Chickens Reimagined Chickens are egg-producing, garden-aerating, composting, fertilizing, little machines, i.e. the natural workhorses within a holistic system. Yet their multiple benefits for the homesteader are often overlooked. When designers plan an all-inclusive or permaculture property, they often “stack functions” by looking at… well… how to kill two birds with one stone.  Or how to […]

While most backyard chickens exist for the production of eggs and meat, compost is an equally valuable resource the chicken run can provide. Even better, the bulk of the labor is free, and copious amounts of compost pays in dividends. The birds are happier and healthier because there’s no better place to find insects and […]

-In most areas cold has already set in and coops are getting winterized as I speak (type). I hope this will help anyone still in the ‘thinking about getting chickens‘ mode. And it will also be archived for future reading! We use the Deep Litter Bedding Method to winterize our coop and run. Last winter […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author Fall is definitely a time of falling–leaves and feathers! My older hens have been molting for the last month and they look a sight! The coop is full of feathers, but it’s void of what I treasure the most–eggs! In fact the molting hens’ egg production has fallen off […]

Rebecca Nickols   What does a DIY composter have to do with raising chickens? Well, if you have chickens, you have chicken manure … and if you’re a gardener (like me) this unlimited supply of manure can provide you with an endless supply of the world’s best organic fertilizer! In fact, out of the fluffy backside […]

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 […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author   Some years ago, we had a lovely neighbor who could grow anything.  I would take my babies to visit with her, and we would come home with the back of the car filled with cuttings and clippings of various herbs and pots and buckets of perennials.  I think […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author   This spring the Master Gardener chapter that I’m a member of is doing a series of gardening classes and I’m excited that I that I will be doing a presentation entitled “Gardening with Chickens.” In my previous posts for Community Chickens I shared the first two portions of my […]

by Suzanne Roark Photos by author Every year it seems like we are behind the eight ball when it comes to getting ready for the winter. It’s not like we don’t know winter is coming and what we’re in for, we just always seem to get caught up in other things. So you can image […]