How Do You Make a Chicken Happy?

Space Outside

The most crucial part in making a chicken happy is giving them enough room to move around outside in grass. Chickens may not be the most intelligent creatures in the world, but they have enough sense to know that when they dig, they can find little snacks in the soil. They know fresh air when they breathe it. Most importantly, they know how fabulous they feel when they can run and stretch their wings comfortably.

Cleanliness

No animal likes living in filth, so keeping their coop clean is imperative. Keeping enough shaving, hay, or some other substrate on the floor of their home will allow you easily scoop out the waste and use as fertilizer for crops. Doing a deep clean every 3-4 months where everything is cleaned out and sanitized with vinegar will ensure that bacteria is kept to a minimum, making for a very happy flock.

Quality Food

Not just having high quality food, but a variety available will make for content chickens. They like to be able to dig in the ground for bugs, eat produce like broccoli and cucumber, as well as their normal organic & non-GMO feed. Eventually, I would like to grow all of our own feed and maybe even sell some to other farms!

Clean Water

This is the same as with every other animal. No one, nothing wants to have dirty water to drink. We will be keeping fresh flowing water available at all times. The designs that I'm looking at are actually really cool. I'll make a blog soon!

Dust Baths

Before I started researching, I had no idea that chickens liked dust baths similar to chinchillas and gerbils. I've seen some "sandbox" ideas but I love the idea of a having different "stations" with different organic materials for them to roll around in. Again, I'll make a future blog on that because it's really interesting.