Whether you have citrus planted in your poultry's run or your hens run free range throughout your garden, citrus trees are a great addition and work in harmony with poultry keeping.

BUT there are a few pointers every poultry keeper needs to know...


A small citrus tree it will need to be fenced off from the poultry until it has grown tall enough.

Whether it is planted directly into the ground or in a pot, all citrus needs to be enclosed while small, not just to stop the leaves from being eaten but to also prevent hens from dust bathing directly beneath the tree over the developing root system.

​Citrus trees are heavy feeders, so chicken manure and citrus are best friends! This friendship works best when the trees are taller and more established.

Pelletised citrus fertilisers need to be kept away from poultry so that do not ingest it.
Providing a fenced off area around the tree will still allow the use of commercial pelletised fertilisers.
This applies to ALL types of fruit trees in your yard.

If you prefer to keep using pelletised fertiliser as the trees grow larger, fence only during the appropriate fertilising month/s. Remove fencing after fertiliser is no longer visible after being well watered in.
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Growing citrus in large pots can be a hit or miss with many gardeners.
If your hens have access to your potted citrus, then creating barriers WILL be necessary.

The NUMBER #1 reason why your hens will go for your potted plants is because of the soil as a potential new location for a dust bath. No matter what you plant in pots, chickens are more than happy to scratch them out so they can sit.

If a citrus tree happens to be in a pot, then all the more to attack as they love the leaves.
The taller the tree becomes, the less access the hens will have to the leaves.

​PROTECTION METHODS

1. Pea Straw, thickly applied
2. Sticks, bricks and/or garden ornaments
3. Fencing

TIP for bulbs, use a grate or large mesh over pots so that plants can grow through.

​Reduce the hens' desire to get into the pots.

The GOOD NEWS is that citrus generally can recover and regrow leaves even if stripped bare.

An application of SEASOL or POWERFEED will bring it back to leafing.

Take care of the tree as soon as you possibly can to help it recover. If left without leaves for too long it will soon die.
Fence off the attack tree and nurse it back to health.
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Chickens need a healthy balanced diet…and the occasional boredom buster or cooling treat. However, poultry owners can get a little carried away with how much their birds actually need.

Fat hens don’t lay is true.

But if truly free ranging throughout the day, they are likely to run off their daily energy intake. With increasingly smaller spaces in suburban backyards to keep our hens in, their energy intake also needs to decrease.

Certain foods can help or hinder chickens, so choosing the right foods at the right time of year is important.

Nutritional needs change throughout the seasons, particularly during their annual moult when egg production might decrease or cease for a time until feathers regrow.

Some foods, however can cause a false positive health scare. This one causes many poultry owners to panic, but just by adjusting their flock’s diet, it can be remedied.
 

Treats should make up around 2% of their diet.
Yes, 2%.
That equates to around a cup of treats per week, per bird.
 
Grains or pellets should be the largest percentage of a chicken’s diet as it contains all the essentials vitamins, minerals, protein and carbohydrates.
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FALSE POSITIVE HEALTH SCARE
Chickens with a dirty poo-y bottom are an indication that they need to be wormed.

Foods with a high water content such as lettuce or melon are a favourite amongst poultry owners to give to their birds, but this can cause a poo-y bum.

If worming is up to date and their health is generally good, then is most likely caused by the diet through the feeding of high water content foods.

Suspicion of blood in their droppings can often be dismissed when traced back to capsicum or beetroot in their diet.
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Eliminate these foods to test.

No need to cut them out entirely, just reduce the frequency and be aware that you may see unusual signs for the next day or two.
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NO MORE LETTUCE
Lettuce is nutritionally void of anything beneficial for a bird; for poultry or caged ornamental birds.

Lettuce is responsible for diarrhoea amongst birds, more than any other fruit or vegetable due to its high water content.

Iceberg lettuce is the most common and perhaps one of the worst choices.

Choosing a more gourmet variety is a better option but still not ideal. (e.g. Romaine lettuce)

Dark leafy greens are the answer:

• Spinach
• Silverbeet
• Beetroot leaves
• Kale
• outer leaves of cauliflowers and broccoli

Highly nutritious, packed full of vitamin A to give yolks their deep yellow/orange colour.
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HIGH PROTEIN NEEDS
During moulting season which typically occurs around summer to autumn, hens will start to look a little more naked or not as lustrous as they normally do. Increasing their protein will help grow back their feathers and get them laying again.

Protein should not be at a consistently high level all year round as this will overload their kidneys.

A good grain mix or pellet will have a protein level of around 18-20%. That is sufficient on a daily basis.

Extra protein can be added with treats such as:

• Meat – meat on a chop bone, cat food, fritz, bone marrow
• Meal worms
• Canned Tuna in springwater (no salt)
• Plain Greek Yoghurt – high in calcium and protein (1-2 times per week)
• Dark leafy greens
• Broccoli & Cauliflower (cooked) – stems cut open, raw are also excellent
• Peas (fresh or frozen, not dried)
• Sprouted wheat grass
• Fish and fish guts (from fishing)
• Mice (trapped not baited)

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GOOD WEEDS
Free ranging includes all sorts of foraging that definitely includes weeds and grasses.

What you may notice, though, is their lack of interest in the weeds while they are still in the ground growing.

It’s a little bit of a contradiction -They WILL eat them if they have been picked by you.

Make sure any weeds you do give your poultry have not been treated with any weed killers or fertilisers.

Best weeds to give:

• Grass (short lengths to prevent impacted crop)
• Dandelion
• Milk Thistle

Available in almost every Australian backyard. Both are great liver cleansers and kidney stimulators as well as offering other great health benefits. Chickens with a high egg output benefit the most from these milk sapped supportive weeds.
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COLOURS FOR VITAMINS
When giving vegetables and fruits either as scraps or in pieces, colour is the key to ensuring a good range of vitamins.

Orange, yellow and red fruits and vegetables are the best = Vitamin A

Vitamin A = fabulous yolks!

These include:

• Tomatoes
• Capsicum
• Sweetcorn (minimal)
• Watermelon/Rockmelon (high water content)
• Cooked pumpkin
• Cooked or grated carrot

Cooked vegetable or peelings tend to be the most favoured by poultry as it makes many of the hard types much easier to devour.
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AVOID green potato peelings. These are toxic. All other potato peelings are fine.

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RARE TREAT FILLERS
Even though many foods are a firm favourite and a tasty treat for chickens and ducks, there are a few foods that should not be a regular part of their diet. Treats should never become fillers. Chickens learn very quickly that if they hold out for these treats they can become a replacement for their well-balanced dry feeds. That is not a good for their long term health.

Minimise these foods:

• Bread
• Cheese
• Spaghetti/Rice (cooked) – serve within 24hrs
• Ice cream

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SUNFLOWER SEED VARIETIES
Sunflower seeds are a favourite amongst all chicken breeds, but keep these as a special rare treat also. The supermarket variety is often called ‘Cocaine for Chickens’ due to its very addictive nature. Instead, opt for BLACK Sunflower Seeds which are more nutritious and have a thinner shell than other sunflower alternatives, which also adds fiber.

​Sunflower seeds have a high oil content. Great for feathers but also make fat hens.

Ideal for moulting or during winter.

Also excellent in the use of training chickens. Scattering a little over the top of any new foods may encourage them to peck and eat.
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SWEETCORN
Corn is also on every chicken’s wish list with benefits and disadvantages.

Corn is given as a conditioner to help hens put on a little more weight, so avoid corn if any of your hens are becoming overweight.

There is a difference between dried and fresh corn.

As it takes longer for poultry to digest dried corn, it raises body temperature in order to break it down before the body can extract its benefits. Broody hens must not be fed dried corn as this will only prolong their broody heat. Avoiding any form of corn during a broody period may assist.

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IMPACTED CROP OFFENDERS
Anything long that can curl up inside of a chicken’s crop can lead to an impacted crop.

These include grasses, entire green beans, rice (especially when drying out), hay/straw or other discarded rubbish such as string left around the yard.
​Vets find the most interesting collection of things in poultry crops.

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BUGS ALIVE
Live bugs are more beneficial to poultry than dried packaged varieties.

This is because live bugs help to break down food in the chicken’s crop to enable it to flow through to the gizzard for digestion. By the time the bugs reach the gizzard they are digested by the stomach acid and enzymes, too. (e.g. meal worms, spiders, maggots, etc.)

Keep mealworms to a rare treat too. They are void of nutrition other than protein and activity for the crop. Very addictive and a firm favourite treat of chickens.

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Both chicks and adult chickens and ducks can suffer from Wry Neck. Also known as Star Gazing or Crook Neck.

Adult poultry are more likely to only suffer Wry Neck due to a bad diet. This condition seems to be more common in chicks due to parents genetics and health.

Remember to isolate your affected bird/s immediately to prevent bullying from the other birds.


What is Wry Neck?
Poultry with the disorder cannot hold their heads up on their own and as it progressively gets worse, affected birds start to fall over or lie on their backs unable to walk freely on their own and appear to walk backwards. With an inability to bend their neck to access food and water, they are likely to starve and become dehydrated, so they need your help.

Wry Neck is a Vitamin E deficiency that can be corrected.

​Birds that do not show significant improvements after a period of treatment may need to be culled.


Causes of Wry Neck
Wry Neck can be caused by a number of factors,such as:

• Vitamin deficiency
• Genetics
• Poor nutrition during development in egg
• Head injury
• Botulism
• Ingesting of toxins

Diet is the most probable cause overall. Botulism can be transmitted by a food source that has become moldy after becoming wet. Other toxins may come through other food sources within the yard that are not good for poultry to eat.

​Head injuries are most likely to occur due to hen pecking, a fight for the social order.


Does this affect some breeds more than others?
Polish and Silkies are the most prone to Wry Neck, but not exclusive to.
All chicken and duck breeds are susceptible.


Vitamin Deficiency
A lack of Vitamin E in the birds' diet can lead to Wry Neck. So correcting the imbalance immediately will help with recovery.

Vitamin E should be combined with Selenium to aid absorption.
Vitamin B1 is also recommended.

Yes, crushed vitamin tablets are also acceptable, mixed with water.

Supplement of Vitamin E needs to be given orally to the bird daily.

Do not expect immediate improvement as it takes quite some time to start to seem improvement, but just by a change of feed alone will NOT fix Wry Neck.

Most American poultry forums recommend Polyvisol, however in Australia we do not have access to that liquid vitamin.

Instead we can use Vitamin E liquid capsules combined with a soluble poultry vitamin that contains Selenium such as Fortex Poultry Vitamins (Happy Hens) or similar.

Any vitamin supplement product that lists Sodium Selenite contains Selenium.
If you are unable to locate Selenium in any product, feed the affected bird with cooked mashed up eggs (not seasoned).

Dosage varies from owner to owner. Mixing Vitamin E with a soluble poultry vitamin and a little honey seems to be the best answer.

Amount will depend on age and weight of the bird. Consult your vet for dosage requirements.
Remember only to use an eye dropper amount for newly hatched chicks.


Poultry Forum Confusion
Forums can contain confusing and conflicting information about how much should be administered and whether iron supplements should be withheld or not.

If Molasses is ever recommended, just remember that Molasses is high in Iron and can also cause a flushing out if given too much of. We do not want any vitamins being flushed out right now during treatment.

NEVER give chicks Molasses!
Molasses is ONLY for adult poultry.

Many people recommend omitting iron completely until the affected bird is recovered.

I would err on the side of caution and omit iron if possible.


Prevention is Better than Cure

• Ensure that the poultry have a well balanced diet from a reputable fodder company rather than feeding wheat alone or providing only a grazing diet. Pellets and crushed mixed grains contain all essential vitamin, protein and mineral needs.
• Keep all food sources clean, free of moisture and mold.
• Do not over crowd poultry as this can lead to boredom and bullying, which can lead to injury or being kept away from food sources.
• Provide more herbs in their diet.
• Breed only from birds that are healthy, in optimum condition on a well balanced diet.

Foods High in Vitamin E
These foods are only recommended for adult poultry, not for chicks or ducklings:

• Sunflower Seeds (black not supermarket variety)
• Olive Oil
• Dandelion
• Spinach
• Silverbeet
• Sweet potato
• Nettle
• Broccoli
• Tomato
• Kiwi Fruit
• Almonds (ground)
• Butternut Squash and seeds (ground)
• Alfalfa
• Sage
• Thyme
• Basil
• Parsley

Spices that contain both Vitamin E and Selenium include:

• Cinnamon
• Cloves
• Cumin
• Caraway Seeds
• Cayenne Pepper
• Tumeric

Summary
You will need to assist the bird with eating and drinking, and by the administering of vitamin supplements by eye dropper or small syringe, daily.

A light massage and untwisting of the neck also needs to be performed daily with care to help the neck recover.

Recovery period will take quite some time, often a few weeks in badly affected birds (particularly older chickens).
​Chicks may recover quickly.

​Keep the affected bird/s isolated during treatment until fully recovered and able to eat and drink unassisted.

A diet varied in food treats from the lists above will help maintain their health.

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Mary O'Brien from The Egg Farm website gives her tips here on what dosage she used in this video here:
Wry Neck in Baby Chick


Other BackYardChickens.com Forums worth reading:

A happy ending to a Wry Neck chick story

Wry Neck in 2 day old chick

Wry Neck in new chick
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Chick with Wry Neck treated

Many of my clients complain that their chickens just won't behave, causing noisy chaos and become very demanding. And the REASON is, they have you wrapped around their little toe!

Poultry owners can be just a little too kind sometimes and the easiest way to train any animal or bird is with food rewards.

Bad behaviour in poultry begins with rewarding bad behaviour.

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#1 SCENARIO: After coming back from school drop off in the morning the chickens are making a loud noise in the yard because its egg laying time. You don't want to upset the neighbours (even though nobody has really complained yet, but there might be night-shift people sleeping), so the only thing you can think of doing is distracting them with a food treat.

RESULT: Bad behaviour has just been rewarded.

Vary any opportunities. Do NOT do this daily. An erratic feeding on a rare day can help. But quite often, just going out to them to talk at them and sit outside with a hot drink will make them curious and quiet. 



#2 SCENARIO: The new chickens make so much noise inside their coop before they are let out in the morning. The coop is right near your bedroom window, and you just want them to be quiet for a little longer so you can get some more sleep. So you go out to them in your dressing down and boots with a food treat to quieten them down.

RESULT: Bad behaviour has just been rewarded.

These chickens will never quieten down until you stop food rewards completely.
Change the layout of the coop. If light is what causes them to make the early morning noise, close off light getting in where ever possible. Make sure that their feeder is located within their coop, too, so that they can access their dietary requirements. 



#3 SCENARIO: The chickens keep sitting in their nesting box acting broody. You have a heart and can't bear to move them out because it seems so unkind. So you leave her in the nest with food and water.

RESULT: Bad behaviour has just been rewarded.

Quite often these hens gets lice, mites and a loss of body weight as there is no end period until you have stepped up to make them understand this. Loss of body weight also means a lowered immune system which makes it very hard for her to recover. A hatching only takes 21 days. But if she is not hatching, she has no 'calendar' to modify her behaviour. You need to be her guide. Isolate her into a fenced off area in the cool dry shade during the day with access to food and water. Return her to the coop for the night to roost. Continue to do this until her broodiness stops.



#4 SCENARIO: The new chickens won't sit in their roosting rails, preferring the nesting boxes. You leave them there because it seems soft and warm.

RESULT: Bad behaviour has just been rewarded.

Chickens poo all night long which means that they are sitting in it which can lead to other health problems. They are more likely to contract lice and mites as well. In summer time, the over heating of their bodies in the boxes can lead to an early death. They only take 2 weeks of constant evening training to learn to perch.


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#5 SCENARIO: The rooster doesn't attack you but he attacks everyone else who goes into his yard. They won't stay to handle them, preferring to run, cry and scream or have no contact at all.

RESULT: Bad behaviour has just been rewarded.
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Everyone in your household MUST spend time with the rooster. Holding him securely with one arm to the side of the body while the other hand pushes down his head in a submissive bow. This should be done three (3) times in a row before placing the rooster back down. Do this daily for 1-2 weeks. Take a broom or other defensive object to deflect his advances, but do NOT run, cry or scream otherwise he believes he has won - thus rewarding his efforts.



#6 SCENARIO: Chickens make a growling noise in their nesting boxes when eggs are being collected, which scares the egg collector so much that they throw out a food treat or break one of the eggs to distract the chickens so that they can get to all the eggs.

RESULT: Yes, bad behaviour has once again been rewarded.

Trying to get chickens out of their nesting boxes with treats is not good for their reproductive health. Extending the time it takes for a hen to lay can lead to being egg bound, mis-shaped or blood stained eggs.
If using a broken egg as a treat, this can lead to perpetual egg eating amongst the flock which is very bad vice in poultry. As tho old saying goes, egg-eaters are really only good for the pot if that behaviour does not cease.



Don't worry. We've all fallen into this trap.

The repetitive and predictable nature of receiving the food or comfort reinforces the delinquency.

I have experienced ALL of these problems with my own flocks over the years.
I still have chickens with issues in my garden that I am still trying to find a solution for. Some personalities are harder to curb than others.

What I have learnt is that some breeds of poultry are just not right for me, so I will try some other breeds that better suited to my needs and that are easier for me and my family to cope with.

The GOOD NEWS is that many birds can be modified in their behaviour with a change of behaviour toward them.

Just as food can train them to be bad, it can also be used for training for good behaviour too. Just do NOT reward them at the time of the bad activity.

When you catch your birds doing something good, that's reward time. But remember to keep it to a minimum.

Corn and wheat grain look completely natural, so they must be good for you and your pets. Right?

Many people call me to ask if they could forego giving their chickens pellets in favour of corn and wheat, thinking that they are more healthy and possibly cheaper.

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But why are so many people so keen to avoid pellets?
Pellets are compressed crushed grain mixed with proteins, minerals, amino acids, grit and vitamins. There is nothing unbalanced or unnatural about pellets other than that they have been shaped to keep all the mix together rather than nutritious bits falling through to the bottom of the bag.

​There is a lot of good reasons not to abandon bagged mixes like pellets.

So what will happen if the hens are fed on a corn and/or wheat diet?

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Size
The size of dried corn and grains of wheat pose a problem.
Hens can digest a certain amount of these whole grains but they are certainly not their favourite to tackle.

The size matters because the grain has to pass from the crop (located at the front of the chicken's chest) and then into the gizzard to be broken down. The larger the grain, the more difficult it is to empty the crop efficiently.

Scatter grain mixes, such as Red Hen Free Range Layer provides a mixture of grain sizes. Watching the chickens eat a serving of that bagged mix, you will notice that they have their favourites, leaving some grains to the very last.

So there seems to be some benefit to variety in size and grain options that satisfied the poultry palette as well as being able to choose which grains they would prefer to eat.

Cracking, grinding, milling, crushing the grains not only aids to the ease of consumption of their food but also enables easier digestion to satisfy the hens quicker too.

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Corn
Corn can increase the body heat of chickens. Increased heat can also set off broodiness in breeds that are very prone to broodiness. This heat production means that it is also advisable to cut out or reduce corn during the summer months.
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A diet high in corn also colours the flesh and skin yellow.
Corn is also a fattener, high in calories. A diet high in corn can result in fatty liver and obese chicken.
Fat chickens don't lay.

Although corn appears to look natural, corn is rarely organic or free of genetic modification.
In general though, corn-fed chickens do tend to grow faster and bigger compared to free-ranging hens. This is based on shed feeding where no other food sources can be accessed.

Corn is too low in fatty and amino acids, vitamins and minerals for a chicken to thrive on for the long term.

Corn-fed chickens are also more susceptible to being contaminated with grain pesticides, which can build-up in the fatty tissues of animals.


Wheat
Many of my clients often ask me why their hens will not eat whole wheat grains.
More often than not, whatever is thrown out to them ends up sprouting on the ground instead.

And that's the key.

During winter is the best time to make use of the grains of wheat by sprouting them in a tray. In fact, any time of the year.

This can be done in a standard seed tray from a hardware/garden shop (NO soil or potting mix required). Allow the greens to sprout and feed this 'mat' to the hens as a lovely healthy treat to help keep the girls laying through the cold months.

There are a number of BENEFITS to sprouting grain:

• Provides entertainment to help fight off boredom
• The vitamins, minerals and proteins of the wheat becomes more easier to absorb
• Sprouted grain is loaded with chlorophyll and beta-carotene which makes egg yolks more darker in colour and more nutritious
• Your chickens will actually eat it! In the wild, they would even scavenge for it.

HOW TO SPROUT GRAINS - tutorial from The Chicken Chick

​Quality of Meat and Eggs
​In general, grain-fed chicken meat is lower in omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, magnesium, calcium and potassium compared with free-range chicken meat. Feeding chickens primarily corn produces an imbalance of omega-3 fats to omega-6 fats in their eggs. Healthy ratios should be between 1:2 and 1:4, but corn-fed chicken eggs have a ratio of up to 1:20. Omega-3 fats are important for cardiovascular health because they reduce inflammatory reactions, but too many omega-6 fats negate their benefit. Additionally, free-range eggs are often higher in vitamin E and beta-carotene.

Corn-fed chickens are also more susceptible to being contaminated with grain pesticides, which can build-up in the fatty tissues of animals.


Balance
The important thing is to remember to give your hens a balanced diet and that they are Omnivores, requiring access to protein such as bugs, grubs, spiders and worms to eat as well as dietary supplements especially during the moulting season to regrow their feathers.

Even if chickens were running wild, free to find their own food sources, those sources would keep changing due to seasons and what is available in their area. It wouldn't be the same one or two grains alone. Keep that in mind that chickens are natural meat scavengers, which plays a strong role in their ability to get protein into their diet. Many chickens will kill a mouse that comes into their yard, not just for sport but for food.

​An unbalanced diet can result in under weight or over weight hens as well as a lack of egg laying. 


Pellets Are Not The Only Answer
Besides pellets there are a whole host of other options and new fodder mixes are often being innovated.
You could try:

• Red Hen 17 (crumble)
• Red Hen Free Range Layer (assorted whole grains & seeds balanced with vitamins and minerals)
• Barastoc Top Layer Crumbles
• Barastoc Darling Downs Layer
• Barastoc Top Layer Mash (crushed grain)

When hatching your own chicks, sometimes things can go wrong but some things can be fixed at home with things you find around your home.

This great tutorial on how to fix a chick's curled toes is such a simple and easy thing to do.
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This tutorial comes from Avian Aqua Miser's website. Visit the original page here for full instructions.

Avian Aqua Miser recommends using 3M Transpore Tape for 2-3 days.

Curled toes can result from incorrect incubation, such as the wrong temperature or humidity or wrongly positioned inside the egg.

Curled toes can also be the result of a vitamin deficiency, Add some Solvita (RRP $15) water soluble powder to their drinking water to help correct issues in conjunction with taping the toes open. 

​To prevent birth defects in chicks, make sure your incubator is running at the correct levels in each stage of the incubator period before hatching day. Use a thermometer and hygrometer to keep track and top up the humidity tray with warm water if needed.

Curled toes in older hens is usually due to a lack of Vitamin B1 or B2 in their earlier stages of development. In those cases, try the Solvita first to see if that will help correct the problem. After a year, many hens may have permanent toe curl issues which may not be able to fully corrected.

Handy guide for caring for your chickens, their health and feeding requirements.
Thanks to Barastoc Golden Yolk for Layer Pellets.

Click on the image below to open book.
PDF format.