Thyme, oregano, a little vodka…not a recipe for pasta sauce, but herbal treatments from  Amy Fewell for chicken ailments such as bumblefoot, external parasites, and respiratory ailments. Poultry body language can help you recognize the first signs of sickness, and to help them prevent issues from arising. Prevention is key when it comes to keeping […]

To heat or not, predator protection, managing molting, and other alliterative ways to prep your poultry for winter from Elizabeth Mack. Winter is here—if an arctic blast hasn’t surprised you already! While chickens are quite hardy, they do need some special cold-weather management, depending on your location and breed of chicken. Taking a few steps […]

Chicken combs come in many different shapes and sizes from rose combs to buttercup combs. Kaylee Vaughn writes here about eight distinctive comb types. A chicken’s comb is the fleshy red appendage on the top of its head. Combs come in all shapes and sizes and vary greatly depending upon the breed. While combs certainly […]

Need versatility in your broiler or heritage pen set up? Anne Gordon recommends using snap together wire pet exercise pen panels. You can read more about Anne’s whole Broiler Set-up here. Wire Pet Pens I’m a huge fan of 42-inch wire pet exercise pens because they are versatile, easy to use and can be quickly […]

Blogger Traci DeLore found herself in a cast and had to figure out how to care for her flock while temporarily disabled. Have you ever thought about caring for your flock when you’re injured or not able to do so? What would you do if illness or injury made it so you weren’t able to […]

Pigeons used to be a common part of every homestead. Considering adding a dovecote to your farmyard. Once upon a time, few were the farmyards without a dovecote set atop a pole in the farmyard or attached high on the side of an outbuilding. There doves and pigeons lived a near-wild existence, gleaning food from […]

 Author Christine Heinrichs recently visited Mudchute Farms and the Dorking Museum in England, sites dedicated to preserving English chicken breeds and history. Read about her adventures in this conversation with Community Chickens Managing Editor Carla Tilghman.   The Adventure Begins Carla: How did you decide to visit England and especially English chickens? Christine: I’ve been […]

This is basically a German mac-n-cheese with some pheasant bits tossed in. It’s easy, homey, and kids will love it. You can serve this in a big casserole, or, for a dinner party, in individual ramekins. It reheats well, so you might want to make a big batch on the weekend and eat it for […]

Learn more about quail meat and how to process your birds for home use or market from quail expert Alexandra Douglas. Quail have been (and are still) typically served in fancy restaurants as a delicacy. These days, folks like to know what’s in their food, and one of the best ways to do this is […]

Traci DeLore helps us understand how to keep some useful flock records. Keeping flock records might not seem necessary when you have a small backyard flock. However, over time, you may wish you had a written record of certain things to look back on.  I was about a year into keeping chickens when I realized it […]