Pests & Parasites
Keep out those critters. While your birds may love the great outdoors, it does come with some dangers in the form of little and big pests and parasites.
This topic includes:
What are the common parasites?
Basics of pest management
How to protect your birds from wildlife and feral birds
LATEST BLOG POSTS ON THIS TOPIC:
Protecting Your Backyard Flock with Fencing
You’ve put a lot of time and effort into raising your own backyard chickens. Of course, part of raising your own flock is protecting them from other animals and predators (dog, cats and racoons alike…). Whether your preference for your birds free-range or live inside an enclosure, fencing is imperative to their protection from the outside world. Below we will discuss a few different types of fencing, and their pros and cons. Chicken Wire Although chicken is in the name, this is one of the least successful fencing materials to protect your backyard chickens. The thin wire is
Digestive Issues in Chickens
We all want to make sure our chickens are happy and healthy. Just like us humans, diet and nutrition are essential for the overall health of chickens. The following article focuses on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract of chickens and how best to keep our birds happy and healthy with respect to diet and nutrition. Gastrointestinal Tract of a Chicken From start to end, a chicken’s digestive tract is quite different than our own, though there are some analogous parts between our two species. The chicken picks up food with its beak and secretes saliva to help moisten the
Common Parasites in Chickens
Most of us are familiar with the parasites that affect dogs and cats, but what some people don't know is that parasites are a common problem in poultry as well. It's essential to be familiar with which parasites affect birds, so we can be vigilant and protect our flocks. What are parasites? A parasite is an organism that lives in or on an organism of another species (also known as a host). These parasites benefit from the host by getting food at the host’s expense. There are internal and external parasites that affect our feathered friends. Internal parasites live
Protecting Your Poultry from Pests, Wild Birds, and Predators
Raising poultry is exciting, but it definitely takes some work to keep your birds safe while outside. You’ll want to protect your birds from hungry predators, pests and wild animals that can pass on diseases to your birds and to you! Wild Birds It’s important to keep your poultry separate from wild birds, turkeys, and waterfowl, like ducks and geese. As fellow members of the bird family, wild birds can pass-off certain diseases to our domestic birds. That means it’s very important that we create barriers around our poultry, and practice good biosecurity, to minimize the risk to