Choosing to get started with a flock of chickens is an exciting decision that will require many follow-up decisions as you figure out the logistics of your impending flock. One of the first ...
How Raising Chickens Can Teach Children About Responsibility
When I was nine years old, my family acquired our first batch of meat chickens. A decision that likely changed the course of my life. I was enamored with the delicate new chicks. I happily took on the ...
Picking the Right Chicken Breed for Your Climate for a Healthy Flock
When we’re ordering chickens, it’s easy to get caught up in choosing the most colorful and exciting breeds without paying attention to practicality. Luckily for me, I live in a fairly temperate ...
How to Manage an Overeager Rooster and Keep Your Hens Healthy
If you’ve spent any time around sexually mature roosters, you might have noticed that some roosters are not gentle with their hens. I’ve sometimes had the sweetest and gentle roosters in my flock. On ...
Why You Should Prevent Your Chickens from Getting Bored and How
Once you have chickens on your homestead, you’ll find that it's quite easy to get addicted to watching them. You end up making it your mission to prevent your chickens from being bored, and keep them ...
Is Keeping Bantams on Your Homestead a Good Idea?
One day when I was about 13, I was placing an order for chicks a few months in advance. After placing the order, I looked around the website and found the “shipping today” tab. There were some Mottled ...
Why You Shouldn’t Panic Buy Chickens in the Middle of a Crisis
It’s very seldom that the entire world goes through the exact same crisis at the same time as everyone else. Our reactions are similar in that we’re all staying home and doing everything we can to ...
When to Cull a Problematic Chicken and How to Do It
Choosing to cull any animal on your farm is never a pleasant or easy decision. When it comes to culling chickens, you'll need to decide if it’s actually necessary and the best way to do it. Anyone ...
How to Raise Free-Range Chickens
For many people, nothing says “homestead” like the image of chickens happily scratching around a farmyard without a care in the world. Realistically, free-ranging isn’t always as picture-perfect as it ...