Frequently Asked Questions

Avian Infectious Bronchitis is a respiratory illness that results in death in about 5% of the birds that contract it, and may cause a permanent reduction in laying or reduce the quality of eggs in hens that survive it. As with all avian diseases, practicing good biosecurity will go a long way toward protecting your birds from this virus. Read on to find out more. Avian Infectious Bronchitis Also called IB, IBV, Infectious Bronchitis, Cold Prevalence Common Signs General signs Coughing, sneezing, lack of appetite, lethargy, huddling near heat source and fluffed up down. Mucousy eyes or nares (nostrils). Thirst...

NPIP stands for National Poultry Improvement Plan, and it's a voluntary certification system that poultry breeders and hatcheries can participate in. (Our hatchery and all breeders associated with My Pet Chicken are NPIP certified.) Essentially, NPIP certification means you submit the birds in your breeding flock to regularly scheduled testing to assure they are Pullorum-Typhoid-free. While NPIP participation is voluntary, typically states have certification or monitoring requirements if you want to ship birds into that state, so large hatcheries all participate. (At the time of this writing, we don't know of a major hatchery that isn't NPIP certified.) Pullorum and...

As you probably know by now, it's not a good idea -- at all -- to simply give chickens a bowl of water like you would a dog or a cat. They'll dirty it; they'll step in it and tip it over; they may even unintentionally poo in it. Here are 7 important questions to ask yourself when choosing a waterer for your flock: How many thirsty birds do you have? You need to make sure there is adequate access to water for all the birds in your flock. If you have a large flock but only one small waterer,...

Yes, we're happy to cancel or change an order of juvenile chickens provided you let us know by the week before your scheduled ship week. For juvenile chickens, if you want to cancel or change your order, that must be done by the Thursday before the shipping week. As you remember from checkout, your order cannot be cancelled (or changed) later than that date. Be sure to have your order number at hand so we can find your order to cancel it. In addition, you should be aware that you may be charged a $10 order cancellation fee. If you've...

A lash egg is less of an egg than it is a roughly egg- or sausage-shaped exudate, consisting of thickened pus and other materials. It is probably the grossest egg your hen will ever lay, and will often look like cheesy, bloody strata or other matter arranged in strappy, skin-like layers. You may think she's expelled an internal organ. Ew. Seriously.  If your hen lays a lash egg, it means she is sick with salpingitis, which is an infection of the oviduct. Please take her to a veterinarian immediately.

If your hen lays a lash egg (something you won't soon forget--they're pretty gross!), you can be pretty sure that she has Salpingitis, meaning her oviduct is infected. This is really bad news for your hen and may be fatal, and she could continue to be a carrier even if she recovers! Read more to find out more about this disease: Salpingitis Also called Inflammation of the oviduct, infection of the oviduct Prevalence Common Signs General signs: No or mild signs in adult birds, including lethargy, loss of appetite, drop in laying, yellow poo, wheezing, coughing, sneezing, discharge from nares...

Well, let's start with the idea that we literally count our chickens before they've hatched. :) The exhortation against doing that is pretty good advice... unless you're a hatchery or breeder! Then it's your business to predict how many eggs your chickens will lay and how many of those will hatch, AND how many of each sex you'll get. So because these are all estimates, we're pretty conservative in our predictions, because we don't want to disappoint our customers if possible. It's understandably disappointing if you've ordered some Silkies, for instance, and after the long wait when hatch day comes,...

Ew, yuck! But yes: just as bed bugs can feed on dogs and cats, they can feed on chickens, too. It's a particular problem with chickens in factory farms, moreso than small backyard flocks, because birds kept commercially are often crowded into spaces without enough room, and which aren't kept clean. But here's the thing: cleaning isn't the answer if you end up with bedbugs in your house. You can't clean them out of your house or coop. Bedbugs are extraordinarily difficult to get rid of---many pesticides are not effective on them---so an infestation really requires professional help. The good...