Discover the 3 most important issues owners will deal with when chicken raising. And learn some thoughts on how you can handle the Big 3.

Chicken growers often talk about the pains of raising their chickens. But is it really THAT important for you, if you have a small, backyard flock, to pay attention to other chicken owners problems?

Well there are times when, in order to succeed, we need to learn how not to fail. And when it comes to chicken raising, learning from others who have gone before us can be a huge help in dealing with our own flocks troubles. Plus being prepared for disasters, which can happen at any time, will improve your overall chicken raising skills.

1. Protecting their flock against chicken predators is the #1 biggest challenge with keeping your chickens safe.

It is not easy! And there are LOTS of animals out there who want to take the opportunity to eat your chickens. Raccoons, bears, snakes, hawks, coyotes, neighborhood dogs, skunks, and at times even other people might decide to take an opportunity to hurt your brood. Your number one defense against predation, is to be on your guard and ready all the time. Sometimes you can keep other protective animals with your chickens, around them and in their pens. Animals like pygmy goats, geese, guard dogs, or donkeys can sometimes be effective in helping ward off some predators.

Of course building a Sherman-tank strength coop will help as well, but even at that you are going to have constant sneak-attacks and attempts for your chickens lives. So any time you hear commotion out of your flock, you are still going to have to check on them and make sure everything is okay.

You might also want to try some other protective strategies like small gauge chicken wire, electric fences, and maybe ultrasonic noise deterrents.

Click here to check out the last 2 chicken raising issues you need to be ready to face and overcome to keep your flock happy and healthy.

Although chicks seem to be just a jumbled up mass of motion when they are hatched and trying to thrive.  It turns out they can do something extraordinary they can add small numbers.

While this seems tiny and insignificant, it does mean that their brains are a little more finely developed than we give them credit for.

Heres a link to the scientific journal article.  To be honest, theres a lot of text in this article, and it rambles on and on in scientific-ese.  But I thought the idea was very interesting to read about anyhow.

The results of experiments 1 and 2 showed that, in the absence of any specific training, chicks spontaneously discriminated between two and three, in both cases preferring the larger stimulus set.
Hence chicks behaviour seemed to indicate an ability to perform additions, i.e. combining two or more quantitative representations (addends) to form a new representation (i.e. the sum).

Im pretty sure the pecking order concept starts really early, and has a HUGE impact on every single baby chick you raise.  Theyre definitely smarter than we might think.

Talk soon!

Kelson

A good method of getting baby chicks to learn to eat, is to spread a couple handfuls of chick mash on a small piece of cardboard box, so that it can attract the attention of the youngsters as they run across it. By seeing the mash down there, it can make them try and peck some of it.

Also, dipping the beak of an occasional chick into your water fountain helps to teach them to drink.

Just some quick ideas for you!
Kelson

Baby chicks can get into a lot of trouble in a very short time. It pays to make a lot of visits to your brooder house, at short intervals, to see that everything is going alright for them.

If you dont have your chicks in a well protected area you dont want to take the chance that your heater isnt working properly, or that your automatic water isnt giving the chicks plenty of water, or that the birds are getting trampled or dont have enough fresh air.

You want to check up on them by making frequent visits.

Kelson