I started hanging beets/cabbage/sweet potatoes/broccoli/cauliflower from lag nuts and a rope inside my 35' x 11' hoop coop the first winter. My flock of 23 was hatched out in November. Once they turned 4 wks I relocated them into their hoop coop along with heaters. They were too young to be out in the cold all day and I knew boredom would set in. They had a ball pecking at the swinging food and it gave them good exercise as well as teaching them balance and strengthened their necks. 3 yrs later my broody hen has taught the 2nd generation how much fun it is! I always hide food around their runs and hang goodies from my organic heirloom garden from low lying tree branches around their yard when they are out free ranging . It's fun for me when my 7 roosters find the food and call the hens. You have taught me so very much from watching all your videos and I GREATLY appreciate all the knowledge you have shared over the years. My chickens are my babies and my roosters all get along. I truly believe if you pick them up constantly since their birth and say their names constantly, they have a closer relationship with you. I play tag with my boys and have taught them how to Hi-5 visitors. My gurls have been taught to jump one by one as I call their names for treats. They are comical, inspirational & teach me something about their personalities every day. Thank you for teaching me how to be a Good Chicken Momma❤!
@southernyankeedoll1984 Thank you so much for sharing this with me! Your words paint a perfect picture of blissfully happy chickens. You are giving them an absolutely beautiful life! :)
My hens also have free access to feed in a feeder, but I also mix a ratio of about 2 to 1 of pelleted feed with scratch feed, and toss it out all around in the grassy yard for the girls to hunt and peck at all day. It keeps them busy and very happy.
That was funny when you tasted the chicken feed. I free range and I totally agree with this technique. they love to forage. No wonder they love scratch grains so much!
This is why a thin layer of organic material on the run floor is so important! Not sand, pea gravel, or bare dirt. I try to mimic a forest floor as best as I can to attract bugs 😊 great video
Will it work to plant grasses or grains just outside the run along a side so they can peck without digging the roots up? I imagine it will attract bugs too. I don’t have chickens yet but I could never understand why everybody just gives them gravel.
@@hc3021Tons chickensh💩t! But choosing a deep litter method means regular poop scooping unnecessary. My girls go crazy for straw, so my outside run always has some. Then if you use whole grain feed like S&P for burying, if they miss some and you water it, it can sprout in place for even more healthy greens to munch!
@@margaretl579 They will inevitably eat a little, but if they're eating a lot, that could be a problem. I recommend checking their crops first thing in the morning when they should be empty - make sure the crops are emptying and not holding onto bedding.
Such a great video with a POV that actually makes SENSE! I don’t have my chickens yet but researching on you tube reveals a lot of nonsensical opinions, so I’m so glad I found your content.
I just found your channel with this video in my feed, so glad it popped up! Love your dialed-in way of approaching chicken life, thanks for the perspective and time you spent sharing this with us! ❤
You began calling "chick chick chick" and both of my chickens (house) got excited! I've been using "boop boop boop" for them to come. I just threw a handful of mealworms and corn out near the back door. I've been having them out to forage an hour or so every day, (they tend to go in and out with our dog, as they sleep inside) but they were delighted to find treats so close to the house. Mine are now "tweens" and we are working on that neck strength. Still waiting for somebody to crow....we are in a suburban area, our neighbors are delighted we have chickens....but that translates to "free eggs" not "roosters." They enjoy watching them roam the yard....lawn flowers....but that will cease when they begin to SCREAM. Silly me, I prefer heritage breeds.....so it's anyone's guess right now. Yes, I wing check, vent check, tail check, etc. I have americanas, it's not that bad. Silkies you can't predict. I've had males go through the....ceremony...as females, only to begin crowing later. ????? No idea, perhaps THEY don't know until the hormones hit. We don't have the "Hershey" distinction of "nuts, or no nuts" If I end up with all roos this time, after raising them from eggs.......I'll to go sex links. They're fine...but they die so soon. Hoping for a longer lived companion chicken. I feel that since the pandemic, more people are OPEN to backyard chickens. (wise move) Thank you! I've raised chickens on and off most of my life, but there is always more to learn.
Best Heritage bird for sexing are the Crested Cream Legbars where male & female have clearly different feathering at hatch! They were bred early 1900’s by Punnet himself, of HS Biology Punnet-Square fame! I got 8 different Heritage & hybrid day olds from a local feedstore. Independent & curious Melody, my CCL is my fave for friendliness & lap-sitting and at 2 years old lays XL-JUMBO blue eggs!
Lots of great info here! One thing to note about the Scratch and Peck mash feeds, they are only balanced if the birds eat the “fines” as well as the grains. It’s not just dust, some of the minerals are in that dust. It’s best if it’s wetted or fermented and offered in a dish. I switched to the same brand pellets and crumbles to make sure my chickens were definitely benefitting from the full nutritional value (in addition to pasture/forest). And, the pellets have a bonus of grub protein, which also provides calcium. It is indeed expensive feed, I want to make sure none of it is wasted.
I got the scratch and feed and it looked great until my girls picked out the yummy grain and left the rest! Now they get pellets in a bowl and when that is mostly gone they get scratch spread around the run for them to find. They love to forage as well of course.
@@janw491 if you have the time to do it, the grain feed can be soaked and/or fermented. Wetting it and serving in a dish helps them get the dusty bits too, and fermenting it increases the nutrients they get from it, plus the benefit of being wet so those fine bits stick and they eat them. I mostly feed scratch and peck pellets now, plus foraging, but I try to feed fermented mash for a couple weeks a few times a year.
How about an inground bed, a raised bed, or even a kiddie pool filled with soil located in the run where you plant some things for them to forage? It would require plants that don't require much water unless you don't mind doing that. And the plants would be need to be hardy enough to withstand the onslaught that's going to happen. You could also be ready to succession plant as needed. I also imagine you would need a rather large run to do this. But you could also add onto an existing run and let the chickens into that section off and on, i.e., open when ready, close off when knocked down. I think I saw where a chicken keeper in Australia rotated his flock in and out of several different special garden runs throughout the year. When a given garden run had been fully harvested for his family, he let the chickens in to that particular run to do the final cleanup. When they were done, he moved them to the next one to do the same thing. When they moved out, he replanted based on the season. It was a great setup.
A thoughtful chicken mom! I appreciate seeing kindness to your animals... I use Rice Hay in my run for them to tear up , full flakes, let them break it down, ... they love it. When I sprinkle u too they find grass bits to eat too. When it's really hot for them I make blocks of ice to put in their waters to help cool them too (and made a mister area too.
ps: not everywhere, just pick a area for them to relax in after hunting. I also serve up watermelon, it's like chicken candy. (all these mistakes are my computer writing for me, sorry.) BTW, Rice hay, NOT straw, alfalfa or grass. Rice has little flavor bombs they like to find.
I think you just saved my chickens (and my neighbors sanity). My girls are noisy and it’s a small flock that needs distraction. I will contrafreeload my girls today.
Hey! You have reached a subscribers milestone, right? I have been watching you for a few months, but I am not sure. If this is a milestone, congratulations! If not, congratulations anyway. You are the best, most scientific evidence based, most humane chicken channel I know either way!
Ppl that have grazing animals that move to different paddocks use chickens to help prepare for next planting. The cows graze the area, when they move, bring in pigs to Break up soil, then let chickens in to eat all The grubs and other insects. Then replant The grass, grain, or legume cover crops for The cows again.
I like to give mine a hanging treat, it can be anything from a suet ball to plastic drinks bottl with holes in ,so they have to peck at it and watch the food drop to get reward, i will also do this with fresh veggies and fruit. Pumpkins in the autumn and watermelon in the summer, they just love it and it keeps them busy😊. Hope that helps some of you x
Hanging treats are so great! When I free range my chickens, I've frequently seen them jumping to pull berries/petals/etc off of bushes - I think hanging treats work so well to let them practice and enjoy these natural foraging behaviors in their runs.
I've been hoping & waiting for your return!! You're the only one I know that truly tries to understand chickens, and roosters. My New Hampshires are 7 weeks old. I've been imprinting them daily, lots of time of holding them & petting them etc. My rooster is showing the gals he's boss, (challenging them). I stopped picking him up about 4 weeks old as he protested. Now he still will come near me if I'm sitting & i cup 1 hand under his chest & pet him on his back with the other hand. I let him come to me, not me chasing him. QUESTION: So he's starting to bite my clothes. And today he bit my hand when I was trying to get them inside for the night (they can choose to go outside in a fenced in area, that's totally enclosed, ceiling too). But I feel they're safer inside at night. Soooo, should I respond to his biting? He's not tearing holes in my clothes, nor are the bites that painful. I just don't know to think of it. Like is he showing aggression? Should I try to teach him not to bite at me? Or how can I discourage it? Btw, they love the wet food, so I'm using that to get them inside before dark now on. Lol It's getting harder to get them inside, but they love that wet food over everything else!! Lol lol (I also have a chick with a bent beak so its much easier for her to eat, I think).
@lidip8700 This is such a huge topic you're bringing up here and there's not a simple answer. Your rooster could be biting for any number of reasons. It could even be a mating bite, which is totally normal for roosters - they do that to their mama hens too. It could also just be instinctual. Could be aggressive (although I suspect you'd have other signs of this too if it was truly aggressive, like him hackling out and squaring off to you to fight). It could also just be that he's excited you're near him, like a dog jumping on a person. There's no right answer for what to do. You could work on training him not to bite you - I would take him in the run early morning when he's easy to catch in the dark coop. I'd work alone with him in the run for 5-10 minutes before letting out the girls so he's not distracted and work on redirecting his bites to a bowl of wet feed, and getting him used to your hands and clothes so they are no longer triggering for them. You can read more about that technique in my article - www.thefeatherbrain.com/blog/taming-aggressive-roosters Or you can just let it be since the bites aren't painful. If you want more help on this, or if things get worse, I highly recommend scheduling an online consult with Roovolution. This is a nonprofit run by a couple who follow the same methods and philosophy I do. They give free consults to anyone who needs help with their roosters and they are truly wonderful. I will be collaborating with them on a few things soon, and I'm also an annual donator because I truly believe they are doing something wonderful in the chicken-keeping world. You can book a consult with them here if it comes to that - www.roovolution.org/ Glad to hear the wet food is working so well with your chickens too. It has always been a hit in my flocks!
May I add my experience with my 7 roosters who are 30 mths old? My 23 were raised with me being their Momma. My boys clung to me from the day they hatched. As time has gone by they have become very protective of me, especially my 2 Rhode Island Red brothers. The one follows me to the house and sits and waits for me like a dog. He went after my neighbors Rottweiler when it came on my prooerty and attacked me. With all this said, I have learned that my boys use their beaks as hands. They are constantly tugging on my clothers to get my attention. They luv to give me a "Hi-Five" when I praise them. They also bring me bugs and peck my hand so I take the gift from them. If he is not agressive, maybe he is either wanting your attention or just showing you luv as he has no hands to hug you!
Thank you for taking the time to respond. He seems to bite (or tug) at my clothes when I'm showing them new food, new water containers and when I changed the set up in their indoor coop. I became concerned because he was constantly doing it after I introduced the outdoor fenced in coop area for the first few days. Today (day 6 of being outside), he didn't bite at me at all. He was too busy picking on the hens, establishing himself as the leader. I think I'm going to wait it out, for now. I'm thrilled you didn't think it was something leading up to a problem. He definitely loves eating out of my hands, typically pushes the gals away, (New Hampshires are food aggressive). So I make sure there's 3 feed areas for treats and 3 feeders for dry food. I'm still going to check the folks you mentioned as well. Thanks again!!
Hmm, I never thought of him seeking my attention. That makes me look at this very differently. He's not displaying any other aggressive signals.... 🤔 I did stop picking him up about 2 weeks ago. Before that, I was taking him out of the brooder, and walking outside to let him have a look around (keeping him warm since he was so young). I did that with each of the chicks but not as intentional, I made sure I did with him daily, until as mentioned, at about 4 weeks he started protesting being held. So I respected that. The roosters u have are pretty cool!! I want a good relationship with mine, and "Featherbrain" was the first person I've seen that even tried! But you've also done really well!! That's encouraging. Thanks for your input, much appreciated!!!
@@thefeatherbrain how to keep them alive in the eggs,how to hatch them, their comfront I would like to know about it thank you for reading my comment 😊😊
I want to ask you about building a winter shelter for a rooster similar to a doghouse because I am considering keeping an extra rooster for breeding. If its a single bird, would you make it small like the JustinRhodes Chick shaw to conserve body heat? I'm building several pens for mating and broilers to keep the mature birds away from baby chicks.. I feed my baby chicks raw honey in their water and a vitamin electrolyte to all my chickens, seems to have some benefit. A lot of chicken feed is loaded with spent brewers grains, some is wasted from cheap feeds. I like the Nutrena brand, never see any waste around the feeder and the chickens look healthy. I made an outdoor run and the chickens can't wait to be let out in the morning to eat bugs and grass. My weather is not as cold as Boise
I let my chickens out in the morning, but I want to set up a chicken yard with different types of hiding places and some fruiting bushes, I have them eating mango now as well, soon I'll introduce star fruit and hobo, I feed them grated coconut as well.
@thefeatherbrain the reality is chickens make a mess everywhere lol, a chicken yard with some fruit shrubs will get them free ranging a bit, but without coming to my balcony and pooping 💩 lol
After my girls pecked down to the dirt floor of their 14x60 ft run I started added peat moss and mini pine nuggets , and add several times throughout the summer .. I now have this beautiful composted bedding in their run, which several times over the summer I use my mini cultivator to turn it over, they are always scratching and foraging throughout their run! I always stalk my Lowes throughout the week to pick up busted bags of the mulch and peat moss.. get it 1/2 off that way
Can you describe this more? I have rock hard dirt at this point in a large run. I would love to change this for them. How much peat did you need to add and what was the source?
The chickens love resting and preening under low cover (in nature, this would typically be in the form of bushes), and these canopies have been wonderful for that. They spend most of their inactive time under them. I bought them here off of Amazon - www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VTNG8RQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I built my compost pile inside the chicken run. They love it. They find all kinds of bugs, seeds and vegetation. They are also allowed to spend part of the day running in my fenced back yard. They find all kinds of bugs and they love it.
@ericschirmer3579 @gaylelucas5909 Yes! Part of the reason is because I wanted them to be able to contrafreeload all winter long - we have long winters up here where we've moved, and I didn't want them to be kicking up sand dust while they're foraging all day. There are a few other reasons too. I'm actually editing a video on that very topic right now. I still think sand is a wonderful bedding for the run, but organic bedding better fits my current goals. More on that in the next video. As a side note, I am still using sand in my chicken coop, and I doubt I will ever change that.
The chickens love resting and preening under low cover, and these have been wonderful for that. They spend most of their inactive time under them. I bought them here off of Amazon - www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VTNG8RQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Thank you for sharing your wisdom. Although my chicken run is pretty predator proof, I am concerned about the left over scratch or treats that they would leave behind attracting mice or other small critters. Have you found by doing this in your covered run to attract more pests? Your thoughts?
I haven't had any problem at all with rodents, despite the fact they are prolific in my area. I do always keep the run door closed at night though and it's essentially rodent proof (1/4 inch hardware cloth covers the entire floor under the bedding), so rodents are only capable of getting in during the day when the door's open. Perhaps test it? Or, if you've had problems with food and rodents in the past in your run, maybe this isn't the best method for your particular environment. Sorry I can't be of more help. Best, Bri
@@thefeatherbrain I appreciate your feedback! Thank you. I just begun my journey in being a Chick mama. I haven’t had any issues with rodents or pests. I do have hardware cloth surrounding the perimeter of the coop and run. I’m just cautious not to create any involvement that would draw them. Thank you 🙏🏼 again for your time and input. Have a blessed day!
The chickens love resting and preening under low cover, and these have been wonderful for that. They spend most of their inactive time under them. I bought them here off of Amazon - www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VTNG8RQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@@angelazehm9565 The chickens love to hang out under them. In the wild, they'd be spending their rest time under bushes. These are a nice substitute for the run. :)
In my past flocks, I would leave piles of straw in their winter coop, just because they concentrated on flattening them. I always thought it was a safey thing for them, like they were making sure nothing was hiding in the piles. 🤷♀️ Since letting my new layers out of their brooder bins, they spend all their time flipping their crumbles & pellets out of the feeders, and onto the floor. As you said, I think they enjoy hunting for it. Lol With my older flock, I give them different things to eat as treats from our table, or our garden, daily. Or hang a head of cabbage up for tetherball. Lol
I'm always concerned of them eating their poop too, if I scatter it about. They are in their run most the day (wood chip and straw flooring) with a separate coop where the roost is, only there during the night, with their nests to lay.
I used to be very concerned about that too. However, studies show that chickens will forage in their bedding, regardless of whether you throw feed it in or not, so they will be exposed to their own poop either way. However, if you do throw feed in their bedding, they have major benefits over chickens who are foraging and finding nothing, such as increased excitement/joy, lower stress hormone levels, and less aggression. I do, however, always recommend keeping the poop to bedding ratio as low as possible. I constantly add new bedding to the run so it's never very poopy. Studies also show that chickens absolutely do not want to live in poopy bedding, and of course, chickens in nature don't live in their own feces.
The chickens love resting and preening under low cover, and these have been wonderful for that. They spend most of their inactive time under them. I bought them here off of Amazon - www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VTNG8RQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use the Grower Mash, which is made for chicks 8-20 weeks old OR mixed flocks. The reason I use Grower (rather than Layer) is because my flock is not just mixed (i.e., roosters too) but also mainly geriatric (egg production is very low) - I of course do provide oyster shell in another feeder for the girls who need it. If you have a flock of mainly good laying hens, you may want to consider the higher calcium Layer Mash.
@@thefeatherbrain Do you use the Grower mash to toss in their bedding? You mentioned Scratch & Peck as a good feed that doesn't break down easily, and that's what I'm looking for.
Studies show that chickens will forage in their bedding, regardless of whether you throw feed it in or not, so they will be exposed to their own poop no matter what. However, if you do throw feed in their bedding, they have major benefits over chickens who are foraging and finding nothing, such as increased excitement/joy, lower stress hormone levels, and less aggression. I do, however, always recommend keeping the poop to bedding ratio as low as possible. I constantly add new bedding to the run so it's never very poopy. Studies also show that chickens absolutely do not want to live in poopy bedding, and of course, chickens in nature don't live in their own feces.
By nature, chickens love resting and preening under low cover. In nature, this cover would be bushes. In my run, it's the blue tents. They spend most of their inactive time under them - resting, preening, etc. Of course, you don't need to buy cover for your chickens - you can make your own structure out of branches, or, as I have done in the past, out of pallets. :)
The hope is that they'll eat all or nearly all the food in the bedding, but I don't have any numbers on how much is wasted vs eaten. In my run, every week I rake older bedding towards the far wall of the run (away from the coop) and put the new bedding down near the coop (the bedding in between those two walls is intermediate in age - it's like a factory line, the new bedding by the coop slowly moves closer to the far wall as it gets older and poopier). The older bedding along the far wall behaves more as a slow compost pile as it's poopier (and I also pour their remaining water in that pile every night to speed up composting there, while keeping the rest of their run as dry and poop-free as possible) - any food that is still there would eventually compost with the old bedding if the chickens don't find it first. That's my system - works for my goals, but may not work for yours. :) Best, Bri
That saw dust, chips should be natural not chem saturated material like that particle board door. Poor birds are getting suffocated with all that toxin. Especially when the heat of the sun “wakes” it up Just a thought.
Not sure I buy that. While OSB may be a concern in interior spaces with poor ventilation, like a house, it doesn't seem to cause issue in highly ventilated exterior spaces - anything that off-gases will dissipate quickly in an outdoor space. www.thegardencoop.com/blog/formaldehyde-offgassing-chicken-coop/
I would suggest that you raise your metal feeder at an acceptable height so it's easy for the hens to eat. Hens should not be staining their necks to get at their food.
@mrs.rogers7582 Lol! Ground feeding is actually the natural way that chickens eat - no neck strain here! Chickens, by nature, are ground dwellers and eat the majority of their feed straight off the ground. The reason you see some chicken keepers raising their feeders is because they're using open feeders - raising them reduces feed waste. When a feeder is on the ground (what chickens prefer), they will scratch the feed out of open feeders as well as pull it out with their closed beaks (termed "beaking out" in the scientific literature). These are natural behaviors but result in a lot of mess. Raising the feeder eliminates these natural behaviors. The only other reason to raise the feeder is for sanitation purposes, but this is only necessary with open feeders, not treadle feeders. I do this with my open waterers - I put them on stands so that chickens are unable to kick bedding in them or poop in them (it has NOTHING to do with chicken comfort, as chickens are comfortable either way). But if you have a treadle feeder. the ground is the best and most natural place to put it. As far as chickens are concerned, the ground is the "acceptable" height!
You do not need to worry about "overfeeding" your chickens unless you have broilers or heavy breeds. If you want the healthiest and happiest chickens, give them open access to feeders. ALL the research supports this. Share your sources if you've found anything else.
A two-second google search - first academic result is Alabama A&M and Auburn Universities - www.aces.edu/blog/topics/farming/backyard-small-poultry-flock-management-series-feeding-the-laying-hen/ - "How much to feed? How much to feed is typically not an issue for small flock laying hens. By nature, chickens will mostly eat to meet their nutritional requirements. The typical breeds used in small laying flocks do not have the genetics for excessive growth or fat deposition. If feeding a complete layer feed, provide feed for your hens at all times." Oregon State University - extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/pnw477.pdf - "Make sure feed is always available for the birds; meal feeding (giving a limited amount of feed several times each day) can reduce productivity..." University of Florida - edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/PS029 - "If hens are out of feed for several hours, a decline in egg production will probably occur. The amount of decline will be related to the time without feed. Be sure that all the birds have access to an adequate supply of a complete feed which meets all their nutritional requirements." This info is not at all difficult to verify. This was literally a 2-second google search bringing up the top three academic sources. FEED YOUR BIRDS, PEOPLE!
