Livestock – Poultry

Every spring I stand over the brooder with a cup of coffee, staring at a box of fluffy chicks and trying to guess which ones will lay eggs and which...

I went down to pick up a rooster and four new hens a while back, from the same old fella I've been buying birds from for years. He's kept chickens...

You walk out to the coop in the morning, open the nest box, and there they are. Warm eggs from your own hens. You know what those birds eat, where...

If you have ever seen a photo of a chicken that looks more like a small, walking pom-pom than a bird, you have met a fur hen. It is not an official...

You wake up and it’s a beautiful morning. As usual, you grab your basket or bucket and go to the chicken coop to gather the eggs. You lift the nest...

The honest answer is that a healthy hen can lay at most one egg a day, and most don't even do that. It physically takes a hen 24 to 26 hours to...

Every flock I've ever kept has carried some level of worms, and honestly, that's normal. Chickens live outside, they peck at the ground, they eat...

If you are raising chickens on a homestead, hatching your own eggs is one of the most rewarding things you can do. It closes the full loop of...

If you keep backyard chickens long enough, you find yourself holding a piece of fruit and wondering whether it is safe to toss into the run....

If you have ever held a quail egg in your hand, the first thing you notice is how small it is. About a quarter the size of a standard chicken egg,...

If you keep chickens, sooner or later you will deal with a sick bird. It happens on every homestead, no matter how clean the coop or how carefully...

Walk onto any working Amish farm and you will find chickens that look good: alert, clean-feathered, active, with good body condition and a...

I did a lot of research about raising my chickens free-range, before I decided most of it was BS! The result? If I wanted to learn anything and help...

You just dropped another $40 on a bag of layer feed last week, and now someone's telling you $20 can feed your entire coop of chickens for a whole...

Spring is a special time of year for chickens. Everything seems to explode all at once, from egg surges to a hormone, broodiness, and highly...

The recent spike in the cost of eggs has led a lot of people to construct a chicken coop and raise chickens for the first time. There’s plenty of...

When you raise chickens, you quickly learn that a healthy flock starts with a varied diet. Fresh kitchen scraps can be a wonderful supplement to...

When you’re raising chickens, it’s natural to wonder which foods from your own kitchen or garden can be shared with the flock. Celery often comes up...

Raising chickens can be one of the most rewarding and grounding parts of a self-sufficient life. The soft clucking at sunrise, the steady rhythm of...

You think your chickens are safe. You built the coop yourself, added straw, maybe even a solar door. But what if that structure—your pride and...

Introduction to Odor Control Raising backyard chickens is incredibly rewarding—farm-fresh eggs, compostable manure, and a sustainable lifestyle all...