by Meredith Chilson This is the time of year that our thoughts turn to gifts and our minds begin to reflect on the past, isn’t it? I want to share with you some reflections of the gifts my chickens have given me. Many of the gifts are lessons taught to me, and I’m passing these […]

Mildred in molt with one lone tail feather left Do you keep records on your chickens?  With backyard chicken keeping becoming more and more popular and homesteading taking hold, keeping records of our flocks is very important.  In addition, most veterinarians are not avian specialists and finding one that is an avian specialist is not […]

by Rebecca Nickols In the spirit of the holiday season, I thought I would share with our readers one of the organizations that my family supports. For more than 30 years, Lifeline Christian Mission has been working to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people in Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, Cuba and the […]

by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest For years in my medical career, I have been diagnosing patients with fatty liver diseases. It is estimated that approximately 20% of adults have fatty liver syndrome, with the percentage rising in children at an alarming rate. You can imagine my shock when I learned that chickens too could […]

by Wendy EN Thomas of Lessons Learned from the Flock Warning, this post is about killing a chicken. Not everyone feels comfortable talking about culling a flock member, but sometimes it has to be done.  Which is why I taught myself to use a killing cone, if I’m going to teach workshops on raising chickens, […]

by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm I remember when I was a kid we had one of those electric carving knives that my dad ordered from an infomercial. It was a serrated knife blade attached to a handle with a motor that moved the blade back and forth in a kind of violent vibration. […]

by Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick. Chickens fare much better in cold temperatures than in hot temperatures due to their unique physiology and ability to regulate their body temperatures, but they still need our help to create the ideal environment in which to survive winter. Not all of them are common sense or intuitive, […]

by Meredith Chilson Probably the most important first step when going into the “chicken business” is planning where you will house your birds. The first time we had chickens, years ago, we housed them in our All-Purpose Shed, along with rabbits, a couple of goats, ducks, and occasionally, a pony and/or a goose.  There was […]

by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest I’m going to come right out and say it. I do not believe that chicken coops should be heated in the winter. There are a number of reasons why I believe this and there are alternative ways to keep the flock comfortable during the chilly days of winter. Today, […]

by Jennifer Burcke In my last post, I shared that the heritage breed hens here at 1840 Farm were deep into their annual molt cycle.  A few weeks have passed, but not much has changed on that front.  They are fewer feathers accumulating in the coop each day and the girls are beginning to look like […]