by Rebecca Nickols I’m going into my second winter of chicken-keeping, but this is the first molt I (or my chickens) have experienced. What I have observed is a splotchy, tousled appearance, and it may be my imagination but it seems that they’re more nervous, panicky and fearful of everything. However, the most apparent observation […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author We recently gave our chicken coop a flooring renovation. Our coop floor is constructed of 3/4″ plywood. When we originally built the coop I gave it a good two or three coatings of shellac, hoping that would protect the wood floor and act as somewhat of a barrier against […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author It seems to me that this time of year has an urgency to it. Maybe it’s from all the children trying to pack a final few days of summer in before they head off to another year of school. Or, maybe it’s from the migratory birds and the hibernating […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author Many of my friends who keep chickens marvel at the array of roosters that we have living in harmony together. At one time we had 14 roosters coexisting happily in the same coop/yard. It’s getting to be that time of year when many of the cute little un-sexed chicks […]

by Jennifer Burcke Photos by author We’re having a heat wave and the animals (and farmers) living at 1840 Farm are not amused. Come on Mother Nature, we chose to relocate more than 1,400 miles away from our original home in Kansas to our farm in New England because we wanted to avoid days of […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author A reader has asked for advice on what to do about his 1-year-old flock of two Rhode Island Reds and three Wyandottes. They have begun eating eggs as fast as they are laid, and he wonders if he will have to butcher his entire flock. I’ve done a bit […]

by Jennifer Sartell Photos by author We are always looking for ways to strike a healthy balance between natural care for our animals and using something a little less natural, but perhaps more effective. My method tends to fall into the pattern of using natural products and clean habits as a preventive, and then trying […]

by Rachel Hurd Anger Photos by author   Animals are simultaneously more wild than I, seemingly helpless, and tug at my heart like a lost kitten, an injured dog, or even a sad elephant. Now, a broody hen joins them. Our Australorp, Helen, went broody on us, and even though I’d been collecting the eggs […]

by Rebecca Nickols Photos by author Some chickens are just meaner than others … I was hoping that my Buff Orpingtons would welcome my new chicks without too much of a fuss. Actually, one of my two older hens, Henrietta, is the perfect example of a courteous, well-behaved chicken. The other one, however, is just […]

by Meredith Chilson Photos by author I’ve been in the chicken business for three years now. This is not my first experience with raising chickens, though. When I was young, my mother had a flock of 500 White Leghorns, and when my children were young, we had an assortment of fowl. My mother’s chickens went […]