Flock Management
48 articles on flock management.
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Flock Management articles
Cannibalism and Feather Pecking
It starts as pecking and ends with birds killed by their own flock. The conditions that cause it, why blood turns a habit into an emergency, and the fixes that work versus the ones that treat the symptom.
Comb Types and What They Tell You
Single, pea, rose, walnut, cushion, buttercup, V. Comb shape is a breed characteristic — and because the comb is a radiator, its size is also a genuine clue about how a bird handles Philippine heat.
How Long Do Chickens Sleep, and Why Darkness Matters
Chickens roost at dusk and settle for the night, and they cannot see in the dark — which is why light at night, disturbed roosting and predator pressure all cost you more than sleep.
Rhode Island Red: The Backyard Default Explained
Why the Rhode Island Red became the default backyard chicken worldwide, the big difference between heritage and production strains, what its genetics do inside brown-egg hybrids, and how it fits a Philippine yard.
What to Do With Old Hens
Lay rate falls every year and commercial flocks are replaced long before hens stop. A backyard is not a commercial flock — the options, and the honest arithmetic behind each.
Dust Bathing: Why Chickens Need Dry Dirt
It looks like a chicken having a seizure in a hole. It is actually parasite control, and a flock with nowhere to do it is a flock with a problem you will meet later.
Chickens in the Rainy Season: Everything Follows the Wet
Wet litter is the root of it — ammonia, respiratory disease, foot problems, mould in the feed and parasites in the mud. A season checklist that starts with drainage and ends with the feed sack.
Sussex Chicken: Traits, Varieties and Backyard Fit
One of the oldest English breeds and a genuine dual-purpose bird — what the Light, Speckled and Red Sussex are, how the breed behaves in a backyard, and where it fits for a Philippine keeper who wants eggs and a real carcass.
Raising Chickens Through a Philippine Summer
Everything gets harder in the hot months — intake falls, lay drops, disease flares and the heaviest birds die. A season checklist, in the order the heat actually attacks.
White Leghorn: The Breed Behind Most White Eggs
What the White Leghorn is, why it lays so well, how its light frame and big comb handle Philippine heat, and why you meet its genetics as a commercial hybrid pullet rather than as purebred stock.
Keeping Records That Are Actually Useful
Five things written down turn guesses into answers — feed, eggs, deaths, treatments and money. What to record, what to skip, and why the notebook beats the app.
The Pecking Order: Normal, and When It Turns Into Bullying
A hierarchy is normal and necessary — every flock has one. Feather pecking that draws blood is not, and the difference matters because once blood appears the flock can turn on a bird within minutes.
Why Do Roosters Crow? Not Just at Dawn
Roosters crow before dawn rather than because of it — research has shown an internal clock driving the timing, and rank deciding who goes first. Which also explains why you cannot train it out of them.
Beginner Mistakes Worth Avoiding
Ten mistakes that account for most first-year losses in Philippine backyards — and the striking thing is that eight of them are free to fix.
What Chicken Sounds Mean
A flock is noisy in patterns, and the patterns carry information. The calls worth recognising, the ones that should make you get up and look, and the sounds that are a health problem rather than communication.
Rooster vs Hen: How to Tell, and What Changes
Comb, feathers, spurs, voice and behaviour — the markers appear at different ages, which is why a bird that looked like a pullet at six weeks can start crowing later. What each sign is worth, and when.
How Many Chickens Should You Start With?
Small enough to learn on, large enough that chickens are not lonely, and always fewer than the space allows. How to size a first flock from what you actually want rather than from what the seller has.
Chicken Anatomy: The Parts That Actually Matter
The parts of a chicken and what each one is for. Knowing what a comb does, why a chicken has two stomachs, and how its lungs work turns half the husbandry advice on this site from rules into reasons.
Backyard Flock Biosecurity: A Practical Guide
Biosecurity for backyard chickens — quarantining new birds, visitor and footwear discipline, water and feed hygiene, and what to do if a neighbour's flock gets sick.
Starting a Backyard Flock: The Order That Works
Most people buy the birds first. Decide what you want them for, build the housing, then buy stock — in that order, and the first year goes very differently.
Quarantining New Chickens: The Step Most People Skip
Nearly every disease that arrives in a healthy backyard flock walks in on a new bird that looked fine. Quarantine is the cheapest insurance in poultry keeping — here is how to do it so it actually works.
Do Chickens Have Teeth?
No — and what they have instead explains grit, why whole grain works, and half of what goes wrong with a chicken's digestion. The answer is more useful than the question suggests.
Hawks and Aerial Predators: The Daylight Problem
Birds of prey hunt in daylight and come from above, which defeats every fence you own. Cover, not walls, is the answer — and the free-range trade-off deserves to be stated plainly.
Protecting Chickens From Dogs: The Main Threat, Honestly
A dog can destroy a whole flock in one visit, and it is usually a neighbour's or a stray. Why fencing that stops other predators fails here, and why this is partly a conversation rather than a construction job.
Serama: The World's Smallest Chicken Breed
The Serama is a Malaysian true bantam bred for posture as much as size — chest up, wings down, tail vertical. What it is, why it suits a small tropical backyard, and the honest limits of keeping a bird this small.
Keeping Chickens Cool in Philippine Heat
How to keep chickens cool in Philippine heat — heat stress signs, water, shade, airflow, and how feeding timing changes when the temperature climbs.
Silkie Chicken: The Best Broody Hen You Can Keep
Black skin, five toes, fur-like plumage that does not shed rain — the Silkie is unlike any other chicken. It is also the most reliable broody hen in backyard keeping, which is the real reason to own one.
Chicken Predators in the Philippines: Who Takes What
Dogs, rats, snakes, cats and birds of prey each attack differently and leave different evidence. Reading what happened tells you what to fix — and most losses happen at night, at ground level.
Can Chickens Fly?
Well enough to clear your fence, not well enough to go anywhere. What chickens can actually do in the air, which breeds do it, and why the answer decides how you build a run.
Bantam Chickens: Small Birds, Real Uses
Bantams are miniature chickens — some are true bantams with no large counterpart, others are shrunken versions of standard breeds. They eat less, need less space, make excellent broody hens, and lay small eggs. Here is where they fit.
How to Sex Chicks: Vent, Feather, and Folk Methods
How to sex chicks explained — vent sexing, feather sexing, why the common folk methods are unreliable, and the age at which sex becomes obvious anyway.
Inahin: Ano ang Ibig Sabihin at Paano Alagaan
Ang inahin ay ang babaeng manok na nangingitlog na. Ano ang kailangan niya para tuloy-tuloy ang itlog, kailan siya lumilimlim, at bakit kalsyum ang pinakamadalas na kulang.
How to Raise Gamefowl: A Complete Guide for Beginners
A complete guide to raising gamefowl for beginners — from housing, feeding, and health care to basic conditioning.
Polish Chicken: The Crested Ornamental Explained
The Polish is the chicken with the pompom crest — striking, gentle, and genuinely harder to keep than it looks. What the crest does to the bird's vision and behaviour, and what that means for a Philippine backyard.
The Chicken Life Cycle
Egg to chick to pullet to hen, and the decisions a keeper faces at each stage. The stages are simple; the useful part is knowing where the losses happen and what the bird needs when.
Chicken Molting: What It Is and What to Do
Chicken molting explained — when it happens, how long it lasts, why laying stops, how to support a bird through it, and how to tell a normal molt from illness.
Brahma Chicken in the Philippines: Worth It or Not?
The Brahma is enormous, feather-legged and famously gentle — and it was built for cold. What that means for a Filipino keeper, what the feathered shanks cost you in a wet yard, and when the breed still makes sense here.
Tandang: Ano ang Ibig Sabihin at Ano ang Ginagawa Nito
Ang tandang ay ang lalaking manok na hustong gulang. Ano ang pagkakaiba nito sa sisiw at sa inahin, ano ang tunay na trabaho nito sa kawan, at kailangan mo ba talaga ng isa.
Barred Plymouth Rock: What to Expect
The Barred Rock is the striped American farm hen everyone recognises — calm, dependable, dual-purpose. It also carries a genetic trick that lets you sex chicks at hatch when you cross it correctly. Here is how the breed and the trick both work.
How Long Do Chickens Live? Lifespan By Type
Chicken lifespan explained — natural lifespan vs. productive life, and how it differs between a backyard layer, a Philippine native chicken, and a gamefowl.
What Is a Cockerel? And What to Do With Them
A cockerel is a young male chicken — the half of a straight-run batch nobody plans for. What the word means, when he becomes a problem, and the decision worth making before he does.
Ayam Cemani: The All-Black Chicken
Black feathers, black skin, black bone, black meat — an Indonesian breed carrying a genetic condition called fibromelanosis. What it is, what it costs, and the buying problem that comes with a premium bird.
Dual-Purpose Chicken Breeds: Eggs and Meat
A dual-purpose bird is second-best at two jobs instead of best at one — and for a backyard that is usually the right trade. Which breeds qualify, what you give up against specialists, and how they fit a Philippine flock.
Black Australorp: The Calm Heavy Layer
The Australorp came out of Australian laying trials with a reputation no purebred has beaten since. What the breed is, what the famous 364-egg record does and does not tell you, and why it suits a Philippine backyard flock that renews itself.
What Is a Pullet? The Word and Why It Matters
A pullet is a young hen that has not started laying. It sounds like trivia until you are buying stock, feeding a mixed flock, or working out why the price per bird differs so much.
Buff Orpington: A Heavy Breed in a Hot Country
Docile, heavy, densely feathered and reliably broody — an excellent backyard breed almost everywhere, and one that needs deliberate management in the Philippines for exactly the reasons it is loved elsewhere.
How to Start Gamefowl Farming in the Philippines
Complete step-by-step guide for Filipinos who want to start raising gamefowl — from choosing your first bloodline and setting up your backyard farm to feeding, health care, and budgeting.
Jersey Giant: The Biggest Purebred Chicken
The Jersey Giant was bred to replace the turkey on the American table and ended up the largest purebred chicken there is. What it is, why it never beat the broiler, and whether a slow-growing giant makes sense in a Philippine backyard.