28 Feb
For those of you getting chicks this spring, the chick stand could be a handy solution to the messy problem of chicks dragging poop and bedding into their food and water.
As suggested by Deborah Niemann, author of Homegrown and Handmade, as the birds get larger, people often hang the feeder/waterer or put it on blocks, but the same simple idea could be applied to prevent the birds from soiling their food and water.
20 Jan
Well, here is another instance of non-chicken-loving sentiments: http://www.wbez.org/story/owning-chickens-scratches-controversy-95624
A quote in the article compares chicken coops to dumpsters and complains of odors – these are comments that suggest that a visit to some chicken coops is in order. Most coops are well kept and do not smell.
All the more reason for chicken owners to practice good animal husbandry and for people who are not chicken friendly to visit a few coops.
3 Oct
For those of you who have chickens, you may be asking, “How safe are MY eggs from Salmonella contamination?”
The good news is, they are likely VERY safe.
Salmonella are bacteria that live in human and animal intestinal tracts. The bacteria can pass in fecal matter and so may be found in soil, water, and other matter that has come into contact with fecal matter.
So how do the bacteria get into eggs? There are two ways this might happen:
1) Chicken poop gets on the shell of the egg. The bacteria pass through the pores and proliferate inside the egg.
2) An industrial egg-laying hen whose ovaries are contaminated with salmonella bacteria passes the bacteria along in the egg-formation process.
Solutions are fairly simple.
1) Give your hens adequate space and good living conditions. This includes clean food and water daily. Hens in poor living conditions, like battery-caged layers, are more susceptible to illness (like salmonella) due to overcrowded, stressful living conditions. In your backyard coop, one nest for every four hens is adequate.
2) Keep your nest boxes free of fecal matter. Wood shavings are good for this, because the poop can easily be scooped out in clumps, much like clumping kitty litter.
3) Collect your eggs daily and refrigerate them right away. Industrial eggs have many stops: candling, sizing, packaging, shipping, shipping again, shelf stocking. Along the way temperatures can fluctuate, leading to bacterial growth. Keeping your eggs refrigerated will prevent this.
4) Wash your eggs only when you are ready to use them. When a hen lays an egg, she secretes a wet covering that seals off the pores from pathogens. If you see a freshly laid egg, you will notice that it looks wet and then quickly dries. This is called the cuticle or bloom. Keep this coating intact until you are ready to use the egg. Brush or sand off any foreign material that is on the eggshell.
5) Cook eggs completely. Cooking eggs to 160 degrees will prevent illness.
If your hens are contaminated with salmonella, you will most likely have built up immunity to the particular strain they carry.
Enjoy your fresh eggs!
(Sources: Damerow, Gail. “Backyard Chicken Eggs Are Safe,” and Jansen Matthews, Lisa. “Safe Egg Handling,” both in Backyard Poultry, October/November 2010, 6.)
When building a coop for your hens, it is important to choose a design with the right dimensions, features, and materials. Get all this information on the Chicken Coop Spec Sheet, now available from Home to Roost! Purchase on PayPal using the button below.
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