Chicken coops plans

To raise healthy chickens, you must start with healthy chicks. That’s easy enough to say — but how do you know if the chicks are in good health? Even a reputable hatchery may miss the earliest signs of a problem. If you’re starting your backyard chicken flock with chicks, keep an eye out for any signs of distress or ill health.

The following tips are mainly for those who are going to buy their chicks from a breeder or store. Once you have mail-order chicks, you’re pretty much stuck with what you have. These tips may tell you whether something is wrong — and you need to call the hatchery.

• Healthy chicks are active, but not too noisy. Of course, they do sleep more than adults, like all baby animals, but if disturbed, they quickly get up and move away.

• If you look at a content group of chicks in a proper brooder, some will be under the heat lamp or near it sleeping peacefully, while others will be eating or drinking or walking around. They will be quiet except for an occasional peep.

• Baby chicks should have two bright, clear eyes, and their rear ends, or vent area, should be clean. Their beaks should be straight. Some hatcheries trim the end of the beak to prevent chicks from picking at each other, so don’t be alarmed if the beak tip is missing. Their toes should be straight.

• Never take a chick with cloudy or dull eyes, a twisted beak, bent or missing toes, or a dirty vent area.

• Chicks that are very noisy are unhappy and stressed, either from being cold or hungry and thirsty. When they arrive in a shipping box, the stress is evident from the shrill cheeps. But if you place them in the right temperature with food and water, they should quickly calm down.

• A droopy-looking chick may not be healthy. If a chick is touched and it responds very little, it probably isn’t healthy. If it’s lying on its back with its legs in the air, it’s definitely unhealthy!

• Chicks that are panting, with their beaks open, are either too warm or sick. If they appear normal after being cooled down, they should be fine. If the chicks are as far from the heat source as possible, it’s probably too hot. If they’re piled on each other near the heat source and peeping loudly, it’s probably too cold.

  If chicks are very noisy but they aren’t obviously hot or cold and food and water are available, something else is wrong. While you can fix the temperature or hunger problem, avoid purchasing chicks if you can’t tell what is wrong.

• The belly area should not look sore and red. The chicks shouldn’t have any wounds or bloody areas. (Newly hatched chicks will have a slight lump on the belly where the egg yolk was, and that’s okay.)

Whether you buy chicks, hatch eggs, or adopt adult birds, having a healthy flock begins with choosing healthy birds. Healthy baby chicks will be noisy and active when they arrive in the mail. If many chicks are dead or appear weak and drowsy, contact the shipper right away.

Serious breeders usually have their flocks tested and vaccinated for prominent diseases. If you’re buying from a hatchery, make sure the chicks are from certified pullorum-tested flocks. Pullorum is a serious bird disease that will kill all your chicks and endanger anyone else’s chickens in your area.

Ask what vaccines have been given for other diseases. If the option is offered, have the hatchery vaccinate your chicks for Mareks disease. It costs a bit more, but it’s well worth it. It is very difficult for home flock owners to vaccinate chicks.

Any chicken of a breed known or developed for meat; usually with deeper, larger breasts, a larger frame, and fast growth.

An enclosed area for chicks in the first few weeks of life; provides warmth and safety in the absence of a mother hen.

A bacterial infection of the feet caused by small cuts and pressure to the foot pads.

A common external parasite of chickens (and humans) that feed on blood while injecting an irritant into the skin.

An internal parasite of chickens that lines the digestive tract and may cause serious problems.

An infection by Coccidia.

A medicine that controls the disease coccidiosis; often added to commercial chicken feed.

A young male chicken.

A county employee, sometimes called an educator, who is associated with a land-grant university in the same state and whose job is to take research-based knowledge and bring it to the general public.

Medium-sized pieces of feed, actually broken-up pellets.

The condition that occurs when a hen has an egg that she can’t pass from the oviduct for some reason.

An external parasite of chickens, common in the U.S. South, that feed on the chicken’s blood but do not stay attached.

A common internal parasite of free-range or pastured chickens, usually found in the trachea; may cause serious breathing problems.

1. Small rocks or gravel; aids digestion for chickens. 2. Chicken feed supplement, made of crushed limestone and granite, available for purchase in feed stores for chickens requiring extra grit.

A cross between two chicken breeds, usually created to take advantage of specific qualities such as increased breast meat.

Any chicken of a breed known or developed for laying eggs; will not sit on their own eggs.

A common external parasite of chickens that feeds on feathers or shedding skin cells.

Finely ground feed.

A common external parasite of chickens that burrows into the chicken’s skin and feeds on chicken blood.

Immature Coccidia that are passed in fecal matter. Coccidia is an internal parasite of chickens that lines the digestive tract.

Things that feed on a chicken’s blood, other body secretions, or its feathers; may be internal or external.

Long, narrow, cylinder-shaped pieces of compressed feed.

A young female chicken who has not started laying eggs.

1. (noun) Any above-floor structure provided for a bird to perch on. 2. (verb) The act of perching on such a structure.

A common internal parasite of chickens, usually found in the intestines but occasionally in the oviduct or even an egg

A form of chicken housing that combines an indoor, protected area with an outside enclosure.

Blood-stopping.

A common internal parasite of chickens, usually found in the intestines and usually considered harmless.

The common opening for feces in chickens.

A bandage, often used with animals, that sticks to itself.

A formal agreement with the governing body of an area to allow one individual or entity to deviate from the restrictions of a zoning area.

1. (noun) An area or district with specific restrictions or rules about the types of buildings and activities that can take place there. 2. (adjective) Of or about the restrictions required due to the zoning area.

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