I feel like spring is the both the most exciting time and the most frustrating time for raising chickens on the homestead. Spring means it’s time to hatch chicks, and it’s hard not to have a good day when you have chicks on the homestead! However, spring can also be a time of muddy enclosures, increased health hazards, and changing nutritional needs for your flock. These 7 chicken care tips for spring time will help you keep your homestead flock healthy, the chicken coop enclosure clean & dry, and stress levels low for both you and your flock.

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#1. How to Deal with Muddy Chicken Enclosures

Spring showers bring on mud season in many regions. If you happen to homestead in a dry region where spring rain does not cause a mud problem, then you can skip on to the next tip. But for the rest of us, mud season is real.

Some regions simply get lots of rain in the spring. Other regions get rain and melting snow, combined with frozen ground that does not absorb the rain water fast enough. That can spell a muddy mess for chicken coop enclosures if you are not properly prepared.

Both the chicken coop and the chicken coop enclosure should stay clean and dry for several reasons:

• Bacteria– Standing water is a nursery for bacteria. Many moisture loving protozoa and bacteria can take up residence in the standing water of a chicken coop enclosure.
• Contaminants– Contaminants that can be harmful to your flock’s health can gather in the standing water. These include chicken poop, litter, and spilled food.
• Consumption– Chickens inevitably will drink standing water from the ground rather than the fresh water you just provided them with, presenting a health hazard.
• Bugs– Bugs get flushed out of the ground due to the water. When consumed in excess, bugs like earthworms, can infect a chicken with disease and parasites.

Check out my post on Chicken Coop Building Essentials for more tips on building a dry chicken coop and enclosure.

Tips for Dealing with Muddy Enclosures:

There are some precautions you can take when first building your chicken coop enclosure that may help prevent a muddy enclosure. Locate your chicken coop on high ground away from places that you know will gather water in the spring. Having the ground at a slight angle will help the water drain from the enclosure too.

However, in some regions it may be nearly impossible to find a year-round dry spot. I live in a swampy area where the water table is high year-round. Here are my tips for dealing with a muddy enclosure:

• Cover the enclosure- Keep rain or precipitation from falling directly into the enclosure.
• Fill in any dips or gullies– Fill in low spots in the enclosure to keep water from pooling up.
• Have a deep, well-draining, loose litter– Sand is fine, but it needs to be raked or turned frequently to keep it from becoming hard packed. A combination of sand and composted straw/leaves/wood chips often works well.
• Cover standing water with safe objects– I like to place old, wood pallets or a small plastic pool filled with straw over large areas of standing water.
• Build wood bridges over damp sections– Prevent access to standing water by covering it up with boards and making bridges.
• Place objects in the enclosure– Use objects that the chickens can get up on, like old tires, perches, logs, or stumps to keep them from walking in the water.
• Notice which areas have the most problems with standing water– Then make a plan for fixing the problem once the enclosure dries out (get more litter, create a better drainage system, etc…).

Make sure you also learn about the customized deep litter method that I have used at both of my coops to overcome muddy enclosure in the spring!

#2. How to Prepare for Spring Egg Production

Spring time means more eggs! After molting in the fall and a break from egg production during the winter, spring is when the eggs really start rolling in! In the wild, mother birds would be ready to start laying and hatching out clutches of eggs during the spring. The longer days (more light) stimulates the pituitary gland, which signals the reproductive system to start producing eggs.

Egg production naturally puts more strain on a hen’s body. If the hen is coming off of a harsh winter or is otherwise not as healthy as she should be, egg production could prove to be too taxing on her body.

Here are ways to make sure your hens are ready to meet the physical needs of producing more eggs:

Spring Diet Tips for Laying Hens:

• Calcium– Make sure there is plenty of free-choice calcium supplement available at all times. You will notice that hens will start eating more of the calcium supplement during the spring. I use a mixture of crushed oyster shells and crushed eggshells.
• Layer Feed– Make sure the hens have access to a complete layer feed or all-flock feed that contains the essential amino acids, vitamins, and minerals needed for egg production. Feeds full of fillers or high energy foods (like corn) will not be sufficient for good egg production.
• Protein– Increase the protein in your flock’s diet. Protein is an essential dietary component that is needed for good egg laying and proper health. Check out these tips for balancing protein in your flock’s diet as well as this list of natural protein sources for chickens.
• Feed Switch– Sometimes it is helpful to switch to a high protein layer feed. However, if you can’t find a high protein layer feed to switch to, try offering these high protein/low fat treats once a week: sardines, sprouted lentils, whole oats

With egg production at its peak during the spring, you may be wondering what to do with all those eggs. Check out my post on 50 Healthy Ways to Eat Eggs to get some delicious recipe ideas!

#3. How to Prevent Disease and Parasites

Warmer temperatures and damp conditions are invitations for many bacteria, viruses, and parasites to wake up. Certain types of bacteria and viruses tend to proliferate in damp, warm environments. Parasite life-cycles are renewed as the ground unthaws and intermediate hosts (earthworms, grasshoppers, ect..) are starting to appear too. Protozoa parasites are especially prevalent in damp conditions.

Here are some common diseases and parasites that often become a problem in the spring:

Spring Diseases/Parasites

• coccidiosis- caused by 9 different types of protozoa and each affect a different part of the intestine, mostly affects young & growing chicks (learn how to control cocci here!)
• cryptosporidiosis– affects a chicken’s intestines, common in over-crowded confined flocks
• staphylococcosis bacteria- causes bumblefoot, breast blisters, & arthritis
• pasteurellosis bacteria– causes cholera
• fowl pox- virus that can be spread by mosquitoes

With those ailments in mind, it is important that the birds in your flock have strong immune systems and that they are managed well so they can stay healthy. Keeping the chicken coop and enclosure clean and dry will go a long way in reducing exposure to spring time disease. Make sure your flock has plenty of space and is not overcrowded either. Here are some more tips for keeping your homestead flock healthy this spring:

Preventing Spring Time Diseases and Parasites

• Control the flies- flies can carry diseases and parasites
• Free-range for short periods– limit the time chickens can eat potential intermediate parasite hosts
• Keep a clean coop and enclosure- don’t allow environments to exist that would encourage the growth of bacteria or protozoa
• Do a routine chicken health check– monitor the overall health of your flock on a monthly basis through health checks and droppings board inspections
• Practice good bio-security– biosecurity practices help reduce the exposure your flock has to disease and parasites

#4. How to Deal with Broody Hens

The longer days, warmer temperatures, and spring-like conditions are all triggers for a motherhood-inclined hen to go broody! Broody is the term used when a hen wants to sit on a clutch of eggs and hatch them. When a hen goes broody she will stop laying eggs, sit on a nest continuously (with periodic short ‘bathroom’ breaks), and pull out her breast feathers to line her nest with. She will also ferociously defend her nest by hissing, snarling, growling, and pecking at intruders.

Depending on your circumstances, you may or may not want a broody hen. If you have a rooster in your flock and are interested in allowing a mother hen to raise chicks, you may want to consider setting up a broody box. A broody box will separate the ‘mother-to-be’ hen from the rest of the flock and allow her to hatch her eggs in peace.

If you do not have a rooster or do not want the added responsibility of having a broody hen with chicks, you will need to create a broody breaker. A broody breaker is like a quarantine pen that is designed to discourage a hen from wanting to be broody.

Whether you are making a broody box or a broody breaker, make sure you know how to handle either situation correctly. For breaking a broody hen, check out this article, Dealing with a Broody Hen Guidelines. For allowing a broody hen to hatch chicks, check out this article on How to Care for a Broody Hen.

#5. Spring Bio-security Tips

Biosecurity is the practice of eliminating possible entrants of disease, parasites, or illness to your flock. Biosecurity should be practiced all year long and there are numerous measures that you can implement to keep your flock safe.

Here are just a few biosecurity practices that are especially applicable during the spring time:

• Young, then Old– Care for baby chicks before tending to an adult flock. Baby chicks are more sensitive to ailments that you could bring from your older flock. 
• Clean Shoes– Rinse the mud off of your shoes before going out near your chicken coop if you have worn the shoes off of your property. Ideally, have a pair of boots strictly designated for chicken chores.
• Visitor Biosecurity– Have people who are coming over to see your flock (or baby chicks) rinse off their shoes, wear plastic bags over their shoes, or change into specified shoes before seeing the birds. 
• Spring Cleaning– Clean up droppings frequently, especially in wet enclosures. Many bacteria find chicken poop a great oasis for proliferating. Once the weather is nice enough, do a thorough cleaning of the coop and enclosure!
• Closed Flock- Keep a closed flock. Don’t integrate new birds (including chicks) unless you have raised them yourself. Even, then you had to get the chicks from somewhere, so it’s not technically a completely ‘closed flock’ unless you breed your flock to get chicks.
• Wild Bird Management– Prevent wild birds from nesting in or around the coop. Wild birds can be carriers of disease and parasites.

#6. Spring Free-ranging Tips

My flock is always very anxious to get out and free-range as soon as the snow melts! However, spring free-ranging does have its hazards. Free-ranging during any time of the year has its risk, but there are a few things you should be extra cautious about in the spring. 

Predators:

Predators are going to be extra active during the spring. Some are waking up from a full or partial hibernation, some are hunting food for their young, and others are starving after a long, lean winter. Implement good predator protection in and around the coop and in the chicken yard. I strongly advise supervised free-range, at least during the spring time. That way you can keep an eye on your flock all the time. 

Parasites:

Insects and bugs are going to be more available as warmer weather arrives, and they can be carriers of parasites and disease. I love seeing my flock free-range, but I also know they could be consuming more bugs than normal. Especially since the grass is not as appealing when it is dried and less nutritious than in the summer. Free-ranging is healthy and natural for my flock though, so I compromise.

I supervise free-range my flock for a short period of time each nice day. They still get some good exercise without, hopefully, consuming too many parasite-laden bugs. That being said, I make sure I stay on top of parasite prevention and health maintenance supplements to help my chickens have strong immune systems for fighting disease and parasites. 

Non-nutritional Forage:

Early on in the spring there is not going to be much green forage for your chickens to munch on, they will mostly resort to scratching through leaves and eating insects and bugs. However, I have seen some of my chickens take a big mouthful of moss when they are craving something green!

Because of the lack of nutrition in early spring grass, I mostly let my flock free-range during the spring so they can get some exercise, fresh air, and vitamin D. I give them supplemental leafy greens (lettuce, kale, spinach, etc..) whenever possible and keep up on the internal parasite control by giving them fresh garlic crushed in their water once a week.

#7. Spring Supplements for Chickens

I change what supplements I give my flock depending on the season and their dietary needs (see my post on How to Use Homemade Chicken Feed Supplements). With spring in the air, it’s time to change up the natural supplements. I switch from winter supplements to supplements that strengthen immune health, help keep away parasites, support good egg production, and aid in recovering from a long, cold winter.

Here are some spring supplements I give to my homestead flock:

Spring Supplements

• Mint, dandelion, marjoram, sage, parsley- These herbs can be offered free-choice or sprinkled into fermented feed on a regular basis.
• Flax seeds– Flax seeds increase the omega-3’s levels in eggs and promote good feather health. You can mix flax seeds into your flock’s treats or feed. Do not exceed 5% of daily diet.
• Kelp- Kelp is a great source of essential vitamins and minerals to promote overall good health. It can be added to your flock’s feed per the supplement instructions on the bag/container.
• Probiotics- Probiotics help maintain a good population of beneficial bacteria in a chicken’s gut. Add probiotics to your flock’s water once a week or as needed during times of high stress.
• Garlic- Garlic is a super immune booster, helps fight disease, and makes body inhospitable to parasites. You can add crushed garlic to your flock’s water once a week.
• Wormer Balance tonic- I like to use this Wormer Balance tonic ONLY when I see visible signs of worms in my flock’s poop.
• Sprouts- Sprouts provide high quantities of nutrients and lentil sprouts are an especially good source of plant-based protein. Offer your flock sprouts several times a week if possible.
• Fermented Feed- Fermenting your flock’s feed increases the nutritional value of the feed. You can do fermented feed on a daily basis or as often as you can manage it. I give my flock fermented feed twice a week.
• Dried Elderberries– Elderberries are an excellent immune booster. You can offer dried elderberries on occasion, but not more than once a week. They are great to sprinkled on top of fermented feed
• Whole Oats– Oats are a good source of protein and fiber. Only feed whole oats once or twice a week.

Spring Flock Care

These 7 chicken care tips for spring time will help you raise a healthy and productive homestead flock this spring! From dealing with muddy enclosures to meeting nutritional needs…. spring presents some special circumstances for homesteaders to deal with. These tips will make caring for your flock this spring easy, simple, and successful! No spring parasites, no spring predator attacks, no spring dietary deficiencies…. only happy, healthy chickens! Plus lots of eggs for eating… or for hatching!

For more spring time tips and recipes, make sure you join our modern pioneer community! Spring is a time of growth, so grow in your experience with becoming a modern pioneer! We would love to have you join us!

by Alexa