By Shannon Cole of Country Girl In The Village    October is one of my favorite months of the year. I love that the hustle and bustle of August and September have started to slow. Harvest time is finishing up, my garden is dormant and school routines have been established. The leaves are changing to […]

Story and photos by Jennifer Sartell of Iron Oak Farm I am very pleased with the collection of roosters we have at the farm. They’re pleasant birds that get along nicely with one another. They’re gentle with our hens and I don’t have to worry about visitors approaching our roos. This hasn’t always been the […]

      by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest As the weather warms up, the coop begins to call out.  Along with spring cleaning around the house and yard, our chicken coop also receives a good deep cleaning a few times per year, especially come spring.  Just like raising children, there are many different ways […]

from Jennifer Sartell Photos by author While this post isn’t about sparkling fizzies, sugar rimmed glasses or spiked eggnog, it is about using alcohol in the coop. But before you head to the backyard with martini glasses and tiny umbrellas to celebrate with the girls, you might want to keep reading. As far as the […]

Salmonella is most often contracted from un-cooked or under-cooked eggs and raw chicken.  Most often contracted by chickens who come in contact with feces from infected rodents, the bacteria can then be transmitted to humans who eat improperly cooked meat or eggs or who put their hands in their mouth after touching chickens or eggs. […]

by Kathy Shea Mormino, The Chicken Chick   In the past decade, the popularity of backyard chicken-keeping has elevated the status of chickens from expendable, barnyard livestock to valued family pets. Unfortunately, many of the earlier poultry-keeping articles and books were written with livestock in mind; frequently in those writings, culling is the proposed solution for certain injuries, behaviors and […]

When you start raising chickens, you are bound to run into terms, abbreviations and phrases that might seem like a foreign language at first. Here is my non-scientific, layman’s guide to some of the more common terms and their meanings: Albumen– The clear, viscous liquid inside an egg, basically the egg white Apple Cider Vinegar […]

by Kathy Shea Mormino It’s that time of year when I do a major coop cleaning and this year, it’s an easier task than ever before due to a few simple modifications that were made in our coops. Not only is it faster to complete the semi-annual ‘deep cleanings,’ but I find that I am […]

You wouldn’t spray chemicals in your baby’s crib to clean it, would you?  Of course not.  Nor do you want to use chemicals when you clean your chicken coop, no matter how dirty it gets. Products such as Sevin Dust, household bleach, aerosols sprays, creosote and other potentially hazardous products have no place in or […]

by Kathy Shea Mormino When I was preparing to welcome my first dozen baby chicks home, I spent nearly a year reading books and researching online to absorb all I could about caring for chickens. The internet is a powerful tool, but it is also the birthplace of many a cyber-legend and I came across […]