Happy Hens

Raising happy and healthy egg-layers can be very rewarding. Not only do they provide you with incredible fresh eggs, but they also provide many hours of entertainment and relaxation. In the cool of the afternoon, I enjoy sitting out by the coop and observing the activity in the coop. With that said, there are steps that must be followed to have healthy, productive hens.

THE COOP

Build a well-ventilated and predator-proof coop for your flock. Trust me, everything wants to eat your chickens, so it is essential to build a safe coop and ALWAYS check to ensure that it remains a safe place for your chickens.
2-3 square feet per chicken ensures your chickens are healthy and happy. Overcrowding in your coop will cause stress in the coop and production will drop.
Provide nesting boxes for your girls to lay their eggs.

CLEAN WATER

Make sure that you provide clean, fresh water. We ran a water line to our coop, which provides a constant fresh water drip. Our chickens love it, and it works great. The only maintenance required is to make sure the water bucket doesn’t get algae growth.

Nutrition

Be sure to provide chickens with high-quality layer feed that contains nutrients, especially calcium. We use the Rakuten ap which gives cash back on your purchases at Tractor Supply. If you haven’t tried Rakuten click here, you’ll love it.
We have also tried a mixture of cracked corn, black oil sunflowers, and oyster shell. It seemed to work well, but can be expensive.
Your girls will also appreciate kitchen scraps. They go crazy for them, especially fresh greens.
Garden discards are also a hot item in the coop.

CLEAN COOP

Keep your nesting boxes and coop clean and dry with fresh bedding. Fresh bedding also entertains them as they scratch and spread the bedding.
A clean coop will prevent the spread of disease and it makes them very happy.

EGG COLLECTION