It’s always been a goal of mine to take one of our chickens to a show to be judged. I love the idea of raising the perfect, gorgeous bird and bringing home the blue ribbon. Over the years, that goal has lingered in the back of my head while we dabbled with other venues of […]

The first of the year is approaching rapidly. Many times thoughts of healthy resolutions, eating better, exercising and overall wellness start to enter everyone’s thoughts. A fresh, new start to a promising year. I’ve found that it’s also a good time to think about re-examining the health of the animals on our farm. The goats […]

(Congratulations to Laura Williamson, the winner of the Sarah Rosedahl books, Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z, and the Coloring Book Companion.) When I wrap Christmas presents, I like the wrapping to say something about the interests of the person. My husband Zach is an outdoor-sy man so I often wrap his presents in simple […]

Winter is here. The days are getting shorter and as a result, the chickens need to be secured in their coop earlier and earlier to be safe from nocturnal predators. Chickens are all but blind at night so their ability to escape danger once the sun goes down is pretty much non-existent. One of the […]

It’s not really the season to be looking to find turkey poults to raise for table. That usually takes place in the spring. But it is an excellent time to let your taste buds do some research for you. Homegrown turkeys can be delicious and what you eat this holiday season, might determine what fills […]

Chickens, like all things in nature, are a part of the ever changing seasons. Their bodies react and prepare for the next coming stage in life, the next spell of weather and climate. Below are three timelines; The Seasonal Timeline The Housekeeping Timeline The Anatomical Timeline These are approximate predictions to help the chicken keeper […]

Autumn is moving swiftly this year. The colors are well on their way for the fifth of October. This morning I woke up to the house at 59 degrees, I think tonight we might have our first fire in the wood burning furnace tonight. Nature has a funny way of predicting the future. The chickens […]

The Big Red Barn isn’t our “chicken coop” per se, but about a third of our chickens call it home. We call them…you guessed it, the “barn chickens”. Some of our chickens are anti-social and though we have a perfectly functioning chicken coop with amenities to fit every chicken’s needs and desires, some prefer to […]

*Warning* this post discusses some disgusting yet important information for keeping a flock of healthy chickens. Clean drinking water is probably the single most important thing you can do to keep your flock healthy. In this post I’d like to discuss the correlation between clean drinking water and a condition called Pasty Vent, which if […]

Such a frustrating problem! Once a chicken begins eating eggs, it’s a difficult behavior to break. It usually starts innocent enough. An egg accidentally gets broken and a curious chicken gives it a try and finds that it has discovered a delicious new source of food. It soon learns that as eggs are laid, a […]