How to keep eggs from freezing in the coop is a concern for many of us this time of year. During the colder months each egg that you collect is like a prized possession.  They can be few and far between.  Having to trash them because they are frozen and/or cracked can be heart breaking. […]

Using the deep litter method in the chicken coop is natural, economical, and healthy.  It is a common practice used today by many chicken keepers, usually during the cold Winter months.  However, it actually got its start during World War II as a means of saving labor and litter.  And, it generally occurred over six […]

A home-grown turkey for Christmas dinner was part of our vision when we started on the turkey raising journey. I was so excited to raise two turkeys – one for Thanksgiving dinner and one for Christmas dinner.  It all seemed nostalgic to me.  I envisioned a male and female, happily living at LL Farm.  In […]

Betty the chicken…full of spunk…she’s a flier! She’s one of the new girls in our colorful flock of chickens; a barred rock beauty full of spunk. She frequently flies the coop (well she actually flies the chicken yard)…                      …is she trying to impress the others […]

When adding pullets (or grown hens) to an existing flock, care must be given. Have you heard the term pecking order?  The term, even used with humans, derives from hens.  Chickens physically peck at other chickens, showing dominance and ranking order.  Even a mild-tempered chicken can peck at a new one coming into her territory. […]

Some of our chickens have begun laying eggs AND they are having a  juvenile molt. If you got baby chicks back in the Spring like we did, you are probably getting some eggs now.  I absolutely love that egg laying song that they sing, don’t you? Our Black Star chickens are laying consistently now.  They […]

The other day I saw two of our chickens pecking and scratching a shallow hole in the ground.  They were making a new dust bathing area. They scooted around.  They spread their feathers.  They pecked some more.  They were working together on this one…great team work!  Notice the black chicken supervising the job.  She clucked […]

Stories from the good ‘ol days (while processing chickens). We did it…Hubby and I (along with my parents) processed some chickens. Don’t worry…I’m not going to detail the butchering process. Instead, I’m going to tell you how we learned more about the good ‘ol days.  You know the good ‘ol days when life was simpler, full […]

I was recently asked “how often do you clean out the chicken coop?” Well, the answer can vary, depending on: how many chickens you have where the nesting boxes are compared to the roost area how much time the chickens spend inside the coop where do you keep their food and water the time of […]

I have struggled with putting my words together for this post. However, I do believe that it is important to share this … to show that homesteading is not full of good times only. Homesteading is physically hard work. It can also be emotionally hard. In dealing with this, my emotions have been all over […]