Diatomaceous earth is an all-natural, non-toxic, and biodegradable insecticide.  Your hens can even eat it!  This natural insecticide can be rubbed on the hen and into her feet to eliminate and/or prevent mites.

Here is a short video from Ann Bartley with information about diagnosing chicken diseases, including the treatment and prevention of mites.

In her video, Ms. Bartley shares several simple tips for making sure your birds are healthy and disease-free.

First, are your chickens vocal?  They are very social animals, and it's a good sign when they are talking and cackling.

Next, check their combs.  Combs should feel warm to hot to the touch and should be soft, with no hard spots.  The coloring should also be good.

Look at their eyes.  Their eyes should be bright - not cloudy nor filmy.

Check the color of their skin.  The coloring of the skin on your chickens should be yellow.

Check the color of their feet.  The feet of your chicken should also be yellow.  If you seen any swollen scales, this may indicate that your bird has mites.  As stated above, diatomaceous earth can be rubbed on the hen and into her feet to eliminate and/or prevent mites. 

This post is from Chicken Coop Plans, where you can learn more about raising chickens.

Chicken Mites and Diatomaceous Earth

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Here is a very informative video from Purina Mills TV that will get you started with your baby chicks:

Two days before the chicks arrive, clean and disinfect the brooding area, as well as their feeders and waterers.  Spread litter 3 to 4 inches deep in the brooding area.  In the video, Dr. Ballam recommends using Eagle Valley bedding material.  It is an all-natural, absorbent, pelleted wood product from Canada.

A heat lamp should be set up 20 inches above the litter, with the brooder guard within a radius of 2-1/2 to 3 feet from the heat lamp.  This way the chicks can huddle under the lamp for warmth, but there is also room for them to move away and get exercise.  During their first week, the comfort zone should be 90 - 95 degrees.  Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature.

In his video, Dr. Ballam uses a 1 quart waterer from Little Giant.  The waterer should be placed on the outside perimeter of the comfort zone, so that water is easily accessible to the chicks, but not too warm.  The waterer should be filled and placed in the brooder 24 hours before your baby birds arrive, so that it has time to get to room temperature.  It if is too cold, the chicks may not drink it.

It's important to get your chicks rehydrated upon their arrival.  For the first couple of hours, place them in the brooding area without any feed.  After a couple of hours, add the feed.  Dr. Ballam recommends using Purina Start & Grow Sun Fresh recipe. This feed is all-natural and contains no chemical, fillers, nor animal by-products.

There should be plenty of feeders placed around the brooding area.  Low-lying, trough style feeders are ideal for chicks.  Allow four linear inches of feeding room for each chick.  As chicks grow, the feeders and waterers should be raised to avoid contamination.  The feeders and waterers should also be cleaned and refilled each day, and any wet litter from around the waterers should be removed and replaced with clean, dry litter.

If you have older birds, make sure to work with the younger birds first, and then move to the older birds.  You do not want to track diseases, infections, and parasites from the older birds to the chicks.

The chicks will also need a well-lit area.  Two 40 watt bulbs should be enough.  For the first couple of days, leave the lights on 24 hours.  Then, for the next two to three weeks, leave them on for 18 hours each day.  Finally, from 3 weeks until they move to your chicken coop, leave the lights on 16 hours each day.

As the chicks grow older, the brooding ring can be expanded to provide them with more room to move around, and the heat lamp should be raised on a weekly basis, so that the temperature of the area is reduced by five degrees each week, until a minimum temperature of 55 degrees is reached.

You should monitor the baby chicks several times a day.  In the beginning, they may have a tendency to get bunched up, so pick them up and evenly distribute them around the brooder a few times each day.  It's also a good idea to play with them, so they get used to being around you and your family.

I hope you enjoyed the video!  Of course, if you have any other suggestions for setting up a chick brooder, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

This post is from Chicken Coop Plans, where you can learn more about raising chickens.

How to Set Up a Chick Brooder

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This is just for fun...

---Top Ten Signs That Your Chicken Coop Needs Cleaned---

10.  The police show up to investigate a strange odor coming from your property.

9.  Your hens keep passing out from holding their breath.

8.  Your chicken coop glows in the dark.

7.  Your neighbor now always wear a mask when outside.

6.  You find scratches leading to a tunnel under coop, and realize your chickens are digging an escape route.

5.  State requires that "Caution - Flammable" signs are posted on your coop.

4.  To fumigate your home, you open windows.

3.  Your six month old's first word is "Stinky!".

2.  You are contacted by the FBI and questioned for producing biological weapons of mass destruction.

1.  The smell coming from your chicken coop has received national attention - on the David Letterman Top Ten List!

Just kicking off the weekend by having a little fun!  If you can think of anything else to add to our "Top Ten Signs That Your Chicken Coop Needs Cleaned", leave a comment below...

This post is from Chicken Coop Plans, where you can learn more about raising chickens.

Top Ten Signs That Your Chicken Coop Needs Cleaned

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If you have the time, check out this short two minute video about feeding chickens. If not, continue reading below...

Mash or Pellets? Commercial feeds are available in either form. Mash is the "old school" variety. Many experienced keepers use it because they believe it is more easily digested by their birds. Mash can be ground to different levels of coarseness, and can be either fed dry to your birds, or mixed with a little water.

Even though it is a little more expensive than mash, many people decide to feed their birds pellets instead. Regardless of which kind you decide to use, both mash and pellets provide your birds with the nutrition they need, although attention should be given to the formulation types. For example, you will want to feed your mature birds a different formula than what you feed your chicks and growing chickens.

If you have chicks, you will need to feed them chick crumbs instead of mash or feed for the first six weeks. Then you will want to wean them over to mash or pellets formulated for growers. Once your growing chickens start laying eggs (at about five months), you will want to gradually switch them to a feed suitable for layers.

When feeding chickens, make sure you also supply them with a small container of grit. Grit is essential in their digestion process, helping them to break down food. Plenty of fresh, drinking water is also necessary.

As a special treat, you can also provide your birds with leftovers from your kitchen. They will enjoy fresh raw or cooked, green vegetables, as well as corn cobs and leftover fruits. You can also provide them with potato peelings, although you should boil these in unsalted water first. When you let them out of their run, they will also happily forage for bugs, grubs, weeds and grass.

This post is from Chicken Coop Plans, where you can learn more about raising chickens.

Feeding Chickens 101

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What should you put on your sign? How about the name of your hen house? During construction, a lot of people automatically come up with a name for the coop. However, if you haven't named yours yet, now is a good time...

Here's a few that I came up with (hint: I used my trusty dictionary and thesaurus)...

• Club Cluck
• The Cluck Clan
• The Bantam Bunkhouse
• The Hen Pen

Also, think about your favorite books and movies ("chick flicks"). Can you modify any of these to come up with a unique name that you can use on a sign for your chicken coop? Here are a couple examples...

• Cheeper by the Dozen
• Alvin and the Chickens

Of course, old standbys like "Farm Fresh Eggs" and "Welcome to Our Roost" always work well as chicken coop signs. I'm sure you can think of even more ideas. As a matter of fact, if you want to, feel free to share them by leaving a comment...

photo credit: elisfanclub

This post is from Chicken Coop Plans, where you can learn more about raising chickens.

Chicken Coop Signs

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Chickens can quickly transform a lush, grassy area into a muddy, foul-smelling mess.  As a matter of fact, the technical term for this problem is referred to as fouling the ground.  Once the ground is fouled, it's no longer healthy for your birds to stay there, and you will need to relocate the run.

If relocating the run is out of the question, a deep litter system can be used instead.  Gravel and/or bark chips can be used for the litter.  However, to keep the area fresh, these materials will need to be dug out and replaced about once a year.

One problem with this method is that your chickens may become lazy.  After all, the reason they like to scratch around in the grass is to eat vegetation and find bugs.  If they don't have a reason to scratch around, then they won't.  However, you can encourage them to exercise by mixing pellets and corn in with the gravel or bark used in the deep litter system.

In addition to this, you will want to provide them with a dust bath.  This is a shallow box partially filled with dry, powdery dirt where they can stretch their wings.  It helps the birds naturally cope with lice and parasites.

Also, keep a small container of grit available for your hens.  Grit is naturally available to free range birds, but a supplemental source will need to be provided when raising chickens in a deep litter system run.

photo credit: abooth202

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If this is your objective, there are a few things that you will need to know before getting started...

Avoid breeds that are "good sitters". These breeds have a tendency to go broody, which means they are more inclined to sit on a batch of eggs, waiting for them to hatch. During this time, which may last several months, the chicken will not produce any eggs. If raising chickens for eggs is your main goal, you will want to avoid breeds that have this natural inclination.

Select breeds that are hardy for your climate. If you have harsh, cold winters, with short days, realize that production will decrease regardless of what types of chickens you own. However, certain birds adapt better to this type of environment, and will continue laying eggs even in the short, bitter cold months.

Consider the age of the bird. Most will not start laying eggs until they are five or six months. When they do start, chickens produce the most eggs during their first laying season. Expect them to reduce their output by twenty percent annually in the second and third seasons. After four years, their ability to lay eggs will significantly decrease.

When raising chickens for eggs, also make sure you provide a quality diet, as well as a fresh supply of water.

photo credit: Ludie Cochrane

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Raising Chickens for Eggs

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