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 […]

Chickens are a great addition to any backyard farm or garden and a practical chicken coop will keep them safe. They have amazing personalities and can be good companions. Once you’ve tried their fresh eggs, you’ll never buy another supermarket dozen. Chickens (and other poultry) can give your kids great lessons in responsibility as they […]

IT STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER CHORE TIME When chickens are given the option, they prefer to be out rooming amongst the yard. Working hard at capturing bugs and munching upon the grass. Have you ever really thought about what it must feel like to be a chicken, that’s cooped up all day every day? Even […]

I’m stuck in a coop and I can’t get out!     I wish I could say the headline is a joke, but it’s not.  I also wish I could laugh about it, like the saying ‘someday you’ll laugh about it,’ suggests.  It’s only been a month since the coop ordeal. I’m sure someday I […]

Cool Coops – Sponsored by Onduline ;   In this episode of MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends our guests and I will discuss the considerations you need to take when you are building a chicken coop including: were to keep the food, how do we space the perches and are automatic doors all they are […]

I had 3 guineas: Penny, Marcia, and Kelly. Being game birds, they tend to be very high-strung, even as chicks. Their basic reaction when anyone got within a couple of feet was to run away and if I needed to corral them for any reason, they behaved like I was going to rend them limb from limb. […]

The Christmas Holiday has come and gone at our house. This was the first year that  our children did not get up at the first crack of dawn to rush to the living room while screaming, “Santa Came!” It was a bit of a milestone I must say, and I was feeling a bit nostalgic […]

Chicken coops are like real estate.  After all, a coop is a house, right?  Housing for humans and chickens are really needed for the same reason:  shelter from the elements of life.  How fancy or simple a house or coop is, depends on the person (not the chicken – I have yet to meet a […]

Winter, the season of short days and long nights.  Often, the skies are grey and snow filled and all I want to do is feel the warm sun on my face. Dreams of beach days,  flip flops and warm breezes fill my thoughts. I imagine they fill the thoughts of most people on a cold […]

by Melissa Caughey of Tilly’s Nest 1. Chickens can be addictive. Once you have a flock I think you might find yourself wanting more. There are so many wonderful beautiful breeds and colored eggs that you might just find yourself becoming a chickens addict. 2. Get a bigger coop. Whether your purchase a coop or build […]