Chicken Family Planning 101

It's a story we hear more often than you'd think. Someone picks up a few chicks at the feed store or takes in a small flock, and a year or two later they're overwhelmed. What start...

Coccidia

If you've done a fecal test on your chickens (and if you haven't, you should!), you may have seen the word "coccidia" on your results. It's one of the most common findings in backy...

Quarantine

Updated on January 19, 2026.We’ve been talking a lot about quarantine lately due the covid-19 pandemic. The word originates from the Venetian “quarantena” meaning "forty days". It...

dust-bathing

Updated on March 16, 2025.If you've ever watched chickens joyfully rolling in the dirt, wings flapping and legs kicking up dust, you’ve witnessed one of their most essential natura...

diatomaceous earth

Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a naturally occurring, fine powder made from the fossilized remains of tiny aquatic organisms called diatoms. It's commonly used as a non-toxic method to...

encapsulating pills

Chickens don't really like to be pilled, but they dislike it even more when the pill leaves a bad taste. Unfortunately many medicines taste bitter, and if you need to pill a chicke...

Sweetie and frostbite

Chickens Just Want to Be WarmBy Melanie Moonstone.Melanie is the founder of Rooster Redemption, a non-profit 501(c)(3) animal sanctuary located in Skagit County, WA. You can follow...

Avian Influenza

Updated on April 1, 2025.Since last fall, HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza, aka H5N1) has continued to affect northern California, with confirmed cases in Riverside, Merced,...

parthenogenesis

Parthenogenesis is a form of asexual reproduction where an egg develops into an individual without being fertilized by a sperm. This means that the offspring is genetically identic...

The birds and the bees

Let’s talk about how baby chicks are made. Chickens reproduce sexually, meaning that they need a male and a female who combine their genetic material to create a genetically unique...

both asleep and awake

Chickens possess an intriguing ability that we humans don’t (one more!). They have a sleep phase called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep, during which one side of the brain is asleep...

The fabulous vision of chickens

We’ve recently welcomed 3 hens who each have an eye injury. Athos’ right eye was cloudy, Porthos’ left cornea and eyelid were damaged, and Aramis’ left eye was bulging out. Our avi...

Prolapse

Earlier this month, I happened to be at Rancho Compasión & Blackberry Creek sanctuary when Opal had great difficulty laying an egg. Her egg was positioned askew and while straining...

hormone implant

There exist hormone implants that pause the egg laying in birds. The drug is called Deslorelin (brand name Suprelorin) and is implanted subcutaneously similar to a dog’s microchip....

Summer and scaly leg mites

Summer is our newest resident. She is a red hen who was found as a stray. She was in rough shape: missing lots of feathers, bright red spots on her skin, thick scabby and crusty fe...

blackhead disease

Blackhead disease (histomoniasis) is a disease that affects turkeys, chickens, pheasants, quail, and some other birds. It is caused by the protozoa Histomonas meleagridis that are...

Personalized care

While it is convenient to treat all our chickens the same, sometimes their individual needs lead us to create specialized setups and personalized care. With our first 3 chickens, w...

Flystrike

We’ve been talking about flystrike and the need to keep chickens’ butts clean in our chicken care classes but we didn’t expect to get a hands-on experience last month! Sweetie, our...

butt cleaning

Updated on June 1, 2022.Chickens are usually really good at preening themselves and don’t need our intervention to stay clean and fluffy. But sometimes some may need a little help,...

Salpingitis and lash eggs

I remember the first time we found a weird little rubbery egg in the nestbox. It clearly wasn’t an egg, but it took us a while to identify it as a lash egg and learn what it was. W...

how many eggs does a hen lay?

A commercial layer hen lays about 300 eggs a year, and there is nothing natural in this. We have been breeding them for maximum egg production, and we still are. In the US, the pro...

Buttercup the Cornish Cross

By Abbie Hubbard.Abbie is a dog behaviorist with Humane Society International, and lives with 2 dogs, 3 parrots, 4 budgies, 4 chickens, 2 pheasants and a turkey. You can follow her...

Parasitic worms

Last month, we discussed external parasites. Today, we are going to look at the worms who live inside our chickens.There are 3 groups of worms: roundworms, flatworms, and thorny-he...

External parasites

A parasite is an organism that lives on or in a host and gets its food from or at the expense of its host. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has characterized parasites as "predators t...

acariasis & pediculosis

An infestation with mites is called acariasis.And an infestation with lice is called pediculosis.

Palliative care and CBD

Fleur is a little white leghorn rescued from a battery cage farm at the end of 2017. She joined our sanctuary in the following spring. She was in poor shape with her broken foot an...

necropsy

When one of your chickens dies and you don’t know why, do a necropsy. It will not only explain the cause of her death, but also detect things like viruses, bacteria, and parasites....

Fat chickens

Chai ran through the yard to greet me, her limping seemed heavier. I picked her up and checked if something was stuck under her feet, but I didn’t see anything. She has been slight...

torpedo feeding

Torpedo feeding is an alternative to tube feeding a sick chicken or a chicken who cannot eat on their own.In this video, my friend Kim Kunst is showing how to prepare torpedoes and...

Larissa and fowl pox

By Darcy Smith.Darcy is the co-founder of the Funky Chicken Rescue, a non-profit 501(c)3 all animal rescue / sanctuary located in Vacaville, CA. You can follow Funky Chicken on soc...

wildfire smoke

I have a light headache, my sinuses are congested, and my throat is itchy. No, it’s not covid nor the flu. It’s the smoke I have been inhaling for the last few weeks. With wildfire...

respiratory system

The birds’ respiratory system is very different from the one of mammals.Their lungs are rigid and are not able to expand, but they have several air sacs that expand and contract wi...

Chicken cooling techniques

Here are all the ways we are keeping our chickens and turkeys cook during hot summer days.Thermometers to know how really hot it is in the chicken yard.Plenty fresh water to keep e...

Fire evacuation preparedness

After an unusually hot week, a thunderstorm broke out and lightnings sparked many fires here in California. These wildfires have been devouring many thousands of acres displacing p...

disinfectants

Disinfecting the coop is not something that is required on a regular basis. A good cleaning of the coop and equipment is enough to keep potential pathogens under control. However,...

virulent Newcastle Disease last update

California is now free of the virulent Newcastle disease, and the quarantine is Southern California has been lifted!Since May 2018 when the disease was first detected, over 1.2 mil...

Vaccination

In farms, chickens are usually vaccinated against a variety of diseases including Marek's disease, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, infectious laryngotracheitis, fowl pox,...

Wing lice

Wing liceDuring her regular health check, we found some lice on Fleur. The treatment is easy: Apply 0.01cc Frontline Plus (9.8% Fipronil) per pound to the skin on the neck. She wei...

Bumblefoot

Bumblefoot is a term used to describe a staph infection on a chicken’s foot. It comes from the old British word “bumble” meaning “to walk unsteadily”. Staph is the shorthand for th...

How to trim chicken's nails

How to trim chicken's nailsA chicken's nail is very similar to a cat or dog's nail. There are blood vessels and nerves in it, called the quick. You can see the pinkish quick in whi...

Biosecurity

: security from exposure to harmful biological agents Merriam-WebsterBiosecurity is a big word that may sound a bit scary. It may invoke images of isolation tents guarded by milit...

fecal test

Updated on June 1, 2022.Fecal tests are part of a thorough chicken health check. It allows you to detect any internal parasites before you see any external symptoms.We do fecal tes...

Scout and scissor beak

We love heartwarming stories like Sweetpea's incredible luck and recovery, or The Special Ones at Blackberry Creek Farm animal sanctuary. Today we are bringing Scout's story to yo...

Turkeys

As birds raised for meat, their bodies have been engineered to grow big muscles extremely fast, so they reach slaughter weight at 4-5 months of age. Their heart and skeleton can ba...

Sweetpea

By Danielle Hanosh. Danielle is the co-founder of Blackberry Creek Farm Animal Sanctuary. In June we received a phone call about a chicken who had been the victim of a dog attack....

vets

Lots of chicken illnesses and injuries are treatable if caught in time and properly cared for. Don't hesitate and go see your vet when your chicken is not doing well. Find a local...

Molting

It was like they had a pillow fight in the hen house! Poppy started molting overnight. Molting, moulting, sloughing, shedding, or ecdysis is the manner in which animals routinely...

Diseases from chickens

Can chickens make people sick? This is a question I get asked often, and for good reason. We keep hearing alarming news about a worldwide epidemic of bird flu (aka avian influenza)...

virulent Newcastle Disease update

The virulent Newcastle Disease outbreak is considered over in Northern California, however it is still going on in Southern California. Continue to practice good biosecurity aroun...

Dealing with death

Sharing your life with chickens is quite fun and full of delights. Unfortunately their life is more temporary than ours, and we can’t help feeling heartbroken when they leave this...

My chicken ain't doing right

Updated on July 7th, 2021.My hen was acting strange. Instead of foraging with her sisters, she came and sat next to me while I was in the garden. The others in my little 3-hen floc...

Gardens for chickens

It’s springtime! Time to take your trowel and spade out of the shed, and plant your garden! While selecting new ornamental and edible plants to add to your backyard, think about yo...

Biosecurity

BiosecurityPracticing good biosecurity, such as wearing specific shoes and washing your hands, has always been important when visiting your chickens. But with the threat of the Vir...

How to tube feed a chicken

How to tube feed a chickenWhen a chicken doesn't or cannot eat by herself, we may need to intervene. The safest way to feed her is to put food directly in her crop. Tube feeding is...

The Special Ones

By Danielle Hanosh. Danielle is the co-founder of Blackberry Creek Farm Animal Sanctuary. Dashing through the door of the feedstore and out of the downpour, I rushed over to the c...

Chicken health check

Chicken Health CheckHow to do a health check on a chicken. By performing regular health checks on your flock, you can catch things earlier, and prevent minor problems from becomin...

clipping wings

Clipping the wings of your chicken may be needed if she is a good flyer and a 6ft fence doesn’t deter her from exploring the neighborhood. You should not clip her wings as a workar...

poisonous food

Avocado, citrus, and uncooked beans are poisonous to chickens. Chickens rarely eat toxic plants. When they do eat something poisonous, it's usually because someone fed it to them...

moldy food

Molds produce mycotoxins which can be harmful or even deadly to chickens. So make sure the grain is carefully stored and mold free when feeding it to your chickens. The image bel...

Introducing new chickens

Updated on May 18th, 2025.Chickens are like potato chips... You can never just have one... or even two. But adding new chickens to an existing flock is not as easy as it may sound....

Cool chickens

When temperatures reach the 80s, we slow down. We put on our shorts and flip flops, sit by the pool, and sip on a margarita. We need to help our chickens to do the same. They don’t...

sun-bathing

Sun-bathing is one of the essential chicken behaviors. You will see them laying on their sides in a warm and sunny spot with a leg and a wing stretched out. At first, you may thin...

CAFHS

The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System (CAHFS) offers relatively cheap medical tests and diagnosis for chickens. A fecal test costs about $10 and a necrops...

body temperature

The body temperature of birds has more variability than mammals. The normal temperature of an adult chicken ranges between 105°F and 107°F, whereas the one of a hatchling is lower....

Chickens in the rain

It’s the rainy season here in California, and our beautiful hills are green again. While the chickens love the fresh new growths, how much do they enjoy the rain? Is it okay to let...