How I choose chicken feed for laying hens Chickens in my garden 2026-09-26 | How I choose chicken feed for laying hens
The BEST thing for lining the nest box - according to the chickens Chickens in my garden 2024-01-09 | What do you put inside your nest box? And why? There are lots of options but what you choose will depend on your motivation as well as what's available and affordable for you. Ideal for you will be something that provides a soft landing for the egg and is removable so it's easy to clean or replace when it gets dirty. But if you want to really please your hens, you should line their nest boxes with something that can be molded by their feet into a bowl-shaped nest, and has loose bits that she can peck at, pick up and rearrange.For details about other aspects of nest box design that will please your hens, this is the video:youtube.com/watch?v=F1M0bCu5Uo8And that video that tell you all about why hens lay their eggs WIDE END FIRST (yes they really do), is here: youtube.com/watch?v=sUimZlidmxEThanks for watching. If you like my videos, do Subscribe to my channel.Above all, enjoy those chickens!For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
A stroll through my summer food garden - whats growing in December? Chickens in my garden 2023-12-21 | Let's see what's growing in my suburban food garden in early summer, in New Zealand.If you want to grow fresh vegetables in your backyard, I hope this will show you some inspiration.For fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
How does the Chickcozy automatic door stack up? - a thorough review in practice with real chickens Chickens in my garden 2023-12-12 | If you're looking for an automatic door for your chicken coop, here are some aspects to consider when making your choice:- mains or battery power- do you want it to open and close at certain times- or at particular light levels, when it gets daylight and dark,- ease of installation and programming- robust build quality to handle your climate- safety, around people and your chickens.My friend Aous installed the Chickcozy automatic chicken coop door and we do a review of its features - what comes in the box, installation and set-up, and also how it actually performs in a real live chicken coop situation with real chickens.If you decide that the Chickcozy automatic door is the one for you, you can buy it at a special discounted price by purchasing via this affiliate link:chickcozy.com/sherylkhull(And since it's an affiliate link, Chickcozy may send me a small commission to help me make more videos about chickens.)A special thanks to Aous and his chickens for their participation in this video.I hope you find this video useful. Do let me know whether you'd like more videos like this.Thanks for watching.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Should you use lighting in your chicken coop? Is it worth it to YOU? Chickens in my garden 2023-11-05 | My previous video covered the practicalities of How To use artificial lighting in your chicken coop, to encourage your hens to lay in the winter.youtu.be/riZzCkf7XL8?si=TZy-CPtWVqy_htaJBut I didn't answer the question Should You?Like many questions about chickens, the answer is It Depends.You should make your own decision about what's best for you and your chickens based on:- Where you live and how long are your winters- Whether your chickens are confined inside for long periods, either because of the weather or perhaps because of the danger of bird flu.- Whether you have or can easily get electricity to your chicken coop, and can achieve the precise control of timing that is necessary, without fail. (See my previous video for the details.)- Which breeds of chicken you keep – some breeds have better reputations than others for being able to keep laying when the days are shorter.- How important is it to you to get eggs from your chickens all year round, or can you consider eggs as a seasonal food item, or learn to store eggs to eat when your hens are off the lay – See my video about storing eggs in the fridge.youtu.be/kWSmFvzYwbE?si=ZmWZigyT69eokvDFIt doesn’t really have to be an all-or-nothing decision. You can use extra lighting for a few weeks in early Spring to create those longer days earlier in the year, then allow your chickens to finish the year naturally. That way you would have a few weeks without eggs but not four or five months of the year, and your chickens would be healthy and productive.And if like me you don’t have electrical light in your chicken coop, then at least make the most of the natural daylight that there is, by having big windows in your coop to let in the early morning light, and paint the inside of your coop a pale colour. I painted mine White!youtu.be/DIbBHP2EXKE?si=yMIVrIQsJ03g-MdkFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenYou can catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
How to use Lighting in your chicken coop to get eggs in winter Chickens in my garden 2023-10-08 | One key to getting eggs in winter is to use artificial lighting in your chicken coop. But it's not as simple as just grabbing the nearest light and turning it on. If you decide to use supplemental light in your chicken coop, here are the practicalities to take into account, including - what kind of bulb (and why NOT to use Teflon-coated, or fluorescent)- what colour light- how bright it should be- where to put them- when they should come on and go off, each day and throughout the year.And of course I'll explain why this is so, and how light affects your chickens.In an upcoming video I'll outline some of your considerations when deciding whether or not you think it's a good idea to use additional lighting in your chicken coop. Meanwhile, you might like to check out this video about how chickens see difefrent from what we see:youtu.be/ayEdjMYAZ60?si=OhSOmr0saZYa5JTRFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
How chickens breathe will astound you! Not in then out like us - but continuously in one direction! Chickens in my garden 2023-09-03 | Chickens are not mammals, and they don't breathe like mammals!The air doesn't go into their lungs then out again, like us. The air flows through their lungs in one direction in a continuous flow!It's all because of their air sacs - flimsy, non-muscular sacs like a filmy plastic bag. And because of these air sacs:- birds can fly- ducks can float- you should never hold a chicken on her back or upside down- you can't do a Heimlich manoevre on a chicken.And if they pant a lot in hot weather, chickens can lay eggs with thin shells.If you liked this video, do check out some fo the others in my playlist about how amazing chickens are:youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZkmuqBJd8WQgSeRlaczWLh45pKnL3cXFFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Should you choose Hybrid or Heritage chickens? Whats the difference? Chickens in my garden 2023-08-07 | There's no doubt that the most efficient producers of eggs are commercial hybrid chickens housed in a controlled environment and fed on a fully balanced commercial layer diet. ButHeritage chickens are beautiful in many different ways and make beautiful and varied pets.Heritage chickens lay colourful eggs.There are heritage breed chickens that naturally suit hot climates, or cold climates.Heritage chickens are good at foraging and adapt well to a varied diet.Heritage breed chickens live, and lay eggs, for many years. They have a much longer life span that the commercial hybrids, who wear themselves out in a few years.Heritage breed hens are by far the best broodies and mama hens for raising chicks.You can't really breed those commercial hybrids at home - at least three generations of breed lines are needed to make each first-generation hybrid that has that peak laying performance. If you want to breed chickens, you need a heritage or cross-breed rooster.And unlike those millions of identical commercial hybrid hens, heritage breed chickens have a wide range of genetic diversity. Let's maintain and protect that for our future.If you want to know more about the sex-linked crosses that result in baby chicks that are easily identifiable as girls or boys at hatching, this is my video about that:youtube.com/watch?v=jCrvh8j3TU0from my genetics series:youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZkmuqBJd8WQ0QLvsnFBeAGb1kWFbsPlhFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Wow! Look what my chicken laid! This egg has no shell! Chickens in my garden 2023-07-17 | For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Gapeworm in chickens Chickens in my garden 2023-07-03 | Gapeworm is a nematode - Syngamus trachea – which infects a wide variety of birds all over the world, including chickens. If your chickens free-range anywhere there might have been other poultry, wild birds, or insects, then they have probably been exposed to gapeworm. Most adult chickens have some resistance to gapeworm but chicks under two months old are more susceptible. In a severe infestation, the gapeworms can block the chicken’s airway, so she makes a whistling or grunting sound with each breath, or even eventually block her airway completely.Treatment for gapeworm requires an antihelminth that specifically targets gapeworm. The main classes of antihelminths suitable for use against nematodes in chickens are the Benzimidazoles, such as Fenbezadazole and Flubendazole, and an Imidazothiazole called Levamisole. Different products are administered in different ways, so do check with a vet about dosage and directions for use, as well as any egg withholding period.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Surprise awaits on tranquil New Zealand bush walk - a rare North island Weka bird Chickens in my garden 2023-06-14 | #ShortsNgā Tapuwae o Toi is a popular track through the New Zealand bush above the beautiful seaside town of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty. But around a bend in the track we got a surprise – a rare North Island weka bird. These flightless birds are found nowhere else in the world. Once they roamed widely across New Zealand, and historically were a useful food source for Māori – in a land with no mammals, a bird about the size of a chicken makes a good meal. But over the last few decades the North Island weka became so rare they almost died out. They are now found only in a few small areas – one of them is here in the Bay of Plenty. The weka’s best known call is a loud “coo-et” heard at dawn and dusk, but here that low booming noise you can hear is the mother weka calling to her chick. The chick is probably about 2 weeks old.For fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden
How to Hatch Chicks Successfully with a Broody Hen - Quick Guide Chickens in my garden 2023-05-31 | If you use a broody hen to hatch fertile eggs, the hen will do most of the work for you. But there are a few things that you can do to increase your chances of a successful hatch of adorable healthy baby chicks.- Make sure the hen is really broody before you put valuable fertile eggs under her. They can be any colour eggs.- Set her up in a warm, comfortable, ventilated, draft-free broody nest that is completely free of red mites.- Don't have her food and water in reach as she sits. She needs to get up for 10 - 45 minutes each day.- Have a backup ready in case she abandons the eggs or attacks the hatching chicks.- You can add chicks to her brood in the first few days, even different coloured chicks.- Provide chick food (NOT layer feed). The hen can eat it too.- Provide water in VERY shallow containers. Chicks that fall into deep water dishes can drown or die later of pneumonia.- Provide insoluble grit for the chicks' digestion as soon as they are eating anything other than chick crumble. 2 - 3 mm. NOT shell grit.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Ride Em cowboy! Baby chick rides rodeo on mother chickens back - so funny! Chickens in my garden 2023-05-17 | For fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Hatch Naturally - Lessons from a Mother Hen Chickens in my garden 2023-05-04 | Hatching and raising chicks with a mother hen is a little different from hatching in an incubator and raising the chicks yourself. Check out this video for the lessons that my broody hen taught me about how a mother hen raises chicks and how you can help.And check out my playlist for more information about hatching and raising baby chicksyoutube.com/watch?v=Ptr-kS09H4w&list=PLZkmuqBJd8WRH4aHzwWd-h4gHqjIyZb0OOr you might find some of these videos interesting:Hen vs incubator – which is best: youtube.com/watch?v=_H8YSlxawCMHow to stop broodiness: youtube.com/watch?v=FY8WhpZtbMsThe easiest way to stop broodiness: youtube.com/watch?v=_EAwf_pSJpIDesigning nest boxes your hens will want to lay in: youtube.com/watch?v=F1M0bCu5Uo8Simple, cheap and effective waterers: youtube.com/watch?v=GDxU5Q_XYcUThe final stage of hatching explained: youtube.com/watch?v=Ptr-kS09H4wIf your egg doesn’t hatch: youtube.com/watch?v=6ss91wIDPMMFeed for baby chicks: youtube.com/watch?v=VGSOuAr5NbMInsoluble grit for all chickens’ digestion: youtube.com/watch?v=dzZoAx_7sv4Grow your own mealworms: youtube.com/watch?v=k7Fr9MJV_fIAll about the Grandpa’s feeder: youtube.com/watch?v=je5xmWhQj_sRaise your feeder off the ground: youtube.com/watch?v=43jfP0sXDpcShell grit for laying hens as a source of calcium: youtube.com/watch?v=P19FMt0wABwFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Very broody hen Chickens in my garden 2023-04-19 | For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
How does a chick hatch out of the egg? Its more amazing than you think! Chickens in my garden 2023-04-04 | What a chick has to go through before it can hatch out of its egg into the world is nothing short of amazing! It has to get into the correct position, with its head near the air cell and put its head under its right wing pointed at the air cell. When it gets too big for the blood vessels around the shell membrane to meet its needs for oxygen, the chick breaks into the air cell and its lungs start to work. Once that air is used up, it uses its egg tooth to tap against the inside of the shell until it breaks a hole in the shell and can breathe the outside air. Slowly the external blood vessels dry up and the yolk is drawn inside the chick's abdomen. It takes thousands of taps until the chick can break a zig-zag slit anticlockwise around the egg shell, and finally it pushes against the crack until it heaves itself out of the egg!For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Favourite chicken jokes and funnies Chickens in my garden 2023-03-27 | For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Beauty in my garden - Monarch butterfly on a Zinnia flower - #shorts Chickens in my garden 2023-03-16 | Monarch butterflies over-winter here in our warm temperate seaside town. In the summer, they disperse all over New Zealand, but this one only came as far as my garden. Although the caterpillars eat milkweed plants like swan plants, the adult butterflies drink nectar from flowering plants, like this Zinnia.Originally from North America, they naturalised here by themselves and were first recorded here in the 1800s.You can follow my garden page on Facebook facebook.com/MyPlentifulGardenOr, for fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my main channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/Chickensinmygardenfacebook.com/chickensinmygarden
What colour is an egg yolk? Do you think you know? And do you know why? Chickens in my garden 2023-03-07 | Not all egg yolks are the same colour - they vary from pale yellow to dark orange, depending on how much and what kinds of carotenoids are in the hens' diet.Did you know that people in different countries prefer yolks with different colours? You can compare the colour you prefer to the colours on the DSM YolkFan colour chart. Do leave a comment telling me which you prefer and where you live.dsm.com/anh/products-and-services/tools/yolkfan.htmlAnd does it matter? Are eggs with dark golden yolks better for you than eggs with pale yolks? There is no difference in the main nutrients - the protein, fats and calories of an egg yolk are the same regardless of the colour, but darker yolks do contain more carotenes, which help towards a healthy diet.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Love in the carrot patch. Please dont break us up! Oh no!!! Chickens in my garden 2023-03-03 | For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Paint your hen house WHITE 🎵 - #shorts Chickens in my garden 2023-02-12 | For full details about why you should paint the inside of your chicken house a light colour (without the singing!) see my long videoyoutube.com/watch?v=DIbBHP2EXKEFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
The EASIEST way to stop a hen being broody - lock her out, not up! Chickens in my garden 2023-02-06 | Most systems for stopping a hen being broody lock her up in a cage that's cool, breezy and has nowhere for her to sit comfortably and brood. But there's an easier way - just lock her out of the chicken run! It works to reduce the prolactin hormone in her body by keeping her active and in a cool and bright environment away from those eggs. And it's absolutely no hassle for me to do.If you want to know how to recognise broodiness and why you should consider stopping it, check out my earlier video here:youtube.com/watch?v=FY8WhpZtbMs&t=393sFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Absolutely ALL about Fermented Feed for chickens, plus extra fascinating facts about fermentation Chickens in my garden 2023-01-13 | When I began to investigate fermented feed with chickens, I found out all kinds of fascinating things about fermentation and poultry nutrition. So, does fermenting chicken feed save money? Is it good for your chickens? What are the benefits, and how to do it?This long video evaluates many aspects of fermented feed for chickens, including what kind of container to use (glass, stainless steel or food-grade plastic), how to remove chlorine from water, how to keep the good fermentation bacteria (Lactic Acid Bacteria) growing and avoid the spoilage bacteria (keep the feed below the liquid and the top covered loosely and don't stir).As for benefits and disadvantages - Fermenting feed- helps maintain a healthy microbiome and therefore the chickens' digestive and immune systems- increases some water-soluble vitamins including most of the B vitamins- decreases some essential amino acids including lysine (which is essential for chickens)- helps hens make stronger egg shells (but probably no more eggs)- decreases the amount of chicken poop, but makes it runnier- can be a good way to make use of powder at the bottom of your bag of pellets- chickens might eat about 10% less feed, so saving you a little money- is easy to do but not very precise - you might don't know which bugs will colonise your ferment- is not good for baby chicks (it stunts their growth)- if fed nothing else but fermented feed, chickens might get more aggressive towards their flock mates and might lose feather condition.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Chicken jokes and other funnies Chickens in my garden 2022-12-15 | A little collection of jokes about chickens and other funnies that I hope will brighten your day.Keep smiling :-)For fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Is that egg bad? How to tell (spoiler - its not the float test) Chickens in my garden 2022-11-17 | How do you tell whether an egg is ok to eat or "bad"? Is the Float test reliable?What do we mean by "bad" anyway?The float test does accurately indicate the density of the egg and how big the air bubble is, but that's not usually what we mean when we ask whether an egg is edible or bad. We usually mean has the egg gone off because it's contaminated with bacteria and going rotten.We can get a pretty good idea from the appearance of the egg even before we open it.But most reliable is the "Sniff test" - how does it smell? Rotten eggs have a putrid smell from hydrogen sulfide that is formed by the breaking down of the sulphur bonds of the proteins.So if you really want to know whether an egg is rotten or bad, just use your nose - smell it.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Pumpkins for chickens - why pumpkins make great chicken feed, and how to grow your own for free. Chickens in my garden 2022-10-16 | Don't throw away those old jack-o-lanterns or even the pumpkin seeds - they make great food for your chickens.The carotene in pumpkins helps your chickens make eggs with richly-coloured deep yellow-orange yolks, plus the carotenes are converted in the body to Vitamin A, which is important for the immune and digestive systems, and egg laying productivity, as well as eye health.Pumpkins are good sources of other vitamins too:Vitamin B1 (also known as Thiamine) is important for metabolising carbohydrates into robust muscles and shiny healthy feathers.Vitamin B3 (aka niacin) is needed by poultry to help them convert their food into useable energy, for healthy joints, skin and feathers, and egg laying productivity. and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), is necessary for metabolising amino acids and for egg laying productivity.Unlike humans, chickens can actually produce their own vitamin C within their own kidneys, but additional vitamin C can boost their immune system and to help them combat environmental stresses, especially heat stress.Pumpkins also contain Vitamin E: important for neurological function, resistance to infectious diseases including Newcastle disease, resistance to stress and for egg laying productivity.So, pumpkin makes great food for chickens. And so do pumpkin seeds.Chickens can eat whole pumpkin seeds – they use the insoluble grit in their gizzard to grind up the seeds and extract the goodness.Pumpkin seeds contain all the same vitamins that the pumpkin flesh does, plus, in addition, the membrane just under the seed coat is very rich in zinc. Zinc is an essential mineral that is needed for a wide variety of functions throughout the body, including egg laying productivity. Plus zinc is essential for the conversion of calcium into calcium carbonate as part of the process of making the egg shell – hens who don’t get enough zinc often make eggs with fragile eggshells. Before you feed those old jack-o-lanterns to your chickens, remove any inedible additions and make sure that the pumpkin hasn’t gone rotten or mouldy inside. Chop up the pumpkin so the chickens can get to the pumpkin flesh, otherwise it might land face down with only the hard shell exposed and the chickens won’t be able to get to the flesh. If you cook the pumpkin, it softens the shell, but don't add salt or sugar. And remember that even pumpkin is basically a treat for chickens and shouldn’t form the main part of their diet, which should be a well-balanced feed designed for layer hens. Pumpkins and squashes are easy to grow in your own garden. Justallow a few seeds to dry on a paper towel. In Spring, plant one or two seeds either directly in a mound of rich soil or in a little pot. In late Spring or early Summer you can plant out the new pumpkin plant into some nice warm rich soil, preferably in a sunny spot, on top of some rich compost, or even a pile of kitchen scraps. The plants will grow very large, so be prepared to have them sprawl over quite a large area, although only the roots need to be in the garden soil.Harvest in early Autumn. And there you have – free pumpkins, that you grew from seed in your own garden. Even if your pumpkins don’t quite turn out well, all is not lost, your chickens can eat immature and unripe pumpkins and get plenty of goodness from them too. You can look out for different varieties of pumpkins - some have much better flavour than others. Give it a go – it’s basically a superfood for chickens, and it’s virtually free!For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Kereru (New Zealand wood pigeon) feeding on kowhai blossoms in town Chickens in my garden 2022-09-30 | This New Zealand native pigeon, called a "kereru" (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), is feeding on the blossoms of the native kowhai tree in a suburban garden. These beautiful colourful birds are a little smaller than a duck, measuring up to 50 cm (20 inches) from tail to beak, and weighing about 650 g. They are tempted from their forest homes into town when the kowhai trees are in bloom in Spring. For videos more about chickens, do check out other videos from my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden Or if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Do Chickens Dream? Plus an even MORE AMAZING fact about chickens sleeping! Chickens in my garden 2022-09-13 | Yes, chickens do dream. But what's EVEN MORE AMAZING is that they can sleep with one half of their brain at a time, while the other half is wide awake and alert for predators. This is called Unihemispheric Slow Wave Sleep (USWS). Chickens, ducks, dolphins and whales can all do USWS. But REM sleep (when we dream) does not occur during USWS, only when the chicken is sleeping with both hemispheres of her brain.For more fascinating facts about chickens, check out my playlist Amazing Facts about chickens: youtube.com/watch?v=OHUPcZyPxXQ&list=PLZkmuqBJd8WQgSeRlaczWLh45pKnL3cXFAnd for plenty of hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
I smashed an egg! But the chick survived! Chickens in my garden 2022-08-16 | While unloading some fertile eggs from my low-tech incubator at Day 18 of incubation, I dropped one of the eggs and smashed a huge dent in the shell! The membranes seemed to be intact and the chick was still alive - for the moment ....I tried to repair the smashed shell with a piece of sticky tape, not sure whether that would work, or even cause more damage.But the repair held.And three days later the chick hatched! A healthy baby chick, indistinguishable from the other chicks in that hatch.A wonderful outcome to what at first seemed like a disaster!So if you strike a crisis in hatching eggs, take heart - there might be a way to save the day.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
No red mites! Lots of eggs! Paint inside your hen house - WHITE ! Chickens in my garden 2022-07-19 | Why did I paint the inside of my chicken house? And what's more I painted it white! How crazy is that?Wouldn’t painting the inside of my hen house make it a nightmare to keep looking clean and neat? Strangely enough, I painted the inside of my hen house precisely in order to make it less work to keep clean and hygienic. And one of the main reasons for doing that is a little nasty called a red mite - Dermanyssus gallinae. And it drinks the blood of chickens!Although each mite is less than 1 millimetre long, a severe infestation of red mites can drink up to 5% of your chicken’s whole blood volume each night. This constant and repeated blood loss makes the chicken hungry and weak from loss of blood as well as restless and itchy from the bites.Every night after a blood feed one adult female mite lays a clutch of up to 7 eggs. Two or three days later the eggs hatch into 6-legged larvae. A day later the larva moults to a protonymph. The protonymphs emerge and search out your chickens as they sleep warm and unsuspecting in their hen house at night. Once they’ve had their blood feed, the protonymphs can continue to mature into deutonymphs and then 2 days later into the adult mites, which again seek out the blood of chickens in order to mate and lay more eggs.In the warm months of summer, this whole life cycle from mite egg to 7 new mature mites can take as little as 5 days. If the weather is warm and there are enough chickens around for the mites to feed on, in just 12 weeks there can be 13 quadrillion mites – that’s 13 with 9 zeroes after it. But you won’t find any mites on your birds. Red mites only come out to feast on their chicken banquet after dark. When night falls, the air temperature drops and the mites crawl out of hiding and up the birds’ legs, wriggle between the feathers, latch on for about 2 hours feeding on the chickens’ blood. When day breaks, they use pheromones to signal to each other that the sun is rising and the chickens are leaving the hen house, and they sneak away to hide in the crevices in your hen house. Their favourite place of all is under the perch where it’s attached to the hen house wall. This is why I never fix my perches permanently – I always leave them free so I can easily check underneath for even just a few mites, before they have a chance to multiply into thousands. And if the wall is white, it's easy to see any mites lurking underneath.Plus White reflects and maximises the available natural light, which makes for a well-lit chicken house that the hens are happy to go into, and because the hens get the benefit of the maximum number of daylight hours between dawn and dusk, they lay lots of eggs without artificial lighting.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Keep chickens warm - put a light bulb in a bucket! Chickens in my garden 2022-06-24 | Put a light bulb in a bucket to keep your chicks warm!In my recent video I showed how I moved my chicks outside to the main chicken run when they were only 4 weeks old, and I mentioned briefly that I provided a heat source for them using a light bulb in a bucket. Pete asked for further details, so here are all the details about how to use an incandescent light bulb as a heat source for keeping chickens warm, showing how to make it.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
How I introduced new chickens to my flock - at 4 weeks old! Chickens in my garden 2022-05-17 | It's usual to only introduce new chickens to an existing flock once the new ones are big enough to fend for themselves - about the same size as the current chickens. But I didn't have the space to keep my new chicks separate until they grew up, so I moved them out to my main chicken coop when they were only 4 weeks old. It was a success - probably because:- I had more new chicks than my old flock of three big hens- I set up a temporary fence so the two groups could see and hear each other but not touch- I kept the existing hens occupied and happily distracted from the new arrivals- I ensured both groups had plenty of space and unhampered access to feed and water- I gave the new chicks a chance to explore their surroundings while the hens were out of the way- And because my new chicks were so much smaller than the existing hens, I was able to give them a hole in the separating fence that they could get through but the big hens could not.It took four or five weeks of slowly decreasing the separation until my two flocks were happily coexisting full time, when the new chicks were still only 8 weeks old.I recommend these strategies to anyone who needs to introduce new chickens to an existing flock.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Why did the chick not hatch? You can do an egg-topsy and find out - I show you what you might see. Chickens in my garden 2022-04-23 | If the eggs in your incubator or under a broody hen don't hatch, you can open them and find out at what stage development stopped, and that knowledge, together with what else you know has happened to that egg up to now, can give you clues about what went wrong. Was it old when set to incubate? Was it shipped or likely kicked around by other hens in the broody nest? Did you have a power cut or an unreliable broody hen? What do you know about the genetics and nutrition of the parent flock, or previous experience of hatchability from those parents?You probably won’t be able to pinpoint the cause for every egg that fails to hatch, but you can look for patterns. Remember that 100 percent hatch rate is not usual in nature – even if you do and your broody do everything right, about 80% is a good hatch rate. But it’s still worth going to the trouble to open and investigate every unhatched egg, because that can give you some clues about how to improve the hatchability rate of future batches of eggs, so that every potential chick gets its best chance of making its way from fertilised egg to a real live healthy baby chick.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
How to tell whether an egg is fertilised or not Chickens in my garden 2022-03-22 | How can you tell whether an egg has been fertilised or not? Well you can incubate it and see if a baby chick grows inside (although that's not foolproof, if a chick does grow that's proof the egg had been fertilised).Or you can open the egg and look at the little white dot on the yolk.In an unfertilised egg, the dot (the germinal disc) is small and dense.In the fertilised egg, even just after being laid, without any incubation, the germinal disc (also called the blastoderm) has begun to grow and is about 5mm in diameter, less dense, and often surrounded by a darker halo in the yolk - it looks like a bullseye.Here are some examples so you can learn to identify fertile vs non-fertile eggs.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
All about chickens Combs and Wattles Chickens in my garden 2022-02-25 | All chickens have combs and wattles even though they might be very small and not obvious. Other birds have them too. Even a dinosaur, the Edmontosaurus, had a fleshy comb on its head, very like a rooster. In general, younger chickens have small combs and wattles and they get bigger as the chicken gets older. This also occurs in the opposite direction – when a hen goes off the lay her comb gets smaller and paler. So the size and colour of a hen’s comb is an indication of whether she is laying or not. Roosters have bigger combs and wattles than hens do. And there are differences between different breeds of chicken too - Mediterranean breeds like Leghorns have bigger combs and wattles than chicken breeds from colder climates.Most combs and wattles are red, but they can be other colours – the combs and wattles of Silkie chickens are black or a very dark mulberry. In a poultry show the shape and proportions of the comb and wattles are important for judging – an extra spike or uneven sides will lose points.The size and shape of the comb and wattles are also used by the chickens themselves to help recognize other chickens. Did you know chickens can recognize up to 100 individual chickens? Chickens' combs and wattles function as cooling devices. Chickens can’t sweat but their comb and wattles carry blood to the skin to be cooled. Their other major purpose is for sexual display. Hens are most attracted to roosters with a big comb and wattles. It’s also true that roosters are more attracted to hens who have bigger combs and wattles.The single comb shape is genetically recessive to all other comb shapes. That’s why Wyandottes with a single comb can suddenly crop up in the chicks of apparently pure Wyandottes many generations after the last breeding with a bird with a single comb. Roosters that are purebred for the rose comb tend to be less fertile than roosters that carry at least one gene for a single comb, even though both roosters actually have a rose comb shaped comb, so it seems that the genes for comb shape must be close on the chromosome to genes for fertility.A chicken’s comb contains a lot of a substance called hyaluronan, a gel kind of substance similar to the lubricating fluid in your joints. It has several uses in medicine, including to treat osteoarthritis of the knee, in ophthalmic surgery and to make artificial tears for a condition called Dry Eye, and as a dermal filler for facial wrinkles and lip augmentation. Early formulations of hyaluronan were made from roosters’ combs, but these days most preparations are made by bacterial fermentation. A chicken’s comb can tell you a lot about the health of the chicken.If the comb is pale and too floppy for the breed, that might mean the chicken is suffering from anaemia, perhaps caused by mites, worms or coccidiosis.If the comb is blue, that might be a condition called cyanosis in which not enough oxygen is getting to the blood, because of heart or breathing problems, including avian influenza.If the comb has white powdery spots, like sprinkled flour, that might be a fungal condition called Favus, also known as avian ringworm.White or yellow nodules or bumps might be a symptom of fowl pox, which is not, by the way, the same as chicken pox.Black patches, especially on the edges, are typical of damage by frostbite. Naturally enough, chickens with big combs and wattles are more at risk of frostbite damage than are chickens with smaller ones. Black marks on the comb can also be a scab from pecking injury. Chickens sometimes peck each other to reinforce the pecking order , and the other chicken’s head and comb are a convenient target. The comb is very vascular and if it gets pecked it can bleed a lot. If pecking injuries are minor and occasional you don’t need to be concerned, unless of course you needed your chicken looking perfect for a show. But if pecking injuries are frequent and serious, you might need to work out who is the bully of the flock and either remove the bully or separate out his victim.So now you know all about those ornamental decorations on your chicken’s head, and you too can appreciate and admire when they indicate that your chicken is healthy.If you want to learn more about chickens, check out my playlist Amazing Facts about chickens. I bet you’ll learn something new.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
#Shorts - Inspiring hidden beauty in a soap bubble on my dishcloth Chickens in my garden 2022-01-30 | ...
Design and build my Ultimate urban hen house - episode 5 - We Build It! Chickens in my garden 2022-01-27 | After all that planning and designing (see my four earlier videos), here is how we actually built this custom-designed chicken house, with basic tools and construction skills and a moderate budget.You can find the design videos here:Location considerations: youtube.com/watch?v=3VeMh2b-Sos&t=1sSize, shape and proportion: youtube.com/watch?v=Ufq6xqFKGBQDoors: youtube.com/watch?v=N1hSMrNF2y8&t=17sVentilation: youtube.com/watch?v=ZJpmaB5JZOI&t=1sEvery chicken house will have slightly different needs, depending on your climate, how many chickens you have, and what's important to you about keeping chickens. I hope you will find these videos useful in helping you design and build a chicken house that best meets the needs of you and your chickens.The Master builder in all my videos is my very-indulgent husband of 48 years, who is not a trained builder. Happy to answer any questions you might have, if we can.The music I used in the background is the "House building theme" from 'Red Dead Redemption 2'.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
Design and build my Ultimate urban hen house - episode 4 Ventilation Chickens in my garden 2022-01-04 | In this episode I show you how I applied all the ventilation design principles that I covered in my previous video, to my very own ultimate urban hen house, including high vents, cross ventilation, minimising moisture, and controlling the sun and shade.To see that video and learn how to apply them to your own chicken house, check out this link:youtube.com/watch?v=YEMP5r3yd-QAnd if you want to see how we put all these plans into practice and actually built my ultimate urban hen house, see this video about the actual build:youtube.com/watch?v=lqK1OTAqQAsFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealandyoutube.com/c/ChickensinmygardenCatch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygardenOr if you are more interested in gardens than chickens, you can follow my garden page facebook.com/MyPlentifulGarden
What a bird has gotta do - Acrobatic Greenfinches harvesting sunflower seeds #Shorts Chickens in my garden 2021-12-27 | #ShortsBefore sunflower seeds came in packets and in bird seed mixes, birds had to harvest their own - like these greenfinches, showing off their acrobatic seed harvesting skill on the sunflowers in my New Zealand garden. For fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Hen house Ventilation - how much ventilation does your chicken house need? Chickens in my garden 2021-12-15 | Every chicken house needs ventilation, yes, even, in fact especially, in cold weather. How much ventilation each hen house needs depends on several variables:- Climateo Is your climate hot or cold?o Is the humidity high or low?o Do nights get cool?o Is it windy?- Chicken houseo Is the chicken house located where it’s sheltered from winds or exposed?o Is it in shade or direct sun?o How insulated is it?o What is the roof made of?o How high is the roof (volume of air matters more than floor space)o Do you use bedding that is naturally moist (like deep litter) or is the floor dry?o How frequently do you remove the droppings?- Chickenso How crowded with chickens is the chicken house?o What breed are the chickens? (big comb & wattles in cold / heavy breeds in hot)Where to place that ventilation is vitally important. The Golden Rules are:- include as many large openings as possible, - and make them adjustable so you can open or close them as weather and wind direction indicates, - always include high vents to allow warm moist air to exit, - unless your climate is very cold, include some cross ventilation, - but avoid drafts blowing directly onto the chickens, - keep out the rain and other sources of water, - and keep the manure cleaned out.To see how I applied these principles when designing my new Ultimate Urban Hen house, see episode 4 in my series:youtube.com/watch?v=ZJpmaB5JZOIFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Design and build my Ultimate urban hen house - episode 3 - access doors Chickens in my garden 2021-11-23 | In this episode I talk about what doors I included in the design of my hen house, and where and why. Plus consideration of weatherproofing. And the location of my nest box - outside the hen house but inside the chicken run.If you haven't already seen them, do check out my earlier videos in this series about how I designed and built my Ultimate Urban hen house when we moved from the country into town.- Episode 1 - location of the hen houseyoutu.be/3VeMh2b-Sos- Episode 2 - size and shapeyoutu.be/Ufq6xqFKGBQThe next in the series is about ventilation:youtube.com/watch?v=ZJpmaB5JZOI&t=346sbut also check out the principles of what ventilation a hen house needs:youtube.com/watch?v=YEMP5r3yd-QFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Design and build my Ultimate urban hen house - episode 2 - size shape & proportion Chickens in my garden 2021-11-02 | What size should the chicken house be?I'm designing and building the perfect hen house for our small suburban property.Check out the first video in this series - the location of the hen houseyoutu.be/3VeMh2b-SosNow, here's how I worked out the width, length and the height.For the width, I used the required length of the perch needed for the number of chickens.A chicken house I can stand up in is by far the best, so that helped set the heights. (There are two heights because the roof is sloping.)The next in this series is about access doors - you and your chickens need to get into that hen house:youtube.com/watch?v=N1hSMrNF2y8&t=18sFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Design and build my Ultimate urban hen house - episode 1 Location Chickens in my garden 2021-10-13 | Moving into town meant a bit of a rethink about how to ensure that a garden and chickens could be included in our suburban lifestyle. And I thought there must be lots of people who would love to have chickens but live in town, so I thought I’d share with you the process I’ve been going through to design and build my ultimate, suburban hen house.In this first video it’s all about that cliché – location, location, location.First check your local bylaws, then think about the best location for your chicken coop on your property. Take into consideration any slope, sun and shade, proximity of your house and neighbours' houses, and how much you want to watch your chickens. This video covers all those aspects of deciding on the best location for a suburban chicken house.The next in this series is about the size, shape and proportions of the hen house:youtube.com/watch?v=Ufq6xqFKGBQ&t=2sFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Raise your chicken feeder to a higher level - up off the ground ! Chickens in my garden 2021-09-15 | OK so chickens are short but that's no reason why their feeder has to be on the ground, or even at ground level. If you raise it up on a higher platform, that will help keep the feeder clean and dry and rust-free, will increase the size of your chicken run by making the space underneath the feeder available to your chickens, and make it easier for you to fill the feeder.I show you how to make a simple platform for the feeder, using a couple of free pallets. Plus include an extra rail and your chickens will have an outdoor perch too.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
What nobody tells you about baby chicks - they grow really fast! Chickens in my garden 2021-08-18 | You might think to ask what to keep your baby chicks in when you get them home, but what nobody will tell you, is that no matter what you use, it won't last long - within a week or two those baby chicks won't be so tiny and fragile any more and their accommodation needs will change.I hope this video will help you work out how to use whatever you have to hand, to adapt to the changing needs of your baby chicks as they grow into healthy chickens.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
The best protein for chickens - INSECTS Chickens in my garden 2021-07-27 | The main source of protein in most commercial chicken feed is soy bean meal but insects are an even better source of protein for chickens because their amino acid profile better matches chickens' needs, plus insects as chicken feed have other benefits, including as a prebiotic. And if insects are fed whole or even live, the process of finding and eating insects has behavioural benefits that most commercial chickens desperately need.The legislative background especially in Europe has inhibited the production of chicken feed with insect products until recently but this has now changed, so it is likely that chicken feed made with insect meal will become available in the next few years.Meanwhile you and your chickens can take advantage of the research that shows how beneficial insects are for chickens by:- Raising mealworms for your chickens – I have a video about how easy it is to do that.- You can locate your compost pile in your chicken run, or just throw a few odd bits of plant material into their run and let them have a compost pile of their own.- You can avoid using insecticides on your garden – yes that’s means you’ll find a few unwanted bugs on your crops occasionally but the presence of the insect life will attract birds to your garden, which is a joy in itself. And rather than poisoning those pesky caterpillars, you can simply pick them off and feed them to your chickens.- And if the other factors allow for it, you might be able to free range your chickens. I have a couple of videos about your decisions about free ranging. If your chickens do free range, they have the opportunity to find their own insects to add to their diet.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
Chick feed and Coccidiostat Chickens in my garden 2021-06-23 | Should you choose a chick feed for baby chicks with Coccidiostat or without? And what is Coccidia anyway? What is Coccidiosis?Almost all chickens in the world live with some Coccidia in their gut, with no ill effects because their immune system keeps the parasite in check. Chick feed medicated with Coccidiostat, and inoculation of baby chicks, are two common ways to help your chicks gain that immunity. There are also other things you can do to protect your chicks, most especially keeping their environment dry, because the Coccidia only become infectious in warm moist conditions.This video has a lot of rather complicated science but I hope you'll find it useful to help you understand whether the feed you buy for your chicks should contain Coccidiostat or not, and why.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
The amazing ancient Egyptian chicken hatching incubators powered by fire! Chickens in my garden 2021-05-28 | I’ve recently made a few videos about incubating eggs for hatching chicks. Here are some links to those videos: - How to choose the best incubator: youtube.com/watch?v=I6rER7bPkmo&t=99s How to get a top hatch from a simple incubator: youtube.com/watch?v=h8nPArazVKM&t=12s How to choose fertile eggs for hatching: youtube.com/watch?v=Ws2A7GL8esk&t=20s How to store those fertile eggs before you incubate them: youtube.com/watch?v=nvkH-5Im1WA&t=3s While working on those videos, I happened across a mention of an absolutely amazing incubation system: It can hatch thousands of eggs at a time It uses no electricity – it is heated by fire It’s been in use for two thousand years and is still used, pretty much unchanged today And it’s in Egypt. So I thought, just for a bit of fun, I’d tell you about the oldest incubators in the world, the amazing Egyptian fire-powered incubators! I hope you enjoy this video. Thanks for watching. I have lots of other videos about raising and enjoying chickens. I hope you will check them out, and maybe even subscribe to my channel.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
How to choose the best incubator for hatching chicks Chickens in my garden 2021-05-18 | Some of my viewers asked which incubator they should buy. Should you get one with automatic turning? A hygrometer and humidity control? How big does it need to be?I can't give you a simple answer but this video will give some ideas to think about, to help you make your decision.If you have a simple incubator like mine, here's the video about how to set it up and get the best out of it:youtube.com/watch?v=h8nPArazVKM&t=8sFor more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
How to store fertile eggs for hatching Chickens in my garden 2021-04-20 | Maximise your chances of hatching lots of healthy baby chicks by storing your fertile eggs correctly, before you incubate them or put them under your broody hen.Collect the eggs frequently, keep them clean and handle them gently.Store them at a stable temperature, around 13°C (55 °F), although anywhere between 8°C (45°F) and 18°C (65°F) is probably ok. The longer you need to store them, the cooler you should aim for, but never below 4°C.The ideal humidity is around 70%, or at any rate between 50% and 85%. This is usually not difficult to achieve.A warmish fridge might be at the right temperature but the humidity will probably be too low.Store them in a position that will encourage the air bubble to form in the large end of the egg. This is important because just before hatching, the chick will orient itself with its head towards the large end of the egg and it needs the air bubble to breathe before it breaks the shell.Turn or tilt the eggs one way then the other each day during storage. See the video for an easy way to achieve this using a small and a large egg carton.Don't seal it up tight - the eggs need some oxygen.Shipped eggs need special care - pick them up from the courier depot if you can, rest them 12 - 24 hours before storage (even if they are a bit old), check for cracked shells. Shipped eggs might have air bubble deformities, which lower the hatch rate.When it's time to set the eggs, bring them slowly up to room temperature before putting them in the incubator or under the broody hen. Set all the eggs at once.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
How to choose fertile eggs for hatching Chickens in my garden 2021-03-20 | If you want to have the best chance of hatching lots of healthy baby chicks, you should think about what eggs to put under your broody hen or in your incubator. You want to consider aspects such as:- characteristics of the breed and of that breeder's line of chickens and how they match what you want your chickens to be- fertility and hatchability of the rooster and hens and health of previous chicks- breeder nutrition- egg size, and shape, presence of any cracks or odd inclusions- cleanliness of the egg- and how long ago the egg was laid.Once you have chosen your eggs, they must be stored correctly to maintain their best chance of hatching. Look for my next video about how to store fertile eggs for hatching.Here is the link I mentioned to YouTube's video about how to get the notifications that you want about the channels that you are subscribed to:youtu.be/pNU1P-lMKa8And here are links to my other videos that I mention:- Your decision to have a rooster in your flock:youtube.com/watch?v=ktytO3FGUSI- How long do chickens live:youtube.com/watch?v=pPUvDRfT71M&t=66s- How I select feed for laying hens:youtube.com/watch?v=QUaY_LE8VEQ&t=1s- All about roosters' role in the next generation of baby chicks:youtube.com/watch?v=vFaC7F9MqK4&t=7s- Different sizes of eggs:youtube.com/watch?v=f8DcHVlfTFI- Can we hatch just female chicks?youtube.com/watch?v=6KGx5y4Mat4Thanks for watching Chickens in my garden.For more fascinating facts, hints and tips about caring for your chickens, and the sheer pleasure of chickens, subscribe to my channel: Chickens in my garden - New Zealand youtube.com/c/Chickensinmygarden Catch up with me on Facebook facebook.com/chickensinmygarden
