Salmonella is no joke. In 2007, before my chicken-keeping days, a friend and I were sickened with salmonella when we ate undercooked chicken at a restaurant in Lexington, Ky. Food poisoning hit each of us 18 hours later, and I’ve never been so sick in my life. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention […]
Help eliminate food waste and trampled grass in the run with a DIY chicken feeder made from PVC piping.
Rachel Hurd Anger If you have a small flock, you know immediately when something’s not quite normal. And it sure doesn’t take much to shock you when your hens produce something that looks like it came from a bird you didn’t know you had, though that’s not to say that something is wrong either. Our […]
Chicken is America’s meat of choice—and it’s also an endearing animal. Many farmers are split on how to view the queens of the poultry world.
This one thing is always missing from list articles about why someone should keep chickens: self-sufficiency. If you’ve been reluctant to fill a coop with hens, you’re still buying supermarket eggs, and you’ve noticed you’re shelling out twice the price you were a few months ago, you can thank the bird-flu epidemic. The good […]
Passing along my brooder to another chicken-keeping friend has me feeling a little sentimental.
My Australorp, Helen, is a tough broody to crack. Despite her sacrifices to keep the flock’s unfertilized eggs warm—forgoing food, water, exercise, dust bathing—the stubborn old hen won’t budge. Because we’re nearing the end of prime hatching season, I’m willing to bet that many of you are dealing with a broody hen or two, […]
If you want hens that have good mothering instincts to keep your flock growing, here are breeds known to be broody.
Warning, this post is not for "serious” chicken keepers. Everyone else wants to have a little fun may proceed.
