I understand all sorts of people are interested in chickens and that for many they are considered more pets than a food supply. For us, we consider them half-pets and half-food and, as part of that, intend to eat our chickens in the fall. I’ve said to friends in the past that I feel as a […]
How to Pay International Contractors
Introduction Hiring offshore workers has been a prominent feature of globalization for years. An ever-increasing number of companies have decided to tap into the vast pool of talent available beyond the U.S. borders. Hiring this way is different, and it’s natural to feel nervous about it the first time. “How do I find workers?”, “how […]
Chicken Digestive System
It’s worthwhile getting a basic understanding of how chickens consume food. This can be worthwhile to try to identify problems and to understand why we provide them with grit. Beak Roughly analogous to our mouths, this is how the chicken gets food into her body. A number of the things we do with our teeth can’t be […]
Surprising Chicken Behaviors
There were a number of things that I didn’t expect when we were first planning to get chickens. This post details some of the behaviors that were a surprise to me. Healthy Chickens As I mentioned in a post about getting your first chickens, I got some advice from a local farmer – who offers chicken […]
Chicken Breeds
Chickens can be roughly categorized into layers (egg producers), meat breeds, show breeds, and hybrids (crosses between two breeds). These aren’t absolutes, and most of these breeds are considered dual-purpose, for example Rhode Island Reds can be considered both layers and meat chickens. There are usually trade-offs with each of the breeds, so there isn’t a “perfect breed” – […]
All About Eggs
Although some people raise chickens for meat, to show, or as pets, probably eggs are the first thing people think of when they think of chickens. Breeds Different breeds produce different shell colors of eggs. Inside they’re the same. White eggs come mostly from Leghorns, a breed known to be super egg layers. They can be […]
The Economics of Keeping Chickens
Probably the worst reason to get chickens is to make money or save money. I’m certainly not opposed to investments and thinking about things in financial terms – I used to be a personal finance blogger – and I don’t judge people who want to get into chickens for this reason. It’s just that all […]
Your Startup Needs For Chickens
When we decided we wanted to get chickens, my wife and I attended a continuing education class which was an hour and a half overview about getting into chickens. Obviously, this isn’t going to teach you everything you’ll ever need to know about chickens, but it did help us understand the basics and gave us […]
Getting Your First Chickens
It seems that the approach many people follow is to order chicks from a mail-order company, like Murry McMurry Hatchery (non-affiliate link), get a batch of 50 in the mail, then raise the chicks until they have chickens. We haven’t done this yet ourselves, but apparently it’s quite straightforward. The chicks aren’t able to regulate their temperature, […]
Education Theater
Education theater refers to investments made in education designed to provide the appearance of improving learning outcomes for students while doing little or nothing to actually achieve this. Universities originated based on the principles of “training professionals, scientific investigation, improving society, and teaching critical thinking and research“. The modern research university is sometimes referred to […]