Once you experience the joy and satisfaction that comes from raising chickens, you’ll want to do everything you can to make the experience even better for the chickens and yourself.
Investing in some of these chicken gadgets will make raising chickens a more pleasurable, less taxing, and more relaxing experience, allowing you to spend more time with your flock. Also, you can use many of those same tools on your ducks or quail.
Water Fount Base Heater
Living in a cold climate means dealing with frozen and thawed chicken water multiple times daily.
Investing in a water heater will solve this problem.
This tool has been indispensable, making the winters much more bearable for yourself and your flock.
Using a water base heater is a risk-free and simple way to prevent the chicken water fountain from freezing over during the winter. Without a central heating system, you will need to remove the ice from the water fount multiple times daily or replace it with a new one.
Automatic Chicken Door
Letting the chickens out and shutting them back in every day is a tedious chore that can add a lot of extra time and effort to your day.
Having an automatic chicken door is a godsend in this situation. No more worrying about what might happen to the birds if you let them out too late or aren’t there to put them back in before nightfall predators strike.
Everything is taken care of by the self-operating chicken door. This door to the coop is equipped with a light sensor that can tell when it’s day or night, allowing or denying access accordingly.
The automatic chicken coop door requires only AA batteries to operate and can be customized to fit any coop.
Goodnature Rat and Mouse Trap
One thing that every person who keeps chickens has to deal with is rodents.
If you have a rodent problem at your house, whether it’s rats, mice, or a combination of the two, you should eliminate it as soon as possible before it multiplies.
When you have chickens, never use poison to control a rodent problem.
Poisoned rodents can end up dead anywhere, and if your chickens happen to eat one, everyone is in danger. Only by using traps can you effectively and rapidly eliminate rodent populations before they cause serious damage.
Electric Poultry Netting
The constant struggle between allowing your chickens to free range outside so they can enjoy the sunshine and bugs of freedom and keeping them safe from predators is one of the most challenging aspects of chicken keeping.
Nobody should tell you that you can’t have it both ways.
A chicken tractor or fenced area equipped with electric poultry netting offers the best of both worlds for your hens. They have formidable physical abilities and are adept at a variety of activities, including hunting, foraging, flight, and pursuit. Knowing that they are safe from any potential attackers is a great relief.
The use of poultry netting is not foolproof, but it will help keep predators away from your flock. It requires little effort to assemble and can be relocated to different pastures on different days.
Get the nesting boxes ready
Now, this is the best thing a chicken coop could have.
Your chickens go into the nesting box to lay their eggs, and the eggs roll right out onto a tray for you to collect.
Broody hens will no longer have to worry about their eggs getting pooped on, broken, or sat on for days.
The metal construction of these nesting boxes makes them resistant to mites, and the slanted roof prevents your chickens from trying to roost atop it. A chicken’s nesting pad can be removed and washed, and there are curtains for their privacy.
Incubator
Incubating eggs results in a fun, exciting, and educational experience.
Among home hatchers, this incubator is widely considered to be the best and cheapest option. Because it is fully automatic, you won’t have to worry about controlling the humidity or temperature or even turning the eggs.
Brinsea Ecoglow Safety Brooder
If you’re looking for the best brooder for your chickens at home, look no further than the Ecoglow.
It’s fine to use a heat lamp to brood your chicks as long as you do so in a secure manner. Your small flock is in danger because heat lamps frequently catch fire and stop working.
However, the Ecoglow ensures the safety and consistency of the heat for your chicks.
This contraption generates heat by emitting rays from its base. When it gets cold, the chicks can huddle together under the heater, and when it gets too hot, they can wander out from under it.
The Ecoglow provides the same warmth as a broody mother would, allowing the chicks to warm themselves as needed. A heat lamp can accomplish the same thing, albeit not as efficiently because it warms the entire room and leaves little room for cooler areas.
The Ecoglow is useful for young birds because it provides warmth without the use of electricity. Chicks benefit from improved sleep and an early onset of day-light acclimation thanks to this practice. As a result, your chickens will be healthier and happier.
