In my home library, I have a small volume, The Biggle Poultry Book. It was first published in 1895, but there is much wisdom in it for today’s chicken keeper. In the chapter, The Village Hennery (how wonderful is that phrase!) Mr. Biggle states, When confined in small yards they become unhealthy and unproductive.
I have a collection of these agriculture books from before the era of confinement and antibiotics. They all espouse the value of exercise for hens. My Girls agree.
Mr. Biggle discusses the differences in the energy level and roaming needs of the various breeds. Active breeds require higher fences. How true! The other day, Misty made her way halfway up the beech tree. She clambered down before I could get a photo. But here is Twiggy, who stayed on the ground because she was so busy eating grass and bugs. It didn’t take long for her crop to fill. That is a satisfied and healthy hen..
Note: I found my copy of the Biggle Book on EBay. A reproduction is available through
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. http_request_failed: A valid URL was not provided. URL: https://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?SearchIndex=All&multipageStart=0&multipageCount=20&Operation=GetResults&Keywords=1626361479&InstanceId=0&TemplateId=MobileSearchResults&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=US Cache: AAL_a3e2e41cc32388e6b8c7f68599cf1090
We have serious bobcat issues in our area so we can’t let our chickens out in the yard. What can we
do to keep them healthy and happy?
Read this post: http://hencam.com/henblog/2013/06/chickens-get-bored/
Janet
When I lived “in the middle of nowhere” coyotes and foxes were my biggest challenge. What I did was an hour or so before normal roosting time I let my hens out to forage. I simple stood guard.
The exercise did me good too. ;-)
Thanks Ken but a bobcat jumped over our fence and grabbed a chicken
right in front of our teenage daughter who was standing guard. It happened so fast there was nothing we could do. We just can’t let them out if we want to keep them safe.
bold devil.
Thank you!
There is an e-copy on the internet archive .
https://archive.org/details/bigglepoultrycon00biggrich
Thanks for that link.
Oh my goodness I really want that book!!
Oh my goodness I really want that book!! I love old books and old chicken books are the best!!! Thanks for posting the link. I’ll have to check it out :D
Hold out for the original with full-color illustrations. Nothing like the old paper and the rich colors.
My husband always laughs at me when I comment on how tired the hens will be at night after a busy day of foraging around in the yard.
Tell him to follow them around for a day :)
It is amazing how fast they can fill up on grass and bugs they seem to find that I couldn’t with a magnifying glass.
I am fortunate that my Girls have a run approx. 130′ x 30′ which has a area of trees/shrubs, spare ground and a large area of lawn part of which we keep mowed and part is left to grow with wild flowers, they seem to get plenty of exercise running around and hunting.
Twiggy really does look good with her very white feathers, upright tail and amazing dark red comb :)
Terry your Biggles book does it have a Blue or a Orangey/Red cover they seem to have both on ebay?
This is a real thing, apparently, so you can “walk” your chicken. Other manufacturers add a d-ring to a chicken diaper so you can embarrass your hen twice over. I’m not sure what I would do if I saw someone “walking” their chicken, diapered or otherwise.
Sue, I know you wouldn’t do this, but I deleted the link, because I don’t want to generate any publicity for this product. Chicken diapers and leashes are just plain wrong. It’d be funny if people didn’t take them seriously!