Simple Tips To Help You Raise Healthy Backyard Chickens

Raising chickens in your own backyard can be very rewarding with daily fresh eggs and in the potential to have some fluffy farm pets to help teach your children about responsibility. But with any new animal on your property, you need to make sure you have the knowledge and preparation to keep them healthy and protected. Here are some recommendations to help you keep chickens in your backyard.

Add in Healthy Elements

Your chickens are going to need a constant supply of food and water for them to stay healthy and keep themselves fed. Your chickens will need a supply of food that they can access all throughout the day but that is not going to scatter all around the floor of the coop or the run. When you allow chicken feed to fall upon the floor, you run the risk of having mice and other pests enter into the coop and bring disease and illness that you don't want around your chickens and the eggs they lay. 

Look for a chicken feeder that minimizes or eliminates spillage around the coop, and keep it stored up and away from pests and insects. Keep it sealed in a plastic bucket with a lid or in a metal container that you can close tightly. Don't use glass containers in your coop because they are at risk of breaking and scattering shards around that can cut the feet of your chicken.

Be sure you also provide roosting poles through the inside of your chicken coop. At night your chickens will naturally roost on a pole similar to the width of a broom handle where they can stay off the ground and floor. This roosting pole allows them to keep warm when the temperature gets cool at night and also protects them against predators that lurk along the ground.

Provide Summer Protection

In the summer, your chickens are going to fare well, but sometimes the heat can be excessive to the point that it causes heat stress. Be sure you provide plenty of water so your chickens can keep hydrated and cool their bodies internally. When the temperature gets high during a heat wave, you can add ice to the water or freeze vegetable chunks in a block of ice for them to peck at. This not only gives them something to do but it also helps them cool down. 

Outside in your chicken run where you chickens can graze, make sure you set out extra places for watering them, keeping the water changed so it is clean. Then, be sure there are areas of shade from either a tree, awning, or shrubbery where your chickens can escape from the sun's heat. For more information on how to raise chickens, reach out to a professional. 

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