The Ins and Out of Chicken Care

Poultry and Game Bird Nutrition

By Logan Graham

Manager at Jennifer’s Feed

The ownership of poultry and game birds has significantly risen over the last few years. Due to the expanded understanding and desire of being self-sufficient, and for teaching younger generations responsibility and dependability that comes from caring for these animals. This article will explain and expand on nutritional requirements, the importance of free range, and some of their behavior traits.
There are many important steps to follow when raising baby chicks. Most chicken owners will receive their chicks when they are approximately 1 to 6 weeks of age. Through this time heat, water, food, and bedding are the most important necessity’s. When considering places to keep these baby chicks one should look for a heated and protected room for them. I personally used a spare bath tub until they had some of their adult feathers and started to jump out. By that time the weather was warm enough that I was able to move them outside to a small coop with a heat lamp. Heat is probably the most important tool when raising chicks. Heat should be 90 to 95 degrees for the first 2 weeks then should be decreased 5 degrees every week until you reach a ground temp. of 75 degrees. These temperatures should be measured at the bedding of the pen. Always have your heat lamp to one side of your enclosure so if they become to hot they can escape to a cooler side. A general rule to keep in mind is if your chicks are huddled under the lamp lower it and if they avoid it raise it. The best bedding that can be used throughout the chickens life is pine shavings. These may be harder to clean and may be more expensive than straw but with straw being a main carrier of dust and hay mites pine shavings are the best bet.
After travel either from the hatchery to the store or from the store to your house immediately provide fresh water. Be sure all of your chicks have drank before providing food. There are many water additives that are beneficial to chicks immune systems, the most important one is a basic electrolyte package. Just like sports drinks these electrolytes replenish the body and maintain the immune system. These additives should not be added for the first couple days.
When considering food for chicks it varies dependant upon their purpose. Meat birds or game birds should be fed a high protein meat bird feed, while layers should be fed a high protein starter feed. Any meat bird will be able to live their entire life on the same feed considering that it is about 19% to 22% protein. Layers however make several changes, for the first 6 weeks they should be fed a starter feed, then to a grower feed until they are laying or until 20 to 21 weeks of age. Most starter and grower feeds will have their own directions which will vary brand to brand but this is the best method to follow. Most larger feed companies combine the two into a starter grower feed which can be fed from start to when they lay. When you start to buy feed for your chicks you will come across medicated or non-medicated feeds. The medication in these feeds is provided to reduce stress of travel and to prevent diseases like coccidiosis. Although medicated feeds are recommended they are not essential for raising a healthy flock.
Broilers and meat birds are to be free fed for about 42 to 56 days or until a weight of 4 to 5 pounds. Like I stated above most meat bird feeds consist of a protein level of 19 to 22 percent. Also most feeds can be fed from birth to harvest. Other meat bird feeds will recommend that you feed a starter feed for 2 to 3 weeks then a grower feed for 2 weeks then finish out on the meat bird feed. Medicated feeds are not usually recommended, because of the short life span these medications may not leave the system entirely.
For adult layers feeding a layer feed is vital to replenish lost nutrients from egg production. There are 3 different versions of the same feed. These versions are the mash, crumble, and pellet. All of these versions will meet the needs of your layers, the only difference is waste. With the mash a substantial amount of the food will be crushed and ground into a fine powder which the chickens will kick out and not eat, the crumble has less waste but the pellet has the least. The reason for the variety is that all starter and grower feeds come in either mash or crumble and getting your chickens to switch to pellets may not be worth the saved pennies. Because of the time it may take to change the diet over to pellets you may see egg production decrease. Most of the layer feeds that you will find will be a 16% protein, however most companies make some of their feeds 20% protein. This higher protein feed is designed to be fed in cold weather or at the start of egg laying.

Scratch grains are another popular feed that you will find at any feed store. Many misconceptions about scratch exist. The main reasons scratch is important has little to do with nutrition, they range from establishing ground pecking and to reduce the number of eggs broken by being pecked. Another use for scratch is to spread the chickens out around the yard. By doing this you will find that the insect amount will diminish. Overall scratch is a treat and feeding a large amount will fill up the chickens with a low protein feed.
Other necessary supplements that are required for healthy birds are grit and oyster shell. Grit is important for the digestion of food. Grit is essentially small hard rocks. When the chicken ingests grit it is held in the gullet where it helps to break up the food for easier digestion. Adding grit is important for birds that are kept in an enclosure, other free range birds are able to acquire small rocks from gravel drive ways. It is still a good idea to provide grit to any flock. Oyster shell is another additive that improves the condition of the egg shell. Calcium is the main factor at play here, when the chicken is experiencing a lack of calcium the egg shells will be weak and break very easily. By adding oyster shell free choice in its own dish you will increase the calcium intake
Free range chickens are as close to all natural as one can find. Not only will this method save you money, you will be rewarded with even better eggs. Allowing your chickens to roam the yard and fill up on high protein insects will reduce the amount of feed you have to buy. The down side of free range is the natural predation. With hawks, owls, coyotes, and many more in this area this will increase potential risk to your flock. Ways I have kept predators at bay is to create an outdoor enclosure for them to have full access to throughout the day. When I was at home I would let them all the way out and toss some scratch to spread the chickens out over the area. My smaller outdoor enclosure was made of 6ft welded wire with the same wire as a roof. Of course every night I would keep them in my sealed coop. With your chickens being free to roam the yard you will have to learn some of their special laying spots that certain chickens will always go back to.
When having free range chickens the rooster’s importance increases. Despite the contrary belief that roosters are aggressive it depends a lot on breed and how they are raised. I have had 7 roosters throughout my chicken career and have only had 1 that was ever aggressive towards humans. That rooster was a Rhode Island Red, my other friendly roosters where black austrolorps, buff orpingtons, and barred rocks. However roosters protect your flock from most predators or at least detour the predator from getting to all of them. Also having a rooster stimulates the hens to lay more.
While working at the store I have had many people ask me what is the best coop design. Truth be told there is no one best design. Mainly the most important thing is that it is sealed from predators and the elements, and that you have roosts so your flock can be off the ground. When it comes to nesting boxes many think you have to have enough so each bird has one. If you want to spend the extra money, the more the merrier but its not necessary, usually 1 box for every 2 chickens is satisfactory. If you can adding an electrical outlet would be an excellent addition to your coop. Not only will this help with providing light for you while you search for eggs but it makes it easier and safer to install heat lamps without running extension cords.
One of the best things to remember about chickens is to keep their life monotone. The least amount changes they have in their life improves their egg laying potential. This ranges from temperature, to having the dog run up to coop and scare them. Really the smallest change can impact their laying potential. Keeping heat lights on throughout the winter is a great way to keep the birds laying. In this area we see changes from 30 degrees to 60 degrees from night to day, having a heat lamp on at least through the night reduces the change that can affect chickens.

The most economical way to raise and keep chickens is to raise cross-over breeds. These breeds are decent layers that are also good meat birds. Usually these birds will lay for 2 to 3 years, so if you harvest the worst layers after the first year for meat then you can start harvesting your older birds while raising and replacing them with new birds. The gestation period of a hen is about 21 days then she will not lay for a couple of months while raising the chicks. The best way to have the highest survival rate of the new chicks is to get a incubator and raise them yourself. This also is more guaranteed because the mother might not want to brood the eggs. The difference between fertilized and non-fertilized eggs is the fertilized has faint white spots on the egg, almost looking like paint drips. Eating these eggs is fine as long as they have not been brooded. If you don’t check for eggs for a couple of days then find some of these eggs it would be best to discard, or incubate them.
Just like any animal chickens need to be wormed as well. There are many different wormers on the market for poultry and most of them are mixed in the water. These are the simplest forms to use. Although worming your dogs and cats is more serious I recommend worming your flock annually. Worming should be preventative, this will help to keep your flock healthy and producing. There are many myths and some natural ways of worming your flock. One popular myth that exists is adding bleach to the water, this is an old idea that obviously can be ruled out by our understanding of bleach. Other natural ways are feeding raw pumpkin seeds. Also mixing diatomaceous earth in with their feed is said to help with worming. The most important thing to remember is you need to be on a schedule.
Hopefully this article helped correct some of the myths and expand on the knowledge you have already put to use. We look forward to meeting all your pet and livestock needs. Check out next months article on dog and cat nutrition by Alex Simpson.
Logan Graham
GM of Jennifer’s Feed and Supply