Chickens are one of the easiest livestock to take care of, but did you know there are different ways to feed your chickens other than with regular chicken feed? While you can buy chicken feed at the farm store, or even make your own, there are ways you can cut down on the cost of feed. […]

Insulate, Clean, and Cover: Winterizing Your Coop The cold winter months bring many new challenges to backyard chicken keepers, particularly regarding the safety and well-being of your flock. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to face these challenges head-on without too much difficulty. Not only that, but the same steps you can take to […]

Part of our Breed Profiles series, the Buckeye is a dual-purpose bird with gorgeous dark-red plumage. History For those of you who know that Ohio is call the Buckeye State after the tree, you won’t be surprised to learn that the Buckeye chicken breed was originally developed by Nettie Metcalf of Warren, Ohio, in 1896. […]

Happy chickens are productive chickens. Keep your chickens active and amused with these suggestions for a chicken playground from author Liz Fulghum. Happy Chickens Chickens are happiest when they can cluck around during the day, free-ranging and foraging through mulch, leaves, and dirt for tasty bugs and seeds. But sometimes, to keep them safe or […]

Chris Lesley helps us understand what to do with an egg-bound chicken. When raising a backyard flock, nothing is more exciting than collecting a carton’s worth of eggs each day. Every chicken owner puts in a lot of work for their flock, from feeding the birds to cleaning the coop, and a fresh omelet is […]

Keep your flock healthy this coming fall and winter with helpful tips from Elizabeth Mack. Keeping backyard poultry can be a fun and rewarding hobby, but it doesn’t come without its challenges. Maintaining a healthy flock requires managing the day-to-day upkeep, as well as monthly and seasonal concerns. Take the guesswork out of chicken husbandry […]

Inexpensive, easy-to-build chicken coops Once you get caught up in the idea of having chickens, it’s easy to find yourself spending more on them and the coop then you ever thought you would. For many people chickens are a hobby as well as pets with benefits: I’m thinking of my wife and me. We spent […]

Small flocks have always been at the forefront of grassroots local production. During the COVID-19 pandemic, small producers proved that they’re an important part of continuity and resilience. The coronavirus shelter-in-place exposed issues of how American food production works – or doesn’t. Local sources became more important for putting food on the table. Community-supported agriculture […]

Over the years, through trial and error, I’ve tried just about every method and approach to raising Cornish Cross broilers. I’ve experienced flips and poor weight gain and struggled with all that manure until I finally landed on methods that closely mimic commercial growers – and they have produced by far the best results. The […]

Every day of my apprenticeship begins with tending the chickens at the farm. I grab a couple bags of feed and head out to the pasture, my cheeks tingling with the cool, crisp air; my boots drenched with dew. As the golden morning light slowly cascades over the wet grass, I greet our flocks of […]