Can you raise a chicken alone?

I've received several emails from readers lately asking if it's okay to raise a chicken by itself? Some of these chickens are being raised in the house as pets, but others are being raised outside in a coop by themselves.

I have had a chicken inside my house form time to time and I have to say, it depends on the situation.

By nature chickens are flock animals. They do best in a group. When somebody asks me what the ideal flock size is I always say to have a minimum of five chickens in a flock. This is with or without a rooster.

Also when choosing flock size you'll want to look at how many eggs you need, but that doesn't really matter because they'll lay more in the summer and less in the winter and you'll never really get exactly what you need! Lol

How to raise friendly chickens

When I first started raising chickens I raised the friendliest flock you could ever dream of meeting. They absolutely loved being around us and came running as soon as we walked out of the house!

The entire flock would hang around me waiting for treats and even the shy ones would beg for treats by sneaking up behind me and pulling on my clothes! I could pet and pick up each hen and they would jump up on my lap the second I sat down.

Even the roosters were super friendly.

Honestly, sometimes it was too much! Especially if we tried to eat outside because of the constant begging.

If we had people over that didn't happen to like birds (I didn't know that was a thing till it happened!) they would be freaked out by the chickens walking up to them.

In contrast the first set of chicks that I let a hen raise were flighty and scared of us. They ran if we tried to pick them up and would fuss if I pet them when on the roost at night. So, what happened?

Why is my chicken eating charcoal?

A few days ago I went outside to find 2 of my chickens in the fire pit. They were picking through the cooled ash and eating stuff. We only burn wood, brush or paper in there, so I know they weren't finding food...but what were they eating? Charcoal. My chickens were eating charcoal!

I stood there and watched them just to be sure. Each chicken would dig through the ash until they found a small piece of charcoal and eat it. My chickens ate charcoal for like, 15 minutes.

Weird, but I've seen chickens eat styrofoam so weird chicken stuff is not uncommon around here! I was really interested in why they would do such a thing though, so I looked into it.

We all know that in humans, activated charcoal is administered in certain poison situations. We also know that animals tend to know what they need, like when laying hens eat oyster shell for calcium but roosters don't. I just needed to figure out how these 2 facts fit together in this situation.

Stop chickens from pecking each other

Chickens do some weird things. Eating non food items and picking at each others feathers are way at the top of that list! They're are lots of reasons chickens might peck at each other and sometimes it's completely normal. After all, they don't call it the pecking order for nothing! A good solid peck can tell a hen who's boss or chase her away from something yummy they they don't want to share.

Sometimes normal pecking goes too far though and can result in injury or even death. It's important to stop chickens from pecking each other before it gets that far. 

If one chicken causes another chicken to bleed by pecking, that bloody area suddenly gains a new fascination for the offending chicken and sometimes the rest of the flock too. Having the whole flock picking at one spot on a hen can cause serious injury so we need to nip this bad behavior in the bud!  

If chickens pecking each other is a problem, it's important to figure out why the chickens are pecking each other in order to stop them. Here are the main 6 reasons I've seen for chickens pecking each other.

How to add a rooster to the flock

I have always had roosters in my flock of chickens, but many people start out with just hens. Since you don't need a rooster for the hens to lay eggs, and many people get chickens just for the eggs, this makes a lot of sense.

Often the decision to add a rooster is made after the flock of hens has been established. One reason you may decide to add a rooster to an established flock of hens, is to protect the hens. A rooster will alert the hens of any danger approaching, giving them a chance to hide. A rooster will often confront a predator to protect his flock of hens, thus sacrificing himself for them. 

Also, by adding a rooster to the flock, the hens eggs will then be fertilized. You'll need fertilized eggs if you want to hatch chicks. 

If you decide to add a rooster into an already established flock, things can get a little tricky. The head hen doesn't always adapt well to the sudden drop in her ranking. Some hens don't appreciate a rooster trying to ahem...'romance' them. It can just generally upset the pecking order.

To avoid upsetting the hens too much, a gradual introduction is the best approach. Allowing them to acclimate to each other slowly can reduce squabbles and make the whole process go more smoothly. I choose one of these two methods each time that I want to introduce a new rooster to my flock. 

Egg eating chickens, how to prevent (or stop) them

Many chicken keepers only raise chickens for the eggs. Imagine the dismay when you find that the hens are eating their own eggs before you can! Egg eating is not terribly common in backyard hens but it can become a huge problem.

Once a hen starts eating her own eggs, she may move on to eating all the hens eggs.

Since chickens are of the 'monkey see ~ monkey do' variety, once egg eating starts with one hen you can very quickly end up with an entire flock with egg on their faces!

Egg eating chickens

Luckily there are a few simple steps to prevent egg eating in chickens. It's a little harder to stop egg eating once hens have started, but it's possible. Obviously though, it makes more sense to try to prevent egg eating then to have to stop it. 

While it's not bad for your chickens health to eat their own eggs, it's certainly counterproductive for the chicken keeper!

Let's begin with why chickens eat their own eggs to begin with? 

Generally it starts with a broken egg. Whether it falls onto the floor, or a few eggs smash together and break in the nest box ... once a hen sees what deliciousness is inside, she's sure to gobble it straight down. 

That's not to say that one dropped egg will start your flock on the road to egg eating. Repeated incidents could though. 

How to add new chickens to the flock (without drama!)

Adding new chickens into an established flock can be quite frustrating. The pecking order is very real and even the slightest upset can turn normally sweet tempered hens into cranky brats! It would be great if we could just drop new chickens into the flock and they would all get along, but it seldom works that well.

The easiest way is to introduce new chickens to the flock is to have one of the hens raise them for you. Mama hen will protect the chicks as they grow and they will naturally integrate into the rest of the flock. There are very few squabbles between chickens this way, but it's not always feasible.

Depending on the breed of chickens it could be fairly easy. Docile breeds like Silkies are usually pretty forgiving when it comes to introducing new chicken in their coop. With most flocks though it's best to integrate new chickens into the flock slowly and keep a close eye on them. Even the sweetest hen can peck a chick to death if she sees it as a threat.

Train your chickens to come when called!

One of the first things I did when I got my first flock of chickens was to train them to come when I called them. I let my chickens free range and by training the chickens, I know that I will be able to call them back to their coop whenever I want to. It's truly a useful skill for them to learn ... besides it's utterly hilarious when they all come running at once!

Since then I've also trained chickens to walk on a harness and leash and trained roosters to be friendly but the 'trick' they use most often is coming when I call them. In fact, they do it daily! 

Luckily it only takes a few minutes a day and in a week or so, you can have your chickens trained to come when you call!

As we discussed last week, chickens are about as smart as a 4 year old child. They can remember things and recognize objects which are exactly the skills they need to train them to come when called! 

Chickens also understand the reward system, so they can grasp the idea of doing a certain action to receive a treat.