparative humidness . No . 14 , March / April 2013
15. It’s Time to Clean House
Use a intermixture of leaves and pine skimming for the floor area . This mixture also makes great compost when move out and aged . No . 15 , May / June 2013
16. See Saw Make Cuts
You ’ll need more than just chicken wire to keep your flock safe . Invest in a weld , galvanized , 14 - gauge wire fencing for your run ’s outer bulwark . No . 16 , July / August 2013
17. The Days of Our Lives
honest-to-goodness hens can not process nutrients as expeditiously as younger razzing , and their consistency can get run through of mineral . pass calcium in oystershell form , destitute pick , even if it ’s supplement in their provender . No . 17 , Sept./Oct . 2013
18. Mothers Know Best
Some good nesting - loge materials to weigh include wood shavings , sawdust , tear up paper and pot clippings from a non - deal lawn . No . 18 , Nov./Dec . 2013
19. Build a Better Feeder
For produce birds too small to reach your newly built tributary , place a block of wood in front of the feeder to dish up as a stride ladder . No . 19 , Jan./Feb . 2014
20. Coming Home to Roost
In inhuman climates , round perches put birds ’ substructure at a greater risk of frostbite . In these surface area , usea flat , wooden pole that force birds to propagate their foot out so their toe are kept lovesome by the chickens ’ breasts . No . 20 , March / April 2014
21. Planting for Poultry
impart the theme on your homegrown grain , and dry out them upside down in handful bundles . When winter weather keeps your hens inside the coop , hand sheaf of dry grain , high enough that the chickens have stand on tiptoes or hops to hit them . This fowl - keeping practice will provide level-headed exercise that may also better winter testicle - laying . No . 21 , May / June 2014
22. Keep Your Poultry-Keeping Cool
chicken generally wo n’t even touch water that cross-file above 90 degree , so when the air temperatures are high , it ’s time for shabu cubes or chicken feed block in your chickens ’ piddle . vitamin and electrolytes or plain Pedialyte total to the water supply in utmost heating system can aid your chickens make out better with the heat energy . No . 22 , July / August 2014
23. What the Shell?!
When a chick grows to egg - lay maturity , it ’s time to interchange from a grower feed to a layer feed . level feed has a mellow level of calcium in it than a cultivator feed . No . 23 , Sept./Oct . 2014
24. From Sea to Shining Sea
assure your birds have decent places to hide from piranha when they range , and lock up your crybaby well before dusk to avoid “ the killing hr ” when marauder feed before dark . No . 24 , Nov./Dec . 2014
25. Eggstraordinary Ideas
Here ’s a fowl - keeping fillip — eggshells can work wonder in the garden to keep some pest , such as punch and snail , away from flora . No . 25 , Jan./Feb . 2015
26. This Little Light
Do n’t keep an ballock out of the brooder ( or out from under a broody biddy ) for more than five minute . Each time you remove an egg , you expose it to potential scathe : the bacteria from your hand , for instance , and especially inconsistent temperatures and humidity . No . 26 , March / April 2015
27. Off to a Good Start
untested fowl need secure grip on the brooder floor , or you will have damaged legs and slipped tendon on the Rhenish . woodwind sliver and chop shuck are practiced bedding choices . No . 27 , May / June 2015
28. Shoo, Fly!
Whenever potential , keep waterers out of the coop . The use of domestic fowl waterer nipples inside the poulet run is staggeringly helpful in keep a ironic chicken yard while offering the good deal reinvigorated water and preventing tent flap from sullying the water supply . No . 28 , July / August 2015
29. Sell & Swap Talk
Examine each chicken cautiously before grease one’s palms it . If the seller does n’t desire you to deal a fowl , do n’t be shy about asking him to exhibit it to your spec . No . 29 , Sept./Oct . 2015
30. Prepping for Winter
Reduce fire hazards in and around heating plant source . Use poultry - safe heat lamp with guard , if potential , and on a timekeeper to control the temperature . No . 30 , Nov./Dec . 2015
31. Looking for Natural Remedies
In the result of an flack , bring the hurt biddy inside somewhere affectionate and subdued , and give it a quick once - over to assess the harm . Call the ex-serviceman if that ’s the route you select to take , and then strip the wounds as best as you’re able to with saline solution . If profligate is flow , apply a generous amount of cornstarch directly to the combat injury to kibosh the bleeding as quickly as possible . No . 31 , Jan./Feb . 2016
32. The Need to Feed
Grit is an important poultry - keeping ingredient , and you should admit it in chick ’ diets to help them right digest food . ( Chickens do n’t have teeth , so they search out tiny stones that grind up food in their gizzards . ) Free - ranging birds can find grit in their environment , but for brooder chicks , supplementary gumption is required to help them put up their food . No . 32 , March / April 2016
33. Case of the Missing Eggs
Hens require at least 14 hours of light to maintain testicle production . To keep the gals laying all year , practice unreal lights to augment thenatural sunlight when the day length decreases . No . 33 , May / June 2016
34. Upcycling Eggshells
Sterilized shell , crushed or powered , can be asterisk cleaners around the house . Make a cleaning library paste by mixing sterilized , delicately powder shells with a little lemon juice , vinegar or water ( plain or soapy ) . The atoxic abrasive can be used on pots , pans or wherever you might use a shop - bought abrasive cleaner . No . 35 , Sept./Oct . 2016
35. Boredom-Busting Super Treats
fighting birds , specially in the winter , are felicitous razzing . Allow birds to keep themselves engaged by foraging to keep them from bodily function like pecking each other . No . 36 , Nov./Dec . 2016
36. For Maximum Wellbeing
Catnip , pennyroyal and finocchio can be used to repel insect . Grow them around your chicken coop or crush and sprinkle them within . No . 37 , Jan./Feb . 2017
37. Watching out for Stress
The key to slim strain in new mothers is the same across specie : Support them ! female parent hens should be given tranquil , good quarters to sit in their clutches for the three weeks of incubation and for the several weeks after hatching . Offer her food for thought and water in the nest ; otherwise , a attached mum may seldom get off the nest to take forethought of herself — a poultry - maintain problem . No . 39 , May / June 2017
38. Having Patients
separate a symptomatic wench will hopefully keep the repose of your wad from also becoming inauspicious . Separation will also prevent your other bird from bullying and set on the ail brute , as slew pecking guild can reconstitute as a issue of a weakened appendage . No . 40 , July / August 2017
39. Gimme Shelter!
This is a domestic fowl - restrain staple that hold remark : bring home the bacon your flock with a dedicated abode . Housing them with other animate being — particularly big livestock — can result in fretful temperatures , inadvertent injury and even last . bunk your hen with other birds , such as Republic of Turkey , is also not recommend , due to possibility of unwellness such as blackhead disease authorise between bird coinage . No . 41 , Sept./Oct . 2017
40. A Season for Freezin’
unremarkably , farm - reinvigorated eggs can be leave out at room temperature for a few week on the kitchen counterpunch and still be fine to deplete because the bloom or natural finish on the eggshell keep out air and bacteria . However , if you pick up eggs that are insensate to the touch , condensation will probably form on the shells once they start to warm up , which can make the property of the bloom ineffective , so it ’s honest fowl - keep practice to refrigerate your eggs in the wintertime . No . 42 , Nov./Dec . 2017
41. Show & Tell
Weeks before your show , you should train your birds to be customary to being in a cage and treat them a few times each day as a judge would . No . 43 , Jan./Feb . 2018
42. Chicken Health, From A to Z
Birds of different ages need varying measure of piddle . The Old a doll is , the more water it typically needs . In summertime , keep waterer out of direct sun . In winter , take precautionary measure to check that the waterers do n’t immobilize . No . 44 , March / April 2018
43. Salad Salute
Bugs and green ply the nutrient that make the yolks of backyard hens so nutritious and attractively orange . Look for means to check that your hens are getting enough greens in their diet . No . 45 , May / June 2018
44. When the Heat Is On
Avoid consecrate chicken dietary additions via treats duringhot weather . Otherwise , body temps will increase from Calorie burn during digestion . No . 46 , July / August 2018
45. Eggs for Later
One way to preserve your hens ’ bounty is by freeze supererogatory egg . The simplest means is by throw together unsanded bollock in recipe - specific dower , pouring them into plastic deep freezer containers or freezer - safe canning jars , and popping them into the deep freezer . They ’ll keep for about nine months . No . 47 , Sept./Oct . 2018
46. Cold Chicken
Chickens call for to eat more in winter to yield body heat to stick around warm . So , during the winter , leave provender out all twenty-four hours , allowing them to eat up whenever they like . It ’s also beneficial to modify their diet slightly to increase the amount of protein and fatty tissue they consume . No . 48 , Nov./Dec . 2018
47. Had I Only Known!
If you ’re prevent chicken in the main for eggs or meat , you need to exchange the flock every duet of years . If distance is limited , you also want to settle whether to keep the hens as ducky , slaughter them for food , take them to be slaughtered , or have a source where they can live out the remnant of their non - producing life . No . 50 , March / April 2019
48. For a Healthy Flock
For some breeds and some flocks , a caliber provender alone is not enough . affix your birds ’ diets with huitre racing shell for add calcium and grit for help digestion . Both are usually available wherever other fowl - holding and farming provision are sold . you could also purchase them well online . No . 52 , July / August 2019
49. Being Good Stewards
Have you ever hatched your own chicks ? build a chicken tractor ? Taught a classroom of first graders about wimp ? try that garlic flower stalk pesto chafe ball recipe you swore you ’d try ? Good chicken - keepers keep originate . The more experiences you put under your belt , the more you may understand the many facets of aliveness with chickens , seeing them in a new wayeach time . No . 53 , Sept./Oct . 2019
50. Boredom Busters
chaff bales can be used to create barriers between feeders and waterers to promote walk or jumping by placing hay bales in such a mode that birds can either jump over the bales or walk in an S - shape to get to food and body of water . However , this should be done under careful oversight to make certain no birds go without food and water . Alternatively , you could just identify food and water far away from each other to increase walking distance . No . 54 , Nov./Dec . 2019
That ’s a muckle of fowl - keep tips to take in ! Thanks to all our proofreader for supportingChickensmagazine this past decade . We trust you stick around for the next 10 year . Our best is yet to clucking .
This chronicle originally appear in the November / December 2019 issue ofChickensmagazine .
