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Chickens
Browse 65 in-depth Chickens guides from Chicken Keeper Guide. Our editorial team researches and writes each one to give you clear, practical answers, current as of July 2026. The newest are shown first.
Electric Fences for Chickens: Protection That Actually Works
Most people buy electric fence for chickens after something bad has already happened. A neighbor lost half …
Apple Cider Vinegar for Chickens: 0.5% Solution Guide
Most of the chicken-keeping internet will tell you apple cider vinegar is practically magic. A few contrarian …
Hawks and Chickens: 12 Proven Ways to Protect Your Flock
Roughly 300 million birds are killed by raptors in North America every year, according to estimates from the …
Cities Are Legalizing Backyard Chickens at a Record Pace
Something shifted in the backyard chicken movement this summer, and it’s not what most people assume. …
Wyandotte Chickens: Breed Guide for Backyard Farmers
Three of my Silver Laced Wyandotte pullets started laying at exactly 18 weeks, right in the middle of a …
Why Chickens Peck Each Other and How to Stop It
Most people assume pecking is a behavior problem. I thought that too, for my first couple of years. I watched …
Can Chickens Eat Banana Peels? 90% Safe For Flocks
Banana peels make up roughly 40% of a banana’s total weight, which means if you’re going through …
Can Chickens Eat Rice? A Complete Feeding Guide
Most chicken keepers agonize over this question longer than it deserves. Rice is fine. Both kinds. Let’s …
Can Chickens Eat Watermelon? 96% Safe and Refreshing
Ninety-two percent. That’s the water content of watermelon, and it’s the reason I started paying …
Keeping Chickens Cool in Summer Heat: 7 Essential Strategies
Hundred-and-three degrees in the shade, and I lost my first Delaware hen on a Tuesday afternoon in late July. …
7 Ways to Keep Chickens Warm and Healthy All Winter
Three winters ago, a neighbor texted me a photo of her coop at 6 a.m. She had six Rhode Island Reds and one …
81% Water: Why Grapes Are a Safe Treat for Chickens
Grapes contain about 81% water by weight, which makes them genuinely useful as a hot-weather treat for …
67% of Chicken Owners Feed Bread: Is It Safe?
Bread is the number-one treat people throw into their chicken runs, and it’s also responsible for more …
Can Chickens Eat Tomatoes? What's Safe and What's Not
The short answer is yes, chickens can eat tomatoes, and ripe ones are genuinely fine as an occasional treat. …
Why Chickens Eat Their Own Eggs and How to Stop It
Egg eating happens fast. One day your girls are laying beautifully, and then you reach into the nesting box …
Protect Your Flock: Fox-Proof Your Chicken Coop
Three of my hens died on a Tuesday morning before I’d even had my coffee. I went out to let them out of …
Why Barred Rocks Are Perfect Backyard Layers
Barred Rocks are the chicken that converted me. I was a skeptical new keeper in 2015, convinced I wanted …
Sussex Chickens: The Backyard Keeper's Best Breed
Most people pick their first flock based on looks, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But here’s …
Chickens Are Now America's Third Most Popular Pet
If you’d told me ten years ago that chickens would one day rank behind only cats and dogs as …
Straw Or Pine Shavings: Which Bedding Keeps Chickens Healthier
I’ve kept chickens on pine shavings for eight years and straw for two, and I can tell you straight: most …
Why Maran Chickens Are Backyard Gold
Those eggs will change you. I don’t mean that in some overwrought way. I mean you’ll crack your …
When Your Backyard Chicken Gets Sick: Finding A Vet
Most chicken keepers don’t call a vet until something is already very wrong. I get it. I was the same …
Protect Your Flock: Newcastle Disease Warning Signs
Most backyard flock owners have never seen a case of Newcastle disease in person. I hadn’t either, for …
Why ISA Brown Chickens Outperform Other Backyard Breeds
If you’ve spent any time on chicken forums or at a farm supply store in spring, you’ve almost …
The Deep Litter Method: Easier Chicken Coops
Most chicken-keeping guides describe the deep litter method like it’s a passive miracle: throw down some …
Treating Chicken Parasites: The Right Ivermectin Dose
Most people end up on this page because something is wrong with their flock and they’re not sure what, …
Why Silkie Chickens Make Perfect Backyard Pets
Nobody warns you that Silkies are basically the golden retrievers of the chicken world until you’ve …
Can Your HOA Ban Backyard Chickens?
Thirty-one percent of U.S. homeowners live under some kind of HOA. If you’re one of them and you want …
A Wave of Cities Is Legalizing Backyard Chickens Right Now
Something shifted this spring. I’ve been keeping chickens for a decade, and I’ve watched …
Boost Chicken Health With Mealworms: A Feeding Guide
My chickens would do anything for mealworms. Truly, anything. I once accidentally dropped a bag near the coop …
Golden Comets: The Egg-Laying Chicken Every Homesteader Needs
Most hatchery descriptions of Golden Comets read like they were written by someone who has never actually …
Natural Worming Solutions For Healthier Backyard Chickens
Most natural worming guides tell you to throw some pumpkin seeds at your flock and call it a day. That’s …
Keep Chickens Out Of Your Vegetable Garden
The first spring I let my chickens into the vegetable garden unsupervised, I lost an entire bed of seedlings …
Can You Keep A Rooster? Know Your Local Laws
My neighbor got a rooster by accident in 2021. Ordered a straight-run batch of Buff Orpingtons from Meyer …
Spot Respiratory Disease Before It Spreads Through Your Flock
One of my hens sounded like a tiny accordion last October. That wet, rattling wheeze coming out of a bird that …
Raising Backyard Chickens: What You'll Really Spend
Nobody warned me that my “cheap” backyard egg setup would cost me $1,400 before a single hen laid …
Why Your Backyard Chickens Turn Aggressive
Someone in a Facebook group I follow posted a photo last week of her arm with three long scratches on it, and …
Your Chicken Flock Size: Legal Limits and Best Practices
You’ve done your research, you’ve watched the YouTube videos, and you’ve already mentally …
How To Keep Chickens Cool During A Heat Wave
At 95 degrees Fahrenheit, a chicken is already in trouble. At 104 degrees, you can lose one within hours. I …
How To Introduce New Chickens To Your Flock
You did everything right. You quarantined your new birds for the full 30 days, watched them closely for signs …
Why Easter Egger Chickens Lay Colored Eggs
The first time I candled an egg from my Easter Egger pullet Juniper, I genuinely couldn’t tell if I was …
Stop Mites Before They Destroy Your Flock
You go out to collect eggs one morning and notice your best layer, the big Barred Rock who gives you an egg …
Your Chicken's Laying Schedule: What To Expect
A brand-new hen from a production breed can lay up to 300 eggs in her first year. That’s nearly an egg a …
Start Raising Chickens: A Beginner's Complete Guide
Your neighbor shows up at your fence one Saturday morning holding a cardboard box with holes punched in the …
Your First Chickens: A Beginner's Complete Guide
Your first flock of baby chicks arrives in a small cardboard box, peeping like crazy, and you realize you have …
Oyster Shell vs Limestone: Which Feeds Your Hens Better
You crack open an egg from your backyard flock and the shell crumbles in your fingers before you can even get …
Stop Coccidiosis Before It Kills Your Flock
You walk out to the coop on a Tuesday morning and something just feels off. One of your pullets is hunched in …
Best Nesting Boxes For Happy, Productive Hens
A hen refusing her nesting box isn’t being stubborn. She’s telling you something’s broken. …
Rhode Island Reds: The Backyard Chicken Breed That Lays Year-Round
Walk into almost any farm store during chick days and ask which breed beginners should start with. …
Bumblefoot in Chickens: Recognize and Treat It Fast
You notice your Buff Orpington limping near the feeder one morning. She’s still eating, still bossy with …
Feed Your Backyard Chickens Right: The Complete Guide
Most new chicken keepers walk into the feed store, grab whatever bag has a chicken on the label, and call it …
The Right Daily Feed Amount For Backyard Chickens
A flock of six hens can eat through a 50-pound bag of layer feed in about three weeks. Most new chicken …
Your Chicken's First Eggs: Age, Breed, And Timing
You’ve been feeding, watering, and caring for your pullets for months. You check the nesting boxes every …
Your Chicken's Laying Years: When Production Peaks and Declines
A hen that laid an egg every single day for her first two years can suddenly drop to just a handful of eggs …
The Right Flock Size For Your Backyard
Most people start with three chickens. Then they go to pick them up, see all those fluffy little faces, and …
Stop Worm Infestations Before They Harm Your Flock
You’ve got a layer standing apart from the flock, tail drooping, looking thin even though she’s …
Keep Your Backyard Flock Safe: Toxic Foods To Avoid
You’re standing at the kitchen counter with leftover guacamole in one hand and the chicken run in sight. …
Why Your Molting Chickens Stop Laying Eggs
You did everything right. The coop is clean, the water is fresh, the feed is stocked, and then one October …
Stop Marek's Disease Before It Wipes Out Your Flock
You buy six pullets from a local farm. They’re healthy, active, eating well. Three months later, one of …
Why Orpington Chickens Win Over Backyard Flocks
The first time I held a Buff Orpington pullet, I thought someone had handed me a loaf of warm bread. She was …
Winter Egg Production: Why Your Chickens Stopped Laying
You go out to the coop on a cold December morning, lift the nesting box lid, and find exactly nothing. Again. …
Why Your Chickens Need Grit and How to Feed It
You crack open an egg from your backyard flock and notice something wrong: thin shells, brittle, cracking …
How Long To Quarantine New Chickens Before Introduction
You buy three gorgeous Buff Orpingtons from a reputable breeder, bring them home, and put them straight into …
Top Egg Layers for Your Backyard Flock
If you’ve ever stood in front of a feed store bin of chicks, heart rate climbing, trying to remember …
Feed Your Chickens Kitchen Scraps the Right Way
Most backyard chicken keepers figure out the same thing in their first few weeks: those birds will eat almost …