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Audra Owen raises several breeds of chickens including Barred Rock, Buff Orpington, Rhode Island Red and Brown Leghorn. She lets them free-range as much as possible to cut down on the tick population. Plus, the chickens love to eat fresh grass! The family also gives the chickens remaining food scraps from their table. A lot of straw in the chicken coop helps the cluckers stay warm when Oklahoma’s winter winds sweep across the prairie. The chicken run acts as a windbreak. (Carol Mowdy Bond)

Rodney Wilson, senior editor for Hobby Farms and Chickens magazines, is a writer, editor and hobby farmer. His family farm, the Kentucky-based Goldfinch Farm, has raised Berkshire pigs, Dexter cattle, meat chickens and laying hens, but these days focuses on self-sustenance and beekeeping. Rodney lives in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area with his wife, a whole mess of kids and so many pets.

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