MSU Extension MI Ag Ideas to Grow With

And I'm an extension
educator based in Ionia County.
I cover all 83 counties and I provide
education outreach on basic livestock
management. But I also specialize
in biosecurity and farm preparedness.
this. I work on the emergency response to
accidents involving livestock team
and do a lot of programming with fairs
to do animal safety plans and things like
that. So welcome. Before we get totally
started, I'd like to take a quick
moment to thank our sponsors who are
shown on our screen. Due to their generous
support, we can offer this event at no
charge to participants. So without further ado, we are going to get right into our presentation. All right, so today
we're going to talk poultry
hobbyists, essential production practices
for beginners. So to just kick off
a little bit, I'd like to get to know
a little bit about you all. So I'm going
to launch a poll. So question, how long have you owned chickens? First answer, I don't
have any yachts. Four to nine
years, one to three years or longer
than 10 years. Give me a feel for who
we've got here today and how
advanced everybody is. Okay, so it looks like we've got most folks. All right, so
we have quite the variety of folks. So, 40% don't have any
yet. Well, welcome. You are in good company.
Hopefully, we give you some good information
so that when you do decide to go get
those chicks, you are amply prepared. For
those of you who have owned chickens for a
while, hopefully you pick up something
new. And as always, please feel free to
ask questions as we go. All right. So, a little trivia. Let's see. True or false?
Chickens are the closest living
relatives to a T-Rex. What do you think?
True or false? all right you guys
are good the answer is true chickens are the
closest living relative to t-rexes so um they
are sometimes like little mini dinosaurs
running around so keep that in mind as you
uh interact with them thanks for playing along
all right so um there's no official count or
inventory on the number of chickens that are
raised by individual households in the
United States. But it's estimated that approximately
13% or 11 to 13 million households are
keeping chickens. And that number is estimated
at about 85 million plus chickens across
the United States. So we've seen a huge
increase in the number of people who are
deciding to raise chickens in their backyard after
the COVID-19 pandemic. People citing sustainability,
food security, food independence.
For a while there, because of HPV, egg
prices were on the rise. We're looking for
connections with animals, so that
companionship piece. Those are all major
reasons that people are reporting getting
into chickens. Backyard chicken keeping
has gained popularity in both rural, suburban,
and urban areas as a part of that local
food movement. And this is a really cool
little graphic that I found. So in 2020,
between February 15th and May 15th, chicken-related
searches on Amazon rose significantly.
So you can see chick supplies rose 758
percent, chick feed 623 percent. So that's a
good indication that backyard chicken keeping
has really exponentially increased in the last
five years or so. So the first thing to
understand is about meeting the basic
needs of your birds. is understanding normal
chicken behavior. So all animals have
a normal behavior. Chicken behavior is
one of the most studies of all the animal
species. The term behavior can be defined as the
way in which an animal acts in response to a
particular situation or stimulus. So keep
that in mind. So in 1935, research by T.
Schroldrup-Erb led to the recognition of what
we know as the pecking order or the social
hierarchy within those chicken flocks. This
hierarchy determines what birds do and when
they do it. The birds at the top of the
hierarchy eat, drink, nest, and roost first
before any other birds. Why is this
important to know? This will explain
a lot of how your birds are interacting
with one another, especially when
introducing new birds. These events will
cause some disruption, but once a pecking
order has been established, things
in the coop calm down unless there are other
problems. So we'll talk later about
some strategies to reduce stress in the
coop and keep that pecking order in a
really nice, balanced, happy environment
for those birds. So next, let's
talk about some common behaviors
for mature birds. So number one,
individual recognition. Recent research
suggests that laying hens are able to
recognize around 30 other individual birds.
So when you think about that social
structure that's developed in small group,
it begins to break down in flocks of 30
to 60 birds. So as you're deciding how
many birds to keep, Whether or not to keep
them in one big flock or smaller flocks of
30 or below, keep that in mind that these
animals can recognize 30 unique individuals.
And that will have a major impact on how they
behave in that coop. So when there are
more than 60 birds in the flock, chickens
become less aggressive and more tolerant of
each other. So the second behavior is
pruning or grooming. Preening is a grooming
activity among birds. So feathers
are really important for insulation
and waterproofing, in addition to
flight for those birds that can
fly a little bit. Feathers are
composed of a shaft with several long,
thin structures called barbs, and
these barbs are held together by
smaller barbules. Sometimes those barbs
are pulled apart, which makes the
feather ineffective for insulation and waterproofing.
A bird runs its feathers through its
beak when it preens, which realigns those
barbs and makes feathers better able to perform
their functions. Birds need to keep
their feathers oiled to prevent them from
becoming brittle and to help with
insulation and waterproofing. Birds
have a singular oil gland near the base
of their tail, which is referred to as
the preening gland. Birds pinch this gland
with their beaks to extract that waxy oil,
which they then apply as they pass their
feathers through their beaks. So chickens will
preen on their own, but they prefer to do
it as a group activity. Number two, fighting. Chicks start fighting
when they are only a few weeks old. They're
already starting to establish that rank
in the flock, and the fighting often continues
until they reach maturity and the
pecking order is well established. Some fights
occur among adult birds, but this can occur
when a member of the flock becomes tired
of its position in the social hierarchy and
decides to challenge that higher ranking
bird. More commonly, fights occur when a
new bird is introduced to the flock and has
to find its place in the pecking order or when
a bird is reintroduced to the flock after
a long absence. Although both male and
female chickens fight. Fights between
males tend to be more violent and
are more likely to result in
injury and death. So when two birds are
on the verge of a fight, they will eye each
other. They may casually circle around each
other, each pretending to kind of peck at
something on the ground while watching the other
bird. But when that fight begins, the bird
will raise their neck feathers and point
their wings toward the ground, spreading them
apart from the body. And they'll stand as
tall as they can and try to face each
other down. If neither bird backs down, they
will start pecking, scratching, and
jumping at each other. They will also beat
at each other with their wings. So it's
really important to watch that behavior
and kind of stop it before it starts. maybe
consider separating those birds or
evaluating the dynamics in your coop if they
begin to injure each other and get a little
bit more violent. So the third, nesting. So domestic hens
prefer to lay nests in containing loose materials
that they can settle into so that they can
mold those materials with their bodies
and feet and they can manipulate things with
their birds. So straw, wood chips, wood
shavings, things like that. Things that they
can move around really easily and they can
burrow down into. When given a choice of what is more important, birds will want to
be able to settle in and mold that
material. It's important for pullets to
have access to nesting boxes before
they start to lay. If a hen will jump
into a nest, she must be trained to
do so as a pullet. And birds are mimickers,
so the younger poults will watch
those older hens get in those nests,
and then they'll start to get in
those nests as well. If the hens don't
learn how to jump in that nest, then
there's a greater chance of eggs being
laid on the floor and then ultimately
broken or packed. Birds are mimickers.
So the first layers become those teachers.
So remember that they're mimickers.
So if one starts a bad behavior like
pecking eggs or anything like that, you'll
want to identify that bird and get them
out of there before the rest of those
hens start pecking eggs as well
and eating them. Number four, dust
bathing. So So dust bathing is the act of
rolling or moving around in the dirt to
cleanse the skin and feathers of parasites
and dead skin and any other skin irritants.
It also helps prevent the buildup of oils
from the preening. And when chickens don't
have an opportunity to dust bathe, they
will go through the motions of dust bathing.
So it's really important to make sure that
they have that spot. So in behavioral
studies, hens have shown a willingness to work
to gain access to material for dust
bathing. So if you don't provide it, they're
going to find one. They're going to create
one. So just keep that in mind. And then
lastly, perching. So all chickens have a
desire to roost. At about three weeks of age,
chicks start to jump to higher surfaces.
The structure of a chicken's claws ensure
that they have a firm grip while the chicken
is perching and that will prevent the
chicken from falling off a tree branch in
nature even when they're sleeping. So chickens
go to their perches about a half an hour
before twilight. The actual time will
depend on the light intensity for the
season and the period of time that you're
at. For example, they will perch earlier
than expected on a dull, cloudy day and
later than expected on a bright, clear
day. So it's going to vary day to day,
but it's going to remain in the same
general time frame. So the actual timing
of that activity will vary depending on the
weather conditions. Chickens will snuggle
together during the night and start spreading
out about two hours before the light comes
on. So take advantage of that behavior. If
you have to do any treatments, if you have
to catch chickens for any reason, when
twilight comes and they start that roosting
behavior, they really slow down and they docile
down. So they're much easier to work with in
low light conditions. So kind of keep that
in your back pocket. so some common challenges
for beginners um the number one common
challenge is security and predators um
you have to remember that everything eats
chicken so when we secure our coops we have
to think about what's up above and what's
down below so when we talk about up above
any of those larger birds, hawks, eagles,
things like that, will swoop down and
they will grab and kill chickens. So we've
got to be cognizant of that. So making sure
that if you've got a contained run for your
chickens, maybe you put a net over it
so that since those chickens are contained
in one spot that they're not a really easy
target for those birds of prey that are
circling above to dip down grab one and and
go if your birds are free-ranging they
have a little bit more opportunity to seek
cover and shelter when those birds are flying
from above them if you think from the
ground so So when we shut birds in their coop
or we have them contained in a yard,
fenced in area, anything that can dig under or
come over. So mink, raccoons, possums,
there's a lot of different predators,
dogs, coyotes, ranging from small pest type
wildlife all the way to our domesticated
companion animals, cats, that will all
try to get at your chickens. So the best
defense is a good offense, right? So
think about chicken wire is generally pretty
flimsy and raccoons can bust through those
things really easily. So think about the
materials that you're using and how you're
structuring your coops so that those
birds are protected. knowing that you know
sometimes there are breaches and it does
happen just keeping an eye on your
infrastructure on a daily basis making sure that
you know there's no new holes that you
know something from the outside is digging to
try to get in things like that will make
a huge difference nothing's eating trying
to eat up um the coop floor um for i had
this this winter that i was doing my uh bird
chores and i happened to notice that there
was a hole chewed starting to be chewed
in the floor by a feeder now it could
have been mice it could have been rats just
trying to get to my feed containers because
it's been a cold winter um but that is a
prime opportunity for predators to get inside
my coop, even though my birds are inside
and secure. So it can happen everywhere. So
it's just always a good management practice
to just check out your infrastructure as often
as you can to make sure that nothing's
getting in. And then that also prevents
anything from getting out. So speaking of
infrastructure, so what we want to think
about when we're building our coops,
adding on to our coops, maybe refashioning
our coops, is temperature control
and ventilation. Ventilation is probably
the most overlooked component of infrastructure
for our birds. So if you think about
if that dirty air doesn't have any
place to escape from, especially if like
during the winter your birds are being cooped
inside they're in with ammonia from urine
and feces and things like that if there's
not any way for that dirty air to come out
fresh air to come in that's asking for
respiratory problems so keep that in mind it
could be just as simple as you have a small
window with a crack I have a I have two
windows one on the west side and one on
the east side, and I just leave them cracked,
even though I have heat lamps going when
it was so cold, I still have those windows
cracked, so then air movement could be
incorporated in that coop. Even with it cracked, the temperature stayed
at an adequate level so that I
didn't have frozen water, all of
those good things. Another aspect of
management is overcrowding. So when we talked
about behaviors a couple minutes ago,
overcrowding really does cause a lot
of stress in birds. They're in too close
of quarters, then they start to fight, their
fights generally then get a little bit
more aggressive and aggressive because
they're just packed too tightly. So what you
want to think about from a general rule of
thumb is two to four for standard breeds,
two to four square feet per bird of coop
space inside. Now, if you're talking about
run space, it's a little bit larger because,
you know, the runs are designed for
birds to be able to spread out, stretch their
wings, stretch their legs. So you want
to look at eight to ten feet, square feet
of outdoor run space. So those are some things to keep in mind because with that social
hierarchy, there's always going to be those low
birds in the checking order and they
become targets and oftentimes I had this
myself even though had adequate I was probably
on the larger end of four square feet
for per bird in the coop area but there
was just one bird that really did get
targeted and I ended up having to remove her
for her own safety and well-being and that
changed the dynamics in a pretty good way in
that coop. So being aware and observing
that behavior is going to help you make some
management decisions. 30 coops. So we want
to make sure that our animals are in
the best environment possible. I'm going to
grant that in Michigan, it is hard to keep
coops as clean as we would like to when
it's so cold outside. And we're using that
deep litter method to provide some insulation
for that coop from the bottom. Just
remember to keep things dry, as dry as possible,
and by adding more bedding on a regular
basis. And then in the summertime, when
it's a little bit easier, keeping those
coops clean will also help you have cleaner
eggs, cleaner birds. Health and biosecurity.
So it's really important that you have
a really good daily bead on your bird's overall
health. so one of the things that you can
do is every day when you're going out to
check on your water check on your feed
check on your birds make sure everybody's good
just take a moment and as you get used to
kind of that process of daily observation
looking at each bird making sure that their
combs and waddles are the right color you
know they're not pale they're not they're
not frost spitting, anything like that.
Their eyes are bright. They're walking and
locomoting in a normal way. They're not segregated
off in the corner, kind of hunched
up and looking like they're not
feeling very well. They're exhibiting
normal behaviors, normal vocalizations, things
like that. So as you get to know your
birds, that process gets much quicker.
You can glance at them and be like, okay,
everybody looks good because you have that
familiar baseline of what their normal
behavior is. And that then makes it easier
to identify when there is a bird that is not
behaving normally. Sometimes it's really
hard with how birds are fed in groups.
It's hard to know if birds are eating and
drinking normally. That's why kind
of getting that assessment every day,
figuring out what their size is, you
can kind of see if they're losing
weight, if their overall feather
condition looks good. So that's really important
in terms of health. Biosecurity is
another topic we'll talk a
little bit more in depth about in
a minute, but making sure that
you're not bringing any kind of sickness
or disease into your coop by wearing a
dedicated pair of footwear, having
dedicated, like in the winter, having a
dedicated coat that you're just using to
go into your coop and handle your birds
and do your chores. Some very simple
things that you can employ to make
sure that you are not bringing any
disease in, but you're also not taking
any disease out. So we'll talk about
that in a little bit more depth here
in a few minutes. So daily care
and management, your daily checklist, feeding and watering. So always making
sure that fresh feed and water
are available. Adequate feeder
and water space is really
critical because, again, just like
overcrowding, when birds are in a
position where they feel like they have
to fight for food and water, they're going
to become aggressive. So if you think about
for mature birds, feeder space, three to six
linear inches per bird of feeder space. So
that sounds like a lot, but if you get a few
of the hanging feeders and disperse them out
amongst your coop, you've provided lots of
opportunity for birds to be able to eat
without competition from the other birds in the
coop. water is a little bit smaller so you
only really need one linear inch per bird a
lot of people will use water ******* which
is fine just make sure that you have an
adequate amount of water space and water
opportunities so that birds aren't in competition
for that water another often overlooked feeding
and water management strategy is making
sure that feeders and waterers are at an
appropriate height. So you want the feeder and
waterer to be level with the bird's back because
when we feed them up off the ground
they're less likely to contaminate that feed
and water source with the with weight, with the
defecation and the water that comes out of
their cloaca. That's a combination between
urine and feces. So the higher it
is so that they can still reach it, but
it's up off that floor, that will help
that food and water source not get
contaminated as quickly. Now, granted, they
are going to jump up on the feeders. They
are going to find ways, but it helps
mitigate some of that. So as you're thinking
about getting new birds if you're getting
chicks for the first time or if you're
adding new stock into your existing flock
there's a few tips that can help give you
a really good start. So number one where
you source your birds from is
really important. There's several ways
that you can source new birds. Some are
good options and some are not so good
options but they're all options you may have
friends or acquaintances that have breeding
stock that you can purchase some
chicks from or you can purchase them from a
farm store like tractor supply or a family
farm at home or some feed mills sometimes
we'll have chick days as well or you
can buy direct from a hatchery no matter
what you choose to do. That's your individual
choice, but just make sure that you're getting
a complete health history on those birds
if you're getting them from an individual.
You want to know what the health,
overall health status of that farm's flock is.
What breed are those chicks? When were they
hatched? Have they had any vaccinations? Any
of those things? Has the existing flock
been pallorum tested? Um, has the flock had
any kinds of diseases or illnesses that
are noteworthy? So those are some, some
questions to ask if you're getting
from an individual. If you're getting
from a farm store or direct from
the hatchery, um, which most of the
farm stores are getting direct
from a hatchery, um, then they are
generally coming from a National Poultry
Improvement Plan flock, or NPIP certified flock,
which is what Extension recommends. So the
National Poultry Improvement Plan, or
NPIP, is a voluntary certification program
for breeders, and it's through state and
federal partners whose objective is to improve
poultry and poultry products by establishing
standards for evaluation and testing
of breeding stock, baby chooks, poults, and
hatching eggs with respect to freedoms
from certain diseases. The major diseases
that are monitored by NPIP are avian
influenza and pallorum typhoid. By purchasing
stock from NPIP certified hatcheries,
you're ensuring that you are not bringing
disease back to your house or your flock,
especially if you have an established
flock. So before you bring your chicks home,
you'll want to make sure that your brooder
is all set up and ready to go before
you get your chicks. Once you set up your
brooder, make sure it's set up in a
space where the temperature can be
carefully monitored, drafts can be kept to a
minimum, and predators can't access the
chicks in some place that's easy for you
to monitor and observe throughout the day for
the first few days by setting up your brooder
early at least I we always recommend
48 hours before chicks arrive it allows time
for the bedding to settle and dry if there's
any moisture in that bedding and also the
environmental temperature to set so newly
hatched chicks cannot control their body
temperature for the first few weeks of their
lives so there are various brooder options
that you can utilize that will provide space
that the chicks need, which is six to seven
square inches per chick. And it will
allow you to provide an adequate temperature
for the chicks since they're not able to
regulate that body temperature for at least
the first 12 to 14 days. They can be easily
stressed if their body temperature fluctuates
up or down a degree. So it's really
important that you're watching that chick
behavior. If they're huddling under the heat source
they're cold if they're spread out way
away from that heat source they're hot if
they're just kind of mingling around normally
and the environment kind of spread throughout
evenly you've got the perfect environment
so just a observation to kind of keep um
an eye on remember that there's no right
or wrong brooder set up. Some people use
like a 27 gallon tote, little kiddie pools.
You could build one out of a cardboard
box. However, if you do that,
please be aware of if you're using a
heat source and make sure that things
aren't flammable. This is not endorsed
by MSU, but Premier One Supplies has a
heat lamp that can literally fall down
and it will shut off. It is a fire resistant
heat lamp. Super safe option. That's
what I use at home. And it does not get
hot to the touch like these metal heat
lamps that I have pictured here. So there
are some really good options for non
-flammable heat sources. So you'll want to
bed the brooder with 3 to 4 inches
deep with pine shavings or
shredded newspaper. Avoid using shavings
that have cedar or other strong smells because
that could affect the respiratory system of
the birds long term. You'll want to provide
feed and water in the brooder. You could
use clean egg cartons, low laying feeders or
trough feeders as you get started. The
feeder should be easily accessible to the chicks
and you may have to encourage the chicks or
teach them how to eat and drink from the
feeders for the first day but like I said before
they're mimickers so if you teach one or two
chicks how to eat and it's really easy just
gently take them up to the feeder water
and kind of dip their beaks in that feeder
water and they they catch on pretty quickly and
then they mimic one another. So they figure
that out pretty easy. Water should be
kept outside of the radiant view of
the heat lamps in the direct light
because you don't want that water
to get too warm. You'll want to
provide about one quart of water for
every 12 birds. That heat in the birder
is really important. So the recommended
temperature for the first week of the
chick's life is 95 degrees. And then after
the first week, the brooder temperature
should be decreased by five degrees each
week until you reach either 55 degrees or
whatever the ambient temperature is
outside. So you can generally wean that
down fairly quickly. And the later that you
get your chicks in the spring, the faster
you will be able to wean them off of that
supplemental heat. there are two main
options to provide that supplemental heat
so the heat lamps or there's also heater plates
just always be careful with heat lamps
because there there is a fire risk for that
so once your chicks are roughly the same
size as your existing flock if you're if you're
adding chicks to your existing flock, you can
start to incorporate that new group of birds
into your existing flock. So since
birds operate in that hierarchy, the transition
will be, there will be stress to some
degree for all of the birds, but there's some
things that you can do to make that a little
bit alleviated. So the first way is to
do like a fence line, side-by-side introduction.
So if you have the ability to allow
birds to see one another, but there's a physical
barrier, whether that's a chicken wire
fence, something to that effect, where they
can see each other and they can kind of get
used to each other. They can touch each
other a little bit, but they can't actually
fight. Then after about a week, you can
incorporate them, take that barrier out, and
they'll get along a lot easier because they've
had that introduction. Um, so if you're utilizing
more of a free range system, what you'll
want to do is bring the birds from your
existing flock into the new area, like
into an area where the new birds are. So
you move that existing flock into the area
where the new birds are. And what that
does is it allows the birds to focus on
the new environment instead of the new
birds. So that also reduces that stress and
helps those birds to integrate together
a little bit better. So regardless of what
strategy you decide to use, always
provide additional feeders and waters in
the area to make sure that there's plenty
of opportunities for birds to eat and
drink so that there's not additional stress
and competition. All right, so housing. Oh goodness. So there are a lot
of different options for housing, as you
can see. There is no right or wrong housing
mechanism. People have built housing out
of pallets and tarps and greenhouses and
dutch barns and there's there's a variety of
different strategies and materials that
can be utilized for housing. So as you're
looking at coop design the focus should
be on accessibility, safety, exterior
appearance and soundness, and appropriateness
for the birds. So birds will need
protection from predators, the appropriate
amount of space for the number of
birds you have, ventilation, roosting spaces,
nesting boxes, and whatever your
climate is, whatever considerations you
need to make for the climate that you live
in. The type of housing that you have will
directly relate to the overall health and
productivity of your birds. And the housing you
utilize will vary on your needs, the
type of birds that you have, the number
of birds you have, but you should always
check your local ordinances to make
sure that your COOP is compliant. There are
some municipalities, like if you're
in an urban area, they may want your
COOP to be set back so far from a house
or a property line. They may say, you
can't use pallets, you have to use XYZ. They
may have some really specific structural
requirements for that coop. So always
just make sure that what your municipality
is requesting, if there is a request,
so that your coop is compliant. So the
most important thing is that your coop
should protect your birds from the elements,
rain, snow, heat, cold temperatures,
and other weather conditions, mud,
all of those things. So making sure your
housing is tight from the predators,
such as coyotes, foxes, weasels, raccoons,
prey birds, skunks, all of those
things is important. So assess that
risk for predators, both from above
and below. Whatever you
decide for fencing, make sure that any
loose wire, any nails, any sharp
-edged objects are removed to
prevent any injury. Checking your fences
regularly is super important so that
you can notice any weak areas or dangers
to your birds. We've talked a little
bit about the importance of ventilation. So
especially if your birds are going to be
shut inside for any period of time, there
needs to be a way for moisture and ammonia
and carbon dioxide to escape and for fresh
oxygen to be able to come in. So windows and
vents generally provide good ventilation for
those smaller coops. So a common question
that's always asked is what size should
my coop be? So just remember that
the amount of space that you need to
provide depends on the type and size of
birds that you raise. So the small bantam
breeds of birds, about one square foot per
bird is generally the minimum. And then for
standard size birds, three to five square feet
per bird is adequate. If you have egg
laying birds, you need to make sure
that there's plenty of nesting box
spaces available. You may notice that
they choose to all use about three of the
same nesting boxes. um but a good rule
of thumb is to have um three to four nesting
boxes per 10 birds um usually two to
three hens will use the same nesting box
um but you may find that they all decide
that they like the same one um so just
be be aware of that and as long as they're
not um competing or fighting over those
nesting boxes and they're not breaking
eggs and things like that then they should
be in good shape. So let's talk really quickly about nutrition. So nutrition is based on the amount
of energy that that bird needs to fuel
the chemical reactions in its body. The
energy source or the nutrition's calories
come from carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. So carbohydrates
are the main energy source for the bird
and make up the largest portion
of a poultry diet. They're typically
eaten in the form of starches,
sugars, cellulose, and non-starch compounds. Poultry typically can't
digest cellulose and the non-starch
compounds that are often called crude fiber very
well at all. So it's important that any
sources of carbohydrates in that poultry diet
are generally corn, wheat, barley, and other
cereal type grains. Next, vitamins and
minerals. So vitamins are a group of organic
compounds that are required in small
amounts, but they are essential for normal
growth and development. So vitamins are
classified into two categories, water-soluble
and fat-soluble. So water-soluble vitamins
include vitamin C, vitamin B, and
vitamin B are involved in many of the body's
metabolic functions. So birds can make
their own vitamin C, so there isn't a
dietary requirement for C. However, when
birds are stressed, vitamin C supplementation has been shown
to be useful. Some fat-soluble
vitamins are A, D, E, and K. Vitamin A is required
for normal growth and development of
the epithelial tissues and reproduction.
So the epithelial tissue includes skin,
digestive system lining, reproductive and
respiratory tracts. Vitamin D3 is required
for normal growth, bone development, and
eggshell formation. And then vitamin
K is essential for blood clot formation. So there's many of
the essential vitamins are supplied by feed
ingredients, but a vitamin premix is typically
used to compensate for the fluctuating
levels of vitamins in the natural feedstuffs, and
that will be included in that feed mixture
that we're going to look at a feed tag in
just a few seconds. Minerals are also really
important for bone formation, but they're
needed for other ****** functions like
formation of blood cells, enzyme activation,
energy, metabolism, and for proper muscle
function. There are micro and macro minerals,
so the micro minerals are required in lower
amounts and the macro minerals are required
in higher amounts. Some micro
minerals include iodine, zinc,
and iron. Macro minerals are
calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, magnesium,
potassium, and sodium. Just a lot like
us. We need all of those micro and
macro minerals to help our bodies
function in a proper way. Same goes
for our animals. So grains tend to
be really low in minerals. So minerals
are oftentimes added into that
complete diet. Proteins. So proteins
are complex compounds made up of amino acids.
The digestive process breaks down proteins
into amino acids, which are then absorbed
by the blood and transported throughout
the body to the cells. Essential amino
acids are those that cannot be made in
adequate amounts to meet the needs of the
animal and must be supplied and feed. So
non-essential amino acids are those that
the animal's body can generate in
sufficient quantities. Protein quality is
based on the presence of essential amino
acids, and it will vary depending on
the quality of the feed ingredients. And
those are generally referred to as crude
protein. The two most critical amino
acids in poultry diets are melathionine
and lysine. So remember that,
melathionine and lysine. Deficiencies in
either of those can lead to a drop
in productivity and overall flock health. Some common
protein sources are soybean meal, canola
meal, corn gluten meal, fish meal,
and bone meal. So next, fats. Fats
provide calories and improve palatability
of feed. So fats really are what makes birds
want to eat that fat. Just like us,
candy bars. They're not very good for us.
There's no nutritional value, but they're really
good to eat because they taste good. So
fat must be present in order for the body
to absorb those fat -soluble vitamins. So
there is a purpose for fats, even though
they improve that palatability, but they
also are necessary for absorption of those
fat-soluble vitamins. And then lastly,
water. Water is probably the most
overlooked but critically important
feed ingredient. Animals can live
longer without feed than they
can without water. And a bird's
egg productivity will decrease
within a few hours if water
is not available. So if you have, if you,
once your birds are laying and you watch
them, if they run out of water, they are
really thirsty one day and they go a couple
hours without water, you'll see a decrease
in that egg production. So water does a few
different things. Water softens feed
and it carries it through the
digestive tract. Blood is made up
of about 90% water. Water carries nutrients
from the digestive tract to the cells,
and it carries away waste products
within the body. Water also helps cool birds
through evaporation since birds don't
have sweat glands. Their heat loss
occurs in the air sacs that are located
throughout their body and their lungs through
rapid respiration. But there isn't a
precise water requirement amount because there
are so many factors that affect the amount
of water that a bird will need, such as the
bird's age, the body condition that it's
in, the diet that it's on, the outside ambient
temperature or the temperature in the
coop, water quality and humidity all impact
that water requirement. They need more water
in cold water than they do in warm water. So
just as a rule of thumb, provide twice as
much water as you do feed. So if you're going
to spend your time, If you've got limited time
to to care for your birds on a particular
day because we're we all get busy and I
understand those things. If you don't do
anything else, make sure that they have
plenty of water. So when we talk
about diets, diets will depend on what production stage
the bird is in. So when you're
purchasing your feed, ask yourself
some questions. What kind of bird
are you feeding? What are the ages
of your bird? And why are you raising
them? So the answers to those questions
will guide you to the appropriate
feed for your flock. Notice that as the bird
grows and develops, the protein percentage
also decreases. This is because as
the bird matures, its body is moving away from
building body tissue to which it needs
that protein for to body maintenance which
it then doesn't need as much protein the
texture or the uh the uh pellet the what
uh format the feed is in is it in a pellet
is it in a grain form is it in a scratch um
those will be different um in the various
diets but pellets or crumbles are often
the most common. So crumbles are kind of
like the broken down grain that you see on
the right-hand side, and then pellets are
on the left-hand side. Remember that scratch feed, so that loose corn, should not be
considered a complete feed for any type
of bird because it's just a collection
of cracked grains. It doesn't have a
complete balance of any of the nutrients
that a chicken will need to grow
and be productive. It should only be thrown
out as an occasional treat for birds
and it should never be mixed with a
complete formulated diet because it will create
a nutrient imbalance in the total diet
of that bird. So generally chicks will
not need supplementation outside of possibly
calcium and grit. So calcium if you
notice that you have some soft
eggshells or they're thin, translucent,
then you could be looking at a
calcium deficiency. And then grit is like
little stones that they eat to get in
their gizzards to help them grind that feed
down a little bit more. So generally you won't
need to supplement those things, but
those are the two most common. And if you
look at, so our broiler birds, so birds being
raised for meat. They start on a starter
feed, one to three weeks, 22% protein,
a grower, four to six weeks at 20%, and then
a finisher at 18%. Then our laying head poles,
we're going to start them on a starter and
then switch them to a grower. And then
after they achieve that 18 plus weeks of age,
we'll then switch them to a laying hen diet.
Laying hen diets do have a lot of calcium
in it just for that egg shell formation.
So all of these diets will have different
components in them that are appropriate for the
birds at the age stage and production use that
they're in. So it's always important to
feed a complete feed, which then provides
all of the nutritional requirements for your
birds. A lot of people want to create their
own ration for small flocks, but MSU Extension
really does recommend using a bagged complete
feed for smaller flocks because they
have been researched. They are nutritionally
balanced and it's a really good
option because there are several different
types on the market at various
price points and they've been tested
for quality as well. Laying hen diets should
generally contain 2.5 to 3.5 percent
calcium, which will be listed on
that feed tag. And if you still question
that eggshell quality, then you can
supplement like we talked about with
the calcium or oyster shells or limestone
fed free choice. So just as a caution
for chicks and starter feed, remember that
laying mash should not be fed to chicks
or growing poultry because of that high
calcium level. The high calcium level may
cause growth problems and kidney damage
and even death in chicks. So making sure
that your chicks are on a chick starter
is really important. If your chicks have
been vaccinated, you shouldn't feed a medicated
starter feed because that will also interfere
with the vaccine that they had just
been given efficacy. So just two notes to
make. So if we look at a feed tag, this is
just a general broiler feed tag, you can see
that all feed tags are going to be the same
kind of layout. It's going to tell us the
crude protein, the crude fat, the fiber, all
of those percentages. It's going to give us
feeding directions. And then it's going
to give us those ingredients. So
remember that the feed stuff that is most
in that mix is going to be at the beginning.
So as we look, the largest quantity
is those corn, roasted soybeans.
Those are the top two ingredients, oats,
calcium, fish meal. So we get that protein,
the carbohydrate, the fat source. And then
down in the feed list is going to be
the vitamin and mineral sources because we
don't need those in quite the same
quantities that we do need the proteins and
the carbohydrates. So here's another
sample feed tag where you can see
those micro and macro minerals, the
lysine and methionine and what the
percentages are. So just it's really
important to learn how to read those feed
tags so that you know exactly what you're
giving to those birds. Okay, so this one
might be the most important, especially
if you live in a suburban or an urban
area. So nutrient management or manure
management. So if you think about how much
manure 15 hens could possibly produce.
On average, per hen, 15 mature hens will
produce 5.4 pounds of manure per day,
which over the course of a year
amounts to 1,971 pounds of manure per year.
So having a manure management plan is
really important. There's a couple
appropriate ways for you to choose that are
environmentally sound and will be better
suited for small flocks. You'll need to choose
what the most feasible option for you is. So
the first is a landfill. Depending on how many
chickens you have and how often you clean
your coops, you can send manure and bedding
right to the landfill through your trash
disposal system. This works for a very small
number of birds whose coops are being cleaned
really regularly. So if that's you,
that might be a really good option
for you. The second option is composting.
So composting may be a really
great option for dealing with the
manure on your farm. If you're interested
in composting, you can contact the MSU
Extension Nutrient Management Team,
and they can provide you with resources
to help you learn how to compost
your manure because composting is not
just piling up manure. There's a whole
formula, there's a whole process to make it
actually compost, and then at the end of
that, you may have a finished product that
you can use in your gardens or sell to your
neighbors or things like that. The third
acceptable way to get rid of manure is
manure spreading. So somewhere most of you
may not have that land base to apply manure,
but you may have a neighbor or know
somebody who can spread manure for you. So
land application is the most commonly used
manure disposal options. Always remember
that chicken manure is full of salmonella
and E. coli bacteria. So
washing your hands, washing your clothes,
and keeping your footwear clean is
really important. in. And we are, I'm
going to fly through the last couple
of slides here because we're getting
short on time. But biosecurity, what
we really want to do to decrease exposure
to diseases like highly consequential
diseases like avian influenza is limit
exposure points with wild animals. So So
eliminate any wild bird perching sources,
limit exposure to shared water sources,
secure your feed containers so that you
don't have rats, mice, other rodents getting
into your feed. Wear that dedicated footwear
to care for your birds and only wear
that in your coop. Regularly clean and
disinfect your feeders, waterers, cleaning
your coop. That's super important to keep that
disease load down. Quickly identify and isolate any sick birds. Caring for those birds
with symptoms last before you care for your
existing flock. Don't share equipment in
between healthy and sick birds. And then we
all like to share our birds with other people
and teach other people, but it's really
important to monitor or limit visitors to your
flock because people can take disease out.
They can bring disease in. So just always a
good reminder to limit contact, outside
contact with your birds. There's some really
good biosecurity materials at Defend
the Flock from the USDA. So I'll give
you a second to scan that QR code. Otherwise,
you can Google USDA Defend the
Flock. They have a lot of great
resources that you can utilize to build your
biosecurity plan. Recognizing
disease symptoms is also critically
important. We talked about that
during daily monitoring, that identifying those
ill birds quickly and off the bat can
help you mitigate the effects of any kind
of illness. So making sure birds are eating
and drinking normally. Are they acting normally?
Do you notice any signs of diarrhea,
swelling on the head, eyes, combs, waddles,
hocks, nasal discharge? Are the waddles
and combs and legs showing any
discoloration? Is your egg production
normal for the amount of hens that you have?
Are your eggs exhibiting soft shells or are
they misshapen? Those are all some things to
kind of look for that may indicate that
your birds are having some health issues. So
if you have a sick bird, don't hesitate to
contact a veterinarian. If you don't have a
veterinarian, it's super important
that you create that patient-client
relationship so that you can have somebody
treat your birds if that's the route that
you choose to go. So if you have any
questions at all, please don't hesitate
to reach out to me. I'm always available
to answer questions or help you problem
solve or identify new resources. With
that, is there any questions? I'm going to
go to the chat quick. what is a good temperature
for the coop in the dead of winter for
full-grown birds and do chickens usually
lay less in the winter so I'm going to taste
take the easy part first yes chickens do
usually lay less in the winter it's not due
to temperature it's due to the reduction
in daylight hours. So you can install like a
soft red bulb or put a timer on lights if
you want to extend daylight and that will help
increase egg production during the winter.
So the temperature, that's a little bit
more subjective of a question because birds,
depending on the breed, will depend on how
cold hardy they are. Birds have, as long
as they are able to be out of the
elements so that they don't get frostbite,
so that they stay dry, all of those
things, they can survive like some pretty
cold temperatures. The biggest factor
in the winter is making sure that they've
got good bedding. So if you've got
straw bedding that they can burrow down
into and kind of recapture some
of their own body heat, they
can do that. You can offer
supplemental heat. I keep my coop above
freezing with that Premier One heat lamp
solely because I don't want water to
freeze. But there are options. As long as you
can keep fresh water in front of them,
they'll be able to regulate their temperatures
really well. You just have to watch for
that frostbite. And then if you notice
that there are birds with frostbite, increase
your bedding and consider some
supplemental heat. Any other questions? Yes, so the veggies
and volts is next. we we've just gone over
just a little bit on the poultry webinar we're
sharing a link so um thoughts on rooster
spurs uh keep them on for protection trim them
um that is a personal choice um avma has
some guidelines i do believe on trimming um
so uh that's a that's a choice that you as
an individual have to to make if if you've
got a rooster that's aggressive with those
spurs um then you may want to consider trimming
them um but but there is some risk in trimming
them so um i would have a conversation with
your your veterinarian on that um are
birds with big combs have more cold risk
um potentially i mean there's more surface
area for them to get cold But again, if
they're a cold hardy breed and that comb
and waddles are dry, they can withstand those temperatures
much more efficiently.