In 2010, after living on our 1/8 acre for a couple of years and before transforming everything into the mini farm it is today, we decided to get a couple of chickens and try our hand at the keeping and care of our very first farm animals. See, we dream…
We began our backyard chicken keeping experience in the spring of 2010 with five chickens and a much smaller coop (similar to this coop) than we have now without really thinking about how much space chickens need to be happy, healthy and productive. At the time, we were simply very excited…
Grow Despite the funny summer we’ve had, we are still seeing a few new items trying to get in their production before the nights get too cold… Luffa A baby Butternut Squash, trying to ripen before the cold weather descends. I’m not sure that the luffa or the butternuts will…
Keeping chickens over the past few years has been quite the adventure in both the actual keeping of chickens and in the human response to the fact that we keep chickens. Conversations are either based around confusion or excitement! I get questions all the time like; You can keep chickens…
Teeny, tiny flies…tons of them…in our chicken scratch. We’ve been keeping chickens for a few years now and I have never seen this before! I first saw them on Saturday when I went out to feed the Ladies. I opened up the Scratch Bin and noticed a few tiny flies,…
Chicken love dirt baths, which is a very good thing since dust bathing is actually good for them! Not only do dust baths encourage preening and fight against parasites, they make for happy chickens (which is helpful in keeping the whole flock happy). Some people install dust bathing areas for…
You know that compost overhaul I talked about a couple of days ago? Well, apparently there was a wealth of worms living in one of the bales of straw. When I went into the coop to freshen up the Ladies water a couple of days after putting the bales…
What do you get when you keep your own chickens? Sweet imperfections and great diversity. Extra calcium (deposits) included. I find that, despite keeping backyard laying hens for the past few years, I am continually amazed by how beautiful and how different each individual egg is. The colors, the shapes,…