by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I’ll be picking the first garden beans tomorrow. Bean time, to me, is the beginning of busy garden harvest days. Beans lead to zucchini, which leads to tomatoes, which …Well, if you’re a gardener you’ll know the sequence. The peas are long gone; the tender greens have bolted and […]

by Jennifer Burcke Photos by author If you read the Community Chickens e-newsletter on a weekly basis, you’ve probably seen the great collection of posts that discuss gardening with your chickens. Fellow contributor Rebecca Nickols wrote a four-part series that includes a wealth of information regarding the subject. I have enjoyed reading the other contributors’ […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author Once again, I’m amazed at how clever and creative some chicken keepers are when it comes to constructing their coops. I especially appreciate the coops that repurpose and recycle materials. I’ve about decided that with a little imagination (and some basic building skills) you can make a coop out […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author “To introduce,” according to my well-thumbed American College Dictionary, means, “to bring to the knowledge or experience of something.” My newest chicks are now 9 weeks old, and in their short life they have been “brought to knowledge” or have experienced many, many things. I was thinking about all […]

 by Community Chickens While chickens have an average body temperature in the 120 degree Fahrenheit range, ambient air temperatures, especially heat, effect how efficiently they can keep themselves cool. As summer heat rises, it’s help to your chickens to provide them with some extra electrolytes to help them fight off acidosis and keep well-oxygenated blood […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk! It’s so hot the chickens are laying hard-boiled eggs! There’s always some element of truth in many of the old folklore sayings, and with the record high temperatures we’ve had across the Midwest, I’ve been tempted to crack open an egg outside […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Hot, hot, hot! In the winter we shiver when we hear the wind chill is below zero, and now we are listening to reports that the heat index is above 100 degrees. We have plenty of trees in and around our small acreage, and those, plus cooler nights, bring […]

by Jennifer Burcke Photos by author I grew up celebrating Independence Day with sparklers and barbecue. I lived in Kansas then and we didn’t really need an excuse to eat barbecue. We viewed a warm weather holiday as an opportunity and seized it. Fourth of July parades and celebrations seemed to be as ubiquitous as […]

by Jennifer Burcke Photos by author Brooding a batch of chicks is akin to bringing home a newborn child. No matter how many books you have read or people you have talked to, the best experience you gather will come firsthand. Caring for a tiny living being that counts their lifetime in hours or days […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author The first of May I purchased three adorable chicks from our local hatchery in Springfield, Mo., Estes Hatchery. I chose this hatchery partly because of the variety of birds they had to choose from and the fact that they had a good success rate in sexing chicks. (I’d rather […]