by Meredith Chilson Photos by author The spring chicks have begun laying eggs, and the older hens are winding down their cycle toward the annual molt. As a result, I gather a wide variety of sizes of eggs: from the tiny first eggs known as pullet eggs or “pee-wee” to the extra-extra large eggs that […]

by Jennifer Sartell Welcome to Cluckingham Palace, a beautiful coop and story by Karen Driscoll of Cabot, Pennsylvania. I love the story behind the construction of Cluckingham Palace! It started as a desire from the memory of a childhood pet duck and then in 2009, stemmed to a beautiful coop. What makes this story so […]

by Meredith Chilson Have you ever noticed how people with similar interests just naturally seem to gravitate toward each other? I’ve made some friends while standing in line at the feed store; for example, when they’ve noticed the chicken feed or pine shavings I have piled on my cart. Conversations have started in the library, […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author I think every backyard chicken keeper can agree that chickens are beautiful! When the sun hits our French Black Copper Maran rooster, his black feathers glow in iridescent greens and blues that would give any exotic bird a run for its money. Their intricate patterns, brilliant colors and hundreds […]

by Rebecca Nickols This month’s “Cool Coop” is guaranteed  to bring a smile to your day! The on-going theme of this series of unique, creative and inspiring coops is–recycling, re-purposing, reusing… I think that everyone would agree that a reclaimed school bus chicken coop is about as cool as it gets! I love the idea of […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author The rest of the story… I’ve been thinking a lot about cycles and seasons this week.  The summer season is quickly turning into fall, for example.  The hummingbird feeder has had no visitors for over a week, and electric and phone lines are full of birds waiting for the […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author Last year I was asked by the Master Gardener chapter that I’m a member of to do Power Point presentation on backyard chickens. Since I’m more of a gardener than a farmer, I thought I would not only share the whys and hows of basic chicken keeping, but also […]

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 Jennifer Burcke Photos by author I’ve been keeping chickens for two years now.  I keep waiting for the excitement of finding an egg in the nest box to wear off.  Yet I get that same giddy feeling every time I find that one of our hens has left a beautiful, fresh egg for my […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author The other day I was at the grocery store. I hate grocery shopping, so I always make a list so I can get what I need and get out of there as fast as possible. Sometimes I feel like grocery shopping is like bumper boats with shopping carts, only […]