From protecting to continuing tradition, Bruce Ingram walks us through excellent reasons to keep a rooster as part of your flock. Roosters absolutely fascinate me. Yes, I know hens and their eggs and/or meat are the reasons many folks raise chickens. But roosters add passion, personality, and, well, paternity, to any flock. Here are reasons […]

Roosters are loud, beautiful, mean, good guardians… in other words, contradictory critters. Michele Cook walks us through some of their pros and cons. Chicken keepers everywhere wrestle with the question “Should I keep a rooster?” Many times, balancing the pros and cons of keeping a rooster come up simply because a rooster snuck into a […]

They are extra Roosters. Time to give them a chance.  Everyone has an opinion on them. Some love the classic image of a handsomely plumed boy strutting around the barnyard while others will get out the stew pot as soon as they hear the first strangled crows from the most recent batch of chicks. The […]

Roosters Make Great Dads! Franny believes that a rooster’s job description consists of more than alarm clock or egg fertilizer! Find out why keeping a rooster with your flock is so important!   For more farmstead videos and good advice visit The MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends Youtube. Visit Franny’s Farm at www.FrannysFarm.com

By Jennifer Sartell   Usually, around this time of year, I start getting e-mails and Facebook messages from people about roosters. The reason for this is that around this time of year, spring cockerels start crowing, which is the last confirmation that your supposed pullet chick, is, in fact, a boy. Lots of people start […]

By Jennifer Sartell (This post is not sponsored. The product interested me so I decided to share it with our readers.) A local reader recently got a hold of me and asked if I was interested in taking a rooster off her hands. She lives in a downtown village setting and the law for her […]

by May Woodworth Final part of three-part series on Wry Neck. See the first two parts: Part 1 Part 2 Once it was clear that Uno was the sole survivor of the incubator hatch, I evaluated him. He was in rough shape. In addition to the obvious inability to move without flipping backwards, and thrashing […]

By May Woodworth First of a three part series on Wry Neck. See the other two parts here: Part 2 Final Part        Our friends and family know Uno’s story well. They know that his Rhode Island Red parents (Red & RooRoo) had a zany relationship. They know that Red lost interest in sitting […]

Krislee Johnson Story and photos Clinger The Bare Backed Hen & Her Super Simple Saddle My bare backed hen named Clinger (aptly named as she loves being around people) has had the misfortune of losing feathers all winter long. Thankfully, it was not due to mites or malnutrition but the combination of not molting in […]

Every year, This American Life dedicates an entire show to the season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the time of the year in which the majority of our poultry is consumed. The stories this year are what happens when the worlds of our birds and us collide. You’ll hear stories about a chicken saving a man on […]