“I think few things would be as gratifying as seeing neighborhoods all over the country run a chicken pen in their yard to mow it, fertilize it, and produce their own chickens. How exciting.” – Joel Salatin Pastured Poultry Profit$ provides the perfect companion to Harvey Ussery's The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, which I reviewed last week here. I purchased both books for a … [Read more...]
Book review: The Small-Scale Poultry Flock
Whether you are just getting started with chickens or have had them for awhile, Harvey Ussery's The Small-Scale Poultry Flock provides an informative and entertaining read. I originally purchased the book when taking a Pastured Poultry class through UMass Amherst Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and I know it will be invaluable to me as I start raising my own chickens. The … [Read more...]
Farm animal psychology
The children chased the chickens. They couldn't understand why the chickens didn't want to cuddle. Last week was the first week of Nature's Farm Camp on our homestead, and I had to explain farm animal psychology to the children. I often find myself playing the role of psychologist when people are first introduced to chickens, turkeys, goats, sheep, cows, and other farm … [Read more...]
Feeding chickens without “chicken feed”
Urban homesteader Todd Allen of Chicago explains how they feed their chickens without any purchased feeds. My wife and I are urban chicken keepers. For the past four years we have not fed commercial feed and our flock of nine hens is healthy and productive. We hardly buy them any food at all. It was not our plan when we started keeping chickens. We … [Read more...]
Hens on holiday: 3 strategies for eggless living
A few years ago, a family friend asked one of our daughters, "So, where do you buy eggs when your hens stop laying?" My daughter replied that we never buy eggs. He responded with disbelief, and my daughter told him that we had not bought eggs since our first hens started laying in 2002. The friend had a hard time understanding how we lived without eggs during the winter months, … [Read more...]
Keeping City Chickens: 7 things to consider
by Bethany Staswick "Is that a CHICKEN in your yard?" We get the question all the time as people walk by on the city sidewalk. Yes, it is a chicken. And, in fact, we have ten of them. When we bought our house in the city with the extra side lot attached (take the yard tour here), we didn't intend to raise any animals. But less than a year into living there, we met … [Read more...]
7 tips for success with a farm dog
Many people think a dog is a dog, but when it comes to working dogs on farms, nothing could be further from the truth. Just as you would never hire an unqualified person to do a job in an office, you should not get an unqualified dog to do a job on your farm. While you might laugh at the idea that a chihuahua could herd sheep, plenty of people have gone to the local animal … [Read more...]
Chickens and turkeys together?
If you have chickens and are considering adding turkeys to your homestead, you have no doubt either read or been told by a well-meaning friend that you cannot keep chickens and turkeys together. It is widely believed that chickens will give blackhead disease to turkeys and wipe out your flock. This is not usually true in natural situations, and there are several things you can … [Read more...]
How smart are chickens?
Chickens are social animals with unique personalities: Chickens are very social creatures, having the ability to distinguish between more than 100 faces of their species. They also have a distinct “pecking order” that is maintained and hardly challenged, which usually correlates with their personality. And despite their small size, they have the mental capacity to complete … [Read more...]
Did you know…?
Chickens have their own unique language. While they don’t have a language as varied as humans, chickens have been found to use different calls and sounds to indicate different matters. From finding a good food source, to a mating call, to even warning the flock of a potential predator, chickens utilize many different sounds to communication with one another. In total, there are … [Read more...]