Even so, provide a lamp where they could huddle together and get heat especially in the coldest hours of the morning or and when they need it, otherwise turn the lamp off to get them acclimatized to normal temperatures. Clean water must be provided but even chicks scratch or step inside the water pan that could topple it. Yet they could be picky and scavengers at the same time. Truth to tell, chicken will love eating everything even those that barely resembles food. Feeding the chicken is not the worry. What would bother the newbie more is that a chicken when they have had good foraging around the fence will not eat the chicken feed. The fact though is that when the nest box is crowded, chicken prefer laying eggs on the floor where the eggs are dirtied, trampled on, and even eaten lowering production. Chicken are actually more productive when they nest on smaller boxes. A box that could house four chickens at a time is good. Smaller is better. As was stated before, egg production starts to lessen as a chicken gets older, and stops in its fifth year. If this happens, we should give the hens enough courtesy to deem them 'retired' and just allow them the luxury of living out the rest of their years with their happy disposition in mind. Hey, after all the eggs they've provided, it's the least we could do! Food and Water Chickens could live on yesterday's water but when the water has droppings it has to be cleaned. A steady supply of clean water is essential if the chickens are to be healthy. Vitamins and minerals could also be introduced into the water to boost the chicken's immunity from diseases. There are two basic types, the corn, and the pellets. However if the chicken is not let out of the coop for long periods, they miss this digestion aids. Another thing that is common to most animals is to eat a particular grass for a particular illness. When the chicken has sour crop, the chicken feels the illness and will forage for grass. This often complicates the sour crop, as long strands of grass are harder to digest.