When I first saw this chicken breed it was on Facebook and I thought…”Oh boy…someone’s getting creative with Photoshop.” In other words, I thought it was fake. The photo of an all black chicken that claimed even the meat and bones were black seemed a bit far-fetched.   But since that first online encounter, I’ve […]

Did you catch the foreshadowing in my last post? Rose had been renamed, Suzy.  If you are at all familiar with the Community Chickens podcast then you know that, to us, Suzy may be a cursed name! I should have known better. I should have seen the signs. Two days before it really hit me that […]

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 […]

Last week, I was afforded the opportunity from Hampel Corporation to become one of the first people to acquire The Ultimate Chicken Coop to review and give feedback. Not only did they send the coop but the optional attached run as well. It showed up by a semi! Scott and Noah took the pickup up to […]

Sarah started with an old tuff shed a few ducks, some rabbits she had adopted, and her helpful friend, Carlos. Last month, Carlos agreed to help insulate Sarah’s old garden shed. But Sarah decided that she wanted more than that! “I want to do something Fun with the inside of the shed.” So, after a […]

Guinea Attributes Self-Reliance: Guineas have been companions to human beings since the ancient Greeks, yet they can never be called more than “semi-domesticated.” Guinea fowl will be less dependent on you for care than perhaps any other type of animal you raise. They are able to search out their own food—except in winter—and as a […]

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about companion planting. It’s a gardening technique in which different species of vegetables and flowers are planted together and they work as a group to benefit each other. In the Mother Earth News article Companion Planting With Vegetables and Flowers, the author Barbara Pleasant gives an example of the […]

Goose Breeds: There are about 15 breeds of domesticated geese. Basically, the goose is raised for meat. Personally, I like goose meat much better than turkey. Whatever breed of goose you prefer, you’ll probably want to separate breeds or choose only one, because purebred geese are more marketable than those that are crossbred. An exception […]

Egg Breeds Indian Runner. There are many varieties of Indian Runner ducks of which the White Penciled, Fawn, and White are said to be the best egg producers (225–325 eggs per year). The Indian Runner originated in Asia (as did the rarer Bali to which it is related). Runners are a nervous, light breed (drakes […]