Frank Hyman shares plans and instructions for a practical (and cute) poultry nesting box. Nest Box Necessities A lot of thought went into the design and construction of our coop’s nest box. It’s such an important feature that my wife, Chris – the livestock manager – asked me – the facilities manager – to install […]

Coop Cleaning 101: The most important role in chicken keeping is to protect yourself while also protecting your flock. Coop cleaning safely is a must! Poultry, such as chickens, ducks, and turkeys can carry Salmonella among other harmful bacteria. You can easily protect yourself and your home with a pair gloves and rubber boots that […]

A few weeks ago I started the evening chores like every other night. I grabbed the wire egg basket from the front porch and headed to the chicken coop. I collected eggs from our Buff Orpington pen, our Leghorn pen and our Araucana and Olive Egger pen. When I went into the French Black Copper […]

The first snowfall of the season happened the other day.  Although beautiful to me, it was a bit of a shock to the new girls in the chicken coop.  When I opened the door to let the chickens out in the morning, none of them eagerly came out as they normally would.  In this picture, […]

It was the same old story. USDA pamphlets recommended one nest for every five layin’ hens. I had a dozen of the “girls,” and the only commercially available chicken nests were huge metal banks of ten compartments apiece. I wouldn’t have needed that many even if I could have afforded them. So I decided to […]

It’s spring! As chicken keepers we should all be enjoying the increase of egg production with our flocks. The fall molt has long been over, the summer heat has not yet started and the longer daylight hours should be triggering a laying effect with your flock.   This is prime egg laying season. This is […]

Old man winter will be knocking on our doors soon, so I thought this would be a good time to review some winter strategies for keeping chickens safe and healthy during cold weather.  A winter check list for your chickens… Your chickens have probably finished molting by now, or should be soon.  Their new feathers […]

Building a coop is probably the biggest expense you’ll invest in keeping chickens. And it’s best to do it right the first time. If you have a well designed coop it will aid in ease of cleaning, protect your flock and add charm to your property. It’s good to do a lot of research before […]

When I first got chickens, I sweated the whole layer box thing. Since I like to take the approach of making my life easy while ensuring the girls have what they need, sometimes I hit a challenge that I make much bigger in my mind that what it really is. Like layer boxes. With my […]

How to keep eggs from freezing in the coop is a concern for many of us this time of year. During the colder months each egg that you collect is like a prized possession.  They can be few and far between.  Having to trash them because they are frozen and/or cracked can be heart breaking. […]