The Backyard
Chicken Almanac

Layer feed is the cornerstone of egg production — formulated with roughly 16–18% protein and the calcium your hens need to build solid shells. Start it once your pullets reach about 18 weeks of age or lay their first egg.

Free-feeding works well for most backyard flocks — keep their feeder topped off so they eat at their own pace. Hens self-regulate when given quality feed. Offer oyster shell free-choice on the side; the gals who need extra calcium will help themselves.

Good bedding keeps the coop dry, controls odor, and gives your birds a soft place to scratch around. Aim for 4–6 inches deep on the coop floor and a generous handful in each nest box.

Consider the deep litter method for cold climates — instead of cleaning weekly, you keep adding fresh shavings on top and let the bottom layer compost over winter. The microbial activity generates a little warmth, and come spring you have ready-made garden fertilizer. Stir it once a week with a pitchfork to keep it aerated.

Chickens drink roughly a pint a day each, more in summer. Always have more capacity than you think you need, and offer at least two water sources for any flock over 6 birds — it prevents bullying at the waterer.

• Galvanized metal double-wall founts — durable, classic, and the only kind safe to use with a heated base in winter. Get 1–3 gallon for small flocks, 5+ gallon for larger.
• Horizontal nipple waterers — the cleanest option by a mile. DIY one from a 5-gallon bucket with screw-in nipples. No spilled water, no algae, no poop floating in it.
• Vertical nipple waterers — work fine but drip more than horizontal ones.
• Plastic founts — cheap and fine in mild weather, but they crack in the cold and you can't use them on heaters.

Whatever style you pick, elevate it on a cinder block or hang it at the height of the shortest hen's back. This keeps shavings, droppings, and scratched-up dirt out of the water. Scrub it weekly with a splash of white vinegar.

When temperatures dip below freezing, your metal waterer becomes a block of ice by morning. A heated base is the single best winter investment you'll make — typically $30–60, and it pays for itself in the days you don't spend hauling thawed water out at dawn.

• Set the heated base on a flat, non-flammable surface — concrete paver, cinder block, or the bare coop floor (with shavings cleared around it).
• Plug it into an outdoor-rated extension cord and, ideally, a thermostatically-controlled outlet that only kicks on below ~35°F.
• Inspect the cord weekly for damage from curious beaks.
• If you don't have power to the coop, rotate two waterers — one thawing inside while the other is in use.

Chickens are creatures of habit, and so are good chicken-keepers. A consistent morning and evening check is what separates a thriving flock from one with mysterious problems that escalated unnoticed.

1. Morning — Open the coop. Let the girls out at first light. Top off the feeder. Refresh the water (rinse the bowl, don't just top up). A quick look at every bird as they file out catches limps, droopy combs, or anyone hanging back.
2. Midday — Collect eggs. The more often you collect, the less likely you are to deal with cracked, frozen, or pecked eggs. Aim for at least once midday, and again in the late afternoon.
3. Evening — Headcount & lock up. Wait until everyone has put themselves to bed (chickens roost at dusk on their own). Count heads. Close the coop door against raccoons, possums, and foxes. Check the water level for the night.

A flock can manage a long weekend on its own with some preparation, but anything past 2–3 days needs a human checking in. Eggs pile up, waterers run dry, and a single problem can spiral fast without eyes on the coop.

An automatic coop door on a light sensor or timer is one of the better quality-of-life upgrades you can make. It opens at dawn and closes at dusk whether you're home or not, dramatically reducing the burden on a sitter.

Egg-eating is the habit every keeper dreads. Once a hen learns that what's inside that shell is delicious, the behavior spreads, and it's notoriously hard to break. Address it the moment you see a yolk-smeared beak.

The root cause is usually one of three things: boredom in a too-small run, a nutritional gap (especially calcium or protein), or an accidental break that taught them eggs are food. Tackle all three at once.

• Hang a flock block — these large compressed grain blocks give bored birds something productive to peck at all day. They're inexpensive, last weeks, and break the cycle of looking at eggs for entertainment.
• Collect eggs frequently — multiple times a day during a problem outbreak.
• Add curtains to the nest boxes — feed sacks cut into strips work great. Hens like the privacy and can't see eggs once laid.
• Provide oyster shell free-choice — soft-shelled eggs break easily and start the habit.
• Boost protein — mealworms, scrambled eggs (yes, really — cooked is fine and unrecognizable to them), or a few extra weeks on grower feed.
• The mustard trick — blow out an egg, fill the shell with yellow mustard, and place it in the nest. Chickens hate mustard. Sometimes one taste cures them.

A broody hen is one whose hormones have decided it's time to hatch chicks — whether or not you have a rooster, and whether or not there are any fertilized eggs underneath her. She'll flatten herself in the nest box, growl when you reach under her, and pluck her own breast feathers bare. If you don't want chicks, you'll need to break the broodiness, because she'll stop eating, drinking, and laying.

1. Remove her from the nest, repeatedly. Several times a day, lift her out and set her down by the food and water. Many times she'll just march right back. Persistence is the game.
2. Block off the nest box. Once eggs are collected, close off her favorite box for a few days so she has to find a new spot to brood.
3. The broody breaker cage. The most reliable cure: a wire-bottomed cage (a dog crate set up on bricks works) with food and water, no bedding, placed somewhere airy. The cool air on her bare belly tells her hormones the deal is off. 3–5 days usually does it.
4. Watch for the return. When she's back to roosting on the perch at night instead of hunkering in the nest, she's broken. Should be laying again within a week or two.

A pecking order is normal — a little chasing, a sharp peck on the head from the boss hen, the occasional skirmish at the feeder. Real bullying is different: blood drawn, a single bird being chased away from food and water, missing feathers in patches. That requires intervention before it becomes lethal.

The most common driver of bullying isn't a mean chicken — it's crowding. Make sure each bird has the minimum it needs:

• Add a second feeder & waterer on the opposite side of the run so the bully can't guard both.
• Create visual breaks — pallets leaned against walls, a small shrub, a few crates. The victim needs places to hide and break line of sight.
• Separate the bully, not the victim. Pull the aggressor and put her in a "time-out" pen for 3–5 days. When she returns she's lost her status and has to re-earn her place at the bottom.
• Treat any wounds immediately — chickens are drawn to the color red and will peck at blood. Cover wounds with Blu-Kote spray (purple wound spray) until healed.
• Pinless peepers — small plastic blinders that clip on the beak — are a last resort for chronic feather-pickers. They block forward vision but allow eating and drinking.

Treats are joy — for them and for you. Hand-feeding earns trust, and watching a flock chase a strawberry is one of the small daily pleasures of chicken-keeping. The cardinal rule: treats should make up no more than 10% of total daily intake. A nutritionally complete layer feed has to do the rest of the work.