Tired of paying high egg prices for months old factory eggs? Looking to live a more sustainable lifestyle? Now is the perfect time to add a flock of laying hens to your backyard! And to help with that, I am super excited to announce my FIRST BOOK, “Keeping Backyard Chickens for Fresh Eggs & Fun”, is …
Backyard Chickens
Anytime you add new livestock to your farm there is a learning curve. All the ins and outs of keeping them happy & healthy can seem overwhelming. Chickens are often the first livestock that people get when dipping their toes into the homesteading waters. Chickens are awesome and are fairly easy to care for, so …
Disclaimer: I am NOT a veterinarian, just an animal owner & lover sharing my opinions and experiences. Any advice on caring for animals or diagnosing & treating medical conditions for animals should be evaluated by a trained veterinarian. Whenever possible, you should always have your sick or injured bird evaluated & treated by a trained …
This simple question has dozens of answers. When a mother chicken hatches out her brood, she will usually take her chicks out for their first adventure in the new world by day 2. Clearly, chicks can handle being outside right from the beginning. But that mother hen is a portable source of heat & security …
It’s always a good idea to find out the laws in your town before starting a backyard farm. You don’t want to invest in a chicken coop, barn, or duck pond and get attached to some fuzzy little critters only to have the town hit you with a fine, make you move it, or make …
If you live in a northern climate, one of the most challenging parts of raising poultry is keeping their water from freezing in the winter. Here in New England, we have weeks on end where we might not get above freezing, and can often dip below 0. Chickens and ducks need fresh, liquid water every …
Keeping your chickens healthy isn’t terribly hard. It boils down to three things – keep their living area clean, give them plenty of fresh water, and give them proper feed. The first two are easy, but feeding your flock right can be a little trickier. Starter, grower, medicated, pellets, crumbles…there is a lot to learn! …
Summer is right around the corner! As the weather warms up and we start to spend more time outdoors, the insects of the world are also waking up, ready for a meal. Experts suggest in the coming years we could be in for a “tick explosion”. According to a recent release from the Center for …
Ascites, also called Water Belly, is a common problem with fast-growing meat chickens. It can also be seen in older laying hens. Water Belly is not a disease, so it is not contagious to the rest of your flock. It is a symptom of a deeper problem, and unfortunately, the underlying cause is eventually fatal. …
Combs, wattles & lobes – oh my! What is up with all those fleshy bits on your chicken’s head? A comb is the fleshy growth that sits on top of the head of chickens (and some other domesticated birds like pheasants & turkeys). Not to be confused with a wattle, which is a fleshy growth …