News | Backyard Chicken Zone

Chicken Predators – What killed my chickens?

August 7, 2016February 6, 2016 by James McGregor

WARNING!! – The following post contains images that might disturb some readers

We need your help!

One of our twitter followers (Jodie @alpineblossom) sent us a message this week after sadly losing a number of her flock to an unidentified predator.

So we decided to see if we could crowd source the investigation into identifying the most likely culprit.

This is where you come in. We need your help to try and unravel this mystery and identify the most likely predator responsible for killing these chickens.

The Facts of the Case

This is what we know about the incident and the unsub – UNknown SUBject (yes I watch too much criminal minds!) so far:

The location of the crime is British Columbia, Canada.
The unsub squeezed in through a gap in the barn door and dug a 7 inch wide hole in the dirt floor.
The birds had no obvious wounds.
They all had ruffled feathers with signs of a struggle.
They all appear to have died from a broken neck.
The unsub killed 10 birds and pulled/dragged all of them out of the coop. (note the birds were found more spread out than shown in the forensic photos below).
Only one bird was partially eaten as shown in the photo below and the others were untouched.
Some scat (animal droppings) was found near the scene of the crime as shown below.

The Forensic Evidence

The following photos have been provided by Jodie @alpineblossom to help you identify the predator.

Jodie - chickens killed by predator — Chickens killed by unknown predator

Jodie - close up of eaten chicken — Remains of chicken eaten by unknown predator

Jodie predator scat — Scat found near scene of the crime

Some Information to Help

Common Chicken Predators found in British Columbia

The following is a list common predators found in the British Columbia area:

Bald Eagle
Canada Lynx
Cougar
Grizzly Bear
Peregrine Falcon
Raccoon
Red Fox
Spotted Owl
Wolf
Wolverine

Common Chicken Predators

The following info-graphic provides an overview of common chicken predators, their attack methods, and potential coop design solutions to protect your flock against these predators.

Over to you. If you have some experience with this type of attack please leave a comment or share this post with your friends to see if we can find a possible solution for Jodie.

Also if you don’t follow us on Twitter already you can find us at @myurbanchicken.

Since writing this post we received lots of feedback from the Backyard Chicken Zone community and we have since written a post summarizing the findings of which chicken predator was responsible for killing these chickens in “CSI (Chicken Scene Investigation) – Who did it?“.

Could backyard chicken droppings stunt children’s growth?

January 19, 2016December 19, 2015 by James McGregor

In a study rec backyard chicken zone - infant crawling with chickens ently published (6 November 2015) in Maternal and Child Nutrition , Mduduzi Mbuya and Jean Humphrey of Johns Hopkins University identified a potential link between chicken droppings and the stunting of infant growth.

According to the study, in 2011, one in every four (26%) children under 5 years of age worldwide was stunted. The researchers suspect that in places like Zimbabwe where chickens roam freely and the ground is therefore covered in droppings, that infants ingest unfriendly microbes (by eating dirt which we have all seen young children do) contained in the chicken droppings that lead to stunted growth.

The study refers to other research that “found that two pertinent things happen when unfriendly microbes of the sort found in chicken droppings get into the intestine. One is a loss of villi, the finger-like projections from the gut wall that absorb nutrients. The other is a loosening of the joints between the cells that line the gut. This creates holes through which microbes of all sorts can pass into the bloodstream, where they stimulate the immune system. That diverts nutrients needed elsewhere. It also causes the production of chemicals called cytokines which, among other things, switch off the production of growth hormone.”

To support the potential link between chicken droppings and stunted growth in children research from the International Food Policy Research Institute, in Washington, DC by Derek Headey and Kalle Hirvonen found that in Ethiopia that households which kept poultry indoors had a significantly higher rate of child stunting than those that kept the birds outside.

Click here to get your FREE copy of our "Backyard Chicken Hygiene Guide"

Whilst the link between chicken droppings and stunted growth in children is yet to be proven the take away for backyard chicken and backyard poultry farmers is to keep on top of your flock hygiene including cleaning of the coops, chicken runs, and the household in general. Try to keep shoes for the yard outside and supervise your children.

General flock hygiene should be part of your normal routine and if you keep your grounds and household clean then you probably don’t need to worry about the potential impacts of children ingesting chicken droppings. Check out our chicken raising tips post on maintaining good hygiene around your flock.

Top 3 reasons Americans are flocking to raise backyard chickens

May 24, 2016December 12, 2015 by James McGregor

This is the second post discussing the results of a recently released study by the University of California Davis that has for the first time given us insights into America’s backyard chicken coops.

In the largest study of its type into backyard chicken ownership in America, The University of California research has obtained insights into backyard chicken owners perceived flock health and welfare issues, the most favoured breed of chicken to keep in backyard flocks, backyard chicken husbandry practices, why people raise backyard chickens, what resources are necessary to help improve backyard chicken flock care and management, as well as demographic information about backyard chicken owners and their attitudes to chickens and chicken derived products.

In this post we are going to delve in to the top reasons why Americans raise backyard chickens.

America’s top 3 reasons for raising backyard chickens revealed

Food for home use

backyard chicken zone - chicken eggs in nesting box Not surprisingly the number one reason for keeping backyard chickens was food for home use including eggs and meat. 95.2 percent of respondents in the study indicated that they raised backyard chickens to produce their own food with only 3 percent in urban areas using the chicken products for income. Although I expect there are lots if eggs going to the neighbours of backyard chicken owners.

The study didn’t specifically look at how many people raised backyard chickens for eggs compared to meat but the most favoured breeds of chicken were dominated by egg laying breeds so the researchers concluded that egg laying was likely the main reason for most urban backyard chicken keepers.

Gardening partners

Coming in at number 2 with 62.8 percent of respondents indicating that they kept backyard chickens as gardening partners to provide two legged services of pest control, provide manure, and fertiliser for the garden.

Click here to get your members only "Guide to Selecting the Best Backyard Chicken Breed"

Whilst there is a range of high tech garden technologies available to urban gardeners, one chicken can do an amazing amount of work around the garden. As can be seen from the infographic one chicken can de-bug 120 sqft a week, convert 10lbs of food scraps into eggs, fertilise a 50 sqft garden in a month, level a pile of mulch in 2 days, help do a quarter of the work turning a compost pile, produce enough manure in a month to make 1 cubic yard of compost from leaves, till 50 sqft of sod in 4-6 weeks, and one chicken can break the life cycle of pests and disease on one fruit tree within an hour.

Pets

backyard chicken zone - boy feeding chicken Coming in a close third with 57.4 percent of participants in the study indicating that they kept chickens as pets. Anyone who has ever owned chickens know that they can be great pets with loads of personality.

Tell us about why you keep chickens by posting a comment.

Keep an eye out for future posts where we will reveal other insights from the study including how many backyard chickens people keep in their flock, where they get their chickens and much more. (Remember to subscribe to our newsletter and we will send you the posts straight to your inbox).

If you want to read the whole research paper you can read it here.

One final note. Whilst raising chickens is a sustainable way to produce your own food – why stop there. At backyard chicken zone we believe that going green does not mean sacrificing your lifestyle and that green tech and eco friendly products can give you the lifestyle you desire whilst moving towards a more sustainable future. Our partners at GoGetEco.com have the latest in cool eco friendly gadgets, future gadgets, future tech, the latest in green technology, eco friendly products and cool green tech inventions. Why not check them out.

America’s top 5 favorite breeds of chickens revealed

May 24, 2016November 26, 2015 by James McGregor

Now I know that this post is likely to generate lots of passionate debate about what your favorite breeds of chickens are for your backyard chicken flock but a recently released study by the University of California has finally given us our first insights into America’s backyard chicken coops.

In the largest study of its type into backyard chicken ownership in America, The University of California research has obtained insights into backyard chicken owners perceived flock health and welfare issues, the most favored breeds of chickens to keep in backyard flocks, backyard chicken husbandry practices, why people raise backyard chickens, what resources are necessary to help improve backyard chicken flock care and management, as well as demographic information about backyard chicken owners and their attitudes to chickens and chicken derived products.

This is the first of a series of posts to discuss the results of the study (if you want to be kept up to date on future posts make sure you subscribe to our newsletter in the banner above.)

Now to the reason why you are probably reading this in the first place (you probably just jumped ahead to look anyway) – the results are in and America’s top 5 favourite breeds of chickens for backyard chicken flocks in no particular order are…….

America’s top 5 favorite breeds of chickens

Interestingly America’s top 5 breeds of chickens are all egg-laying breeds and 3 out of the 5 are also in our recommendation for the top 5 best egg laying chickens for beginners.

Also check out our guide to selecting the best backyard chicken breeds for more information about these breeds.

Click here to get your members only "Guide to Selecting the Best Backyard Chicken Breed"

The study noted that the backyard chicken owners “appeared sensitive to egg color, as all of the 5 most frequently cited breeds lay colored eggs and other “blue-green egg” layers (Araucana and “Easter Egger”) and chocolate egg layers (Marans and Wellsummer) were also popular.”

The researchers noted that this could possibly be partly explained due to the colored egg dissimilarity to grocery store predominantly white eggs – in non-researcher speak this means that backyard chicken owners are simply rebelling against industrial production of eggs by giving the proverbial middle finger to industrial white eggs.

Tell us about your favorite breed by posting a comment.

Keep an eye out for future posts where we will reveal other insights from the study including top reasons why Americans own backyard chickens, how many backyard chickens people keep in their flock, where they get their chickens and much more. (Remember to subscribe to our newsletter and we will send you the posts straight to your inbox).

If you want to read the whole research paper you can read it here – Backyard chickens in the United States: A survey of flock owners, University of California, Davis