by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I’ve been reading with interest and nostalgia fellow blogger Rebecca Nickols’s articles about her broody hen. I remember well the times I would go to the nests, and a hen would puff up and hiss at me. The growly sound of a broody hen is something I won’t soon […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author It was May 8 when our fluffy little chicks arrived at the post office. We settled them into their new home in our attached garage, within a corral of cardboard, under a heat lamp, and spent the better part of several days with our lawn chairs pulled up to […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Up until a couple of months ago, I had only a few “glitches” while raising chickens. There have been some instances of “picking,” but I was able to remove and treat the hen with no lasting problems. Two winters ago, one of my hens froze her lovely comb on […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I am not a veterinarian. In fact, we have a wonderful vet just across the valley who makes house calls, dispenses advice over the phone in the middle of the night, loves animals and is kind to people as well, thinks about the cost of medications and offers alternative […]

Coop between the road and the hill by Meredith Chilson Photos by author We have 5 acres of land here: a long, narrow strip that includes our house, garden and chicken coop sandwiched between a county-maintained side road and a wooded hillside. Because of the proximity of the road and the fox den and hawk’s […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Two weeks old and the fuzzy, sweet baby chicks are growing feathers. They have lovely wing feathers now and the neatest, perkiest tail feathers. I already miss the “baby days.” I’m very sure that one of the reasons these birds are growing so rapidly is directly related to the […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author The newest additions to our poultry flock arrived safely a week ago. The dozen chicks have adjusted nicely to living within a cardboard corral and, as it is with all babies, I can’t believe how fast they are growing and changing! We’ve spent a big chunk of time watching […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Last Saturday was a perfect spring day: warm breeze, sunshine—I was up early with plans for the day. Laundry washed and on the clothesline—check! Garden peas weeded—check! Garage cleaned and materials laid out for making “chick corral”—check! Nest boxes cleaned in henhouse—ICK! Crawly things! Ick, ick, ick. My plans […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author Once upon a time, there was a girl who dreamed of chickens. Not the hundreds of white chickens that her mother raised for “egg money,” but colorful chickens that were delivered by the postman … just like in Margaret Wise Brown’s Little Golden Book The Seven Little Postmen. The […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I’m counting down the days. May 8 (and 9 and 10, too) are circled in red on my kitchen calendar. The winter day planning and poring over catalogs is about to have results. OUR BABIES ARE SCHEDULED TO ARRIVE! Now, if you’ve had babies of your own (any kind: […]