Natural Chicken Keeping
Friday, April 17, 2020
DIY - Build A Chicken Hoop Coop
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
How to Raise Chicks - All the Basics to Keeping Healthy Chicks
New to Chicks? We can help!
First, allow me to direct your attention to the "Article Index" tab near the top of your screen. This is where you can find all sorts of answers to the most common chicken questions as your chicks grow. (There are some dead links in there, but I'm working to get them weeded out.)
So - now let's talk CHICKS!
What you need for the first 6 - 8 weeks:
First, allow me to direct your attention to the "Article Index" tab near the top of your screen. This is where you can find all sorts of answers to the most common chicken questions as your chicks grow. (There are some dead links in there, but I'm working to get them weeded out.)
So - now let's talk CHICKS!
What you need for the first 6 - 8 weeks:
- BROODER
- HEAT SOURCE
- BEDDING
- FEEDER
- WATERER
- CHICK FEED
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
I Think the Chicken Has Gone Bad - A Humorous Anecdote
The other day we had somebody (a
guy I consider my second son) help us clear out some scrap pieces of wood that
were sitting in our hay shed. We have had hay in there before, but needed the
extra space the wood was taking up to store more hay before the cold weather
comes. We have kept a knife or two in the hay shed in the past to cut the
bailing twine... keep this in mind...
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Chicken Keeping Without Plastic
By Guest-Writer, Ginny Chandoha
Being a chicken keeper is a daunting task if you are raising
chicks yourself for the first time. You can read every book, and look at every
chicken-related website, but it’s just like having children for the first time.
There are situations you won’t find answers to anywhere and have to come up
with your own plan of attack.
We raise our chickens ultra-organically. I say that because
we go above and beyond what is called for in organic poultry keeping rules and
regulations. While there is much discussion on feed and environment, when it
comes to what our birds will eat or drink from is considered standard, but not anything that could or
should be considered organic and non-toxic. After all, we are what we eat,
eats.
Having overcome an “incurable” autoimmune condition 8 years
ago, I am always on the alert to anything potentially toxic to my health, and
as a result, I carry that awareness into how I keep all my animals, furred and
feathered.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Meal Worms - High In Protein & Great for Molting Chickens
Ahhh, fall! A time of beautiful foliage on the trees and fewer feathers on your birds. During the molt, chickens need a diet of higher protein to help their bodies produce more feathers. And eggs? Yeah - in any laying hen over the age of 9 months, you can expect far fewer (if any) eggs until they have finished molting and recovered fully.
Read about the Molting process HERE.
Read more about molting HERE.
While chickens love meal worms year-round, molting time is a great time to make sure your flock get plenty of this high-protein treat! Scratch grains average only about 8% protein but meal worms? Try 52% protein, babyyy! THAT is what your chickens need more of in order to thrive!
Read about the Molting process HERE.
Read more about molting HERE.
While chickens love meal worms year-round, molting time is a great time to make sure your flock get plenty of this high-protein treat! Scratch grains average only about 8% protein but meal worms? Try 52% protein, babyyy! THAT is what your chickens need more of in order to thrive!
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part VI)
If you missed them, please see:
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
It
would be dark soon, and Lucille needed to find a safe place to sleep.
Tonight would be even darker than the last with almost no moon to speak
of.
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part VI)
Talk about a cliff hanger!! It has been almost exactly SIX MONTHS since we last saw poor Lucille trying to find her way back home after being carried off by a hungry hawk!
~*~*~*~*~*~
Wet and bedraggled, Lucille searched for a safe place to roost for the night. Much to her luck, she found a wild, evergreen magnolia tree. The big, green leaves would help to hide her from the wide array of hungry nocturnal hunters she knew were already starting to prowl for the evening.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part V)
If you missed them, please see:
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
The river was very wide and deep. The water churned white as it rushed over jagged rocks and multiple pieces of debris sped down the river as if they were racing each other to some unseen finish line. Lucille knew there would be no way she could safely cross... at least not here.
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
Coming out of the underbrush, Lucille almost fell right into a rushing mountain river. Lucille's heart sank.
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part V)
The river was very wide and deep. The water churned white as it rushed over jagged rocks and multiple pieces of debris sped down the river as if they were racing each other to some unseen finish line. Lucille knew there would be no way she could safely cross... at least not here.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part IV)
If you missed them, please see:
How would she get across this space without attracting the attention of another hungry raptor. What if there were dogs? Or coyotes? Or foxes? The mountains were filled with predators of every kind who would love a fresh chicken dinner!
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
(Part II)
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
How would she get across this space without attracting the attention of another hungry raptor. What if there were dogs? Or coyotes? Or foxes? The mountains were filled with predators of every kind who would love a fresh chicken dinner!
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part IV)
Lucille gazed out over the pasture wondering how she could safely get to the other side. She knew that with her injuries she would not be able to outrun a predator, and that as a white chicken, she would be easily spotted out in the wide-open space.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part III)
If you missed them, please see:
Given her temporary reprieve, Lucille allowed her eyes to close, and slipped into a fitful sleep.
Given her temporary reprieve, Lucille allowed her eyes to close, and slipped into a fitful sleep.
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part III)
As the first rays of sun peeked over the Virginia Blue Ridge mountains, Lucille began to stir. Only upon trying to move did she realize just how sore her little body was this morning. Her lungs ached when she drew her breath and she could feel each new scab that had developed over every scrape, cut and wound as she had slept.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part II)
If you missed it, please see:
Taking no time to register just how high she was in a very, very high tree, Lucille jumped...
Above the male hawk took flight again, swooping downwards on swift, silent wings to retrieve his escaped prey.
Taking no time to register just how high she was in a very, very high tree, Lucille jumped...
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part II)
Branches ripped at her feathers and face as she fell downward, through the tree. Lucile used her wings to help slow her decent, but it did not lessen the sting of the sharp, leafless branches as they slashed her face and pulled feathers from her sides. Finally, after what seemed like hours, her fall ended with a hard thump into the mud and roots at the base of the tree, knocking the air from Lucille's lungs.
Above the male hawk took flight again, swooping downwards on swift, silent wings to retrieve his escaped prey.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken (Part I)
Note: While the Natural Chicken Keeping blog is touted as a down-to-earth, no-nonsense chicken keeping resource, there are times that a blogger simply must break away from the norm. Every now and then seemingly fantastical circumstances from real life set the imagination alight with possibility. The story of Lucille's disappearance and homecoming is just such a circumstance.
While we may never know the real story - whether it be mundane or possibly even more exciting that the imaginative blog version, what we do know is that one very normal, simple chicken had a very unusual and dangerous adventure... and survived.
I would like to introduce you to a rather extraordinary chicken by the name of Lucille.
While we may never know the real story - whether it be mundane or possibly even more exciting that the imaginative blog version, what we do know is that one very normal, simple chicken had a very unusual and dangerous adventure... and survived.
Crossing the Road - The Adventure of Lucille the Chicken
(Part I)
I would like to introduce you to a rather extraordinary chicken by the name of Lucille.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
What a Great Gift for a Farmer!
This year we received a wonderful gift in the form of some outerwear from Duluth Trading Company.
To be frank, with our finances the way they are, we would never have gone out and purchased these items for ourselves. In fact I've been wearing the same old work coat for... NINE years, I think? It has seen better days, to say the least... especially in light of being worn all winter on a farm!
To be frank, with our finances the way they are, we would never have gone out and purchased these items for ourselves. In fact I've been wearing the same old work coat for... NINE years, I think? It has seen better days, to say the least... especially in light of being worn all winter on a farm!
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Digital Art - How to Draw Chickens Like a Boss... Or like a SAHM trying to pay bills...
So this is the beginning of our rags to rich... ermmm... not-so-raggedy... story.
Back in late August my husband lost his job. Losing a job sucks. Especially when you've finally worked your way back up after losing everything just 7 years before to medical bills. Just when we thought we were hitting the big time in our new-to-us circa 1973 sexy single-wide that just happens to be on the most beautiful 2.7 acres in the Appalachian Mountains ever (yeah - OK... we were going to start building a home on our land in January of 2015) we crashed face-first into the mud!
Back in late August my husband lost his job. Losing a job sucks. Especially when you've finally worked your way back up after losing everything just 7 years before to medical bills. Just when we thought we were hitting the big time in our new-to-us circa 1973 sexy single-wide that just happens to be on the most beautiful 2.7 acres in the Appalachian Mountains ever (yeah - OK... we were going to start building a home on our land in January of 2015) we crashed face-first into the mud!
I mean really? Even the brand name is some sort of strange misspelling...
Friday, October 17, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
NCK Online Show Awards Ceremony
Well - this post would have come out much sooner, but due to a glitch with Blogger, the entire post was erased when I was trying to post it the first time and I had to completely recreate it.
Sorry for the delay!!
And with no further ado...
Monday, October 6, 2014
Photo Shoot and How to Draw a Chicken... Or Two
What a fun and crazy weekend I have had!
Ever since my husband lost his job and my youngest became home-bound for fear she might catch the dreaded Enterovirus D68, we pretty much thought that FUN would be on hold for a while. Yet so much kindness and generosity has been shown to us in our recent hard times.
First, I have been offered a wonderful opportunity to provide 25 illustrations of various chicken breeds to GRIT Magazine for their annual Guide to Backyard Chickens issue. I have been working from sunup to sundown to get these illustrations done. Admittedly, it's a bit stressful. This is a HUGE opportunity, and I have a very limited time. I'm not used to banging artwork out so quickly! But as stressful as it is, I'm positively thrilled to have this chance to have my artwork used in such an awesome magazine!
Ever since my husband lost his job and my youngest became home-bound for fear she might catch the dreaded Enterovirus D68, we pretty much thought that FUN would be on hold for a while. Yet so much kindness and generosity has been shown to us in our recent hard times.
First, I have been offered a wonderful opportunity to provide 25 illustrations of various chicken breeds to GRIT Magazine for their annual Guide to Backyard Chickens issue. I have been working from sunup to sundown to get these illustrations done. Admittedly, it's a bit stressful. This is a HUGE opportunity, and I have a very limited time. I'm not used to banging artwork out so quickly! But as stressful as it is, I'm positively thrilled to have this chance to have my artwork used in such an awesome magazine!
Monday, September 29, 2014
Pictures of Chicks and Chicken Artwork - The Sequel
I have been seriously, ridiculously, over-the-top busy working on chicken breed artwork for GRIT Magazine's 2015 Guide to Backyard Chickens Issue, and I have had little time to come up with awesome chicken keeping articles for you over the past days... So I hope you will enjoy a bit of visual fun instead.
One of my lovely Swedish Flower Hen pullets, Sofia, went broody at the ripe old age of 9 months and has hatched out a beautiful clutch of four chicks! I'm quite sure she would have hatched five chicks, but unfortunately my 11-year-old daughter, who is in the autism spectrum, dropped one of the eggs about 4 days prior to hatch. We were both very sad about the loss, but everyone makes mistakes!
We're thrilled for the four that have hatched! Three of the four are out of my pullet Greta who took the title of Champion Pullet at a local county fair poultry show. (Read more about the show here.)
Look at these sweet babies!
One of my lovely Swedish Flower Hen pullets, Sofia, went broody at the ripe old age of 9 months and has hatched out a beautiful clutch of four chicks! I'm quite sure she would have hatched five chicks, but unfortunately my 11-year-old daughter, who is in the autism spectrum, dropped one of the eggs about 4 days prior to hatch. We were both very sad about the loss, but everyone makes mistakes!
We're thrilled for the four that have hatched! Three of the four are out of my pullet Greta who took the title of Champion Pullet at a local county fair poultry show. (Read more about the show here.)
Look at these sweet babies!
(Both parents are BIG - but I didn't expect the chick to resemble a Rottweiler! Hee-hee-hee!)
Monday, September 22, 2014
Fall - The Best Time to Plant Garlic (Your Chickens Will Thank You!)
Fall is the best time to plant garlic - specifically just after the first frost. If you live in Australia, please flip this post upside down you you can read it better (and don't plant garlic until spring)... and if you happen to reside in a place like Grand Cayman, it probably isn't advisable to wait until after the first frost as it could indicate that Hell is finally freezing over - in which case planting garlic might be the least of your worries!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Chicken Artwork - Roosters and Hens
In today's episode of You Show Me Yours and I'll Show You Mine...
Of course as you may know, we are hosting our first ever Online Poultry Show. Yes - we want to see YOUR chickens because we know how much you enjoy them and how special they are to you. We want you to show them off!
(You can click the photo link below for more details and to see the current entries!)
And since you going to show us yours, I'll show you mine!
You've seen tons of photos of my own birds throughout this blog, so instead of showing you photos again, I'll show you some of the birds I've been painting. I'm going through a list of breeds and creating artwork based upon those breeds. I figure that by the time I'm 103, I'll have at least a third of the known breeds translated into art form! (I hope.)
Of course as you may know, we are hosting our first ever Online Poultry Show. Yes - we want to see YOUR chickens because we know how much you enjoy them and how special they are to you. We want you to show them off!
(You can click the photo link below for more details and to see the current entries!)
And since you going to show us yours, I'll show you mine!
You've seen tons of photos of my own birds throughout this blog, so instead of showing you photos again, I'll show you some of the birds I've been painting. I'm going through a list of breeds and creating artwork based upon those breeds. I figure that by the time I'm 103, I'll have at least a third of the known breeds translated into art form! (I hope.)
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