Hatching Chickens Since 1936
Nine decades of hard-won flock knowledge including care guides, breed profiles, and stories from the hatchery floor.
It’s a problem every chicken keeper eventually faces: What to do with unwanted roosters. If you purchase chicks, or hatch your own, you’ll have this problem sooner rather than later. Even sexed chicks that are sold as pullets (young hens) almost invariably include one or more cockerels (young roosters). If you end up with more […]
Here’s a common scenario: You cannot legally keep a rooster in your area, so you got sexed chicks that were supposed to be all female. By the time one of them started crowing, and you realized he was a rooster, he had become a beloved member of your family flock. What to do? It’s hard […]
When you raise hens from baby chicks, finding their first eggs can be exciting. Chickens don’t all start laying at the same time, so you’ll likely find an occasional small egg, then maybe one each day. Before long you’ll be finding multiple eggs daily. But since most chickens don’t lay an egg every day, how […]
Natural disasters are on the rise, and if you keep poultry you are responsible for the safety of your birds. No matter where you live, nearly everyone is vulnerable to disasters of one sort or another — wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, chemical spills, hurricanes or tornadoes. Here are eight commonsense steps that will […]
In many areas local ordinances prohibit keeping backyard chickens, but regulations vary from one place to the next. Before bringing home your first chickens, check applicable zoning regulations, municipal codes, homeowner association rules, and lease restrictions. You will learn whether you can keep chickens at all, and, if so, what restrictions might pertain to your […]
If you’ve purchased chicks from Cackle Hatchery in the past, you may have noticed that we offer our customers the opportunity to vaccinate all of our chicken breeds against Marek’s disease. This highly-contagious viral disease causes chickens to develop a variety of devastating symptoms such as vision impairment, partial paralysis and cancerous tumor growth on […]
Rat snakes are often called chicken snakes because they hang around chicken coops. Their intent is to eat rats and mice, but after they’ve cleared out the rodents they look around for something else to eat. Bird eggs are often on a rat snake’s menu, and poultry eggs are no exception. Young poultry are also […]
Keeping chickens in the garden may be picturesque, but chickens can do a lot of damage in a surprisingly short time, especially to freshly planted seeds or tender sprouts. A couple of chickens roaming in a large garden after the plants mature may do little damage, but in a small or newly planted garden just […]
Chickens do not attract flies. Filth attracts flies. Backyard chickens are confined to an unnatural environment, and problems arise when that environment lacks proper management. An accumulation of moist droppings provides an ideal place for flies to lay eggs and for the eggs to develop into maggots, which in turn make more flies. Droppings can’t […]
A hen can stop laying eggs for any number of reasons. At the top of the list is the fall molt. As winter approaches, chickens shed their worn feathers and grow a set of new plumage to better keep them warm through cold weather. During the molt, all hens slow down in production, and some […]
Getting ready to receive your first order of chicks from Cackle Hatchery? Congratulations! Keeping a flock of chickens offers a great way to provide food for you and your family, control pests on your property and more. But before your chicks arrive, you’ll need to set up a brooder so they can have a place […]
Mean chickens occasionally appear in nearly any breed, more commonly among roosters than among hens. The first thing to do is try to figure out what triggers an attack. Sometimes it’s something as simple as he doesn’t like your new chore boots, your favorite floppy pants, or the way you swing the feed bucket. Making […]