Are your chickens lawbreakers? Have you checked lately? All Across the United States local cities, towns, counties, are engaged in show downs over Chicken Laws. Its quite a flap (Oh Yes I did). Today on the show, were going to talk about the various issues with backyard flocks. We’ll discuss different examples of how these struggles get resolved…or don’t.. And what you can do about it. Lots of people are fighting the good fight, pushing their local government to change Chicken laws to allow people to keep chickens on their own property.
Not everybody is on board however. There are forces big and small out there who want to prevent people from passing chicken laws. Some are “Big Poultry”, but most are busy-body neighbors with not much argument. Yet, due to their persistence, and lack of being challenged by chicken owners, they often carry the day at the local planning meeting, and prevent chicken laws from being passed.
There are a lot of things you can do to change the law in your favor however. And a great many of them aren’t really that much work. Today on the show we’re going to show you whats worked in other areas, and give you talking points and tactics to help win over chicken laws in your favor.
For example; remember when we talked about Live Oak, Ca, and the popularity of their free range city chickens that hang out at coffee shops? A politician might give over to a small group of complainers.. But if they see the potential for growth and buzz, they might see things differently.
Even if you have no intention of fighting legislatively, these talking points are still useful for you in talking to others, and convincing people that backyard chickens aren’t just OK, they’re a great idea.
Were also going to be talking on the show today about Sentinel chickens.. The chickens you probably don’t even know are keeping your flock safe! Find out about these secretive chicken heroes. We’ll also take you into the world of mad scientists… Where they are slowly reverse engineering the chicken on a genetic level to produce little chicken /dinosaur hybrids.
You Can’t Rooster Like You Used To…Says Zydeco Joe in our featured music.. But we can still fight to keep hens, even in the cities! Let this show “Give you a booster” to do just that!
Turning chickens into dinosaurs, crude innuendo and overturning the law… where else, but the Twin Beaks Chicken Podcast!
Woman Who Can’t Deal With, And Can’t Get Rid Of Rooster Reveals Mistakes In Chicken Raising.
Denell McCaul has had it with her rooster. And just wants him out of the yard. While her description of the situation is pretty funny, it betrays her own culpability in the problem. Can you see what Denell is doing wrong, why its causing the behavior, and what she needs to do differently?
What do you think is going on here? Tell us in the Comments!
Are your chickens too hot? Are they laying hard boiled eggs? Its been hotter than a billygoat with a blowtorch with record heat waves reported across the country! Are you worried if your birds can cope? You should be!
Heat stress is a serious condition that poses great risk for your chickens. The best thing to do is avoid your birds getting too hot in the first place. In this episode, were going to talk about how to deal with hot birds. Simple solutions, and larger, permanent projects. We’ll share tips that keep birds from getting too hot, even in the baking Arizona summers.
We all know your flock needs plenty of cool water and shade when the sun is scorching, and its hot outside. But extreme temperatures require extraordinary measures to keep your chickens safe. Personally, we like to bring them indoors, blast the AC and hook them up with mealworm martinis and a personal masseuse. We would give them the whole house if we could; but every situation calls for a unique set of tools. Don’t worry if you can’t bring the chickens in the house, we’ve got you covered in this episode with plenty of simple things you can do to beat the heat.
But of course, the show will be about much more; Are chickens a solution to the energy crisis? How are the Twin Beaks flock doing with the new tractor?
Have you ever looked into your chickens eyes, and contemplated the inherent contradictions in physical matter staring back at you? No? Listen in to find out why chickens eyes challenge our very notions of the nature of matter itself, and present a seeming paradox in physical matter! Chickens are the only known living thing that displays “Disordered Hyper-uniformity, challenging our very understanding of the world with a mere glance of the eye.
How could chickens get any cooler? Find out. On the Twin Beaks Chicken Podcast .
How would you like a way of housing your chickens thats cheaper than the conventional hen house and run operation and will improve your land too? What if I told you it was also better for the chickens? Chicken tractors can offer all this and more, and are an alternative worth considering. Amber and Shannon just picked up their first chicken tractor and want to share with the audience what chicken tractors are all about.
Chicken tractors are a lightweight, low budget, intelligent way to manage your chickens grazing. With reasonable attention to planning, one can use chicken tractors to make sure that there will always be a supply of the best forage for your birds. They will always live on fresh ground. Using a chicken tractor allows for a grazing system that actually improves biodiversity and soil health. You can avoid “Hammered” land; Property that the birds have killed all the good plants on and compressed the soil. Additionally, with some planning you can design your chicken tractor with other elements of your property in mind. What if you could make your chickens weed the yard? Fertilize the garden? Chicken Tractors make it easy!
Its a good thing we did the episode on Breaking broody hens, because over the last week one of our hens went broody. Did the techniques we talked about on the show work? We had some unanticipated results, and we’ll talk about them for our weekly Chicken Update.
If only we could see as they do….
Were also going to cover some strange and unusual stories in Ambers Cabinet of Curiosities. Chickens see a completely different world than we humans do. You may think you can tell how your chicken sees things, but you’ll be blown away by what Amber has to tell you about what makes chicken eyesight unique; even among birds. Do chickens live in a psychedelic wonder world invisible to human eyes? Get the birds-eye view with Amber!
Over half a century ago, a man cut off a chickens head. And didn’t kill it. Friends, when circumstances such as these arrive, you know the players are going straight to stardom. You’ll want to hear Ambers story of the headless chicken, and the weirdest chicken festival in the world.
And if thats not enough chicken obscurity; if you are not yet entertained; stay tuned for the end of the show for the amazing talent of our one stringed guitar player and his song about chickens! Here on Twin Beaks Podcast, we bring you not any chicken festival, but the weirdest chicken festival imaginable- All this and we still make the chicken tractors run on time.
Are your chickens eating each others eggs? Are they stressed out? Bored? Picking at each other? Does it seem like they go looking for things to get themselves into trouble? Did you know chickens can be TOO heavy? Are yours eating too much? Does it seem like they are constantly trying to escape? What if I told you that you can add something to your chicken operation that addresses and mitigates all these issues? For Free? Yes, chicken toys might be your answer!
Many chicken owners are under the mistaken impression that providing chicken toys to your flock is a frivolous, self-indulgent affair. Something that people that think too highly of their birds do. “Experts” even warn people away from certain chicken toys, merely on principle that the idea is “silly”. Far from it, apart from providing yourself, your family and your chickens with entertainment, chicken toys help to prevent many problems from starting with your flock, and even stopping some problems after they’ve started. Chickens are smarter than many people think. They need mental stimulation! Apart from addressing problems, some chicken toys will provide practical improvements to your birds environment, we’ll go over the various advantages during the show! Are you just setting up the yard for chickens? Make sure they’ve got something to keep their minds busy!
You don’t need to have a big budget to provide chicken toys for your flock either. In fact, many chicken toys can be made for free. Odds are, you have everything you need to start making chicken toys today. And… you should! Chicken toys are very entertaining for both humans and chickens. They’re a great way to keep your kids involved with the flock as well. There are a lot of creative, cheap or free ways to make toys for the flock and we’ll make sure you’ve got at least one good idea that you can use today!
Make sure you catch the rest of the show too; Strange things are going on in the chicken cabinet of curiosities (or should we say closet?) and a word of warning in song to those who prey upon the chicken.. One day you’ll look up, and see Ghost Chickens in the Sky.
Witchcraft, chicken ghosts and tips on which musical instruments are best for your chickens… Where else but the Twin Beaks Chicken Podcast!!
Which Chicken Lifestyle choice is right for you? If you’ve been to the supermarket lately, or have thought about marketing your own eggs, you’ve doubtlessly noticed that there is a growing range of “Lifestyle choices”-quality of life standards for the laying hens- boasted about on egg cartons. “Cage Free”, “Free Range”, “Outdoor range” and many more. But what do these descriptions really look like in practice? Are you making the decision that actually reflects your values?
Whether you buy eggs, or you sell them, or you just want a better understanding of the issues, you’ll want to tune in to this weeks show. Joining us is Avia Moore. Avia is a student and intern at the U.C. Davis poultry facility as part of her pursuit of a degree in veterinary medicine, who also has an established career in the Goth/alt fashion industry. She is familiar with the issues of flock management in caged and range environments, and know the various benefits and pitfalls of the different lifestyles of industrial birds. Have a listen, what she has to say may shock you! Did your eggs come from a scene that looks like Little House On The Prairie? Or is it more like a Sex Pistols Mosh Pit? Can you actually tell what chicken lifestyle the hens had? We’ll go over the different choices, and help you find a chicken lifestyle you’re happy with.
Did the bird that lays your eggs grow up in a mosh pit?
And.. if you make eggstra money selling eggs, or are a backyard chicken evangelist, you’ll want to hear about whats going on in the industry to share the news with your neighbors and customers. There are limits to what you can reasonably expect from people who raise birds by the thousands in terms of attention, care, and quality of life. Judgments of the industry aside, its simply impossible for someone to raise 10,000 birds with the same chicken lifestyle as your little backyard flock. Thats part of the appeal of your eggs, and you’ll want to know the alternatives to discuss them for your customers. What will you say when someone asks you why your eggs are twice as much as they are in the store? They’re making a chicken lifestyle choice. Discussing alternatives in chicken lifestyle will make your customers feel confident they made the right decision.
We’re also going to cover issues with the industry that pertain to the back yard chicken enthusiast in Ambers Cabinet of Curiosities. China has recently signed a trade deal with the US to allow processed cooked chicken from China into the US market. If you eat chicken, or sell chicken, you’re going to want to hear the story. Also we’ll talk about A completely preventable tragedy that kills entire flocks of backyard chickens, and threatens their owners weekly in this country. Don’t let it happen to you! And, we’ll look back for a laugh at an article from 2008 that declares the “Backyard Chicken Movement” as a fad. Has the movement grown much since? We’ll look at some numbers.
Is your hen in the mood for the brood? Are you concerned with her obsessive devotion to her nest? Why has she stopped eating and started pulling out her feathers? What is this avian insanity which has befallen your fowl friend? In this show we discuss why hens get broody, how it affects your hen physically and mentally and what you can do to break this broody behavior ….or use it to your advantage!
There are many great things about having a broody hen. Have you ever incubated eggs and cared for chicks until they are ready to go outdoors? Its a huge job and a mother hen knows how to do it best. Whats even better is having a broody hen hatch a clutch of chicks from eggs you ordered online or bought locally. These eggs can be a variety of pure breeds specifically chosen to fan the flames of your flock fanaticism. Imagine the variety of chicks you could hatch and all without need of a rooster! We will also give a few suggestions if you’re looking for a broody breed who will care for her chicks like a crowned goddess of motherhood.
But, nature loves to provide, and in many cases, you might not want a broody hen. There are lots of obscure tips and tricks to cure even the most stubborn hen of broodiness. Some are very simple and may work with little effort and others will require more diligence. Be reassured if you want your hen to keep laying instead of being a “lay about” we have solutions for you. We have anti brood secrets that will stop even the most ambitious hen as well as tips for understanding brooding behavior and nest site preferences.
Our Cabinet of Chicken Curiosities is a bit darker this week with some scary stories of chicken thievery. We all know we have to keep our clickers safe from tooth, fang and talon but what about human predators? The recent “discovery” of the joy of back yard chickens has led to climbing prices, and with climbing prices comes….. Theft. We share some news about poultry pilferers and shudder at the thought! Peering deeper into the Cabinet we will peruse some stunning examples of strange genetics, and naughty bird behavior! Did you know chickens can mate with peacocks and have occasionally hatched and reared young? Find out all about the legendary pea-chick!
This week at the end of the show, we have a fantastic story-teller named Akizur sharing the story of “The Good Farmer and The Chickens“. A fantastic parable, told brilliantly. After you’ve heard it on the show, check out this video to watch Akizur tell the story. That’s a treat in itself.
Are you looking for an affordable, simple way to boost productivity in your flock? Are you being overrun with pests? Flies? Mites? Rats!? Do you sell eggs? Would your customers like to see that signature deep, rich, orange color to their yolks that says “Home grown and farm fresh”? Maybe you just like to “Mother” your hens? All the best for the girls, right? Whatever the reason, and there are many, you, and your chickens can benefit from the use of herbs!
Today on the show, Amber and Shannon talk dig deep into the cabinet of curiosities, and pull out an old “Snake oil” product; “The Sex Finder”. Was there a now forgotten technology for home sexing….anything… on the farm? Check out the “Annihilator” of all prior chicken sexing technology!
Speaking of technology, chickens are at the forefront of the science of protecting people from the ravages of mosquito-borne diseases! Would you believe that the solution to malaria might be smelling like a chicken? Can you use chickens as a natural mosquito repellant? Amber has the story!
Were going to talk about chickens that would fool any sex detector; would you believe a chicken thats half male and half female? You would!? Well how about a chicken thats female on one side and male on the other? Its one of those things that happens in Amber’s Cabinet of Curiosities!
Today were going to take a look at incorporating herbs into your chicken raising. Herbs can be used for countless purposes in caring for your flock, and can be used topically (such as lining the nest with insect deterring plants) or internally. Herbs can be used for a number of purposes; They deter parasites, internal and external, improve overall health and immunity, can be used curatively, and will even keep flies and other insects at bay, just by leaving them around the coop. Herbs can be a low-cost, low effort method of solving or preventing a number of problems that we chicken tenders face. Have a listen to some of Ambers tips for using herbs in the coop, and start having healthy, relaxed, and bug-free birds today!
Lastly, we bring you another strange and unusual ballad by Tacheo Ischi; you might want to click through after you listen to the show to see the video for “Chicken Attack“; the story of good overcoming evil with the power of the chicken. You know you needed it, You’re Welcome.
Your hen doesn’t ever seem to leave the box. She’s started getting mean at you! She pecks at you, and puffs out her feathers when you come near her, growls if you even look at her. If you manage to find her off the nest, or throw her out, she’s lining the nest with her own feathers. She’s gone broody!
A broody hen can be a blessing. Of course, if you’re trying to hatch chicks, a mother bird takes care of a lot of work. You can even sneak different eggs under her and get her to hatch them. Its all a very rewarding process to experience. Or… A broody hen can be a curse. Theres really no point if you don’t have fertilized eggs, or time to raise more birds, or space. A broody hen undergoes hormonal changes. She eats less, goes to the bathroom less, starts to lose weight; once she has enough eggs, she stops laying. Worse, broodiness is contagious. Once the hormones start changing, other hens will start to go broody. (Another good reason to isolate a broody hen). Fantastic if you want a lot of chicks. Not good if you like having eggs. Eventually A hen will go out of brood on her own, but this can take some time, and is very taxing on the bird as she tries in vain to hatch out eggs that are either sterile, or sometimes do not even exist!
Opinions vary on the soundness of breaking the brood. Some people say that broodiness is a natural process that should be allowed to play out. That it is a hormone cycle that should not be interfered with.
In my opinion, this position is overstated. Consider the natural environment. In all probability, the natural hen would have consistent exposure (ahem) to mates. Anyone who has seen a feral chicken population can tell you this. As such, the hens normal cycle would be a successful hatch. Not a vain, unduly drawn out, futile attempt to hatch eggs. I have seen hens try over and over again, and it isn’t good for them. A fertile clutch leads to a short brood. Much shorter than a hen spends trying to hatch useless eggs. I weigh the disturbance of “too much brood” vs the disturbance of breaking and find myself in favor of breaking, for the benefit of both my hen and myself.. But, your call.
If you want to break your hens broodiness, there are some basic principles you need to understand. A hen wants to brood in a dark, isolated, warm, soft place away from other birds. The best way to break the brood is to never let it start. Avoid producing these areas….particularly in places that you don’t check where a hen can “get away with it” for too long before you stop it.
Broodiness as a hormone cycle, becomes entrenched the longer it is allowed to continue. A hen will fight to stay on a nest she’s already put a lot of time into much harder than a new one. So, act decisively. As soon as you notice a hen is broody, begin removing all the eggs from the hen, and the hen house generally as soon as possible. There should be no eggs “sitting around” encouraging the broody hen. Take the hen to the far end of the yard, distract her with treats, and leave her outside. Some people suggest walking around with the hen for a bit. The idea is “the longer off the nest, the more she forgets about it”.
If you can lock your hen out of the house all day, and at night place her on a perch, you should. She won’t relocate into the box at night, though you might find her there in the morning, where you will remove her as soon as possible again to the yard.
Special Tactics Are Sometimes Necessary
In my experience, persistence in this regard causes most broody hens to give it up and go back to being one of the girls. Birds are very sensitive to the idea that their nest is uncompromised- from a security point of view, and if you keep taking the eggs, and kicking them off the nest, especially if you do it several times a day, they get discouraged and give up….or go looking for a better hiding place. Watch for that. Some hens mean serious biznass when they get broody though, and you might have to move on to “Special Operations” to break the brood.
Happiness is a warm vent- The body of a hen goes up as it literally transforms itself into an incubator. Warmth is an indication that all is well in the nest. The hen uses her vent to keep track of the temperature. Don’t laugh, Cadillacs have heated seats for a reason. You can use this knowledge of hen thinking to your advantage.
What do you think a hen doesn’t want to sit on? How about a frozen water bottle? Remember, she’s removing her feathers underneath to press her skin directly against the eggs. I haven’t tried this idea personally, but I’m assured it works. If you need time to think about it, I suggest thinking about it with a frozen bottle of water clamped between your naked thighs. I would use this in combination with removing the hen. Let her come back to an eggless nest and a frozen water bottle to sit on! Some people recommend cooling your hen down with frequent baths. Some suggest this might be too stressful. I think it probably depends on your relationship with your birds.
If you don’t want to mess with this, a simple solution is to just deny the nesting space. I would literally brick in the nest boxes. Just stack a few bricks in the middle of the box, bird can’t get in, done. Don’t worry about there being adjacent boxes, broody hens are remarkably particular, most of the time, they don’t set up shop again. In almost all of my broody cases removal of eggs, removal of bird, and failing that, blocking the nest ended the broody behavior….almost all of them.
Have You Been A Bad Girl?
So some of you are thinking “Oh I so don’t have time to police my chickens like that” or you’re thinking “I have 300 chickens, I’d be doing that all day!” Well for you folks, and for the hen that persists through all the above, there is another solution…solitary. Thats right… Chicken jail.
You will want a small, exposed, well sunned cage. The sun is important, broody likes dark. Exposed is important. Nesting is a very vulnerable time. The hen likes to feel cloistered and protected. We want the opposite experience… while still being safe. Watch for too much sun, and of course only leave this cage in a safe environment. Ideally outside, off the ground, either hanging or on bricks, of course with food and water, but..critically… no nesting, padding, etc. The exposure to a reasonable amount of sun, and breeze is important. The breeze tells the bird its too cold, and she’s too exposed to be broody, and the sun tells her she’s not secluded enough. Try this for just a couple days, and keep an eye out. If she goes broody again, back to chicken jail! And of course, keep eggs out of there!
So there are several strategies for breaking the brood. I want to encourage the reader though to think of ways to allow “nature to take its course”. Breaking a broody hen can be a necessary but frustrating (for all parties) experience. In my opinion, hens like hatching and rearing chicks, and its a fantastic experience to behold, especially for children, and I always found any excuse I could to let my hens do what hens do. And really, as I see it, a broody hen is a blessing, and an easy way to make money with chickens.
That said, life has a way of making unchecked livestock reproduction difficult, and as a chicken raiser, it is highly likely that at some point you will want to break a broody hen. Usually the most basic efforts as mentioned at the beginning are effective, but sometimes persistence and more drastic measures are called for. I think the reader will find with this writing as a guide, that solving the problem is typically a very manageable, and low-stress incident.
Above all remember, being broody is encouraged by environmental factors. A hen generally has basic requirements from her environment before she commits to brood. Breaking the brood is as simple as understanding these requirements and categorically denying them.
What if there were chickens everywhere in your town? While towns all over the world argue about whether or not to allow their citizens to own chickens, other towns have taken a different approach. They allow flocks of feral chickens to run all over town!
I had thought that you had to go to a place like Guatemala to find a town enlightened enough to let their chickens run free, but it turns out there was a town, much, much closer!
Amber and I visited Yuba City, Ca, which is just such a town. We had no idea that fate had delivered us directly into a flock of feral chickens. How do they survive? How do the locals feel? What about other cities? Would you believe that one city has taken advantage of their 300 member strong chicken population, and even have a yearly festival? We’ll tell you all about it!
Also in this weeks show; we’re moving to a new town! Amber bought a house, and the chickens have far greener pastures ahead! Pardon us while we make the transition. An episode might be late here and there, but were not going away any time soon! Moving to a new town means starting all over with our chicken yard, chicken coop, our whole chicken set up. Stay tuned to future episodes and follow along as we show you how we make a new home for our chickens!
Amber has Medieval Christian Chickens in her Cabinet of Curiosities this week! What did Christian Medieval Monastics have to do with your hens wonderful personality? Amber takes a deep dive back into chicken history to bring you the curious history of Friar Tuck and Fryer Turken.
We’ve been really busy with the move, theres a lot of work to do on the new house. But we did get the chance to watch the movie “Chicken People“; An entertaining look at the world of show chickens. Chicken shows may sound silly, but they’re highly competitive, very exacting, and the competitors (ok, their people) take the shows very seriously. The characters in the movie are complex and interesting, and theres lots of very, very pretty birds to look at. If you’ve been curious about chicken shows, the movie gives the audience a good look at the workings of chicken competition.
Let us know what you think of the show in the comments or on our Facebook page; we look forward to hearing from you!
Are your chickens eating each others eggs? Are they stressed out? Bored? Picking at each other? Does it seem like they go looking for things to get themselves into trouble? Did you know chickens can be TOO heavy? Are yours eating too much? Does it seem like they are constantly trying to escape? What if I told you that you can add something to your chicken operation that addresses and mitigates all these issues? For Free? Yes, chicken toys might be your answer!
Is your hen in the mood for the brood? Are you concerned with her obsessive devotion to her nest? Why has she stopped eating and started pulling out her feathers? What is this avian insanity which has befallen your fowl friend? In this show we discuss why hens get broody, how it affects your hen physically and mentally and what you can do to break this broody behavior ….or use it to your advantage! 
Your hen doesn’t ever seem to leave the box. She’s started getting mean at you! She pecks at you, and puffs out her feathers when you come near her, growls if you even look at her. If you manage to find her off the nest, or throw her out, she’s lining the nest with her own feathers. She’s gone broody!
