If you're going to be keeping hens there are some basic items of equipment that you will need, most of which are essential, though not all. Here are the few items you need to buy, build, or have at hand:HousingAdequate space for a run or penFeeder (one unit or more, depending on the actual number of hens)Drinker (at least one or more in case you will be keeping many hens)Feed bin, which must be safe from pest and vermin accessFeed scoopBeddingNest boxesAdequate number of perches
Additionally, a boxful of food supplements and medical supplies should be readily available. These items include:Poultry tonic and spice (vitamin and mineral supplement)Citricidal (good for common ailments such as cold and cough)Cider vinegarPowder against termites, lice, and fleaFlubenvet or Verm-X formulations for regular de-worming treatmentVaselineDavinova C (calcium supplement) and/or limestone flourGarlic power (for keeping hens in good health and reducing the odor from droppings)
Adequate protection against predators
If you have an enclosed chicken coop for the hens, perform a quick check around the perimeter of the farm to see if there had been attempts by predators to break in or burrow under.
Farm security books pinpoint not only foxes, but, depending on where you live, giant lizards, pythons, and also pine martens, badgers, and birds of prey as a threat to the chickens. Toward reducing the risk of attacks or intrusions, you need to install an electric fence. Check its voltage every now and see if it is working safely as required or you might end up killing your neighbor’s dog with theelectric wire.
When spring comes, watch out for foxes, which are known to be around at this time of the year as they have to feed their young and show them how to forage for food from livestock. Keeping your chickens locked up at night will greatly improve your chances against fox attacks. See to it that your coop is made of strong and durable materials. Foxes have been known to break into wooden coops.
Putting male urine along all pathways or other means of intrusion is a good deterrent, as has been human hair stuffed into old pair of rubber tights and left lying around the outside sections of the coop or perimeter of the pen.
For added protection, and if your budget permits, you should consider investing on a Fox Watch deterrent device.
See to it that all your bins are secure and that there is not much food leftovers that may encourage foxes to forage in and prey on the chickens instead.
The Chicken coop
Building and maintaining a coop with wheels often goes a long way to providing you with flexibility. You could easily push it around the garden, thereby allowing your chickens a nice, grassy patch of ground for them to scratch away and permitting the previous patch to recover and re-grow some grass again.
Nonetheless, you may decide to keep your coop in a permanent position with the area of the pen large enough for the number of chickens you have. You will discover for yourself that even with a pen larger the grass will suffer from all the scratching and droppings. To allow your chickens more access to a constant supply of crisp, green grass, you may cordon off a section to allow the other parts to re-green themselves. You may be helping the place cope with the demand by sowing purslane, dandelion and clover seed to add variety to plant growth your fowls may nibble on. Introducing purslane in the hen’s diet more, scientists say, often results to increases in the yield of their eggs.
Hens need shade
When it gets hot, especially during the summer, make sure that you allocate an area, preferably an edible undergrowth or bush, so the chickens will have a place to retreat. This might just be a modern recommendation, though, because most of the time during the day the chickens perform their natural habit of sprawling out sunbathing. They often gather and lie on their sides, with wings expanded, in a dust bath to cool off.
Chickens do dust bathing
Having a natural tendency for cleanliness, chickens preen themselves at great lengths. Moreover, they indulge in dust bathing and often create their bathing areas either in grassy areas, in large plant pots, or underneath plants. If you find that they have inadequate access to such good spots, you may consider providing some that you might need to anyway during the winter, when some parts of the penned area is either too muddy or too firm.
One practical solution involves using a deep cat litter tray that is filled with soil and sand, toxin-free and completely safe, in the same way as you prepared one for children’s sand pits. Dust bathing helps hens keep parasites away or in constant check. From experience you will learn that the outbreaks of red mite, fleas, and lice can be treated by letting the hens do some dust bathing. The dust bathing trick also helps cool the hens down during the warmer months of the year.
Shelter extensions
You will be interested to discover too that chickens will insist on venturing out of the coop, even if there is a strong gale blowing or the rains comes thrashing down. It’s good practice to keep an area into which they can run to for shelter against sudden changes in the day’s weather. Growing some shrubs, as long as they are not poisonous, will offer them protection. Certain ground coverage will often come ready if the chickens need to dash for cover when they spot a bird of prey gliding down.
If you take up all these ideas you should have happy healthy chickens which lay you yummy nutritious eggs.
Additionally, a boxful of food supplements and medical supplies should be readily available. These items include:Poultry tonic and spice (vitamin and mineral supplement)Citricidal (good for common ailments such as cold and cough)Cider vinegarPowder against termites, lice, and fleaFlubenvet or Verm-X formulations for regular de-worming treatmentVaselineDavinova C (calcium supplement) and/or limestone flourGarlic power (for keeping hens in good health and reducing the odor from droppings)
Adequate protection against predators
If you have an enclosed chicken coop for the hens, perform a quick check around the perimeter of the farm to see if there had been attempts by predators to break in or burrow under.
Farm security books pinpoint not only foxes, but, depending on where you live, giant lizards, pythons, and also pine martens, badgers, and birds of prey as a threat to the chickens. Toward reducing the risk of attacks or intrusions, you need to install an electric fence. Check its voltage every now and see if it is working safely as required or you might end up killing your neighbor’s dog with theelectric wire.
When spring comes, watch out for foxes, which are known to be around at this time of the year as they have to feed their young and show them how to forage for food from livestock. Keeping your chickens locked up at night will greatly improve your chances against fox attacks. See to it that your coop is made of strong and durable materials. Foxes have been known to break into wooden coops.
Putting male urine along all pathways or other means of intrusion is a good deterrent, as has been human hair stuffed into old pair of rubber tights and left lying around the outside sections of the coop or perimeter of the pen.
For added protection, and if your budget permits, you should consider investing on a Fox Watch deterrent device.
See to it that all your bins are secure and that there is not much food leftovers that may encourage foxes to forage in and prey on the chickens instead.
The Chicken coop
Building and maintaining a coop with wheels often goes a long way to providing you with flexibility. You could easily push it around the garden, thereby allowing your chickens a nice, grassy patch of ground for them to scratch away and permitting the previous patch to recover and re-grow some grass again.
Nonetheless, you may decide to keep your coop in a permanent position with the area of the pen large enough for the number of chickens you have. You will discover for yourself that even with a pen larger the grass will suffer from all the scratching and droppings. To allow your chickens more access to a constant supply of crisp, green grass, you may cordon off a section to allow the other parts to re-green themselves. You may be helping the place cope with the demand by sowing purslane, dandelion and clover seed to add variety to plant growth your fowls may nibble on. Introducing purslane in the hen’s diet more, scientists say, often results to increases in the yield of their eggs.
Hens need shade
When it gets hot, especially during the summer, make sure that you allocate an area, preferably an edible undergrowth or bush, so the chickens will have a place to retreat. This might just be a modern recommendation, though, because most of the time during the day the chickens perform their natural habit of sprawling out sunbathing. They often gather and lie on their sides, with wings expanded, in a dust bath to cool off.
Chickens do dust bathing
Having a natural tendency for cleanliness, chickens preen themselves at great lengths. Moreover, they indulge in dust bathing and often create their bathing areas either in grassy areas, in large plant pots, or underneath plants. If you find that they have inadequate access to such good spots, you may consider providing some that you might need to anyway during the winter, when some parts of the penned area is either too muddy or too firm.
One practical solution involves using a deep cat litter tray that is filled with soil and sand, toxin-free and completely safe, in the same way as you prepared one for children’s sand pits. Dust bathing helps hens keep parasites away or in constant check. From experience you will learn that the outbreaks of red mite, fleas, and lice can be treated by letting the hens do some dust bathing. The dust bathing trick also helps cool the hens down during the warmer months of the year.
Shelter extensions
You will be interested to discover too that chickens will insist on venturing out of the coop, even if there is a strong gale blowing or the rains comes thrashing down. It’s good practice to keep an area into which they can run to for shelter against sudden changes in the day’s weather. Growing some shrubs, as long as they are not poisonous, will offer them protection. Certain ground coverage will often come ready if the chickens need to dash for cover when they spot a bird of prey gliding down.
If you take up all these ideas you should have happy healthy chickens which lay you yummy nutritious eggs.
About the Author:
Find out more about keeping chickens on Peter's website, as well as information about nesting boxesand how to fence a chicken coop
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