Table of contents for May - June 2026 in Chickens

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar: You’ve gone out to the run with treats when you notice that one of your chickens has a chunk of feathers missing from her tail. Upon closer inspection of the others, you see that a few more have broken feather shafts and red, irritated, exposed skin. And one has an open wound that’s bleeding. Like any good chicken-keeper, you start obsessively watching your flock cam to see what predator is sneaking in to assault your girls. And that’s when you see it: It’s not a predator at all, but one of your own chickens doing all this damage by attacking her flock mates. If you raise chickens long enough, eventually you’re going to experience behaviors such as feather picking and cannibalism. And it’s…

A broody hen can be a real pain in the coop. She stops laying, monopolizes a whole nest box and terrorizes anyone who comes near. She won’t return to a full-fledged, egg-laying henhouse member until her hormones switch off, but the much-bemoaned broody can be extremely useful, especially for the small-scale farmer. I learned this several years ago when my family’s new hen, Margaret, went broody. We were looking to expand our little flock, so we bought eight fertilized eggs from a local poultry breeder. The breeder claimed four would hatch, and we’d get two hens and two roosters. We tucked the eggs under Margaret, and three weeks later she hatched all eight. Four were hens, and four were roosters. We loved watching Margaret care for her chicks, especially at…

How a chicken’s body works is more than just identifying chicken anatomy on a diagram. It’s about understanding how each system functions, and how chicken owners can support those systems to keep their birds healthy, productive and thriving. From vision to digestion, circulation to reproduction, learning how a chicken’s body works will help you better care for your flock from the inside out. VISION A chicken’s vision is fascinating. Did you know that the left eye on a chicken functions differently from the right eye? It’s true. While a graph on the anatomy of a chicken doesn’t show this unique trait, the left eye and right eye have different purposes. Chickens use their left eyes for spotting far-off predators, such as a hawk in the sky, while their right eye…

David Winship Taylor designs his flocks around diversification. As head of the biology department at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, Indiana, he is an expert in evolutionary processes. Some of chickens’ basic differences influence the chicken breeds he raises at Sirocco Ridge Farm in nearby Henryville. Taylor and his wife, Beth, whose background is also in biology, have grown their farm slowly over the last decade. “When we started 10 years ago, we looked at sustainability from a personal level, and then we realized we could support our community, as well,” Taylor says. The Taylors moonlight raising chickens for meat and eggs for their CSA customers. As their farm has grown, so have their diversification efforts. BROILERS Taylor began raising Cornish Crosses for their renowned meat production, and as…

What’s in feed? Chickens require a diet of carbohydrates and fat (two sources of energy), protein (i.e., the amino acids which combine to form complete protein), vitamins and minerals (approximately 27). These will collectively produce sound muscle, bone, internal organs, fat and feathers, as well as maintain the body systems. Though the vitamins and minerals are required in comparatively small amounts, they are no less important as absences can result in compromised health and vigor. Egg-laying hens aren’t overeaters. They consume a set amount of food (about 4 to 6 ounces) a day, and that is it … they stop. If they overeat on carbs, they don’t continue to eat until the correct amount of protein, vitamins or minerals has been consumed. They simply go short. This is why pelleted…

The long-tailed Yokohama chicken breed is used for exhibition. According to The Livestock Conservancy, in 1864, the Jardin d’Acclimation (Acclimatization Gardens) in Paris, France, imported fabulously long-tailed Minohiki, or “Saddle Dragger,” fowl from Japan. The French renamed them Race de Yokohama after the port city from which they sailed. In 1869, a man from Dresden, Germany, imported a trio of French Yokohamas. When he and fellow German breeders were unable to acquire unrelated breeding stock from Japan, they developed today’s Yokohama by adding several other breeds to the mix, including long-tailed Phoenix fowl, a similar breed developed in Germany using Japanese stock. Two varieties, White and Red-Shouldered, entered the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection in 1981. The Yokohama is a regal, slim chicken breed with a gamelike appearance. It’s…

One of the most popular and common species of wild game bird kept in captivity is the Chukar partridge. The Chukar has been kept by bird-keepers since the mid-19th century and was introduced around the world for sporting purposes. I got my first Chukar partridge more than 25 years ago, and over the years, I have attempted to remove its stigma as a common, mass-produced “sporting” bird to that of a unique, avicultural subject. The bird is, in fact, just as fun and rewarding to keep in the aviary as other rare and expensive species. The Chukar is known to science as Alectoris chukar. The species belongs to the genus Alectoris, whose other seven members are quite similar to one another, all being red-legged, red-billed, overall gray-plumaged partridges. Chukar belong…

We often picture chickens in idyllic green pastures, but the reality is often far different. If left in one run or pasture, even a small flock will quickly reduce the land to a barren scape of mud and manure. It’s not pretty, and it’s not healthy. Chickens kept in small, muddy runs are more susceptible to disease and parasite issues. If the conditions are cramped, they can also suffer from boredom and stress. If you want healthier land and healthier birds, you need to create a rotational grazing system. Rotational grazing is a method of pasture management where growers move or rotate their animals through different sections of pasture regularly so they’re always on fresh ground. This method allows you to reduce pasture damage, build soil health, reduce the risk…

Our chickens love their coop. They can stay in the coop section or hang out on the ramp area and then spend the mornings, days or evenings in the framed house where they have swings, a roosting bar and a dust bath. Their henhouse has air-conditioning for those hot summer days, as well as a fan and automatic coop door that keeps them in for the night and lets them out in the morning. I hope you like it! TELL US ABOUT YOUR COOP! Email us a short write-up (~250 words) about your chicken coop along with a few images to chickens@chickensmagazine.com with the subject line One Cool Coop, and include your name and mailing address. We’ll send one person a prize package of Frenzy Products (total approximate value $60):…

Rolled oats are more than a treat for baby chicks. They are an essential part of their diet. When choosing treats for baby chicks, oatmeal is always the first treat I offer my new arrivals. Feeding oats to baby chicks may help to prevent or clear up pasty butt (a life-threatening condition in chicks, where the chick’s poop clogs up their vent, making it impossible for the chick to excrete). Rolled oats are high in essential vitamins and minerals that chicks need to grow, including the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and choline, as well as copper, iron, magnesium, and zinc. This beneficial grain contains antioxidants and protein to help chicks grow healthy and strong. To feed, grind up rolled oats (use a food processor, if possible) into a course…