The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I get money if anyone clicks on them and then makes a purchase. Water is one of the main things chickens (and every other living thing) need constant access to. Beyond just water, they need access to CLEAN water. Clean, liquid water if you’re keeping chickens […]
Chickens
Dust Baths
A dust bath is how a chicken keeps herself clean. The basic idea is that the chicken gets into loose soil and covers herself with it. If the chickens are free ranging or if there is appropriate soil in their run, they will dig a pit, pulling away any surrounding vegetation. When we let our […]
Chicken Tractors
Chicken tractors, also known as arcs or mobile coops are simply movable runs without a floor. Usually, this is achieved by having wheels on the coop. To get a bit more of the terminology down, a run is simply an enclosure for chickens – like a cage. A coop is the hen house, where they […]
Coop Bedding
Part of keeping chickens will be providing bedding in their coop. The bedding’s purpose is threefold. It is used to: Provide a soft and secure surface for the chickens to walk on Control odor by absorbing the chicken waste as well as making the coop easier to clean out Cradle the eggs laid by the chickens […]
Renting Chickens
A recent trend, coming out of the enthusiasm for backyard chickens, has been to rent chickens. The basic idea is a company comes to your house, sets up a coop and run, and gives you feed, grit, and oyster shells (everything you need to get started with backyard chickens) – all for a set monthly fee. […]
Selling Farm Fresh Eggs
Because of the small size of our flock, 3 birds, my wife and I eat almost all the eggs they produce. When we occasionally build up a small supply, 6 eggs or so, we’ll give them to a friend or a neighbor. We haven’t sold a single egg and don’t have any intention of doing […]
Grilling a Whole Chicken on a Propane BBQ
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 […]
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” – […]