Our King Farm chicken adventure started out with a hatching at the Mother Earth News office. Fast-forward six months and we have 18 chickens and two ducks! As new homesteaders, we often think about cost and quality. When approached by Purina Animal Nutrition to try their organic layer feed with their Oyster Strong® System through […]

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about companion planting. It’s a gardening technique in which different species of vegetables and flowers are planted together and they work as a group to benefit each other. In the Mother Earth News article Companion Planting With Vegetables and Flowers, the author Barbara Pleasant gives an example of the […]

We all know some of the problems associated with roosters when protecting your flock of hens: Noise Aggression Mounting your hens When we think of our roosters, we rarely think of them as a guardian, but that is their primary role when it comes to a small holding or farm. If not for egg fertilization, […]

  It seemed fitting that after Zach and I wrapped up our final Community Chickens podcast episode that I name my new chickens after the Golden Girls! That was a suggestion of Zach’s on the show.     You may have gotten a glimpse of my chicken coop in my previous post regarding Bruce. Here’s a […]

With chickens’ popularity at fever-pitch now, thousands of first-time chicken keepers will be bringing home chicks for the first time this summer. Unfortunately, if you don’t research your breed correctly, you could well end up buying the wrong chicken. You should make sure you understand what makes the ideal chicken breed before you go buying […]

When Chicken Math Goes Too Far So, we have all heard of chicken math. It has claimed us all from one time or another. What happens when the chicken math has gone too far? After six years of adding, adding, and more adding it has become apparent, the addition needs to become subtraction. How do […]

Rolling through the chicken feed aisle at our local farm-supply store can feel a little overwhelming. The “chicken diet” options have come a long way since I first brought home 6 broiler chickens when I was 14 and a bag of cracked corn. Our local feed store not only carries several brands of chicken feed […]

I originally bought this small manufactured cool to be our Silkie pen. But after seeing how handy it is with our teenage chickens I may decide to buy another one for next year’s teens. Grow-out Pens A holding place for chickens after they’ve left the brooder but before they’re old enough to enter the adult […]

The Man: Meet Bruce. Bruce is a 4-year-old Lab/Pug mix. Bruce has a lot of energy, he’s super sweet, loves to play, is always down to cuddle, but doesn’t listen and has killed chickens before. Bruce uses his super speed to patrol all backyard activities. While he spares the neighborhood rabbits, his territory remains an […]

Over the years, in my experience keeping chickens, we’ve done both free-ranging and keeping them in a confined coop. My preferred method is to let them free-range, but right now I have our flock separated in pens by breed for breeding purposes. What Is Free-Ranging? Free-ranging can have a lot of definitions. Some commercial egg […]