My Rooster Stew by Meredith Chilson In the spring, I always seem to have some little chicks around. Some of those little chicks turn into “my girls”—the hens that I nurture and keep for eggs. The others—well, I keep them for a while, too. Those are the ones that grow the magnificent tail feathers and […]

by Jennifer Burcke “Now is the winter of our discontent.” So begins Richard III by William Shakespeare. No, I won’t turn this into a post about iambic pentameter. However, I will tell you that here at 1840 Farm, the year 2011 began in much the same way as Shakespeare’s epic masterpiece. We are deep in […]

by Jennifer Sartell Let me start by saying, we don’t live in a farming community. Our neighbors don’t have chickens. Our neighbor’s neighbors don’t have chickens. You don’t often hear the sound of a rooster crowing miles away. There are no roosters. We’re the odd ones. So forgive me if I sound as though I’m […]

by Meredith Chilson I haven’t purchased eggs in about three years, not since my backyard flock of hens started laying. I’m happy to use fresh, flavorful eggs. I wasn’t worried a bit when the salmonella scare hit last year. I know my hens. I know what and where they’ve been eating; I know that the […]

by Rebecca Nickols My pullets’ combs are coming in rapidly now and it completely changes the appearance of my not-so-little birds. It’s amazing how only a few months ago they were tiny yellow chicks and now they actually look like chickens! You can’t help but notice the variance in size, shape and color of combs […]

by Rachel Hurd Anger Due, in part, to our privacy fence progress being stalled in the post phase, we’re getting four-legged prowlers looking for a warm chicken dinner. Neighborhood dogs sometimes find their way into our backyard after an afternoon of dining in stray garbage bags. Of course, we shoo them away, with no real […]

by Nancy Farrell Well, it is time to start thinking and planning our flocks for 2011. The e-mails have started telling us that spring orders for chicks may now be placed. If you’ve read some of my past posts you’ll know that for 2010 we got a variety of chicken breeds to see which of […]

by Jennifer Burcke We are deep in the holiday groove here at 1840 Farm. For weeks, the trees have been lit and decorated. Cookies have been baked and eaten. Handmade gifts have been unwrapped from under the tree. Christmas is behind us and New Year’s is staring us square in the face. The chicken coop […]

by Rachel Hurd Anger Despite nearly 4 1/2 years in Louisville, I’m still getting used to the climate differences from my home state of Michigan. The warmer, shorter winters are great, but the summers are far too long (for me), way too hot, and there’s nary a thunderstorm in sight late summer when everything turns […]

by Joy Currie I just came in from morning chores. It is that cold, dry kind of morning when the snow is squeaky under your boots, and the sky is a clear, cloudless blue. It’s the kind of morning when the temperature gauge says 6. It’s the kind of morning where the husband makes lots […]