When you step outside into your backyard, it may look like just a patch of grass, a few trees, maybe a garden bed or two. But beneath the surface—and buzzing around right in front of your nose—is a bustling world of interactions. This living network is known as your backyard biome, and it’s far more complex (and fascinating) than it appears.

Let’s pull back the curtain on what’s happening in your backyard’s miniature ecosystem.

What exactly is a biome?

A biome is a large-scale community of plants, animals, fungi, and microbes that share a particular climate and set of conditions. Your backyard might not rival the Amazon rainforest, but it’s still a microcosm of life where organisms constantly interact, adapt, and balance each other out.

Think of your yard as a small-scale stage where soil, water, plants, insects, and animals all play parts in a never-ending performance.

The Building Blocks of the Backyard Biome

1. Soil: The Foundation

Healthy soil is more than just dirt—it’s alive. Billions of bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and earthworms live in a handful of soil. They break down organic matter, recycle nutrients, and improve soil structure so plants can grow strong. Without this hidden workforce, your lawn, garden, and trees wouldn’t survive.

2. Plants: The Producers

Plants take sunlight and turn it into energy through photosynthesis, forming the foundation of the food web. From towering oaks to humble dandelions, every plant supports life. They provide food for pollinators, shelter for small creatures, and oxygen for the entire system (including you).

3. Insects: The Middle Managers

Love them or not, insects keep your backyard biome humming. Pollinators like bees and butterflies enable plants to reproduce, while decomposers like beetles and ants break down waste. Even pests like aphids serve a purpose—they feed ladybugs, birds, and other predators.

4. Birds, Mammals, and Beyond

Squirrels, rabbits, songbirds, and even the occasional raccoon are all part of the biome. They disperse seeds, control insect populations, and sometimes make a meal out of your vegetable patch. Larger predators (hawks, owls, foxes) play the role of top regulators, keeping smaller animal populations in check.

5. Microorganisms: The Invisible Heroes

Yeast, algae, protozoa, and countless bacteria operate quietly, recycling nutrients and balancing the ecosystem. Without them, waste would pile up and plants would starve.

Cycles That Keep It All Running

Your backyard biome doesn’t just exist—it cycles. A few key loops keep it healthy:

• Nutrient Cycling: Fallen leaves, grass clippings, and compost decompose into nutrients, which feed the soil and, in turn, the plants.
• Water Cycle: Rain infiltrates the soil, hydrates plants, and evaporates back into the air—often moderated by plant roots that prevent runoff.
• Energy Flow: Sunlight → plants → herbivores → carnivores → decomposers. Every transfer fuels another part of the system.

How You Influence Your Backyard Biome

Whether you realize it or not, your actions shape the health of your biome:

• Lawn chemicals can disrupt soil microbes and harm pollinators.
• Native plants attract more beneficial insects and birds than exotic ornamentals.
• Composting closes the nutrient loop and boosts soil health.
• Habitat features like birdhouses, log piles, or wildflower patches increase biodiversity.

By making intentional choices, you can help your biome thrive instead of tipping it out of balance.

Why It Matters

A thriving backyard biome doesn’t just benefit the creatures living in it—it benefits you, too. Healthy soil grows better food. Pollinators boost gardens and orchards. Biodiversity helps control pests naturally. And maybe most importantly, stepping outside into a living, balanced ecosystem provides a sense of wonder and peace.

Your backyard may look small on a map, but to the countless organisms living there, it’s a whole world—and you’re part of it.

Justin Bieber’s song, NEVER SAY NEVER, applies to chickens. How can that be?

Rich and Marion Patterson learned “how” with their new flock. When preparing their chick order in early spring they selected half their chicks to be from well-known, dual-purpose production breeds. So, they included Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, and Delawares in the order along with one California White, a famous laying dynamo. All are breeds unlikely to pause laying and go broody. The other half of the flock was from fun breeds like Brahmas and Cochins. They’re gorgeous modest layers that have a tendency to go broody.

Their flock’s first eggs came as the weather cooled in September. Mixed in with brown eggs was a daily white one laid by their sole California White. Then something odd happened. That supposedly non broody hen went broody!

Hens are less likely to go broody as days shorten in the fall and nights cool. Broodiness is more likely in late winter and spring. Patterson’s California White had different thoughts. She went broody in the fall while her broody prone flock mates kept laying.

Why?

The answer is simple and is important to understand when purchasing a flock of baby chicks. Chickens, like all living things, are individuals. No matter how much intensive breeding is devoted to developing traits, like high egg production, disease resistance, avoiding broodiness, once in a while a chicken is different from her sisters. She beats to a different drummer.

Although the Patterson’s California White is a hybrid that rarely goes broody, the word “rarely” is important. Once in a while an individual varies from the norm for the breed.   Because of that the folks at Hoover’s Hatchery are careful to avoid using definite words to describe a breed’s characteristics. They don’t use words like never or always to describe characteristics.  Instead, their descriptions use words that allow for individual differences like usually, seldom, occasionally or tend to when describing a breed.

Sometimes they make individual differences clear. For example, when describing the egg color of Olive Eggers the Hoover’s catalog states that the greenish color isn’t perfect. 5% of the birds may lay brown eggs. 

Anyone ordering a batch of chicks should keep individual variation in mind. Want the most eggs?  Order famous hybrids like ISA Browns or California Whites, but don’t be perplexed if an occasional one lays very few eggs or goes broody. The flock, in total, will lay plenty of eggs.  Want broody hens?  Order from breeds that are likely to be broody, but in that flock a few individuals will decide to opt out of motherhood and keep laying.

Individual variations within a small chicken flock are fascinating.  It’s part of the fun of keeping them.

From time to time, we’ve had to downsize our flock. It’s emotional. Saying goodbye to the feathery friends who have generously given us eggs is hard. An empty coop, lacking the bubbly chicken energy is a sad place. Downsizing or eliminating a flock can be distressing and tricky.

Why Downside a Flock

People downsize a flock for many reasons. Here are a few we have had to use.

• We’re moving and can’t have chickens in our new home.
• Our hens are getting old and aren’t laying many eggs. We need to replace them with younger ones.
• We bought chicks when egg prices were sky high, thinking we’d produce them cheaper. We learned that a chicken flock isn’t our cup of tea, so we need to get them to a better home.
• We want to switch to a different breed.
• We got chickens when our kids were young so they’d learn where food really comes from and how to care for animals. Now the kids are grown and have left the nest, and we don’t want chickens anymore.

The most common reason we downsize the flock, or part of the flock, is because the girls have just gotten old and aren’t laying much. Typically, hens lay the most eggs during their first and second lay cycle. So, when they approach three years old production slows down. They’ll still lay eggs for several more years but fewer each year.  Eventually we replace the hens.

A Chicken Mentor

When we close down a flock of older hens and replace them with young pullets, we often keep one or two of the old girls. A mentor hen may not lay many eggs, but she’s valuable. She’s experienced!  She will show newcomers what’s good to eat and what’s not, how to avoid predators, and where to lay eggs. Sometimes we have to rehome our entire flock but when we can, we keep a mentor or two.

How To Reduce a Flock

Probably the best way to downsize or eliminate a flock is to give the birds to another flock owner who will provide them a good home. We stay in touch with a few nearby families who keep chickens. If we need to dispose of some birds, we give these folks a call or send an email to ask if they’d like some extra birds. If that doesn’t work here are some ways we’ve reduced our flock:

• Eat them! Well, they are chickens and Americans eat millions of them every day. Slaughter is not a viable option for anyone emotionally attached to their birds. We can’t eat Fuzzy! Also, town ordinances often prohibit slaughtering chickens. Anyone who desires to slaughter their surplus chickens can learn how to do it from an experienced chicken keeper. Many YouTube videos show how to cut up a chicken carcass. Don’t be surprised. A three- or four-year-old hen’s meat is different from supermarket chicken. It’s richly flavored and delicious but tough.  The meat of old hens is best slow cooked in stew.
• Put an ad on Facebook Marketplace, Craig’s List, or other social media sites.

Often calls start coming right away. Old hens can be given away, but we usually charge a couple of dollars per bird.

• Contact the local town or county humane society or animal control department. They likely know other families who have chickens and can help make a connection.

Catching and Moving Chickens

We’re always careful when we move chickens for any reason. They have to be caught and put in a container for transport for transportation to a different place. It’s a traumatic event for a chicken, so we try to keep the birds, and us, as calm as possible.

The best and safest way to catch a chicken is to enter the coop after dark with a flashlight and gently place hands over a sleeping hen’s wings so she can’t flap and then transfer her into a transport box or cage. If it has to be done during daylight a gentle way to catch a chicken is with a large long handled fish landing net. Netting holds the bird still so we can gently grab and move her.

We’ve used a big cardboard box to hold chickens when we move them a short way. Holes or cracks in the cardboard let air in and the dark interior tends to keep birds calm and quiet. We’ve also used wire box traps used to catch raccoons as a transportation cage. A raccoon-sized trap will hold about three birds. It’s best to move the chickens to their new home quickly.

Caution: Avoid moving chickens during hot weather. Riling them up to catch them and then placing them in a hot cardboard box may kill them. Wait for a cool day or evening and give the birds plenty of space in the box.

After we’ve removed our flock, we scoop and sweep out the litter and move it to the compost bin. Then we scrub the floor with soapy water or a mild bleach solution. We scrape old droppings off roosts, sanitize the perches, and thoroughly clean feeders and waterers.

Just before we add new chickens, we add fresh wood shavings as litter and fill feeders and waterers. We want our new hens to be comfortable in a clean and safe home.

Let’s be real—kids and chickens are basically made for each other. Chickens are funny little dinosaurs that poop eggs (magical, right?), and kids are curious, messy mini-humans who love having a job that feels important. Put them together and suddenly you’ve got a built-in farm crew, life lessons on tap, and maybe even a few less “I’m bored” complaints.

Here’s why you should involve kids in chicken care—and how to make it fun (and safe) for everyone.

Why Bother Letting the Kids Help?

1. They Learn Responsibility (Without Rolling Their Eyes Too Much)

Taking care of living things teaches kids accountability. Watering the flock, collecting eggs, or helping with coop cleanup shows them that chores matter because real feathered lives depend on it. And unlike vacuuming the living room, chicken care comes with a daily prize: breakfast.

2. It’s Basically a Biology Class in Disguise

Want to teach your kids about life cycles, ecosystems, or where food comes from? Chickens do all the heavy lifting. Eggs hatch, feathers molt, seasons change, and your child gets a front-row seat—no textbook required.

3. It Gets Them Off the Screens

Chickens are feathered entertainers. Watching them scratch, chase bugs, or argue over a piece of lettuce is way more engaging than yet another YouTube video. Bonus: sunlight + fresh air = tired kids who sleep well.

4. Confidence Booster

When a child can say, “I fed the chickens today,” or “These are the eggs I collected,” it gives them pride. It’s tangible proof that they can do real, meaningful work. (And if you’ve ever tried to convince a picky eater to eat scrambled eggs, just wait until they’re eating “their” eggs—miraculous.)

How to Get Kids Involved Without Losing Your Sanity

• Egg Collectors Extraordinaire- 
Perfect for even the youngest helpers. Hand them a little basket, and suddenly they’re on a treasure hunt.
• Water Patrol
 -Filling waterers is a great job for kids old enough to carry a jug without spilling it all over their shoes. (Okay, they’ll still spill it, but that’s part of the charm.)
• Chicken Snack Time
-Give them veggie scraps and let them toss them to the flock. Just remind them chickens don’t need a Twinkie diet.
• Mini Managers
-Older kids can help rake the run, spread fresh bedding, or check for signs of pests. (Tell them they’re on “dino doctor duty” and suddenly it’s cool.)

A Few Ground Rules (Because Chickens Have Feelings Too)

• Teach kids to move slowly—no chasing or grabbing.
• Wash hands after handling birds or eggs.
• Coop cleanup? That’s for older kids (or kids who owe you big time).

Final Thoughts

Involving kids in chicken care isn’t just about getting free labor (though let’s be honest, that’s a perk). It’s about giving them real responsibility, connecting them to where food comes from, and building memories that stick. Years from now, when they’re off doing adult things, they’ll still remember the smell of fresh hay, the excitement of warm eggs in their hands, and yes—the time a hen pooped on their shoe.

Because raising chickens is never just about chickens. It’s about raising kids, too.