Second Coops Are Handy

Newcomers to chicken keeping take real pride in their first coop Some are simple and functional; others, built by people who love design and carpentry, end up downright elaborate, matching the architecture of the house so the hens live in genuinely classy digs But no matter how comfortable and attractive your main coop is, having a second, backup coop ready for instant use is one of the handiest things a keeper can have on hand It doesn’t get used all the time, and it doesn’t need to be big, expensive, or elaborate It just needs to be there when

Learning From Chickens Part 2

With coronavirus closing schools, millions of parents have unexpectedly become home school teachers They are learning how valuable trained professional teachers are as they attempt to help their kids expand their math, reading, and problem-solving abilities
It’s a great time to buy a few baby chicks Start them soon and by late summer they’ll be laying delicious eggs in the backyard Having the ability to produce food is comforting in this age of anxiety A flock of six hens will give a family over two dozen eggs a week
Hoover’s Hatchery reports record chick orders, probably

Are You Smarter Than A Chicken

It seems as if winter won’t give it up, so we thought we would brighten up April by celebrating April Fools all month long! Below is a fun true/false quiz and some links on fun chicken folklore
Are you smarter than a chicken? Take this True and False quiz to tell

  1. On the equinox you can stand an egg on its end
  2. There must be a rooster in the coop for a hen to lay eggs
  3. Brown eggs are always fresher than white eggs
  4. The incubation temperature determines whether the chick will be female or male
  5. Some

Chickens and the Vegetable Garden

Millions of Americans proudly harvest tomatoes, squash, beans, lettuce and a host of other vegetables from their backyard garden Delicious, fresh, clean homegrown vegetables are far superior to counterparts purchased in the supermarket
The satisfaction that vegetable gardening creates extends to backyard chickens No market egg is ever as delicious as the one laid in a backyard coop Fortunately, few activities are as compatible as backyard chickens and gardening Chickens can help perform some of the most dreary gardening chores while converting pesky insects and weeds into eggs
Successfully meshing chickens with gardens can be tricky They

How to Keep Chickens Cool in the Heat

One Memorial Day weekend, an unexpected heat wave slammed the upper Midwest All-time temperature records shattered as the mercury climbed near 100 degrees Hardly a breeze stirred, and clouds of gnats swarmed every warm-blooded creature that ventured outside The combination proved deadly: the heat and gnats together killed a number of backyard chickens, including four of one keeper’s flock The lesson is a hard but important one Chickens tolerate cold far better than heat, and a sudden hot spell can be genuinely dangerous Here’s how to help your flock survive the heat, whether it arrives on schedule or catches

How to Manage a Chicken Run for a Dry, Healthy Flock

A well-run outdoor space is one of the best things you can give your birds, but to manage a chicken run takes more than just fencing in a patch of dirt Chickens love being outside to scratch, dust bathe, and soak up sunshine, yet they will strip every blade of grass in record time

How to Make a Simple Chick Brooder for Your Baby Chicks

There are few things more exciting than the day a peeping box of baby chicks arrives from the post office or comes home from the farm store Those little fluff balls are usually only a couple of days old, and without a mother hen to tuck them under her wings, every bit

Letting The Girls Do The Work

Opening a box of just delivered peeping baby chicks is an exciting spring event Perhaps not as dramatic but just as fascinating is dropping bean, squash, corn, lettuce, and many other garden seeds in moist spring soil Both chicks and seeds promise delicious future food
About the time those spring chickens start laying, the summer garden is fading and tired as fall’s days shorten Then comes one of the least exciting of garden chores Dried vines, leaves, stems, tomato cages, and row markers need to be carted off to tidy up the space to rest for next

Learning From Chickens

All across America millions of families have begun raising a small chicken flock in the yard Most have no experience, so many nature centers, farm stores, and garden centers are holding workshops on how to efficiently and humanely care for a few laying hens Classes are filled with young parents who say they want to raise chickens so their children learn where food really comes from and develop responsibility by caring for animals Their motivation isn’t just delicious food It’s an educational family project
Caring for chickens can give kids the satisfaction of helping provide family food

Adventures in Ordinance Change

During the past few years thousands of American families have started a backyard chicken flock Bringing a breakfast’s worth of fresh eggs into the house is as prideful and delicious as growing and enjoying home grown vegetables
Gardening is legal and encouraged everywhere Sadly, some towns have enacted ordinances banning chickens inside city limits The good news is that change is sweeping the nation Town and city councils all over are recognizing that citizens want to legally keep a small flock, and they realize that it can be done without causing problems So, many towns have