Ahh, the molting process. Shorter days and cooler temperatures…For people, it’s a sign that it is back to school time and fall. To chickens, it’s a sign that it is time to renew their feathers. Losing feathers and re-growing them is called molting and occurs every year when the days get shorter.

During molt, chickens typically stop laying eggs and use this time to build up their nutrient reserves. Even though they are not laying, it is critical that your chickens have a high quality diet during this time.

Feeding a high quality ration such as NatureWise Feather Fixer™ during molt will help your birds get through the molting process and back to laying eggs as quickly as possible. Feather Fixer™ is a unique and innovative life-stage product that can also be fed year round if desired. It has elevated levels of protein as well as a mix of vitamins, minerals and amino acids that help maintain healthy skin and develop strong and beautiful new feathers.

Top tips for feeding through the molt:

• Feed a high protein feed like NatureWise Feather Fixer that is a complete feed, so you don’t have to worry about feeding other protein supplements to feed along with layer feed during molt.
• Make feed available free choice
• Limit scratch to 10% of diet during molt so you don’t dilute the protein content of the ration
• Molting and growing new feathers requires a lot of energy. Feathers are 85% protein… so be sure your birds’ diet includes a highly nutritious feed like NatureWise or Country Feeds that consists of at least 16% protein, or ideally, the higher protein NatureWise Feather Fixer. You don’t need to add medications or other vitamins if you’re feeding one of these feeds.
• Just as your chickens have individual personalities, they will go through molt differently as well. Some lose a few feathers and grow them back in as quickly as 3-4 weeks. Other chickens lose a lot of feathers and take 12-16 weeks to grow them back.

Other tips for helping chickens get through molting:

• Reduce stress as much as possible, avoid bringing new birds into the flock if possible
• Chickens should act normal during their molt – if they seem sick, something else is wrong
• Both roosters and hens go through molt
• Avoid handling your chickens during molt, it is painful for them and increases stress

Chickens will lose feathers in a sequence starting with the head and neck and then down the back, across the breast and thighs and finally their tail feathers. The new feathers that emerge are called pinfeathers and will grow in following the same sequence they were lost.

So don’t panic when your chickens start losing their feathers and stop laying eggs. Molting is a normal and natural process of shedding feathers and re-growing them that all chickens go through. The best thing you can do to help your chickens through molt is to feed a high quality, high protein layer feed.

In conclusion, visit Kissimmee Valley Feed for all things chicken!

Article source: Nutrena World

Got Ticks? Chickens Might be the Best Way to Get Rid of Ticks! Ticks are dangerous little arachnids. They can carry over a dozen different diseases such as Powassan virus, Lyme disease, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

In Florida, ticks are most active throughout Spring and Summer.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently released that in the United States illnesses caused by mosquitos, ticks, and fleas have tripled since 2004. If someone has symptoms such as fever, a sore neck, tiredness, headaches, bull’s eye looking rashes, nausea, or any kind of aches all over their body, it could possibly be tick-related. Lyme Disease can cause other serious issues like heart problems, joint pain, and nervous system degeneration over time.

Tick Prevention:

There are many ways to fight these nuisances. Common ways to keep ticks at a distance is by keeping your grass short, spraying for bugs, and reducing leaf litter. Tactics such as these, however, can get expensive, tiresome, and often times they don’t work. One of the best ways to get rid of an arachnid problem is to produce a predator: chickens.

Everything you Need to Know about Raising Baby Chicks: Bringing home your baby chicks is an exciting milestone in raising backyard chickens. The three key essentials for raising baby chicks: Warmth, water and feed. Start chicks strong by providing a complete chick starter feed from day 1 through week 18.raising baby chicks

For those of us welcoming new chicks how can we give them a solid start?

To best transition chicks into a flock, provide comfort, care and complete nutrition from day one. A chick never gets over a bad start. The actions we take before chicks arrive and the care we provide in the first few days can help set-up our chicks to be happy and healthy long-term.

First things first, visit us for all your Chicken Supplies!!

Before baby chicks arrive: Set up the brooder

Set up your brooder about 48 hours before your chicks arrive. This allows time for bedding and equipment to dry and the temperature to set.

Equipment for day one includes:

Brooder: The brooder is the first home of new chicks. Be sure it is comfortable, warm and draft-free with at least 3 to 4 square feet per chick. The area should be circular and expandable.
Heat lamp: Assemble a heat lamp in the center of the brooder for bird warmth. Hang the heat lamp about 20 inches above the litter, with 2.5 to 3 feet between the lamp and the guard walls. The temperature under the heat lamp, or comfort zone, should be 95 degrees Fahrenheit and adequate room in the brooder should be available for the chicks to get out from under the heater if they get too hot. After week one, gradually reduce heat by 5 degrees Fahrenheit each week until reaching a minimum of 55 degrees.
Bedding: Add an absorbant wood shavings bedding to the floor of the brooder. Place bedding 3 to 4 inches deep to keep the area dry and odor free. Remove wet bedding daily, especially around waterers. Do not use cedar shavings or other types of shavings that have a strong odor because the odor could affect the long term health of the bird.
Lights: Provide 18 – 22 hours of light for the first week. Then reduce light to 16 hours through the growing period or to the amount of light they will receive when they are 20 weeks of age. The amount of light intensity required would be provided by a 40 watt bulb for each 100 square feet (10’ x 10’) of floor space.
Feeders: Offer 4 linear inches of feeder space for each bird. Clean egg cartons filled with feed make excellent and easily accessible feeders for young chicks. Provide low-lying feeders, or trough feeders, for after the transition.
Waterers: For every 25 chicks, fill two 1-quart waterers with room temperature water and place them in the brooder. To help water stay at room temperature, place the waterers in the brooder, outside the comfort zone (do not position underneath the heat lamp), 24 hours prior to the chicks’ arrival.
Introduce baby chicks to water

Once chicks arrive, introduce them to the brooding area. Water, at room temperature, should be available, but wait a couple hours to introduce feed.

This gives chicks a couple hours to drink and rehydrate before they start eating, fresh, quality water is essential for healthy chicks. Dip the beaks of several chicks into the water to help them locate it. These chicks will then teach the rest of the group to drink. Monitor the group to ensure all chicks are drinking within the first couple hours.

Teach baby chicks to eat:

After chicks have had a chance to rehydrate, provide the nutrients they need through a complete chick starter feed. Provide a chick starter feed with at least 18 percent protein to help support the extra energy needed for early growth. The feed should also include amino acids for chick development; prebiotics, probiotics and yeast for immune health; and vitamins and minerals to support bone health.

First, teach the chicks to eat by placing feed on clean egg flats, shallow pans or simple squares of paper. On day 2, add proper feeders to the pens. Once chicks have learned to eat from the feeders, remove the papers, pans or egg flats.

Adjust feed as baby chicks develop:

To keep feed fresh: Empty, clean and refill waterers and feeders daily. Also, raise the height of feeders and waterers so they are level with the birds’ backs as chicks grow. As chicks mature, their nutritional needs change. At age 18 weeks, adjust the feed provided to meet the birds’ evolving nutrition needs.

Transition layer chicks onto a higher-calcium complete feed, like Purina Layena Crumbles or Pellets, when they begin laying eggs at age 18 to 20 weeks. For meat birds and mixed flocks, choose a complete feed with 20 percent protein, like Purina Flock Raiser Crumbles and feed this diet from day one through adulthood.

This post on raising baby chicks has been adapted from purinamills.com.

Summer Flock Care: How to Keep Chickens Cool! Summer is a time for fun, adventure and excitement – for both backyard chicken raisers and their flocks. To keep birds cool in the summertime, provide fresh, cool water for hydration, maintain chicken coop ventilation and choose a layer feed with the Purina^® Oyster Strong^® System to help your hens lay strong and stay strong.

As humans, our habits change in the summer. We adapt to stay comfortable. By providing our backyard chickens the tools they need, they can also adapt and enjoy the sunshine. The summertime essentials are similar for both humans and backyard flocks: stay hydrated, protect yourself from the heat and maintain a complete and balanced diet.

Many people don’t realize that birds are unable to sweat. To cool down, they open their beaks and pant or spread their wings away from their bodies. If these cooling strategies are not enough, birds are more likely to become lethargic and may stop eating feed, which can lead to subsequent health challenges and reduced egg production.

We want to avoid these signs of heat stress by preventing problems before they begin. With the right care, birds will maintain their routines of foraging, pecking and chattering throughout the day.

Hydration is key: Provide the right chicken waterer

Staying hydrated in the summer is a clear choice for humans. As temperatures rise, a good rule for people to follow is to calculate half your body weight in pounds and drink the equivalent number of ounces of water.

For our backyard chickens, the practice should be similar: Clean, cool water is essential. Follow the general rule of providing 500 milliliters of fresh water per bird per day. This equates to one gallon for every seven adult birds.

Drinking water helps cool a chicken’s body temperature. In high temperatures, chickens will drink up to twice as much water as during temperate conditions. If birds do not have quality water, they are less likely to eat or lay eggs.

Here’s how to keep chickens cool through hydration:

• Provide extra waterers so each bird always has access.
• Place waterers in a shaded area to help keep the water cool and the coop dry.
• Offer fresh, cool water in the morning and evening.
• Freeze water in a storage container. Place the resulting ice in the chicken waterer in the morning to keep the water cool.
• Place marbles in waterers to prevent splashing.
• Wash waterers weekly with a mixture of 10 percent bleach and 90 percent water. Rinse thoroughly.

Watch this video for tips on how to choose the best chicken waterer for your flock:

https://youtu.be/VP–gHhzPGA

Chicken body temperature: Keep it in check

Think of your most recent day in the sun. You likely incorporated a few cooling practices to maintain an adequate body temperature and avoid heat stress.

A consistent body temperature is equally important for backyard flocks. Normal chicken body temperature is between 105 – 107 degrees Fahrenheit. If a bird’s body temperature climbs, it can cause a lasting strain. Create a cool and comfortable environment for your flock to enjoy.

Use these tips for keeping chickens cool and comfortable in warm weather:

• Provide shade by placing roofs on the run or shade cloths over the door. Add misters outside of the chicken coop that spray onto the roof or shade cover for evaporative cooling.
• Create adequate air flow to maintain chicken coop ventilation. Open all windows and roof vents to allow hot air and ammonia to escape. Add a small fan for air circulation.
• Swap solid chicken coop doors with screen doors and keep lights off during the day. Reduce bedding to two inches or less to avoid heat being trapped.
• Provide a peat moss dust bath for your backyard chickens to play in. If mites are a concern, switch to a mix of 90 percent peat moss, 10 percent diatomaceous earth.
• Avoid overcrowding by providing at least 4 square feet of indoor space and 5 – 10 square feet of outdoor space per bird.

What to feed chickens in the summer

It can be argued that fresh-from-the-garden fruits and vegetables, summertime snacks and potluck picnics are true summer highlights. But, no matter the treat, it’s important to maintain a balance.

Summer is perfect for spending time in the backyard with your flock and giving them a few indulgent snacks, but don’t forget the 90/10 rule: 90 percent complete feed and 10 percent healthy treats or snacks!

Choose a layer feed with the Purina^® Oyster Strong^® System to help your hens lay strong and stay strong. Which layer feed Oyster Strong^® System is right for your flock?

• Purina^® Layena^® pellets or crumbles  Our most popular layer feeds
•  Layena^® Omega-3  Includes added omega-3 fatty acids for your health
• Purina^® Layena^® Free Range  Includes insect protein
• Purina^® Organic Layer Feed  Certified USDA Organic

To help keep your flock’s diet in balance:

• Give fresh complete chicken feed in the morning and evening in a shaded area, offering treats only after the flock has finished its complete feed.
• Offer cold or frozen fruits and vegetables as a summertime treat.
• Provide special treats such as Purina^® Flock Block^® or hen treats as a complement to a complete feed. Treats formulated specifically for birds can provide beneficial nutrients while keeping birds active.
• Offer oyster shell to help maintain calcium intake and eggshell quality when birds may be eating less due to heat.
• Provide at least six inches of feeder space per bird.

Summer heat tends to reduce feed intake, so the complete chicken feed should be the first dietary priority. When birds have a balanced diet, plenty of water and a cool, comfortable environment, they are better able to remain healthy and productive and enjoy a fun and peaceful backyard summer.

In conclusion, visit Kissimmee Valley Feed for poultry care!

Resources:

Patrick Biggs, Ph.D. for Purina Mills