Learn tips and tricks for safely housing these marvelous birds from quail expert and owner, Kelly Bohling. (Unless otherwise noted, all photos by author.) Quail Are Easy to House Raising Coturnix quail—also known as Japanese quail—is an approachable endeavor, made easier by the low maintenance habits of the birds and their hardiness against disease and […]

Want to update your coop?  Elle Pugsley has several suggestions. There are many reasons for updating your chicken coop and/or run, making them safer and more secure is a very important reason to make changes, so is making it bigger to provide more space for your beloved hens. I wanted to talk about how my […]

A well-designed landscape can transform your garden into an extension of your home, offering an attractive and productive outdoor living space. For our feathered friends, a well-designed garden can offer protection and safe shelter as well as food for them to forage. While landscape design is probably not the first thing you think of when […]

From circumventing coyotes to outsmarting opposums, Maat van Uitert has 7 practical suggestions to protect ducks from predators. We used to think we just had a couple of predators on our farm, until I put out a game camera one night. Boy, were we wrong! Even if you think your flock is safe, you might […]

Many people that would otherwise raise chickens are put off by the idea of a smelly, messy chicken coop.  Here are tips from Shelby DeVore on how to keep the coop clean and sanitary. Keeping a chicken coop clean and odor free is more manageable than you might think.  With a little bit of planning […]

Permaculture writer Jonathon Engels shares the Ins, Outs, and Whys of keeping chickens in your greenhouse. Why Put Chickens in the Greenhouse? In temperate climates, winter prevents us from growing fresh vegetables outside, but a greenhouse—even one that’s solely heated by solar power—allows us to foster some greens and cold-hardy treats to enjoy. Lettuce, spinach, […]

In the past 2 years we’ve added 2 kit-style coops to our chicken yard. When I say kit-style I’m referring to the types of coops that you often find in your feed store or that you can order on Amazon. They usually come in a large box and you have to bolt the panels together […]

This year we are downsizing certain areas of our farm and really taking some intentional/mindful  looks at where we want to go in the future. I feel like, at this point, we’ve tried a lot of things. We’ve raised a lot of different animals and over the years I’ve realized I have favorites and preferences […]

Sandy Cryder — When I got my first small backyard flock, my choices for how to keep them were few. I had a small coop given to me by my neighbors and a fenced in backyard. I was ready! Starting Small The gift coop was a good size for 4 hens. It was portable and […]

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 […]