Our King Farm chicken adventure started out with a hatching at the Mother Earth News office. Fast-forward six months and we have 18 chickens and two ducks! As new homesteaders, we often think about cost and quality. When approached by Purina Animal Nutrition to try their organic layer feed with their Oyster Strong® System through […]

By: Candess Zona-Mendola When it comes to raising chickens, bacteria are always a concern. Bacteria can sicken entire flocks, as well as the people who are tenderly caring for them. The problem with bacteria is that they are everywhere – from the soil in the ground to the intestines of birds. And no matter what […]

By: Candess Zona-Mendola I am the granddaughter of a poultry farmer. As a child, I grew up chasing ducks, feeding chickens, collecting eggs, and keeping away from the geese (mean little buggers they were). This also means that I learned a thing or two on bird keeping. Rather, how birds can make us humans sick […]

IT STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER CHORE TIME When chickens are given the option, they prefer to be out rooming amongst the yard. Working hard at capturing bugs and munching upon the grass. Have you ever really thought about what it must feel like to be a chicken, that’s cooped up all day every day? Even […]

Whether you have 2 birds or 200, it’s important to know what to do if an illness arises in your flock! Backyard chicken keeping is a lot of fun! But, sooner or later, chicken keepers will be faced with an illness that effects one or more birds in their flock. By acting quickly and being […]

Our chicken coop is over 20 years old. My dad built it for me when I was 13 after I lost my first flock of chickens to a predator attack. After I married my husband Zach, we moved out of my parent’s house and took the coop with us. It was quite an endeavor disassembling […]

I first heard of this idea in a YouTube video from the channel Off Grid with Doug and Stacey. In their video, 3 Ways to Use Kombucha Besides Drinking It!, they share that they feed extra kombucha and scobys to their dogs, cats and chickens. I decided that I was going to give this a […]

Since receiving my turkeys mail order 2 months ago, our turkey chicks have proven to be tough little birds. Having only 5 made it imperative that they survive and it seemed, unlike many of our Cornish Cross chicks, they were rockin’ it.

  The one in the photo below was always calling for attention and loved […]