Chickens Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

As a chicken flock keeper, you’re concerned about the well-being, safety, and health of your flock. Although you can’t control everything, such as predators, pests, diseases, and injuries, you can take a proactive role to ensure your chickens thrive in your backyard. The following can help you raise healthy chickens so they can provide you with eggs and happiness for years to come.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-22-2022

Chicken owners are a particularly self-reliant bunch. Chicken-keeping is meant to make you just a little more self-sufficient; why spend gobs of cash to do it? Maybe that helps explain why so many chicken folks build their own coops. To get started, you should familiarize yourself with chicken coop styles, the tools and building materials you need, and the carpentry skills to master.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-01-2022

Chickens are gaining popularity quickly. Not only are chickens fun and educational, but they're also beneficial to you and your garden. When you free-range your flock, you gain helpful gardeners who aerate the soil, rid plants of insects, provide composting, and, best of all, supply food — their eggs! Here's how to gain insight on good and bad plants for a chicken garden, layer your garden for free-ranging chickens, and guard against chicken predators.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022

Raising chickens can be fun and rewarding. Whether you’re raising birds for their eggs or for their cackling companionship, caring for your birds is an everyday project. Raising happy and healthy birds means knowing how to take care of baby chicks and what to feed them as they mature.

Article / Updated 12-10-2021

Okay, you’ve picked out the spot. You know where in your garden you want to situate your coop and outside pen. You’ve carefully assessed the size of a chicken flock that is best for you. Chicken coops have many variations. They can be permanent, mobile, new, repurposed, custom, and innovative. Chicken coops can be cheap — as in free — using wood pallets or recycled materials. Or they can be as expensive and fancy as you want. However, chicken coops must have certain features to adequately house chickens. Here are some of the top features a chicken coop should have: Enough space: Chicken coops must follow the suggested square footage-to-bird ratio for the number of chickens it houses. Overcrowding of chickens causes stress and pecking, and it makes them more susceptible to disease and injury. Good ventilation: A well-ventilated coop has windows, doors, and vents that are adjustable to allow air to circulate. Chickens naturally give off ammonia and moisture in their droppings, which build up without removal and adequate air circulation. Excess moisture can cause mold and mildew and a nasty medium for disease organisms. Free from drafts: Drafts are a constant unwanted air blowing that can cause chickens to get sick. Sealing a leak, erecting a barrier wall, and paying attention to the cause of a draft can correct drafts. Proper temperature control: Chicken coop temperatures can fluctuate throughout the day and throughout the year with the different seasons. Access to a chicken coop can help shelter chickens from heat in the summer and cold temperatures in the winter. A chicken’s body operates optimally between the temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Chickens are however surprisingly adaptable to a wide range of temperatures, from sub-freezing to heat over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. It is wise to raise chicken breeds suitable for your climate, especially if you experience high heat or very cold temperatures. Temperatures between 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 degrees Fahrenheit are considered suitable temperature ranges for chickens. When suitable temperatures are exceeded, either hot or cold, chickens will change their eating habits and stop laying. Chickens don’t have the ability to perspire. In hot weather, chickens keep themselves cool by “pant breathing” with their mouths open and holding their wings out and away from their bodies. Their wattles and combs also help to keep them cool. When temperatures exceed 95 degrees, chickens may start dying. When temperatures approach freezing, chickens will eat more to obtain energy needed to maintain their bodies and to keep themselves warm. In cold winters, it helps to have your chicken coop roof and walls insulated. Consider adding bales of straw for extra insulation and protection on exposed sides of a chicken coop. In freezing temperatures, make sure your chickens have ventilation but no drafts to counter the moisture in their manure. It is critical that their water remain free-running and not freeze. In some instances, a simple red heat lamp carefully placed and safely secured against fire hazard can keep water from freezing and heat a chicken coop. A chicken coop may not need to be heated, and a heated chicken coop may not necessarily be healthy for a flock. It depends on your climate, weather, and circumstance. Sturdy construction: Chicken coops need to protect chickens from extreme weather, hot sun, heavy rain, and snow. They must be sturdy enough to carry weight and withstand blustery winds. Good drainage: Chicken coops shouldn’t be situated in low spots on your property or garden. A chicken coop should be located where drainage is good and not around wet or problem areas of your garden. Elevate a chicken coop off the ground at least 1 foot for many reasons. An elevated coop ensures air can circulate around the coop, can prevent flooding in flood-prone areas, and prevents rats and mice from nesting. An added bonus of an elevated chicken coop is that it can serve as a structure for free-ranging chickens to escape under from predators. Cleanliness: A chicken coop should be easy to keep clean. It needs to be free from dust, dirt, and cobwebs. Its roof should be watertight. Make sure it doesn’t have any holes for mice and other rodents to get in. It shouldn’t have any nails or sharp objects sticking out that could injure a chicken. It should have a solid floor made out of wood or concrete. A layer of bedding — such as pine shavings, rice hulls, or straw — makes a nice cushion for inside nesting boxes and the floor of the coop. In addition to having the proper features for maintaining a healthy flock, chicken coops need to be positioned correctly in your garden. Chickens respond well to sunlight for their egg laying and overall health. Egg production is stimulated by daylight length. Position your chicken coop and outside pen to access natural light, but don’t forget to provide shade during the hottest months of the year with shade cloth or landscaping. Chickens do best with fresh water at all times and a source for formulated laying mash. A chicken coop helps keep their water clean and their feed dry and protected. Wet feed can become moldy, get rancid, and attract unwanted bugs. Don’t give chickens wet or moldy feed. A chicken coop should provide access seamlessly to an outside pen or the outdoors during the day. Chickens need access to their coop for their nesting boxes and laying their eggs. Sand is a nice material that chickens love and is good for drainage in an outside protected pen.

Article / Updated 12-10-2021

Sometimes your flock may come down with ailments caused by fungal infections. Fungi aren’t plants or animals; they’re a unique, primitive category of life all their own. Mushrooms, molds, and yeast are fungi. Molds and yeasts can infect and sicken backyard chickens under the right circumstances. Brooder pneumonia (aspergillosis) Aspergillus mold organisms grow in every chicken’s environment, flourishing in damp bedding and rotten coop wood. Healthy adult chickens aren’t particularly bothered by a little mold, but when the environment is teeming with mold spores, young chicks or stressed, rundown adult birds can be overwhelmed. Aspergillus causes different forms of aspergillosis. The most common form of aspergillus mold infection is brooder pneumonia, a lung and air-sac disease of chicks. Less-common forms of aspergillosis affect eyes, skin, brain, or bones. Chicks affected by brooder pneumonia gasp, lose their appetite, and look sleepy. The disease doesn’t spread from chick to chick, but the mold can infect many chicks in a group at once, and up to half may die from the infection. Unfortunately no effective drug treatment or vaccination is available for brooder pneumonia. Good nursing care and eliminating mold from the environment helps chicks survive. You can prevent outbreaks of brooder pneumonia with these suggestions: Start your chicks off right with a clean and disinfected brooder box or area. Check for rotten wood or moldy spots on the floor and walls of the building where you brood your chicks. Remove rotting wood or treat any moldy spots with a fungicidal disinfectant before moving chicks in. Use clean feed, hay, or straw. Make sure none of them have any mold, which can lead to brooder pneumonia. Clean chick feeders and waterers daily. You can sanitize drinking water with household bleach. Remove wet bedding promptly and replace it with fresh, dry stuff. Candidiasis (thrush) Candidiasis, also known as thrush, is caused by the yeast Candida albicans, and it affects the mouth, crop, gizzard, or vent of many types of birds, including chickens. Whitish, thickened patches form inside the crop or on the skin of the vent area of a chicken suffering from candidiasis. In a few cases, sores may develop in the gizzard’s lining. The outward signs of candidiasis aren’t very obvious: Affected birds are thin, listless, and disheveled — they just don’t feel very good. The yeast organism takes advantage of young, old, and sick birds, and isn’t usually a problem for healthy adult chickens. Candidiasis and unsanitary, overcrowded conditions go together. Because the signs of candidiasis aren’t apparent on the outside of the bird, a diagnostic laboratory usually diagnoses the disease during postmortem examination. Dirty feeders or waterers are excellent places for the yeast to grow. Long-term antibiotic use also encourages yeast infections. Candidiasis isn’t contagious between birds, but several birds living in the same filthy environment or exposed to antibiotics in feed or water can be affected at one time. You can prevent candidiasis by having clean feeders, waterers, and coops, and by using antibiotics only when absolutely necessary. Candidiasis is treatable. If it’s diagnosed in your flock, try these treatment steps: Separate affected chickens from the rest of the flock so that they can’t be picked on by flock mates. If you’ve been treating the chickens with antibiotics, stop it. Use a copper sulfate/vinegar solution in the drinking water. You can find copper sulfate crystals at farm stores. Offer a probiotic (available at feed stores) or yogurt. Clean feeders and waterers daily. Ringworm (favus) You’ve probably heard of (or had) ringworm, a fungal infection of the skin that people and pets can catch from each other. Chickens can also get ringworm and share the fungus with their flock keepers. (Here’s a tip for word game players: Favus is the name for ringworm when it affects poultry.) Ringworm usually appears as white scaly or crusty patches on the comb and the skin of the head and neck. The chicken may lose its feathers, typically starting at the base of the comb and progressing down the back of the neck. Other than the skin problem, affected chickens are usually healthy. The infection is contagious and spreads from bird to bird, and rarely, bird to human. Any practicing veterinarian can do a skin scraping and fungal culture on a chicken to diagnose ringworm, the same way the fungal infection is diagnosed in other animals. If you have a chicken with favus, isolate it from the rest of the flock to prevent spreading the infection. People should wear gloves and wash their hands after handling the affected birds. Rubbing the affected areas daily with athlete’s foot ointment, or swabbing the spots with 2 percent iodine solution every other day should do the trick after about two weeks of treatment. Both medicines are available at any pharmacy. Ringworm fungus hates sunshine, so getting birds out of a dark shed and into the sunlight often cures favus without medicine.

Article / Updated 12-10-2021

The starting point in a chick’s life is pipping, the moment that a chick breaks through the shell and begins its entrance into the world. A healthy hatchling innately knows exactly what to do, and you shouldn’t interfere with the program. The moment for you to step in is immediately after hatching, when you have a role in preventing four common problems of the newly hatched, which are chick malformations, spraddle legs, belly button infections, and pasty vents. Reasons for chick malformations After waiting with excitement for your chicks to hatch, your heart sinks when you see a malformed chick emerge. What could have gone wrong? You may not have been able to prevent it. Even under ideal conditions, approximately one out of 250 chicks hatched will have a deformity. You may not be able to help an abnormal chick after it’s hatched, but you can correct incubator settings and possibly flock nutrition to avoid some deformities next time you set eggs to hatch. Common Chick Malformations and Causes Malformation Possible Causes Beak abnormalities, such as crossed beak, parrot beak, or short upper beak Genetic trait Poor hen nutrition Exposure to pesticide Hatching eggs exposed to near freezing temperatures Small or missing eye(s) High temperature during incubation Exposed brain High temperature during early incubation Intestines outside of abdomen High temperature during mid-incubation Hatching eggs exposed to near freezing temperatures Crooked (wry) neck Genetic trait Poor hen nutrition Crooked toes Poor hen nutrition Genetic trait Chick malformations with nutritional causes were much more common back when complete commercial diets weren’t available and flock keepers had to prepare their own homemade chicken feed. Breeder hens fed a complete commercial layer diet rarely produce chicks with malformations related to nutritional deficiencies, such as lack of B vitamins or zinc. Finding many malformations in batches of hatchlings calls for an investigation into the vitamin and mineral content of the parent flock’s diet. Most malformed chicks have a poor chance of becoming healthy, productive members of a backyard flock. Many, but not all chick malformations can be inherited traits, so malformed chicks who survive should not be used for breeding because they can pass on the trait to future generations. For these reasons, euthanizing a malformed chick is justifiable, if done humanely. Straightening spraddled legs Although most chick malformations aren’t correctable, one very common abnormality of newly hatched chicks called spraddle leg responds very well to treatment. You can create the problem of spraddle leg by allowing chicks to hatch on surfaces that are too smooth — newspaper or cardboard are the common culprits. A chick can’t get traction to stand and walk on a slick floor, and as a result, the legs splay outward. Other than the odd pose, the chick looks alert and acts normally; however, the chick won’t get better and be able to walk without your help. Here’s how you do it: Place the chick on a surface with more texture so that the chick can get a grip with its feet. Straw, shavings, and wire mesh are good choices. Bring the legs back together in a normal position using a bandage between the legs. A three-quarter inch adhesive bandage is perfect for the job. Cut the bandage lengthwise down the middle. Place the pad of the bandage between the legs, and then wrap the sticky ends of the bandage around each leg just above the foot. Cloth bandage tape, masking tape, or a piece of yarn work as well. Leave the bandage on for two days. Usually, you can leave the bandaged chick in the brooder with the hatch mates during this time. The other chicks will encourage the bandaged chick to move around and get stronger. After two days, remove the bandage and see if the chick can walk normally. If not, reapply a bandage for two more days. A chick that isn’t walking normally at four days of age is unlikely to improve, so unfortunately, you should euthanize that chick to prevent the suffering that lies ahead. Credit: Illustration by Barbara Frake Belly-button problems and causes If your incubator is set in the Goldilocks zone — not too warm, not too hot, humidity and ventilation just right — your chicks will either hatch with properly healed navels, or the navels will finish closing up in the first hour or so after hatching, as the chick dries off and fluffs up. Poorly healed navels are a sign that conditions in the incubator weren’t ideal. Chick Belly-Button Problems and Causes Problem Possible Causes Poorly closed navels High humidity during incubation Low temperature during the last few days of incubation Navels with a string of dried tissue attached Low temperature during incubation Bloody navels or navels that look like black buttons High temperature during incubation Blood on eggshells or hatcher trays High temperature during incubation An unhealed navel leaves the door open for bacteria from the environment to invade and infect a chick. If you hatched a batch of chicks that had many unhealed navels, be obsessive about cleanliness in the brooder in order to prevent infections. Unpasting a pasty vent Just like grown-up birds, chicks with diarrhea have messy vents. Watery droppings accumulate around the vent, and the caked-up poop may even plug the opening. You may even see the back end of the chick bulge with the pressure of the backed-up poop. Pasty vent is rare in chicks raised by momma hen, but it’s a common condition in artificially incubated and brooded chicks. With some TLC from you, most chicks with pasty vent can survive. A pasty vent isn’t a stand-alone disease; it’s a sign, telling you something is wrong in the brooder where you keep your baby chicks. Chilling or overheating is the most common cause of pasty vent, but viral or bacterial infections or poor diet can trigger it, too. After adjusting the temperature in the brooder area to 90–95 degrees Fahrenheit (32–35 degrees Celsius), here are the steps for dealing with a chick with a pasty vent: Soak the pasted-up behind in warm, clean water for a minute or two to soften the gunk. Do this in a warm, nondrafty place to avoid chilling the chick. Use clean water as warm as you would bathe in. Don’t soak the whole chick — just the butt. Gently peel away the caked droppings. It’s okay if a few down feathers come with the lump. If the dried poop is still very hard to remove, soak again. Apply a little vegetable oil or mineral oil to the vent area. Don’t use diaper rash cream containing zinc or other remedies you wouldn’t want the other chicks to eat, because they will pick at it! Promptly put the chick back in the brooder to warm up. Keep an eye on the chick because you may need to separate the chick from the others if they pick at the vent area. Keep chlorinated water in the chick waterer. Doing so may limit spread of an infection in the group of chicks through the water.

Article / Updated 06-23-2021

So, what exactly do we mean by "neighbors" in this context? Neighbors are any people who are in sight, sound, and smelling distance of your chickens. Even if it’s legal in your urban or suburban area to keep chickens, the law may require your neighbors’ approval and continued tolerance. And it pays to keep your neighbors happy anyway. If neighbors don’t even know the chickens exist, they won’t complain. If they know about them but get free eggs, they probably won’t complain then, either. A constant battle with neighbors who don’t like your chickens may lead to the municipality banning your chickens — or even banning everyone’s chickens. Regardless of your situation, the following list gives you some ideas to keep you in your neighbors’ good graces: Try to hide housing or blend it into the landscape. If you can disguise the chicken quarters in the garden or hide them behind the garage, so much the better. Don’t locate your chickens close to the property line or the neighbor’s patio area, if at all possible. Keep your chicken housing neat and clean. Your chicken shelter should be as tidy and clean as possible — we're talking five-star resort cleanliness standards here. Store or dispose of manure and other wastes properly. Consider where you’re going to store or dispose of manure and other waste. You can’t use poultry manure in the garden without some time to age because it burns plants. It makes good compost, but a pile of chicken manure composting may offend some neighbors. You may need to bury waste or haul it away. Even if roosters are legal, consider doing without them. You may love the sound of a rooster greeting the day, but the noise can be annoying to some people. Contrary to popular belief, you can’t stop roosters from crowing by locking them up until well after dawn. Roosters can and do crow at all times of the day — and even at night. Roosters aren’t necessary for full egg production anyway; they’re needed only for producing fertile eggs for hatching. If you must have a rooster, try getting a bantam one, even if you have full-size hens. He will crow, but it won’t be as loud. Don’t keep more than one rooster; they tend to encourage each other to crow more. We don't want the boys getting too rowdy. Keep your chicken population low. If you have close neighbors, try to restrain your impulses to have more chickens than you really need. Two hens for each family member works well for egg production. The more chickens you keep, the more likely you will have objections to noise or smells. Confine chickens to your property. Even if you have a 2-acre suburban lot, you may want to keep your chickens confined to lessen neighbor complaints. Foraging chickens can roam a good distance. Chickens can easily destroy a newly planted vegetable garden, uproot young perennials, and pick the blossoms off the annuals. They can also make walking barefoot across the lawn or patio a sticky situation. Mean roosters can scare or even harm small children and pets. And if your neighbor comes out one morning and finds your chickens roosting on the top of his new car, he’s not going to be happy. Cats rarely bother adult chickens, but even small dogs may chase and kill them. In urban and suburban areas, dogs running loose can be a big problem for chicken owners who allow their chickens to roam. Free-ranging chickens can also be the target of malicious mischief by kids. Even raccoons and coyotes are often numerous in cities and suburban areas. And of course, chickens rarely survive an encounter with a car. You can fence your property if you want to and if it’s legal to do so, but remember that lightweight hens and bantams can easily fly up on and go over a 4-foot fence. Some heavier birds may also learn to hop the fence. Chickens are also great at wriggling through small holes if the grass looks greener on the other side. Curious little rascals. Be aggressive about controlling pests. In urban and suburban areas, you must have an aggressive plan to control pest animals such as rats and mice. If your chickens are seen as the source of these pests, neighbors may complain. Share the chicken benefits. Bring some eggs to your neighbors or allow their kids to feed the chickens. A gardening neighbor may like to have your manure and soiled bedding for compost. Just do what you can to make chickens seem like a mutually beneficial endeavor. Never butcher a chicken in view of the neighbors. Neighbors may go along with you having chickens as pets or for eggs, but they may have strong feelings about raising them for meat. Never butcher any chickens where neighbors can see it. You need a private, clean area, with running water, to butcher. If you butcher at home, you also need a way to dispose of blood, feathers, and other waste. This waste smells and attracts flies and other pests. Those of you who raise meat birds and have close neighbors can send your birds out to be butchered. Finally, don’t assume that because you and your neighbors are good friends, they won’t care or complain about any chickens kept illegally.

Article / Updated 06-23-2021

So what is the answer to the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Well, here, you start with the chicken and end up with an egg. Along the way, you discover the reproductive ins and outs of chickens. When chickens reach sexual maturity Young female chickens (pullets) of modern breeds, such as commercial strains of Leghorns, start laying eggs at around 18 to 21 weeks of age and are 8 months old when they reach peak egg production. Old-fashioned, or heritage, breeds of chickens are late bloomers; they start laying eggs around 6 months of age. After a pullet reaches maturity, three things come together to determine when exactly she will lay her first egg: The number of hours of light she sees in a day Her weight Her body fat percentage For a hen to lay eggs, a rooster’s presence isn’t necessary (you go, girl). For a hen to lay fertile, hatchable eggs, however, a rooster and his healthy reproductive system are vital necessities. Starting at about 4 to 5 months of age, young roosters (cockerels) reach sexual maturity, producing sperm and acting like roosters. They can remain fertile for several years, although the quantity and quality of sperm that roosters produce decreases as they age. During molt, and during the period of decreasing daylight hours in fall and winter, a hen usually takes a break and stops laying eggs. Her reproductive tract shrinks back to the size it was when she was a pullet. The rooster, too, takes a break in the short days of winter, and his fertility decreases for the season, to return in the spring. Reproduction from a hen’s perspective A female chick is hatched with a pair of ovaries and oviducts (left and right) and all the eggs she’ll ever lay. After hatching, though, only her left ovary and oviduct develops. If something goes wrong with the left ovary and oviduct during her life, she doesn’t have a good backup plan. When a hen is making eggs, or in lay, her ovary looks like a bunch of bright yellow grapes of various sizes. The egg-making process starts when one of the larger grapes is released from the ovary (ovulation) about 30 minutes after the previous egg is laid, usually in the morning, and almost never after 3 p.m. That's when she has to go to spin class (just kidding!). Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born The big yellow grape released from the ovary will be the yolk of a new egg. The first part of the oviduct, the infundibulum, looks and acts like a catcher’s mitt to catch the released yolk. If a rooster’s sperm fertilizes the egg, it happens in the infundibulum. From there, the developing egg travels through the rest of the 2-foot-long oviduct. In order, the sections of the oviduct are the magnum, isthmus, shell gland, and vagina, which ends at the cloaca from which the egg is laid. The table shows the timeline and the event occurring at each stop in the route through the hen’s oviduct. The total assembly line takes about 25 to 26 hours. The Egg Assembly Line Station Time at Station What Part Is Added Infundibulum 15 minutes Yolk, sperm (if it's a fertilized model) Magnum 3 hours Egg white Isthmus 75 minutes Shell membranes Shell gland 20 hours Shell (obviously), eggshell pigment (optional) Vagina Not long (a few seconds) Bloom, also called the cuticle (a waxy protective coating) The rooster’s role in reproduction A rooster keeps all of his reproductive equipment inside. His pair of bean-shaped testicles is tucked up inside the abdomen, along the backbone, just above the kidneys. Male birds differ from their mammal counterparts in another important way — a rooster’s sperm stays fresh at normal (hot!) chicken body temperature, while male mammals must keep their sperm slightly cooler than body temperature in external testicles. From each of the rooster’s testicles, a tube called the ductus deferens carries sperm to the cloaca. The rooster doesn’t seem to miss having a functional copulatory organ, and mating is accomplished simply by placing his cloaca next to the hen’s cloaca, and depositing sperm there. Credit: Illustration by Kathryn Born What happens after chickens mate After mating, the hen stores the sperm in the tiny sperm host glands, located between the vagina and the shell gland of the oviduct. The sperm can live in the sperm host glands for about two weeks after mating. When an egg is laid, some sperm are squeezed out of the glands and they migrate up the oviduct to fertilize the next egg in the pipeline. This is a good backup plan, because if something happens to the man of the flock, the hens can still lay fertile eggs for a while after he’s gone. Hens will lay fertile eggs as soon as the second day after a sexually active and fertile rooster is introduced to the flock. It may take him a few days to make the rounds and mate with all the hens, so give him a week before expecting to see a high level of fertility in the eggs. Don't worry, he's almost certainly up to the challenge.

Article / Updated 06-22-2021

If you love your chickens and have enjoyed free-ranging them on your property, it’s only natural to think of having other farm animals. What joy to have fresh milk, fresh goat cheese, or farm-raised lamb! Chickens are low-maintenance, leave a small livestock footprint, and are adaptable to many different environments. Other farm animals may not be as easy to take care of as chickens and may require more time to manage. Before you add other animals to your land, you must confirm that your zoning requirements specifically allow farm animals such as horses, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, geese, ducks, or guinea fowl. Here's where a country homesteader may have an advantage over those in the suburbs or cities. Rural areas are most likely are zoned for other farm animals and have the space and the capabilities for housing them. Always check your city and county ordinances first, just as you did when planning for chickens. Adding large animals to your chicken farm Oddly enough, chickens get along with most farm animals even though they have such a dominant pecking order within their flock. Free-ranging chickens go about their business, happily foraging to their hearts’ content no matter what other farm animals are around. As social creatures, chickens can comingle among larger farm animals such as horses, donkeys, llamas, cows, sheep, and goats. Although these animals are compatible with chickens, you should consider the risk of underfoot injury and unintentional trampling. In a barnyard situation, chickens can add a little companionship and stability for larger farm animals. In return, there is safety in numbers, and having big animals near chickens may discourage predators. Horses and cows A large flock of free-pasturing chickens can cross-graze after cows and horses, eagerly picking through dung and cow patties for larvae, maggots, and parasites. Most parasites are species-specific, and chickens safely interrupt the parasite lifecycle by eating them. Chickens also keep fly populations down by eating maggots, and they helpfully spread manure and mix it back into the soil. Chickens also eat undigested feed and seeds that are passed through manure, thus saving you money by reducing feed waste. Do not let chickens graze with livestock that have been given chemical de-wormers or any medication. Goats and sheep Goats and sheep are becoming almost as popular as chickens on small-farm homesteads. You can keep goats, sheep, and chickens together in one enclosed pen. Chickens can pick up grain the goats and sheep drop. The presence of larger animals discourages predators. Llamas and donkeys are particularly good at protecting sheep and goats against coyotes and dogs, if they are kept in the same pen. Keeping goats, sheep, and chickens together in a pen may also limit diseases and parasites. Goats are great jumpers. They prefer taking chunks out of trees and shrubs and they can be mischievous in their quest to reach delectable landscape. Don't expect goats to replace your lawnmower; goats won’t eat grass. Pigs Pigs won’t work as companion livestock because they’re omnivorous and may injure or eat your chickens. Pigs need their own environment. Adding other fowl to your chicken farm Other farmland birds aren’t as easy to train as chickens, but they require less space than animals like sheep and horses so they may work for suburban and urban settings. If your city zoning permits other fowl, you can consider ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, and peacocks. Ducks Some people prefer duck eggs to chicken eggs because of their size and richness. You can raise ducks for meat, too. But ducks are messier than chickens. Because of their webbed feet, ducks don't aerate soil but instead compact it over time, especially in muddy areas. Ducks need access to a clean source of water to swim in, drink from, cleanse themselves, and mate. Snails and slugs aren’t favorite foods of chickens, but ducks will eat snails in your garden. Ducks really like grass, more than chickens do. But don’t house ducks with chickens; there is potential for disease. Ducks can bond with you if you raise them from ducklings, but they tend to be flighty by nature. Indian Runner ducks are fun to watch in the garden because they run upright like wobbly wine bottles. Ducks can successfully free-range with chickens. Geese There’s something romantic about a pair of geese roaming your garden; for one thing, they stick together as a pair because they mate for life. Your geese would prefer to have water to play in, but it's not an absolutely necessity for them as it is for ducks. Like ducks, geese will compact your soil. Geese are big and can be intimidating as they run at you, honking with open wings. For this, they're great watchdogs. Geese bite sometimes, so you'll want to keep small children away from them. Geese are territorial, and they may bully your chickens from time to time. But geese are generally compatible with chickens in a free-range environment. As far as housing goes, it’s best to keep geese in a separate protected pen of their own. Although big, geese can still fall prey to predators because they’re clumsy and slow on their webbed feet. Geese thrive on grass and are considered weeders. However, they tend to eat everything, not just weeds. Geese like grain, too. Turkeys Turkeys are better for country dwellers than urbanites. They’re big, bossy birds that dominate the barnyard and your chickens. Turkeys will trample your plants; they can be curious and sometimes appear to stalk other animals. Watch young children around turkeys. Turkeys and chickens can comingle in a free-range environment but are best housed separately. Chickens can transmit a disease called blackhead to turkeys, so keep both pens clean. Turkeys can eat either a custom non-medicated feed or chicken feed. If you intend to raise turkeys for meat, you will want to feed them the custom turkey feed because it's higher in protein. Turkeys also enjoy eating corn and oats, sunflower seeds, and many greens such as lettuce, Swiss chard, and cabbage. Guinea fowl Guinea fowl are interesting creatures. They can be wild and loud — you'd be surprised how loud! Like geese, guinea fowl are good watchdogs and will let you know if something is amiss; they won't bite interlopers, though. Guinea fowl are prized for their tender, slightly gamey meat, their delicious eggs, and their decorative plumage. Guinea fowl can live with chickens and even mate with them, producing offspring that are sterile. Guinea fowl prefer to roost in trees, and they have to be trained to come into the coop at night; this takes patience on your part. A guinea hen will make a nest and lay her eggs in random, hard-to-find places. They’re great foragers for bugs, but they don't scratch. They're less destructive to your garden than chickens. Peacocks In some movies, you'll see peacocks on an undulating green lawn in front of a stone fountain with a grand estate in the background. Who wouldn't want one or two on their lawn or perched in the trees? Raising peacocks is rising in popularity, and they can co-exist with chickens in a free-range environment. They forage on grass, bugs, seeds, and insects; and they can eat a commercial poultry feed. As with chickens, peacocks need to have grit in their diet to digest their food. The downsides: Peacocks require 80 square feet per bird in their housing. When breeding, they prefer to be by themselves. Peacocks can become wild in a free-range environment. And then there's their deafeningly loud noise. Their beauty is undeniable, but it’s best to do extensive research before deciding whether raising peacocks is right for you.