I originally bought this small manufactured cool to be our Silkie pen. But after seeing how handy it is with our teenage chickens I may decide to buy another one for next year’s teens. What is a grow out pen? A holding place for chickens after they’ve left the brooder but before they’re old enough […]

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 […]

  Predators and Your Best Defense from Them After working on this article a few times, and gathering photos for it, an ironic thing happened the day I was going to post it. We had our first ever deadly predator attack.  First.  Ever. After raising approximately 200-300 meat birds a year and providing a year-round, […]

Did you know that chickens are becoming one of the most popular pets in the US? Their popularity has skyrocketed in recent years and it’s no wonder why. They’re child-friendly, inquisitive, make great pets and also lay eggs. If you’re ready to join the chicken craze, keep reading and learn how to build your own […]

We just set up an additional chicken coop for our breeding hens this spring. It’s been a while since I set up a new coop and I was impressed with how easy it is to meet a chicken’s needs with these inexpensive screw-together coops. It’s like IKEA for chickens!   I’m happy with this coop […]

I have big plans for breeding chickens this spring. I finally have my show-quality, heritage breed Buff Orpingtons. We drove from Mid-Michigan to eastern Ohio last year to pick up two beautiful pairs of Buffs at the Ohio National Poultry show. I can’t wait to fill my incubator with eggs from these gorgeous birds!   […]

Brrr!  It’s cold outside.  Not just cold, but freezing cold temperatures and brutal wind chills! I like to think that I am deliberate in tending to our flock of chickens this time of year, but it still happened!  Yep, one of our chickens got frostbite on her comb. See those black spots on the comb?  […]

Enthusiastic chicken keepers, awesome coops and our own Community Chickens followers come from all over the world! This week’s Cool Coop was designed and built by Henry Boisvert from Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada. Continue reading as Henry describes the construction and shares photos of his chicken city – complete with a hotel, sheriff’s quarters and […]

Over the past couple of years I’ve grown to love a few products that help simplify and improve how I care for my flock.  From ducks to turkeys to chickens, I found what works best and a few others that weren’t worth the money spent. Hopefully through our trial and error here on 25 Acres, […]

How to Create an All-Weather Dust Bath Dust baths are important for maintaining a healthy, happy flock. But what do you do when the ground is frozen or covered in snow? Make an all-weather dust bath for your chickens! We live in a part of the Western US that experiences cold winters but rarely gets […]