Chicken Chat

Consider what the chickens will be doing in their run.  Chickens love to free range with the ability to scratch through the grass and soil for weeds and bugs, providing both a treat and exercise. A run is meant to help them forage and dust bathe while adventuring outside within the protection of an enclosure.

Take a Bath

This is an area that they will naturally dig down to the dirt and use the sand particles to help rid themselves of bugs and prune themselves.  We like to use sand with a dust bath mix in to help deter common soft bodied insects.   

Foraging

Breeds include:  Barred Plymouth Rock, Bielefelder, Cream Legbar, Wheaten Marans, Salmon Faverolle

Auto Sexing male breeds such as 55 Flowery Hens, Barred Plymouth Rock, Bielefelder, and cream Legbar possess lighter feather color than their female counterparts. 

Salmon Faverolle and Wheaten Marans can be sexed at 10-14 days of age by the wing color that develops.  Males will only have black and white wing colors.  Females have a mix of white, brownish, and limited black feathers on their wings.

Breeds include: Amerucana, Brahma, Easter Eggers

Pea combs appear at the base of the beak and extend towards the top of a chicken's head. Pea combs are smaller than other combs and are fairly tight against their heads.  Males have three connected rows of caruncles that look like rows of peas side by side.  Females have only 1 row.  The "peas rows" are little bumps, and are uniform in shape and size as juveniles. As the bird matures the comb grows, sometimes losing its neat, ordered appearance and becoming a large globule on their head.

Breeds include:  Ayam Cemani, Barnevelder, Barred Plymouth Rock, Bielefelder,  Cream Legbar, Frizzle Cochin,  Orpington, Marans, Rhode Island, Salmon Faverolle, Sussex

Combs are absent as newborns.  Cockerels’ combs develop faster and often begin to redden as early as 3 weeks of age.  Around 5-6 weeks of age, their comb becomes a nice big red flag making claim of being a male.  As pullets develop combs, they appear yellowish orange. Pullet combs will turn bright red closer to point of lay.  Comb sexing at 5-6 weeks of age works best if you have multiples of the same breed to compare and contrast the developmental differences. 

Note: Ayam Cemani and Onyx Sundance single combs remain black.  Thus, you can only judge by the size of comb and not the color.