What’s your best piece of advice to someone new?
I'm not sure what my "best" piece of advice would be, but here's some advice I could think of now:
- Use pine wood chips for their bedding, not straw
- Don't change their bedding as often during the winter; their droppings will naturally add a few degrees of warmth to their coop
- Give them lots of protein, like black soldier fly larva
- That being said, they also love scraps of food, like fruits and vegetables, but they'll typically avoid citrus fruits
- In their coop, make sure their roosting bars are flat, like a 2x4 set with its wider side up; chickens won't sleep as well if they have to grip on a bar all night, so give them a place to sleep that's raised up, and wide enough for them to spread out their toes (which will be really important in the winter, when they're need to keep their feet tucked under them to keep them warm)
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!
- Use pine wood chips for their bedding, not straw
- Don't change their bedding as often during the winter; their droppings will naturally add a few degrees of warmth to their coop
- Give them lots of protein, like black soldier fly larva
- That being said, they also love scraps of food, like fruits and vegetables, but they'll typically avoid citrus fruits
- In their coop, make sure their roosting bars are flat, like a 2x4 set with its wider side up; chickens won't sleep as well if they have to grip on a bar all night, so give them a place to sleep that's raised up, and wide enough for them to spread out their toes (which will be really important in the winter, when they're need to keep their feet tucked under them to keep them warm)
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have!
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