Editorial Policy
This page explains what PoultryChickenFarming.org publishes, where the facts come from, how they’re checked, and how mistakes get fixed.
It’s here so you can judge the guides on their evidence, not on our say-so.
What the site covers
PoultryChickenFarming.org is an independent reference for people who raise chickens in the United States, or plan to. Readers range from backyard keepers with a few hens to small farms selling eggs and meat, contract broiler growers, and organic producers.
The guides cover nine areas: getting started, broilers, layers, organic production, feeding, flock health, housing and equipment, processing and selling, and backyard chickens.
The best poultry information is spread across USDA reports, federal rules, and extension bulletins from dozens of universities. We bring it together, check it, and explain it in plain language, with the source beside each figure.
What the site isn’t
Not a hatchery or a feed company. We don’t sell chicks, eggs, feed, or equipment.
Not a veterinary practice. Guides describe diseases and treatments. They don’t diagnose flocks or set treatment plans.
Not legal or financial advice. We explain how contracts, loans, and processing rules work in general. Your own situation needs a professional who can read your papers.
Not a product tester. Equipment guides rely on manufacturer documentation and patterns in verified buyer feedback, and they say which is which.
Not a stand-in for local experts. Your poultry veterinarian, county extension office, and state veterinarian know local conditions and local rules.
Where our guidance stops
A flock can be lost fast, and some mistakes break the law. Four rules apply to every guide.
We describe. We don’t diagnose. A guide can explain the signs of coccidiosis or bird flu. Only a veterinarian or a diagnostic lab can say what your birds have.
We publish no doses. Vaccines, medications, and feed additives follow the label and your veterinarian. Under FDA rules, many antibiotics given in feed or water now need a veterinarian’s authorization, so we explain what products do and never how much to give.
Bird type and age come with every figure. A broiler chick, a pullet, and a laying hen need different heat, feed, and space. Every figure names the birds and the age it applies to.
Reportable diseases get reported. Avian influenza and some other poultry diseases must be reported to the state veterinarian or USDA. Guides say so plainly and never suggest handling them quietly at home.
Who writes the guides
Four people research, write, check, and edit the site, each in a defined area. You can meet them on the About page.
Guides carry a shared Editorial Team byline because every guide passes through more than one person. A single name would hide the rest of the work.
How topics get chosen
Two questions decide whether a guide gets written.
Is someone actually asking? We write for real questions from people raising chickens, found in search data and in readers’ email.
Can we answer it better than the pages already out there? That usually means something specific: brooder temperatures week by week, layer feed figures with their sources, processing rules explained by flock size, or contract terms laid out side by side.
If a topic fails either test, we leave it.
Where the information comes from
We start with the most authoritative source we can find and work down.
USDA agencies. NASS for production statistics, ERS for industry structure, APHIS for animal health and avian influenza, FSIS for processing and inspection, AMS for grower contracts and the National Organic Program, and the Farm Service Agency for farm loans.
The FDA. The Center for Veterinary Medicine, for animal drugs and medicated feed rules.
Federal rules. The Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations, read in the original.
Land-grant extension services. UF/IFAS, Texas A&M AgriLife, NC State, NDSU, the University of Idaho, and other university extension programs.
Peer-reviewed research. Poultry science journals, used when extension guidance doesn’t cover a question.
Breed standards. The American Poultry Association, for breed traits only.
Manufacturer documentation. Specification sheets, manuals, and labels for equipment.
Buyer feedback. Patterns across verified purchase reviews, used only for practical points such as how a waterer holds up in freezing weather, and always labeled as owner reports.
What needs a source
Any figure that changes with the bird, the system, or the place names its source in the same sentence. That covers temperatures, feed protein and calcium, space per bird, lighting hours, laying ages, production numbers, disease signs, processing limits, and organic rules.
Costs and prices change by region and by year. When a guide gives one, it names the source and the year, or calls it a typical range from current US listings.
How figures get checked
Before a guide goes live, a second person opens every cited source and finds each number in the original. Not a summary, and not another site quoting it.
If a claim can’t be traced to a named source, it’s cut.
When sources disagree
They often do. Space per bird is a common example: extension services publish different figures for the same flock because they assume different breeds, climates, and outdoor access.
When that happens, we give both figures, name both sources, and explain what drives the difference. Averaging them would create a number nobody published.
When the research is thin
Some questions have little published research behind them. Production data for many heritage breeds is one example. How much a pasture adds to a flock’s diet is another, because it swings with the season and the forage.
We say so when that’s the case. A clear “the research is limited” is more useful than a confident guess.
How we handle rules and laws
Poultry rules change, and many differ by state. Guides cite the federal rule by name, say when it took effect, and tell you which state office to check for local rules.
When a rule changes, such as a processing exemption or an organic deadline, the guide is updated and the change is noted.
How we cover products
Equipment guides follow tighter rules, because that’s where overstatement is most tempting.
- We don’t claim hands-on testing for these guides
- Specifications come from the manufacturer, not from other review sites
- Practical points from buyer reviews are labeled as owner reports
- We don’t publish prices, which change too often to stay accurate
- We don’t link to prescription drugs or feeds that need a veterinarian’s authorization
- We flag fire and safety risks, such as heat lamps without a guard or a secure mount
- We check a coop’s advertised capacity against extension space figures and say when they don’t match
If a product claim can’t be documented, it’s left out.
Money and independence
Some pages carry affiliate links, and we may earn a commission when you buy through one. The details are in our affiliate disclosure.
No company pays for coverage, a rating, or a place on a list. No company sees a guide before it’s published. We don’t accept sponsored posts or paid guest posts.
Corrections and updates
Corrections. When we get something wrong, we fix it and note what changed and which source the fix came from. We never swap a number quietly.
Updates. Statistics are refreshed after USDA’s annual poultry report each spring. Rule pages are reviewed whenever a rule changes. Feed, brooding, and housing guides are checked against their sources every year. Avian influenza guidance is updated whenever USDA changes its advice.
Reporting an error. Email the page and the figure to editorial@poultrychickenfarming.org. Mention the bird type and the source you’re comparing against.
People who raise chickens often catch problems first. A correction helps every reader, and we treat it that way.
Images
Photos show healthy chickens in clean, roomy housing or on pasture. We don’t show sick or dead birds, processing scenes, overcrowded houses, or heat lamps hung unsafely.
Team photos on the About page show the real people behind the site, and no other photo presents a person as speaking for us. Charts use the same sourced figures as the guide they illustrate.
Questions about this policy
Write to editorial@poultrychickenfarming.org. If something here is unclear, tell us and we’ll fix the wording.
Last reviewed: 10/05/2026