Poems by Kenny Coogan

Frequent Chickens and Hobby Farms magazines’ contributor Kenny Coogan has launched a new book: 99½ Homesteading Poems: A backyard guide to raising creatures, growing opportunity, and cultivating community. The book offers inspiration and advice through themed poems covering gardening, DIY projects, raising livestock and more than 20 farm-to-fork recipes. Learn more at Kenny Coogan’s website.

Building a Gate

I built a pallet gate to keep the animals from going through
It’s really well made, but some of it I’ll have to redo
Cause the fence is still hanging, but it’s been a bit of a blunder
The animals don’t go through anymore, but they go above, around, and under

Raising Chicks

Getting chicks is very thrilling
Caring for them is so fulfilling
First, before your chicks arrive
Set up their brooder so they thrive
This is the place for the chicks to grow
Before they lay eggs and begin to crow
To warm them, provide artificial heat
Huddling together, they’ll look so sweet
Allow half a square foot per chick in the brooder
Keep them safe by excluding intruders
Prevent a chick from being a tormentor
By placing the feed and water bowl in the center
Starter feed has the vitamins chicks need
For now, you skip the scratch feed
Clean often and keep the brooder tidy and dry
And in a few weeks, they’ll enjoy the fresh sky
Soon you’ll have a dependable group
Providing fresh eggs straight from the coop

Saving Heritage Breeds

Serving-to-preserve is a funny notion
And while we are at it,
Let’s throw in a sales promotion
To improve the breed,
We must feast to conserve
Those not for future breeding
Became the hors d’oeuvres
“Breed the best and eat the rest,”
Is what the conservationists say
It’s a strange way to save a species,
But please get in line for the buffet

This story originally appeared in the November/December 2018 issue of Chickens magazine.