Fences for Goats and Chickens
Barbed wire criss-crossed our Tennessee farm when we moved here four decades ago. Some of the wire was wrapped around or stapled to rickety fence posts. But most of it was nailed or stapled to trees — not a safe...
Category: Coop
What Is a Hen’s Egg Song?
Every time I hear cackling referred to as a hen’s egg song, I get a little confused. The many studies I’ve read about chicken sounds always refer to pre-laying hen sounds as singing. None refer to a hen’s post-lay cackle...
Is Broodiness Contagious?
What, exactly, causes a chicken to go broody is a subject that baffles even the best poultry scientists. One thing we know is that whether or not a hen decides to brood depends on three interconnecting factors: genetics, hormones, and...
How to Sex Guinea Fowl
How to sex guinea fowl can be mystifying to anyone who hasn’t spent a lot of time around guineas. But it’s not quite so mystifying once you learn the clues to watch for. Vent Sexing Keets (baby guinea fowl) of...
Egg Size Conversions for Recipes
Most recipes calling for eggs are geared toward large chicken eggs. But what if you have only small bantams eggs? Or extra large duck eggs, or even jumbo turkey eggs? Some recipes can be ruined by using the wrong size...
What Is a Chicken’s Umwelt?
Umwelt is a concept developed in 1905 by German biologist Jakob von Uexküll. In German Um means around and Welt means the world. Your umwelt is everything you are able to perceive in the world around you. What we humans...
Do Chickens Have a Sense of Smell?
Chickens don’t have a nose to wriggle up, like a human who smells something odd or interesting. Neither to they noticeably sniff at things, like a dog does. Nevertheless, chickens have a keen sense of smell. And it’s likely every...
Incubation Humidity For a Successful Hatch
Controlling incubation humidity for a successful hatch ensures that moisture evaporates from poultry eggs at just the right rate. Humidity is a measure of the amount of moisture in the air. At a given temperature, the drier the air, the...
12 Reasons Chickens Lay Eggs on the Floor
Eggs laid on the coop floor, appropriately called “floor eggs,” easily get dirty or cracked. They are unsanitary to eat and unsuitable for hatching. Plus a cracked egg is likely to get broken, making a mess. Hens will sample the...
What Chickens Can and Can’t Taste
Taste buds determine what chickens can and can’t taste, which in turn determines what a chicken prefers to eat. Taste buds therefore have an important impact on a chicken’s health and productivity. Until 1904, researchers believed birds didn’t have any...