When you are raising chickens in your backyard, you would inevitably encounter some deaths to your chicken flock. These deaths could happen for a variety of reasons ranging from natural deaths to predator attacks.

When this happens to people who are just beginning the hobby of raising backyard chickens, there are many of them who are lost about how they should go about handling the deaths. They do not know how to properly act in relation to the loss of their chickens.

Here are some of the things that you should do in the event that one of the chickens that you are raising in your backyard dies:

Check for causes:

The first step would be to check for the cause of the death of your chickens. As mentioned earlier, the fatality could be caused by a variety of reasons, which is why it is important to check what the reasons are so that you would be able to do some preventive measures in the future.

You could check for physical damage such as trauma or puncture wounds to see if they had been attacked by a predator or were roughed up by the other chickens in the coop. You may also want to check if there are signs of other diseases and ask your veterinarian about them so that you would be able to know what lead to your chicken’s death.

If it is caused by a predator, then you should find out how the predator was able to get inside your coop and attack the chicken. If it was an “inside job” you should see see which aggressive chicken roughed the one that died, and try to separate it from the flock.

If it was a disease then it would be important to dispose of the body quickly to avoid contamination. You should also check the other chickens and see if they have similar symptoms that the dead chicken previously had.

Disposing the body:

After you have isolated and checked the cause of the death of your chicken, the next step would be to dispose of the body. As much as possible, you must dispose of the body as soon as you can so as to avoid contamination (in case of diseases) or rotting.

Disposing of the body could be done in many ways. You could bury the birds, incinerate them, or throw them along with the biodegradable rubbish.

However, you should be aware that there are some cities, which dictate how you should dispose of the bodies of the dead chickens. This law usually pertains to those that were killed because of an illness.

Replacement Issues:

When you lose a member of your flock, a beginner would commonly search for a replacement chicken immediately. However, you may encounter some issues, if you just suddenly insert a new chicken into the flock.

Before inserting a new chicken into your flock, you have to make sure that it is well integrated so as to avoid disharmony inside the coop. You should follow the different measures that are done so that the pecking order inside it would not become very disrupted.

When people start raising backyard chickens, the reasons for it are usually grouped into two main causes. The first is to keep them as pets, and the other would be to use them as food sources or supplies that are either kept or sold to their neighbors.

When you think of your backyard chickens as food sources, the classification is that you either take care of them for their eggs or you breed them for their meat. The needs of the two different reasons for taking care of backyard chickens as food sources actually vary significantly. As such, your strategy for raising your egg laying flock may not be applicable for a meat producing group.

Here are some of the things that you would have to consider if you are raising backyard chickens for their meat.

Selecting a Breed:

You should understand that there are usually three different classifications when it comes to chicken breeds. There are the egg layers, the dual purpose breeds, and the meat birds. The egg layers are those that are able to lay high quality eggs, the meat birds are those that are able to be great sources of chicken meat, while the dual purpose breeds are those that can do an adequate job of both being a meat source or an egg source.

If you want to raise chickens solely for their meat, then you should get a meat bird. Breeds that are classified as meat birds usually grow extremely rapidly and have frames that are large and ideal for obtaining meat.

Some breeds that you may want to consider include: Cornish,  Orpingtons, or Giants.

Getting A Rooster:

A huge difference between having chickens for their eggs and having them as meat birds is the fact that you would need roosters. Roosters are important for meat birds as they would be the ones who would fertilize the eggs so that you can have chicks.

You should first check with your local laws if they actually allow you to keep roosters as part of your backyard chicken flock. This is because some states do not allow this perhaps due to the fact that roosters can usually make a lot of noise as compared to the hens.

Equipment:

You would also need some additional equipment if you would want to keep a flock of meat birds as you raise your backyard chickens.

You would need some brooders as this is what you would use to take care of the chicks. Brooders are heated enclosures which help in providing a good environment for the chicks to grow. This simulates the warmth that a hen would usually provide to their chicks. This is because most chickens from a meat bird breed do not have that habit of brooding or caring for their chicks once they hatch.

By ensuring that you do all of these 3 properly, you would be able to have a better chance of having a sustainable backyard chicken flock that you can use as a meat source.

When you want to raise backyard chickens, you may want to consider asking for the help of other people who have already had experience in doing the very same thing. The great thing with the current situation is that there are now a lot of sources that you can go to, especially because of the internet.

Previously, you would just be able to consult your neighbors, but thanks to the internet there are now plenty of forums or websites that you can visit in order to seek form help or advice. The net is actually filled with plenty of people who are raising backyard chickens and are very much willing to provide you with the help that you need.

Of course, you may suddenly feel a bit left out when you start hearing the backyard chicken experts talking in terms and jargons that you are not familiar with. This is because, most of the time, these people have some specific words that they use to describe a feature that is related to the chickens. While they are usually very willing to explain the meaning of the terms that they use, it would still be best if you know some of them already.

Here then is a short glossary of the frequently used terms in raising backyard chickens:

Bantams or Banties –

A bantam is a miniature chicken that is usually around 1/3 or 1/4 the size of a regular chicken. The term Banties is often used to affectionately refer to them.

Biddy –

A term used to refer to hens

Blowout –

Sometimes, the chicken’s vent would be damaged because of an oversized egg, this damage is what is usually referred to as a blowout.

Brood –

The term brood can actually refer to two things. The first is that it refers to a batch of chicks. The other meaning stands for caring for them through providing them warmth and feeds.

Brooder –

An enclosure used to provide heat for the chicks, usually uses a heat lamp.

Clutch -

The term clutch stands for the batch of eggs that are hatched together or all the eggs laid by a hen on consecutive days

Coop –

This refers to the house of the chickens.

Cull or Culling –

The term refers either to the inferior chicken, or killing that inferior and non productive chicken.

Dam –

Refers to the mother of the chicks.

Free range –

Allowing the chickens to freely roam around a yard.

Grade –

Sorting the eggs according to their qualities, usually judged through the shells.

Incubator –

A device used for hatching the fertilized eggs.

Molt –

The shedding and renewing of a chicken’s feathers.

Set –

The term refers to keeping the eggs warm to induce hatching.

Vent –

This refers to the outside opening of the chicken. This is where the eggs would be emitted.

Now that you know some of the terms used in raising backyard chickens, you would not be lost in conversations that you would have with experts and other people who talk about your new hobby!