What to do for your chickens in: March and April, 2017:

March 20th is the date of the Spring equinox in 2017. An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the sun. This is the date that spring officially starts, and like the definition suggests, it is neither very warm nor very cold.

So with regards to your chickens, you have to consider that it still might get very cold at night, but that during the day, it might get warm. This mainly means you should make sure your chickens have access to shade. Chickens seem to tolerate cold much better than heat.

If you keep your chickens in a chicken tractor, make sure they have a place to go out of the March rains. Sometimes I throw a tarp over the whole coop for the rainy weeks.

Your full-grown hens might start naturally picking up the frequency of their egg-laying again, since the days are getting longer. Hens lay fewer eggs in the darker months and more in the months with more daylight. Since it still might freeze at night, check that your chickens have fresh, unfrozen water at all times.     

One more thing I like to do in March and other rainy months is to keep a bale of “compressed wood shavings” in the garage. When I see any standing water or mud in the coop, I put down a layer of the wood shavings. Less standing water equals less opportunities for germs to grow.

If you’re just getting started with your flock, this is the time of year that baby chicks come in to many feed stores. Go check them out, if you dare gaze upon their cuteness. Many a chick has been bought on impulse, which can be good or bad, depending on how you spin it. As the famous quote goes, “In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” --Alfred Lord Tennyson. Well, for a long time I’ve always joked that in the spring, my thoughts turn to baby chicks and building new coops.

The days have been getting longer since December 22nd, which is exciting for the gardeners out there. Be careful in letting your chickens out of their coop to roam the yard in March and April. 

Lots of new flower, plant and vegetable shoots are emerging and the chickens love (and I mean love) to scratch in the dirt and this can uproot a lot of flower bulbs. I’ve had to replant a lot of tulip bulbs that suddenly appeared on the surface after I’ve let the chickens roam the yard. 

If this is your first spring getting chicks and building a coop, I might suggest not over-building your coop; keep it light enough to roll around (I call it ‘rearranging the outside furniture’) if it is a moveable chicken tractor.

Then again, there have been reports of determined dogs getting into a coop that has been built too lightly. Looking at the chicken tractors as seen on my chicken tractors page will give you a good idea of a middle ground.

Enjoy March and April! :) ~K.S.

Which chickens seem less happy?  The hens in the heat or the hens in the snow?  Click on the links below to see short videos:
 

Hens in the heat

Hens in the snow
 
 

So you want to get more chickens, do you?  Of course you do!  They can become an addiction.  :)  Let's say your neighbor is giving away some hens.  Or say you already have chickens but would like a few more, so you go to your local feed store and pick up some irresistible little chicks.   Don't put new chickens in with old until you look at the sites below! 

How do you introduce the new chickens to the already-established flock?  I'll tell you right now:  It's not a cake-walk.  Chickens have a personality that can be cute and curious, and they can turn into a Velociraptor in seconds.  And there is no reasoning with them; they run on instincts most of the time.

Here are three pages that give good ideas for attempting to do the near impossble:

You don't need a fancy composter to take care of the dirty chicken bedding / litter that your chicken coop produces.  Just put it in a pile in a corner of your yard.  Wait a year, and then put some pumpkin seeds on the top of the pile, and then enjoy getting an award for your neighborhood's largest pumpkin.  :)   (Knowing me, I probably wouldn't have the patience to wait a year.  I'd probably try putting seeds in the pile right away.  Pumpkins are crazy; they might just take off!)