Raising your chickens is rewarding because you get fresh eggs and fresh chicken meat, and it’s fun to watch them grow, play, and produce. But while your backyard buddies offer these rewards freely, there could be a price to pay for raising chickens if you’re not careful about how you handle them. There are health … Read more
Along with keeping chickens warm in cold weather, it is important to know how to keep chickens cool in hot weather. Obviously, hot weather isn’t just a matter of the outside temperature. Other heat-related factors can come together to make conditions for chickens unbearable in the coop, and the run. And even free-range chickens aren’t … Read more
Keeping chickens entertained in the coop is not a difficult task to accomplish, but it is a facet of raising chickens that not many are acquainted with. I mean, don’t they keep themselves entertained? Yes, they do… they peck each other, pull each other’s feathers, steal each other’s food, etc. Left to their own devices, … Read more
Chickens are very social animals. In my little herd (I know, I know) of beaked wonders, there are a few different breeds. They were all raised together from when they were chicks. Even so, as adults they tend to stick with their own kind… The Rhodies with the Rhodies, and the Brahmas with the Brahmas. … Read more
We just went through another lovely winter here in Upstate New York, and my chickens all survived. This isn’t Minnesota, but it gets pretty darned cold here, with temperatures dropping below zero Fahrenheit for days. So, I know a little about how much cold chickens tolerate in the winter, and it’s why I’m writing Keeping … Read more
There are few things that make your skin crawl more than the thought of lice. There are many types of lice and the ones we are going to discuss are the chicken-infecting kind. Don’t worry. If your chickens get lice, you are not going get them on you. Chicken lice like chickens, not people. That’s … Read more
If you have ever shopped for baby chicks at a store where you could actually see them, you probably noticed that one or two of the little puffballs had a sore spot. Maybe you even saw some blood. The occasion might have been a little disconcerting because it might have seemed like all the other … Read more
The best way to ensure your chickens’ health is to keep things clean. Water needs to be fresh. Feed bins need to be closed to rodents and other pests. Nesting boxes, brooders, and coops need to be regularly hoed out and checked for infestation. But sometimes, Mother Nature winds up and throws a fastball of … Read more