Reader Interactions


  1. I moved and my chickens won’t go in the new coop at night. I locked them in for a week but they still want to roost in the barn? I only feed in the coop but they free range. Some will come in the coop yo lay eggs but sleep in the barn!!

    • Are the roosts in the barn higher? Could there be something about the coop that makes them shy away from it?

  2. This is a great list! I have been looking into getting chickens for about a year now, and by looking I mean spending almost every waking moment researching chickens and what they need. This has definitely given me more things to research like herbs for chickens and fermented food for them. Thanks so much for this!

  3. Ai lost a chicken to herpes virus how do I protect the other 3 is there anything I can give the other 3 hens thank you

  4. Hello! I just have a question about one of my hens. She is a great producer of eggs and gets along well with the rooster and other hens. Her problem is her bottom is loosing feathers and looks a bit red. How would you treat her for this? Thank you.

  5. Is there a book on common chicken illnesses and diagnosis? You’re right, getting answers on blogs is fruitless.

    • Hi, I use the Merck Veterinary Manual as a place to start. If you do a Google search, it’s available online for free, and it’s searchable.

  6. Thanks for the great post! One tip to add that has worked well for me is supplementing my layers feed with sprouts. I buy the black oil sunflower seed that is sold as birdseed and soak overnight wth a weight on seed to keep it submerged. Rinse and drain morning and evening just until the roots (little white tails) appear and feed to the “girls” …mine LOVE them.

  7. We’ve had our chickens now for five years. We’ve lived, learned, and lost. Mostly it’s been so hard when we lose even just one of our chickens. This year has been the worst. We just got some new hens last May and already lost one. We don’t know why she died. But we have had some others behaving sickly and listless. Upon closer examination we saw dried poop gathering around the vent and saw little teeny tiny black bug and crawling everywhere. Mites!!!! We’ve tried to get rid of them by using poultry spray and DE. They have dust bathing spots. We’ve cleaned them in warm water baths with vinegar and dried them before returning to the coop. Is there anything else we could be doing better? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

  8. I love your suet cake receive. My grandchildren have chicks. I’m going to make these with them as a Nana project, they will love this and so will my grand hicks the so much

  9. You mentioned grit but not where this comes from or how to add. If they get to free range part of the day do they get enough grit?

  10. I have had my girls for almost 2 years now and just lost my first one Monday from our 110 degree heat which broke my heart and I read and researched for 2 years prior to starting my flock which was so helpful but I have been following Maat for over a year now and truly love her blogs and information and my girls love all the dried flowers and herbs we get from her. Thanks Maat for all the chicken passion you provide!

  11. I read somewhere in my endless research about offering oystershells and grit as free feed and the hens would pretty much just eat it as they need it.
    So I put oystershells and grit in side-by-side auto feeders for my hens and it seems the only thing we are constantly running out of is the oystershells. I’m not entirely sure the hens are eating much, if any, of the grit. Should I do something different, like start adding the grit to their feed or ????.
    Thank you for all your wonderful tips, products, and interesting blogs!!

    • Hi Brenda, it sounds like you’re doing everything right. They might be picking up grit when foraging or just taking it as they need it. If they seem healthy and eating okay, I wouldn’t worry!