Learn more about quail meat and how to process your birds for home use or market from quail expert Alexandra Douglas. Quail have been (and are still) typically served in fancy restaurants as a delicacy. These days, folks like to know what’s in their food, and one of the best ways to do this is […]

How did the Cornish Cross become THE supermarket chicken? Learn about the history of this bird that folks love to hate from Cornish Cross owner Anne Gordon. The Cornish Cross broiler has taken a bum rap in recent years. There are lots of online articles, forums, and blog posts maligning these poor creatures as “filthy […]

Permaculture writer Jonathon Engels walks us through the basics of using chicken manure and a compost pile to make an outdoor water heater. With chickens comes manure, often in quantities and in places we’d rather not think about. But, make no mistake, chicken manure in the right—dare we say—hands is valuable stuff. Most of us […]

Teaching Young Guineas to Range — But Not Too Far! Audrey Stallsmith shares stories and tips for keeping your free-range loving guineas closer to home. Time for a New Flock Many years have elapsed since my elderly parents and I hatched 20 guinea eggs in a homemade incubator constructed from a Styrofoam cooler. Most of […]

Open Sesame: Coop Doors that Open on Command Frank Hyman knows about DIY and being inventive. Here are some of his ideas for automatic chicken coop doors. The Basic Pop-Door One important goal for our chicken-keeping adventure was to continue enjoying two-week vacations a couple times a year. However, one common feature of most coops […]

Amy Fewell helps you set up the right kind of habitat for your quail. The number of homesteaders keeping domestic quail is growing by leaps and bounds. Quail are an incredible meat and egg source, especially if you live on a small property. Some people even keep quail in apartments and on balconies––they’re truly that […]

How do you make the most out of your chicken flock? Matthew Wilkinson shares his thoughtful and practical perspective on the difficult task of processing your chickens. Early Foraging Lessons In middle school, I was obsessed with the book Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbins. I’d rush home from school, grab the book, and […]

Want to start a chicken business? Liz Fulghum has fantastic suggestions to help you get set up. Keeping chickens can easily turn into a rather addictive hobby. If you have the space for it, it’s usually not long before a small flock turns into a larger flock. After all, it’s hard to resist the cute […]

From protecting to continuing tradition, Bruce Ingram walks us through excellent reasons to keep a rooster as part of your flock. Roosters absolutely fascinate me. Yes, I know hens and their eggs and/or meat are the reasons many folks raise chickens. But roosters add passion, personality, and, well, paternity, to any flock. Here are reasons […]

Marissa Buchanan writes about the importance of genetic diversity for worldwide food security and how she practices breed conservation with her own flocks. Conservation and Genetic Diversity “Conservation” and “poultry” are two words that aren’t always put together by backyard poultry owners. More often, we use words like “rare” or “heritage” to describe breeds that […]