News from the Coop

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Subject: News from the Coop

Cartoon of brooding chicken laying on eggs

Broodiness is a hen’s instinct to hatch eggs and mother the chicks. But there are many cases in which you may want to discourage broodiness. You may keep hens primarily for eggs, or maybe your local zoning regulations don't allow more chickens than you already have. No matter the reason, this blog post discusses how you can discourage a broody hen.

Broody Chicken Hens as Foster Moms

A setting hen doesn't know (or doesn't care) whether or not the eggs she hatches are her own. So, you might deliberately use your broody chicken hens as foster moms to hatch eggs laid by other hens, even of another species.

Raising Guinea Fowl

If you raise guinea fowl that you plan to free range, start with keets rather than full-grown birds. Keets become acquianted with their home ground as they broaden their foraging range. Adult guineas, on the other hand, are notorious for flying the coop the first chance that they get.

Crop Impaction in Chickens

The first stop in a chicken’s digestive process is the crop, a pouch at the base of the neck that temporarily stores whatever the chicken has eaten. From there, food moves into the proventriculus (the chicken’s stomach), where acid and enzymes break it down for digestion.

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Subject: News from the Coop