Chicken Mites & Lice – Prevention & Remedies

“I intend to keep chickens in 2009 for the first time in an area of the garden that has never had any poultry on it before and I will buy pullets. Can you tell me how the chickens might get red mites or lice if they are ‘clean’ at the time of purchase? Thanks.” ~…

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Hatching Chicken Eggs Using Incubators – Part Two

So you’ve chosen your model and you have your incubator. You’ve decided where to locate it and you’ve thoroughly cleaned it. Now is the time to make sure everything is working properly before you set your eggs. You’ll remember from last week that there are two types of incubators; still-air and forced-air. Each type will…

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Hatching Chicken Eggs Using Incubators

This week in our “Basics” series, we’ll talk about chicken egg incubators and what type would work best for you. There are incubators available for sale that will handle whatever needs or future plans you may have. They can handle anywhere from a few eggs up to 75,000. There are kerosene or oil models available…

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Common Chicken Keeping Questions

Each week I answer a readers question in this space. Sometimes I try to thoroughly answer a question a lot of people are asking. This week I’m going to answer a number of questions asked by many of you. The answers don’t require too much explanation. Maybe you’ll find something in here that you’ve been…

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Hatching Eggs Using Broody Hens

I hope you all had a great week, let’s get started talking about broody hens. The easiest way to hatch eggs is to let your hen sit on them. She keeps them at the perfect temperature and naturally incubates them. When a hen decides that it’s time to start a family, it’s called going broody.

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Chicken Breeds for Specific Purposes

We get so many questions about breeds for specific purposes, I thought we’d take a look at that this week. Remember that age, nutrition, living conditions and individual variances among breeds will affect egg production and meat quality but in general, the breeds below are highly recommended.

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Selecting & Storing Chicken Eggs For Hatching

In this issue, we’ll talk about selecting eggs to hatch, their care, handling and storage. If you will be purchasing fertile eggs, be sure to use a reputable supplier. You can mail order fertile eggs but it will likely be cheaper if you can find a local source. If you will be breeding your hens…

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