Kimberly Willis

In this cheat sheet, you'll learn what daily chores are needed to keep your chickens healthy, what to feed your chickens and how frequently, and how to care for your new chicks.Raising chickens can be fun and rewarding. Whether you’re raising birds for their eggs or for their cackling companionship, caring for your birds is an everyday project.

Oh, the things that are said about chickens! The very word chicken brings up the image of a coward, but chickens aren’t really cowards. Here’s a compilation of the most common myths and misconceptions about chickens and eggs that you may encounter as a chicken owner .Myth 1: You can’t raise chickens in the cityChickens aren’t just for country folk anymore.

So, what exactly do we mean by "neighbors" in this context? Neighbors are any people who are in sight, sound, and smelling distance of your chickens. Even if it’s legal in your urban or suburban area to keep chickens, the law may require your neighbors’ approval and continued tolerance. And it pays to keep your neighbors happy anyway.

Feathers cover most of the chicken’s body. Most breeds of chickens have bare legs, but some have feathers growing down their legs and even on their toes. Other variations of feathering include muffs, puffs of feathers around the ear lobes; beards, long, hanging feathers beneath the beak; and crests or topknots, poofs of feathers on the head that may fall down and cover the eyes.

Watching a flock of chickens can be as entertaining as watching teenagers at the mall. Chickens have very complex social interactions and a host of interesting behaviors. And like most domesticated animals, chickens prefer to be kept in groups. A group of chickens is called a flock.Knowing a little about chicken behavior is crucial to keeping chickens.

The most significant parts of a chicken’s head are the comb, the eyes and ears, the beak and nostrils, and the wattles and the neck. Following is a closer look at each of these parts, from the head down. The chicken's comb At the very top of the chicken’s head is a fleshy red area called the comb. The combs of Silkie chickens, a small breed, are very dark maroon red.

One of the oldest and most successful methods of keeping chickens is to provide them with a shelter they can retreat to at night or in bad weather and an outside enclosure that protects them from predators yet allows them access to fresh air and sunshine. The figure illustrates this type of housing. Credit: Illustration by Barbara Frake Walk-in shelters allow the caretaker to feed and water the birds and collect eggs inside.

Many poor chicks have been strangled by the loving grasp of children. Chicken owners need to learn the proper ways of catching and holding chickens of all ages and sizes. Children need to be taught how to correctly catch and hold chickens, too, if they’re allowed to handle them. Children under age 5 probably shouldn’t be allowed to hold chicks without close adult supervision.

In chickens, selective breeding using the smallest birds of each generation has produced small breeds called bantams. A few breeds have some dwarf genes. People have always enjoyed seeing miniature versions of domestic animals. Bantam chickens are primarily kept for show or as pets, as are most other small versions of domestic animals.