Our editor, Carla Tilghman, makes this recipe year-round for her family and friends.     An easy and delicious egg recipe that works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Stracciatella is a diminutive of the Italian verb stracciare (“to shred”) and means “little shred” or “rags” — describing how you’ll stir the egg into the broth. A spicy […]

Maat van Uitert shares her tips on creating an inviting duck habitat that will not only please your ducks, but may also increase their egg production in this Featured Article Ducks make great pets: they’re a joy to watch in their pools, they’re full of personality, and their large eggs are a tasty addition to […]

Community Chickens Editor, Carla Tilghman and author Carrie Miller team up with share information with you about rodent borne diseases and some basic techniques for safely cleaning up their messes. Companion piece to Carrie Miller’s Rodents and Your Coop. Why not just coexist? Because rodents can carry many diseases harmful to both birds and humans. […]

Want to know more about chicken breeds?  Enjoy this excerpt from The Backyard Field Guide to Chickens by Christine Heinrichs. Stay tuned for her June article Guineas Create a Sensation here at Community Chickens. The Mediterranean Breeds Mediterranean breeds are associated especially with Italy and Spain, warm climates with long histories of chicken breeding. They’re […]

When I hear “designer eggs,” I immediately picture runway models rolling around in couture egg suits. But that’s not quite what designer eggs are. They aren’t beautifully painted Ukrainian eggs either.  Rather designer eggs have been nutritionally augmented, usually through the chickens’ diet. The eggs are enriched with nutrients already present in eggs, such as […]

Chickens Reimagined Chickens are egg-producing, garden-aerating, composting, fertilizing, little machines, i.e. the natural workhorses within a holistic system. Yet their multiple benefits for the homesteader are often overlooked. When designers plan an all-inclusive or permaculture property, they often “stack functions” by looking at… well… how to kill two birds with one stone.  Or how to […]

A blog post from new blogger Sandra Cryder Why am I obsessed with poultry? I’ve been thinking about this lately as I watch my flock gamble across the yard. My grandparents were farmers, but they raised hogs. My parents and I lived in town and our pets were dogs. The only time I encountered a […]

When you have given time, effort, sweat, and love to your urban homestead, how do you leave it? Rachel Cunning shares her story of building up her homestead, having to leave what she created, and planning for the next home. I am standing in the driveway of our suburban homestead. The wind blows lightly through […]

Elle Pugsley is a new blogger for Community Chickens, and comes to us from southern England. Getting Started with Chickens My love of chickens started last year when I met my neighbour’s flock. Growing my own food was going so well, chickens seemed like the next obvious step.  I started with four bantams in an […]

Wild populations of quail have been shrinking in the U.S. for decades, to the concern of bird conservationists. However, in recent years, several different species of quail have become popular birds with homesteaders and backyard bird enthusiasts. They are small, easy to maintain, and in most states they aren’t considered livestock. This means that you […]