Grow Chicken (2026)

28/10/2026

The last tomatoes came in over the weekend, the vines are black from frost, and the hens are lined up at the garden gate like they know what is behind it. Tuesday is how-to day, and this one is about opening that gate.

Utah State Extension fenced chickens onto a fallow third of a vegetable garden. Insect sweeps inside the pens turned up 5 and 6 bugs against 30 and 26 in the open garden, bindw**d and prickly lettuce were well controlled, and soil potassium climbed. Mallow and thistle were only partly eaten, so the birds are a crew, not a miracle.

Oregon State found the same in an apple orchard. Codling moth and apple maggot larvae drop out of the fruit to pupate in the soil, right where a chicken scratches, and broilers ate almost 99 percent of the larvae offered. Hens took 90 percent in November and under 40 percent once winter set in. The window is now, while the birds are still busy.

1. Harvest everything you want first, then fence off anything still growing. Oregon State notes chickens eat young shoots and seeds too, so the kale and carrot beds stay closed. Utah State used portable electric netting and rotated the chicken section each year.

2. Give them weeks, not the season. Oregon State moved its pens every two or three days and found the w**d knockdown was short term and mostly grasses, with no difference a year later. Mulching after the birds left held the gains.

3. Mind the manure clock. Wisconsin Extension says the national organic rule is 120 days between raw manure and harvest for crops that touch the soil, 90 days for the rest, and its research found E. coli risk rose when fresh manure went on 90 to 110 days before harvest. Hens on the beds in late October are well clear of a May planting.

4. Clean out the coop into the same beds. Vermont Extension puts one chicken's litter at up to 130 pounds a year and says to work it in after harvest, never onto plants that are staying.

5. Or compost it for spring. Vermont's recipe is a 3 by 3 by 3 foot bin, turned every week or two, damp as a wrung-out sponge, for 120 days. Georgia Extension says a poultry litter pile should hit about 140°F within five days and hold there one to three weeks, which kills most pathogens.

Now the debate. Some keepers open the whole garden until spring. Others fence a section and move it. Our take: fence. Oregon State lost 37 percent of its free-ranging hens to hawks, foxes and raccoons by March, and Utah State lists predators as the first problem. A netted section by day and a locked coop at night gets you the bugs without the losses.

Which bed do your hens get first this fall, and what did they dig up in it last year?

27/10/2026

Someone at the feed store said the hens would lay better with a rooster around, and a neighbor swears brown eggs are healthier. Monday is myth day, so here are five flock myths and what the poultry specialists say.

Myth 1: Hens need a rooster to lay.

Fact: University of Kentucky poultry specialist Jacquie Jacob says a hen lays with no rooster at all. The eggs are simply infertile and will never hatch. A rooster earns his keep by fertilizing eggs, sounding the alarm when a hawk comes over, and keeping free-range hens from wandering. If you want eggs, you can skip him and the 5 a.m. serenade. If you want chicks, Kentucky suggests about one rooster for every ten hens.

Myth 2: Brown eggs are healthier than white.

Fact: Texas A&M AgriLife poultry specialist Gregory Archer says chicken eggs show no major difference in taste or nutrition by shell color, and North Dakota State Extension says the only difference is the shell. Breed decides the color, and the earlobe is the tell: hens with white earlobes generally lay white eggs. Yolk color comes from the diet, not the shell. The price gap at the store pays for the hen, not the egg.

Myth 3: A good hen lays every single day.

Fact: Kentucky's guide to the hen's reproductive system puts the trip from yolk to finished egg at about 25 to 26 hours, so each egg arrives a little later than the last. Hens almost never ovulate after 3 p.m., so when an egg comes late in the day, the next yolk waits until morning and the hen skips a day. Six eggs a week from one hen is a champion, not a slacker.

Myth 4: A blood spot means the egg was fertilized.

Fact: University of Florida veterinarian Gary Butcher lists this among the common misconceptions. A blood spot is not an embryo. Jacob says it comes from a tiny vessel breaking as the yolk is released, and Florida notes that brown-egg breeds produce a higher share of them and that they pose no health problem. Pick it out with a spoon and carry on.

Myth 5: Hens barely drink in winter, so a frozen waterer can wait until lunch.

Fact: Half true, and the half that is wrong costs eggs. Delaware State poultry specialist Brigid McCrea says water intake at 40°F drops to roughly a third of what it is at 90°F. But she also says chickens cannot break ice, so the waterer needs checking in the morning and several times a day while it stays below freezing. Minnesota Extension adds the part that stings: without water, chickens stop eating, and feed intake can rise 25 percent in cold weather. On a frozen morning the birds are hungrier and thirstier at the same time.

Which flock myth did you believe the longest before somebody set you straight?

26/10/2026

Six eggs in a bowl on the counter, two more in your jacket pocket, and a nagging question: do these go in the fridge, and do they need a wash first? Beginner's corner today is the egg itself, from nest box to breakfast.

Start in the coop. Minnesota Extension says to collect two or three times a day. The longer an egg sits in the nest, the more likely it gets dirty or cracked. A cracked egg goes in the trash, not the carton.

Now the wash. A hen coats each egg with a thin layer called the cuticle, or bloom, that seals the pores in the shell. Georgia Extension says wiping with a wet towel strips it off and spreads whatever was on the shell. So for a clean egg, do nothing. Minnesota says to keep eggs dry and rub off a smudge with fine sandpaper, a brush or emery cloth, never a rag or sponge.

For a truly dirty egg, the rule is water warmer than the egg. Georgia puts that at about 106°F, Virginia's agriculture department says at least 90°F, and both say never soak. Virginia says one to three minutes in water lets bacteria through the shell. Texas A&M adds: no dish soap or scented cleaners, rinse, and air dry.

USDA tells consumers not to wash eggs at home at all. Our take: an egg so dirty it needs washing is an egg to use first, and a nest box that needs clean bedding.

Now the debate. Many keepers leave unwashed eggs on the counter for weeks, bloom intact, the way their grandparents did. The other side points to USDA, which says eggs from laying hens should go in the refrigerator as soon as possible, set at 40°F or below, because any Salmonella in or on an egg multiplies at room temperature. Texas A&M gives the numbers: about three weeks on the counter, around 15 weeks in the fridge. Our take: refrigerate. The bloom buys time, not safety.

Once chilled: Keep them in the carton in the coldest part of the fridge, not the door, and away from fresh produce, Minnesota says. Store them large end up, says Virginia. And once cold, keep them cold. USDA says a refrigerated egg left out sweats, which helps bacteria move inside, so no more than two hours on the counter.

How long do they keep? USDA says raw eggs in the shell last 3 to 5 weeks in the refrigerator and should not be frozen in the shell.

Before refrigerators, families put up the summer glut for winter. A 1918 South Carolina newspaper advertised water glass, a sodium silicate solution: nine quarts of boiled, cooled water to one quart of water glass, eggs unwashed, good for six to ten months. History, not advice: USDA's chart is the one to follow.

Do your eggs live on the counter or in the fridge, and did a grandparent decide that for you?

24/10/2026

The feed bin lid was pushed sideways this morning, there is a line of tiny black droppings along the coop wall, and the first hard frost is in the forecast. That is the week the mice move in, and this Saturday is the day to shut the door on them.

Utah State University Extension says mice are most likely to invade structures in the fall, looking for food and shelter from the cold. A coop offers both. Mississippi State Extension adds that for every rodent you see, 20 to 50 more are hiding.

Mississippi State puts an adult rat at 1 to 2 ounces of feed a day, 23 to 46 pounds a year, and says rodents contaminate far more than they eat. A 1907 USDA bulletin figured a rat spoils ten times what it swallows. Utah State's wildlife specialist says rats prey mainly on chicks and eggs. Both mice and rats can carry salmonella.

Here is the Saturday checklist.

1. Find the holes. Mississippi State says a mouse needs a quarter-inch gap and a rat a half inch. If a pencil fits, a mouse fits.

2. Seal with the right stuff. University of California pest specialists say steel wool, wire screen or sheet metal, because rats chew through plastic, foam, wood and caulk. Chicken wire is not a barrier. Utah State recommends hardware cloth with quarter- to half-inch mesh, stapled over any gnawed spot.

3. Close the basement. Rats burrow in from below, so Utah State says to wire the run floor, bury the fence bottom or lay an apron.

4. Lock up the feed. Utah State says rodents chew wood more readily than plastic, and plastic more readily than metal. A metal can with a tight lid wins.

5. Pull the feeders at night. Utah State says to take feeders and waterers out each evening and clean up spills. No supper means no reason to stay.

6. Clear the edges. Mississippi State and NC State both want a clear strip at least 3 feet wide around the coop, with no lumber or brush against the walls.

7. Set traps the smart way. California calls snap traps the best tool: at right angles to the wall, trigger end touching it, 10 to 20 feet apart, a pea of peanut butter, left baited but unset for a few days.

Now the debate: poison or not. Bait reaches rats you will never trap. But California warns that a poisoned rat can be eaten by the dog or die inside a wall. Our take: around a backyard flock, traps first. If you must bait, Utah State says a tamper-proof station only, where no hen, pet or child can reach it.

And the barn cat? California says predators cannot keep up with a breeding colony, and a cat fed outdoors feeds the rats too.

What finally kept the mice out of your feed, and what did they chew through before you figured it out?

23/10/2026

There is a wet yellow smear in the nest box straw this morning, a few flakes of shell, and one egg fewer than the hens you know are laying. Somebody in the coop has learned what an egg tastes like.

Before you blame a hen, rule out the night shift. University of Kentucky poultry specialist Jacquie Jacob notes that snakes, skunks, rats and weasels take eggs too. A whole egg gone with no mess points outside the flock. Yolk in the straw points inside it.

An egg breaks, a curious hen pecks at the puddle, and she likes it. Chickens copy each other, Kentucky says, so it spreads fast. Kansas State Extension adds that egg eating is usually not a mineral or vitamin shortage. It is learned behavior, and nothing in the feed or water will cure it. The fix is fewer broken eggs.

1. Count your nests. Both say one 12 by 12 inch box per four or five hens, and Kentucky adds never fewer than six. If everyone piles into one favorite box, Kansas State suggests moving it or shifting its bedding.

2. Keep the nests dark and quiet. Kansas State puts the boxes in the darker part of the coop, at least 2 feet off the floor, and Kentucky wants them at least 4 feet from the roosts. Do not shoo hens off the nest, because a hen that bolts breaks eggs.

3. Pad them and empty them. Kentucky asks for 2 inches of clean, dry nesting material at all times, and Kansas State says to collect as often as you can. Straw with a broken egg in it gets replaced, not topped up.

4. Harden the shells. The stronger the shell, the fewer break, Kansas State notes, so feed a complete layer ration and hang a separate feeder of oyster shell. Kentucky adds that scratch dilutes the feed, so keep it to an afternoon handful gone in 15 minutes.

5. Pull broody hens out of the nest area. Kentucky says they crowd the layers out of the boxes.

None of this is new. A South Carolina newspaper in 1904 described nests too small for a hen to reach under herself and peck, and nests that let the egg roll into a dark spot she could not see. That second one is the roll-away nest, still sold today.

Now the hard part. Both say to watch for dried yolk on a beak or the side of a head, and that a confirmed egg eater should leave the flock, because the others learn from her. Kentucky lists one thing to try first: a broken egg on the floor with a teaspoon or two of ground pepper mixed in.

Our take: fix the nests before you fix the hen. If she keeps at it after the coop is right, pen her apart for a week and see whether the eggs stop disappearing. Then decide.

Have you ever caught an egg eater in the act, and what finally stopped her?

22/10/2026

The kitchen clock says 6:30 and the hens have already put themselves to bed. The coop has been dark an hour by the time you get out there, and the egg basket has been light for a month.

A hen's laying runs on day length, not cold. University of Nebraska Extension says a hen needs about 14 hours of light a day to keep laying, peaks near 16, and shuts down for winter once the days fall short of that. Nebraska says the days reach that line in September.

Earlier generations found the fix. In January 1917 a Nebraska farm weekly described George Newell, an auditor from Congress Park, Illinois, who wired electric lights into his hen houses to lengthen the working day. Two winters, about 100 hens each, same feed. Without lights, his flock laid 3,458 eggs from September through January. With lights the next winter, 6,626.

His setup: a bright lamp for working hours, a tiny bulb so the birds could find the roosts, lights on at six in the morning and again in the evening until about nine. The extra eggs sold for $156.10. Extra feed cost $29.90, wiring $30, electricity about $12.

Skeptics said light would wear hens out. A 1920 poultry book in the National Agricultural Library called that belief groundless and noted the practice had spread from backyard flocks to the big egg farms of the Pacific coast. By August 1924 Cornell had an extension bulletin out on lighting poultry houses for winter eggs.

What has changed is the details.

1. Add light in the morning, not the evening. Nebraska says sudden darkness can send chickens piling into a corner, where they can smother. A timer that comes on before dawn lets them go to roost with the sunset.

2. Fourteen to sixteen hours total, counting daylight. University of Arizona Extension says anything past 16 buys nothing, and lights should never run around the clock.

3. Dim is enough. Arizona suggests one 60-watt bulb or a 9-watt LED per 200 square feet, warm-colored light rather than cool white, hung securely above the feeders and away from the birds. Nest boxes stay dark.

4. Change slowly and stay consistent. Arizona says to add light in 15 to 30 minute steps, and that missing even a day or two can drop production or trigger a molt.

5. Leave the pullets alone. Nebraska says no supplemental light before 16 weeks or 2 pounds, because laying before the body is ready causes trouble.

Now the debate. Many keepers skip the lights and let the hens rest. Arizona notes that delaying fall lighting gives hens a break to molt, at the cost of eggs. Our take: let a molting hen finish first, then light the flock on a morning timer and keep the oyster shell full. Mr. Newell's hens laid right through the next summer, but they were fed for it.

Do you light your coop in winter, or let the hens take the season off?

21/10/2026

The forecast says 28 tonight, the hens went to roost an hour ago, and the heat lamp is still sitting in the garage. Plug it in, or leave it there?

Side one: heat the coop. University of Minnesota Extension says to add supplemental heat when coop temperatures fall below 35°F, placed at nest-box height or the lower rung of the roost. Its first choice is a radiant heater, a brooder plate or wall panel that warms the birds instead of the air, approved for livestock and run on a thermostat. University of Maryland Extension adds two cases where heat earns its keep: young birds need it to survive, and heat for older hens helps keep eggs coming through winter.

Side two: leave it off. The same Maryland sheet says adult birds protected from wind and wet weather should not need any heat, even in the coldest part of the year. A University of Kentucky poultry specialist writes that flocks come through sub-zero nights with deep litter and a water warmer, and that frostbite becomes a problem in the single digits and below, usually in a cold, poorly ventilated coop with damp bedding. Maine's fire marshal's office names heat lamps, extension cords, bedding and water heaters as the top four causes of coop fires, and calls the lamp the worst of them, because birds knock it into the bedding and the cheap clamp holding it lets go. The Kentucky specialist adds that a lamp left on all night disrupts the birds' light schedule and can cut egg production.

Our take: a healthy adult flock in a dry coop that breathes does not need heat, and the money is better spent on the coop itself.

1. Ventilation above the roost. Minnesota says moisture plus cold is what causes frostbite, and chicken manure is 70 percent water. Condensation on the windows or a whiff of ammonia means open a vent, not add a heater.

2. No drafts at bird level. Illinois Extension's test: you should never see air moving a chicken's feathers inside the coop.

3. Deep, dry bedding. Minnesota suggests 4 to 6 inches of straw or shavings. Maryland notes deep litter gives off heat as it breaks down. Before anyone ran a cord to a coop, the bedding and the birds were the furnace.

4. More feed. Minnesota says intake can rise 25 percent in cold weather, and a handful of scratch before roosting gives the birds something to burn overnight.

If you heat anyway, do it the Minnesota way: a radiant panel on a thermostat, wires away from litter and water, no extension cord as the permanent supply, and any lamp caged and never hung by its cord. Ohio State Extension warns that even heated waterers can malfunction and start a fire, so keep them off the bedding.

What is the coldest night your coop has seen without heat, and did the hens seem to notice?

20/10/2026

The geese came over low this morning, honking, and every hen in the run froze to watch them pass. That flyover is why today's how-to is about keeping wild birds and your flock apart for the next couple of months.

Fall migration is when avian influenza detections climb. USDA notes that detections tend to rise during fall and spring migration, and a federal veterinarians' report dated October 2 counted 20 infected flocks in the prior 30 days, 13 commercial and 7 backyard. Washington confirmed a backyard flock on October 9.

Wild ducks and geese can carry the virus without looking sick, Oregon's agriculture department says, and USDA lists manure, equipment, crates, clothing, shoes and hands as the other routes. So the job is simple to state: keep wild birds out, and keep whatever wild birds touched off your boots.

Here is the fall checklist, drawn from Oregon's state checklist, Connecticut's agriculture department and USDA's Defend the Flock program.

1. Keep the flock in a fully enclosed coop or a covered run.

2. Block the pond. Oregon says to block access to ponds, puddles and ditches, and to drain standing water around the coop.

3. Cover feed and water. Covered feeders, feed in sealed bins, and spills cleaned up, so nothing out there is worth a goose's landing.

4. Give the coop its own boots. Oregon asks for dedicated boots and clothing for poultry areas and a disinfectant footbath. Hunters, take note: if you handle wild birds, shower and change before you go near the hens.

5. Do not share gear. No borrowed feeders, cages or tools from other flocks.

6. Quarantine anything that comes home from a swap, fair or auction for at least 30 days, housed away from the main flock.

7. Disinfect what you can. Oregon lists 1.5 cups of bleach per gallon of total solution for boots, tools and crates.

Now the debate: netting or a solid roof over the run? Oregon's checklist suggests netting or covers to keep wild birds from roosting near pens. Washington's agriculture department says netting does not work and wants a roof that does not let water through. Our take: a solid roof if you can swing it, and netting as the second choice, since it at least keeps wild birds out of the feeder.

Know the signs. USDA and Connecticut list sudden deaths, birds low on energy or off their feed, a drop in eggs or soft and misshapen shells, swelling around the head, eyes and neck, purple combs and wattles, coughing or sneezing, and birds twisting their necks or stumbling. Look the flock over every day.

If you see them, do not guess and do not treat. Isolate the bird and call your vet, your state veterinarian or USDA at 1-866-536-7593. Do not pick up dead wild birds either. Report those to your state wildlife agency.

Which of these steps is already a habit at your place, and which one keeps slipping?

19/10/2026

The jack-o-lantern on the porch is starting to slump, the garden is giving up its last tomatoes, and the hens are watching you carry the scrap bowl toward the compost pile. Beginner's question: what can they have, and how much?

A bag of layer feed is a complete diet, balanced for health and egg production. Scraps are not. University of California veterinarians put it plainly: treat scraps like a treat, not the main course, because scraps that displace too much of the balanced feed can cause nutritional disorders.

How much is a treat? The University of Kentucky's poultry extension specialist gives a stopwatch instead of a scale: scratch grains and table scraps together should be no more than the flock can finish in about 20 minutes. Offer them in the afternoon, after the birds have filled up on regular feed. Too many scraps and greens, she notes, can cut egg production.

So, the pumpkin. Pumpkins and squash are vegetable scraps, and vegetable scraps are the category extension specialists point to first. University of Delaware Extension calls them a good supplement and says greens matter most in winter, when hens cannot forage. We found pumpkin on no avoid list. Split it open, set it in the run, and let them work. Our take: one pumpkin for a small flock is a week of afternoons, not one sitting.

Here is the short avoid list, from the University of California guide:
1. Avocado, raw beans and chocolate.
2. Green parts of potatoes.
3. Leaves of tomato, pepper, potato, eggplant and rhubarb. Frost-killed tomato vines belong in the compost, not the run.
4. Anything fatty. Chickens do not need much fat, and overfed hens can develop a fatty liver that ruptures.
5. Anything rotten. Kentucky adds the reason: scraps left to rot can cause botulism. If the birds do not finish it, take it out.

Two more from Kentucky: skip strong flavors like onions, which can carry into the eggs, and skip clippings from a lawn that was recently treated. Delaware adds that bread and sugary foods are junk treats, fine as a bite, not a habit.

What about grit? Chickens have no teeth. The gizzard grinds food with the help of small stones, so a flock eating anything beyond pelleted feed needs grit. Birds on bare ground usually find their own pebbles, Kentucky notes. If yours live on bedding or a slab, offer commercial grit. Oyster shell does not count, since it is too soft to grind.

The scrap bucket is not a new idea. Kentucky's guide still lists sour milk among acceptable treats. The 20-minute rule is what keeps the habit from costing you eggs.

Now the one you will hear online: pumpkin seeds as a natural dewormer. Our take: a pumpkin is a treat, not medicine. If you suspect worms, that is a question for your vet or your state poultry lab.

What is the one scrap your hens come running for, and what do they refuse to touch?

17/10/2026

The sun is going down before supper now, and the coop door is still standing open when you finally remember it. In October, that gap between dusk and lock-up is where flocks get lost.

Here is why this weekend matters. Fall hawk migration is in full swing, and Tennessee's wildlife agency says Cooper's hawks, the bird old-timers called the chicken hawk, are most common in September and October. Missouri's conservation department says fox families break up in fall, sending young foxes out to find ground of their own, and about 18 percent of a red fox's diet is livestock and poultry. Raccoons are active year round, Maryland Extension notes, and Kentucky Extension says one can take several birds in a night.

Every week the sun sets a little earlier, and your hens roost at dusk, not at the hour you locked up in July. Extension specialists say most predation happens at night.

Here is a Saturday checklist built from Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Maryland Extension guidance.

1. Walk the coop at hen height with a flashlight. Maryland says to patch any opening wider than a quarter inch. Kentucky notes a weasel fits through a quarter-inch hole.

2. Check the wire. Oklahoma State says hardware cloth or screen should have holes smaller than 1 inch. Raccoons reach through bigger mesh and take whatever they can pull out, usually a head.

3. Stop the diggers. Kentucky says to bury hardware cloth at least 12 inches into the ground. Maryland suggests a trench 12 to 18 inches deep around the whole coop.

4. Look up. A cover over the run keeps out hawks and owls and stops raccoons, snakes and cats from climbing in, Oklahoma State says. Kentucky suggests orange netting for persistent hawks, since they see orange well. Hawks and owls are federally protected, so exclusion is your only legal tool.

5. Move lock-up to sunset. Kentucky says to roost the flock inside a secured building and lock every door. The oldest trick still works: Oklahoma State says most poultry will go in on their own if you feed and water them indoors at dusk.

6. Close the buffet. Leave no feed in the run overnight, keep the compost pile far from the coop, pick up scraps before dark, and remove dead birds promptly. Mow around the coop and clear brush, because predators like cover.

7. Read the signs. Spread sand or talc around the coop tonight and check for tracks in the morning. One bird gone and a few feathers points to a fox or coyote. Heads missing points to a raccoon, hawk or owl.

Now the debate: gadgets. Many keepers swear by motion lights and plastic owls. Oklahoma State says scare devices are not effective long term, and Kentucky says lighting is not recommended for laying flocks because it disrupts egg production. Our take: put the money into wire and a cover.

Which predator finally made you upgrade your coop, and what did you change?

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