Chickens

Chicken Economics: The Cost of Keeping Chickens

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Let’s face it – raising chickens for your own fresh eggs is like a gateway drug to a full-fledged addiction to all things ‘rural’. At least it seems that way, with practically every second magazine having anything to do with ‘home’ talking about backyard chickens in some way, shape or form.  There’s a reason why [...]

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How to Create a Chicken Dust Bath for Winter Bathing

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When you live in a rainforest, it rains.  (Right about now you’re probably thinking, “No kidding [or insert expletive here], Sherlock.”) Stay with me here. Are you ready for another ridiculously obvious statement? (I’m on a roll!)  Lots of rain means lots of mud. So What’s the Problem, Lady? Are You Scared of Getting Mud [...]

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Tough (and Valuable) Lessons from the Homestead

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The world didn’t end on December 21, 2012.  At least for most of us. One of our little roosters wasn’t so lucky. He was a beautiful boy – half Buff Orpington and half ISA Brown (which I guess means half Buff and ¼ Rhode Island Red/¼ Rhode Island White).  Lovely red feathers and a shiny [...]

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11 Things to Think About When Picking a Plan for Housing your New Chickens

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Picture this:  you’ve decided to add chickens to your backyard or homestead.  You’ve spent hours researching basic healthcare and anatomy, you’ve visited all the forums (and become totally overwhelmed), and you think you know what chickens need to be happy.  Now comes the big job – deciding on how you’re going to house them. Once [...]

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Essential Oils on the Homestead

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“Mama, where’s the peppermint oil?” My 9-year old son had eaten something that didn’t agree with him and was looking for relief.  As is usual around here with all sorts of health maladies, we didn’t reach for pharmaceuticals or the remedies most of us used growing up (remember that pink stuff… yuck!) – we opened [...]

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Hens Raising Chicks – 5 Things You Need to Know Before You Start

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That first little ‘peep peep’ from under the wing of your favorite hen, a chick the hen hatched, is something you’ll never forget. That sweet little face is the culmination of the hours and days and weeks that you’ve put into raising your backyard flock.  In our case, my son strangely knew exactly which of [...]

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Chickens and Cockerels: How to Add a Rooster to Your Flock

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Adding a cockerel (rooster) to your existing flock of hens is one of those things where you’ll find almost as many different opinions as there are chicken breeds!  It’s a passionate subject, and one that I had the opportunity to delve into recently. In the fall of 2011, a post came across our local Freecycle [...]

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And the Winning Coop Name is…

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Thanks to everyone who participated both entering names and voting in our chicken coop naming contest.  After all was said and done, it came down to five entries we really liked.  But ultimately, we couldn’t choose just one name – so we picked two… The chickens have gone corporate.  The new coop name is: The [...]

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Modern Homesteading – Reality Check

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Time for me to come clean. I love the rural life, really I do, but there are some days when the comfort of a city condo would be a welcome distraction.  And honestly?  A relief. Like the days when it’s sub-zero and I forgot to pick up winter work gloves to do the outside chores [...]

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Vote on a Name for Our New Chicken House!

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HUGE thanks to everyone who took the time to submit ideas for our naming our new chicken coop. We had lots of really fun entries on our contest page (click here and scroll down to the comments section) – you guys are so creative!  I just spent some time going through all the entries (we [...]

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