• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

John Champaign Writes

Adventures in Self Publishing

Chickens

The Emotional Impact of Butchering Our Pet Chickens

November 14, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

I recently posted about butchering our pet chickens. In my previous post, I focused on nut-and-bolts mechanics of killing them and preparing them to be eaten. In this post want to explore why I killed them and what the experience was like emotionally. For years I thought it was important that people who eat meat […]

Filed Under: Chickens

We Butchered Our Three Chickens

November 7, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

Today’s post will be discussing butchering our three chickens. While there shouldn’t be anything too graphic, I will be discussing the process in detail.  I would recommend skipping this post for readers who will find this disturbing. Butchering Your Backyard Chicken Chickens are considered one of the easiest animals to “dress” – clean the carcass […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Accidentally Bought Crumble Instead Of Pellets

November 4, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

We’re on our third bag of feed since we got our chickens in May this year.  This is pretty good, considering that each bag is 50 lbs, we feed them kitchen scraps and we bought them a 50 lbs bag of scratch as well.  We’d been really happy with the pellets we got the first […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Winterizing Your Coop

November 2, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

One of the things that surprised me when my wife and I first started learning about chickens is that they can survive in the winter in cold climates.  I had assumed that chickens were only in warmer climates year-round.  Instead, I learned, as long as a few basics are ensured, they can thrive throughout the […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Droppings Board

October 31, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

Last week I wrote about the deep litter method to manage your coop’s bedding.  Another popular way to try to minimize the work involved in keeping the coop clean is the droppings board.  Also known as a “chicken poop board”, the idea behind this is to put a removable tray underneath the chickens’ roost in their coop.  […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Deep Litter Method

October 19, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

I’ve previously written about the different materials you can use as bedding in your chicken coop.  Beyond what material you provide for bedding, one option is to use the deep litter approach. Using a bit of strategic laziness, the idea behind deep litter is that rather than cleaning out the coop and providing fresh bedding, you […]

Filed Under: Chickens

All About Diatomaceous Earth

October 17, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

Diatomaceous earth is one of the recommended items for when you get chickens.  I kept calling it dichotomous earth (which would be earth that isn’t earth, I guess) until my wife got my pronunciation fixed. How Do You Use Diatomaceous Earth With Chickens? For chickens, you should only ever use FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth (DE).  It’s possible […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Molting

October 14, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

Molting is a natural part of chicken biology where they lose feathers and start to grow new ones.  Colder temperatures and shorter days trigger this – usually in late Summer or Early Autumn. Both hens and roosters molt.  Young chickens will go through a couple of juvenile molts.  Their first adult molt will occur at […]

Filed Under: Chickens

Eggshells As A Source Of Calcium

September 30, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

In our “introduction to raising chickens” class my wife and I attended at the local extension school, the presenter discussed chickens’ need for calcium and that providing oyster shells is necessary.  One of the audience members asked about feeding the chickens’ eggshells back to them.  The presenter thought this was a bad idea, that oyster […]

Filed Under: Chickens

First Brush With A Predator

September 28, 2022 by John Champaign Leave a Comment

I’ve been feeling somewhat smug that we hadn’t had a single issue with any predators and our chickens.  Over labor day weekend I was awakened shortly before dawn by frantic clucking.  I stuck my head out the window and saw a small raccoon investigating our coop.  I yelled at him, and as soon as he […]

Filed Under: Chickens

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 502 other subscribers

RECENT BLOG POSTS

  • Endless Seas: Waits For No Man
  • Friendship Magician
  • The Importance Of “Slack Time” In A Job
  • Endless Seas: Never Meet Your Idols
  • Endless Seas: Never Meet Your Idols

Categories

  • Academic Advice
  • Board games
  • Business
  • Chickens
  • Game Development
  • Real Estate
  • Role Playing
  • Self Publishing
  • Serialized Writing
  • Writing Ideas

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020

Recent Comments

  • Fighting the Great Developer Resignation on Many Software Developers Are Underpaid
  • John Champaign on The Economics of Keeping Chickens
  • Jim on The Economics of Keeping Chickens
  • John Champaign on Education Theater
  • Catherine Holloway on Education Theater

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in