by Rebecca Nickols Fall around my property means more than just a change in season… It’s also a fall in egg production – in response to feathers falling off! Each year my flock goes through a yearly molt loosing a large portion of their older feathers and replacing them with new ones. There is so […]

by Rebecca Nickols ~ the garden-roof coop Several years ago (1980) the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  published a landmark study of bird food preferences and black oil sunflower seeds were determined to be the top choice of birdseed by the greatest number of bird species. For this reason alone, I purposely plant several sunflowers […]

by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest Click here for Part One of this Series. When I first started keeping a few backyard chickens there were very few resources, if any available, on the internet and in book form for small flock owners.  I had to do a great deal of searching and digging to find […]

by Rebecca Nickols from the garden-roof coop A few months ago I shared with the Community my latest (and strangest) DIY project – raising mealworms… Here is the link to the set-up and steps I followed to grow my own “chicken treats”. DIY: Raising Mealworms (Part 1) Why I undertook this project was twofold: I not […]

by Rebecca Nickols from the garden-roof coop I’m not only crazy about my colorful, entertaining backyard flock of chickens, I’m also passionate about the native birds in my backyard. My husband and I have a small business (Rebecca’s Bird Gardens) where we sell birdhouses and bird-feeders at our local farmers’ market. Even though I all about “feeding […]

by Meredith ChilsonIt’s probably no secret that I’m a bird lover. I have several backyard bird feeders, am often found slowly cruising summer back roads looking in shrubs for nests or even occasionally can be caught standing in my yard staring at the sky following the flight of a raven or the call of a […]

Everyone enjoys spoiling their pets. We get a kick out of seeing them run to greet us at the mere sight of the treat container or the sound of the back door opening. But the wrong type of treats and treats in excess can be harmful to their health, stunt growth, shorten their lifespans and interfere with […]

  by Lisa Steele I would love to let my chickens free range, but our farm backs up to the woods which harbors foxes, raccoons, opossums and the occasional coyote, as well as a danger from neighbor’s dogs. We also have to worry about aerial predators such as red-tail hawks and eagles.  So our flock […]

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 […]