Fresh Eggs Daily® | Lisa Steele

Each winter, coops catch fire with heartbreaking results. Chickens are extremely cold-hardy and don't need heat. Be safe, say no to heat in your chicken coop. To heat or not to heat your chicken coop in the winter.....that is the question. Dry straw or shavings, wood, chickens, plus a heat source....not a good combination. An oft-debated topic among chicken keepers is the subject of heating your coop or not. But in this case, it's best to listen to your chickens.

These  five reasons should be enough to convince you not to heat your chicken coop this winter. I raise chickens. In Maine. And I can tell you that healthy chickens in the right sized, well-ventilated, dry coop generally don't need heat. I would expand that to say: pretty much no chickens need their coop heated. Oddly enough, most people who email me in a panic, afraid their chickens aren't going to make it through the night without heat, are in places where chickens should never need heat - places like Tennessee or Louisiana or Georgia or southern California.

Raising a flock of backyard chickens isn't difficult as long as you avoid these common pitfalls that can kill your chickens. My grandmother raised chickens almost her entire life and she always used to say that if a chicken could get stuck in it or under it or drown in it, they would. And also, everything wants to eat chicken. While it's true that it's important to ensure your chicken area is free from hazards, it's not hard to keep your chickens alive as long as you avoid these common ways to accidentally kill your chickens

Chickens have a hard time in hot weather, but there are some simple things you can do to help them stay cool this summer. Doing all you can to help your chickens stay cool in the summer isn't a matter of "spoiling" them, it can be a matter of life or death. Chickens can, and do, succumb to heat stress and exhaustion every summer.  And in fact, far more chickens die of extreme heat than extreme cold.

Overall, chickens are pretty cold-hardy, but just how do they stay warm in the winter? And how cold is TOO cold for a chicken? Most breeds of chickens generally do just fine in cold temperatures , but the better you understand just how a chicken stays warm and how cold is too cold for chickens, the easier it will be for you to do a few easy things to make winters more comfortable for your flock.

Expert tips for basic baby chick care tips that you should know in order to raise happy, healthy chicks. You've decided you're going to start raising chickens.  You've done your research into how many chickens you are allowed in your area, you've chosen the breeds you want to raise, maybe even placed your order for baby chicks due in the spring or checked with your local feed store about when baby chicks will be available. Now what?

Getting started with baby chicks isn't difficult once you are familiar with the basics necessary for them to grow up into happy, healthy chickens. So you've decided to start raising chickens!  I assume you've checked with your town or municipality and know the rules as far as how many chickens you are allowed, if you need a permit for either the chickens or their coop (or both), if you can have roosters, etc.  And now you're ready to get started.

Chickens don't need heat in the winter, but there are some things you can do to prepare your flock for winter. Winterizing your coop is a good place to start. Chickens do far better in the cold than you might imagine, but there are still a few simple things you can do to winterize your chicken coop and make it more comfortable for your flock As the temperatures drop below freezing, a few modifications to your coop will help it stay warmer through the winter months (and no, I'm not talking about adding heat! )

Now more than ever, people are looking to convenient, healthy sources of food for their family. And that means bringing back an American tradition: raising chickens. Backyard chickens provide delicious, fresh eggs right from the coop! People want to know that they can trust what they are eating, and what the food they're eating is eating. They're looking for sources of convenient, readily available, nutritious sources of food for their family that are raised and grown locally, not overseas and raised without pesticides or antibiotics.  And that means bringing back a time-honored American tradition: raising chickens! Backyard chickens provide delicious, fresh eggs right from the coop and aren't difficult to raise.

While providing shade and cool water are important when the temperature rises, there are several things you should NOT do for your chickens as the weather heats up. Here are five things your chickens don't need this summer. Chicken keepers always seem to get far more worried about their chickens during the cold winter months than in the summer, but in reality, heat is far harder on chickens than the cold.  Chickens will do just fine in temperatures down to zero and even below. With just a dry, draft-free coop filled with some nice bedding to help insulate it, scratch grains before bed and an optimal number of chickens for the size coop, they do a pretty decent job of keeping themselves warm.

Before the cold weather sets in, it's a good idea to give your chicken coop a good once-over and fix any problems you spot. Before the cold weather sets in, it's a good idea to give your chicken coop a good once-over.  Due to fewer hours of daylight and lower temperatures, your chickens will likely be spending more time inside than usual, and fixing any potential problems you spot in your coop now is beneficial.

Using the Deep Litter Method of coop litter management through the winter not only produces a bit of natural heat, is easy and economical, it results in nice soil for your garden come spring. If you're not familiar with it, The Deep Litter Method is a brilliant old-timers method to manage your coop litter through the winter. It's easy, economical and results in beautifully composted chicken manure and bedding (whether it be straw, shavings, leaves, pine needles etc.) for your garden come spring.

There's not only one way to raise chickens. But there some ways that are better than others. As with many things in life, there is not just one way to raise chickens.  Talk to ten different chicken keepers and you will most likely get ten different answers about one aspect or another of raising your flock. But while some decisions are personal preference, in other cases making a bad choice could mean life or death for your chickens, or at the very least illness, discomfort or less than optimal health.

Shorter days, molting, age and stress can all affect egg production. A decrease in egg production in the fall and winter is perfectly normal and most likely attributable to shorter days and molting hens, but it can also be something a bit more formidable. Egg production naturally ebbs and flows in a backyard flock. Chickens are extremely routine-oriented and any change in routine can throw off their laying. They can be rather fickle when it comes to providing you with fresh, delicious eggs year round.

Acidosis and alkalosis are two conditions that can be brought on by heat stress in chickens. Temperatures between 55-75 degrees F are optimal for chickens.  Anything higher than that, especially coupled with high humidity, starts to cause stress to their bodies.

Raising ducks is a bit different than raising chickens. Here's a handy guide on how to raise ducks in your backyard for eggs. Congratulations! So you have decided to raise some ducklings! If you have brooded chicks before, you'll find that it's basically the same. But a little different.... My very first batch of chicks included two ducklings that we raised in the brooder box along with the chicks and all thrived and grew up to be happy and healthy.

Getting started with a few baby chicks doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. Here are some tricks to help you get started for less. Chickens, a coop, run, fencing, feed, supplements, waterers, feeders, first aid supplies ... the costs can add up when you're preparing for your backyard flock.  But getting started with baby chicks doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg.  Here are a few clever tips to help you get started for less...but you'll need to start stockpiling some things (if you don't already have them around the house) in advance of bringing your chicks home this spring.

Chickens naturally slow down or stop laying eggs as the days get shorter, but using these few simple tricks, you can keep the eggs coming all winter long. One of the things about raising backyard chickens that surprises those just getting started with their flock is that chickens don't generally lay all year long.  We get so used to seeing eggs in cartons piled in stacks at the grocery store year round, that we forget that technically eggs are a "seasonal" crop just like the fruits and vegetables we grow in our gardens.

Thinking about getting started with a small flock of backyard chickens? Here's how much you can expect to spend. You might be considering getting started with backyard chickens and wonder exactly how much it will cost you to get started.  In the past, I've talked about whether raising your own chickens for eggs is economical or not, but today I thought I would outline the typical start-up costs for a small backyard flock of 5 or 6 chickens.

Here are some of the most frequently asked chicken keeping questions I've gotten over the years from my fans and followers. I've been answering questions about chicken keeping for more than a decade now. Many right on my social media platforms, many via email or direct messages, and some through my column in Chickens Magazine. I've put together some of the most common here in once place for you.