By: Candess Zona-Mendola When it comes to raising chickens, bacteria are always a concern. Bacteria can sicken entire flocks, as well as the people who are tenderly caring for them. The problem with bacteria is that they are everywhere – from the soil in the ground to the intestines of birds. And no matter what […]

By: Candess Zona-Mendola I am the granddaughter of a poultry farmer. As a child, I grew up chasing ducks, feeding chickens, collecting eggs, and keeping away from the geese (mean little buggers they were). This also means that I learned a thing or two on bird keeping. Rather, how birds can make us humans sick […]

Whether you have 2 birds or 200, it’s important to know what to do if an illness arises in your flock! Backyard chicken keeping is a lot of fun! But, sooner or later, chicken keepers will be faced with an illness that effects one or more birds in their flock. By acting quickly and being […]

In this series, I’m going to break down the five most important parts to setting up a quality brooder for chicks. In part one, information was given to hopefully help you choose your brooder, now a heat source needs to be chosen. There are some exemplary options out on the market today. Most of the […]

When it comes to chicken keeping injuries and illnesses are par for the course.  Keeping a chicken first aid kit is extremely important, knowing what supplies you need even more so.  I like to have a separate small tackle box or tool chest for each type of animal.  What’s in my chicken kit?  Let’s go […]

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?  […]

Before we get to the recipe for homemade electrolytes for chickens, lets talk about what it is and when it should be given. What is an electrolyte drink For humans, it is a drink that re-hydrates and replaces sodium, potassium, and other minerals that the body loses.  These minerals are lost when we have sweated […]

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, […]

If you’re anything like me, you love your flock of chickens like family and want to protect them from any danger in your surrounding environment. You’ve built a cozy coop to keep your chickens warm and safe. But there are many predators that can threaten the well-being of your poultry flock and it’s important to […]

I was laying in bed, slowly drifting off to sleep when I heard the distinct ‘hooot, hoot, hoot’ of an owl outside my window. I got excited. I love owls! I laid there listening to the gentle hooting for some time before I realized I forgot to shut the chicken coop! That sucks. Chickens are […]