The chicks are almost 6 weeks old. They don’t know much more than how to eat, drink, forage and fly, and they approach mere acquaintances with too much familiarity. They lack social graces and respect for their elders, which the older hens won’t hesitate to teach. The chicks are still not allowed to free-range like […]
I’m a person who likes to prepare. Research, studying, and compiling information is a joy, and when I took up raising chickens, it was the preparation that convinced me I was ready for the hobby. But no matter how much I prepare, there’s always something I don’t know until I jump in. Usually, it’s something […]
Last week, when I’d take the chicks outside to their makeshift playpen—a 4-by-8-foot rabbit guard fence we built to keep the hens out of a raised garden bed—the chicks were afraid of the big world, snuggling up together in a corner or trying to escape. Yesterday, though, I saw a sudden change in their behavior. […]
I’d spent close to two years researching chickens before ordering my first chicks in 2010. At that time, shortening the distance food traveled to my kitchen was a personal mission. With chickens, I could reduce the distance eggs travel to just 30 feet! My chicken obsession started that honestly, but ultimately, it was just […]
The bitter cold here in the East has wreaked havoc on the garden this week. I’m not so much worried the many perennial plants, trees and shrubs we have on the property that are fully hardy down to USDA zone 5 and below.
A reader’s young laying hens are losing their feathers and laying less eggs. She’s worried about her hens but she needn’t be. They’re probably going through their first molt.
“Chickens?” I whined. “But I don’t want chickens! I want goats for my first farm animal!”
Photo by Audrey Pavia My little, hurt hen (Lola) wasn’t too mangled when re-introduced to the flock after recuperating. One morning, about a month ago, Lola, one of my young hens, came out of the coop hopping on one leg. She was easy to catch, and I put her in a crate and took her […]
We don’t have roosters on our farm anymore. Carl and Rasputin had to go to new homes because they kept raking Mom and Dad with their spurs.
