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A Beginner’s Guide to Chickens

07.16.2019 by thriftyhomesteader // Leave a Comment

guide to chickens

Are you thinking about getting chickens or do you already have a flock? This post includes some of Thrifty Homesteader's most useful posts and videos about keeping chickens... Getting Your Chickens The first step to successfully raising chickens is to buy them from a trusted source. You could be purchasing diseased or old animals if you purchase them from a swap meet or … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens Tags // chickens

Thinking about backyard chickens?

06.17.2019 by thriftyhomesteader // 7 Comments

backyard chickens

Whenever people hear reports of contaminated food and worry about the ethics of factory farming, they want to take control of their food in whatever way they can. For many this means starting a garden, and for more and more, this means having backyard chickens. However, myths abound! Sadly, this misinformation slows people down or stops them entirely from having their own fresh … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens

Keeping a Closed Flock or Herd

09.04.2018 by thriftyhomesteader // 2 Comments

closed flock

Even though I've had chickens since 2002, I really don't feel like I know much about sick chickens. We had them for more than a dozen years before it took more than one hand to be able to count the number that had not died as someone's dinner -- either ours or a predator's. The main reason our chickens -- and turkeys, ducks, and geese -- are all so healthy is because I've only … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens, goats

Brooding Chicks

03.19.2018 by thriftyhomesteader // Leave a Comment

Brooding chicks

When you pick up your first chicks, they will need to stay in a brooder for several weeks. If a mother hen had hatched them, they would spend most of their time under her wings, being kept warm by her body heat. Because they were hatched in an incubator, you need to duplicate that warm environment by creating a brooder. “Brooder” is a fancy word for what could simply be a … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens, Homegrown and Handmade excerpt Tags // brooder, chicks

Need a chicken health reference book?

01.29.2018 by thriftyhomesteader // 16 Comments

Gail Damerow's second edition of The Chicken Health Handbook has been sitting on my shelf for a few months. I was really excited when the publisher sent me a review copy, and I started reading immediately. By the time I was approaching 300 pages, however, my enthusiasm was waning. I was worried that people who read the book would suffer from the chicken keepers version of … [Read more...]

Categories // books, chickens

Preventing the Top 5 Causes of Chicken Death

01.15.2018 by Janie Hynson // 1 Comment

Did you know that the top five causes of mortality in chickens can be mostly prevented by management? That's good news for those of us with chickens. At the Livestock Conservancy conference in November, Julie Gauthier of Chickcharney Farm in North Carolina led a workshop about managing poultry health. She shared many helpful ideas for ensuring the long term health of your … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens, conferences, livestock health, poultry

Heat Lamps, Safety, and Livestock

01.15.2018 by thriftyhomesteader // 142 Comments

heat lamp safety

Every winter I see articles like this about a barn fire or other structure that burns down because of a heat lamp. In fact, we almost had two fires here because of heat lamps. Yeah, not just one, but two! Many years ago we had a heat lamp hanging on a nail, and the goats knocked it down. That was definitely a rookie mistake made by someone who had no clue how curious goats … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens, goats, pigs, sheep

Tips for Protecting Your Livestock from Predators

12.18.2017 by thriftyhomesteader // 2 Comments

protecting livestock

One of the biggest challenges for anyone raising livestock is preventing predator attacks. This is true whether you have 300 head of sheep in Wyoming or 3 hens in Chicago. Predators are not simply big scary animals like lions and tigers and bears. They can also be your neighbor's dog or cat. All carnivores have an instinct to kill animals. I'll never forget how surprised I … [Read more...]

Categories // alpacas, camelids, chickens, dogs, donkeys, ducks, goats, llamas, peafowl, pigs, poultry, sheep

6 Things Chickens Don’t Need in Winter

12.14.2017 by thriftyhomesteader // 6 Comments

A few years ago I wrote a post about what chickens need in winter. But in recent years, I've seen a variety of things suggested online, which are either unnecessary or a downright bad idea. Some people have unfortunately killed their birds with kindness. So, today I'm going to talk about six things that chickens do not need in winter. A sweater I cringe every time I see a … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens

7 Benefits of Gardening with Chickens

12.11.2017 by Janie Hynson // 2 Comments

I've been intrigued by the idea of gardening with chickens for a while so was excited to attend a presentation about this at The Livestock Conservancy conference by Jim Edrington. Though Jim has worked at The Seed Savers Exchange for many years, he focused on sharing his experiences incorporating chickens in his gardens at home. As you might guess, there are some challenges … [Read more...]

Categories // chickens, conferences, gardening, poultry

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