Raising Chicks in the Winter Part 1

Most people think of spring as the ideal time to raise chicks, but chicks are available all year from Hoover’s Hatchery There are some good reasons you might want raise chicks in the winter and this post is the first in a three-part series on the topic of winter chicks

This first post will talk about pros of winter chicks, the second post will talk about some considerations (or potential cons) of raising chicks in the winter, and the third post will talk about how to keep those peeps warm in the event of power outage

Buffalo Gnats: Should You be Concerned for Your Birds?

For several weeks in late spring and early summer, gnats, flies, and other nuisance insects make their arrival known Most are exactly that, a nuisance But one is genuinely different Buffalo gnats, also called black flies or turkey gnats, can quickly wipe out livestock, including poultry They arrive in dense swarms, they bite, and in bad years they have killed entire flocks in a matter of hours If you keep chickens, this is one seasonal pest worth taking seriously Here’s why buffalo gnats are so dangerous and what you can do to protect your birds while they’re around