Broody Hen 101: Troubleshooting a Broody Henby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | June 13, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. A broody hen can be a great asset to the homestead flock! When a hen goes broody, she wants to set on...

8 Ways to Get Rid of Roosters on the Homesteadby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | June 6, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. Roosters… do you find them cute? Annoying? Beautiful? A problem? Chickens have a 50/50 gender ratio, meaning that in...

How to Care for a Sick Baby Chickby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | May 30, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. Chicks are often hardier than we give them credit to be, but they are also small and dependant when they are...

How to Use Herbs for Chickens on the Homesteadby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | May 23, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. There are right ways and wrong ways to use herbs for chickens on the homestead, but don’t let that scare...

How to Treat Crooked Toes in Chicksby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | May 16, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. So, the chicks have hatched and are now running around the brooder like wild things… all except one, who seems to hop,...

Homestead Chick Growth Guide (with pictures)by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | May 9, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. Your homestead brood’s needs will change rapidly as they grow. In order for chicks to mature into healthy, productive adults, each crucial milestone...

Splay leg is a condition that will cause a chick to not be able to stand and walk properly. It is an unhealthy condition that can even lead to death if the splay leg is not addressed quickly. However, splay leg can be fixed in young chicks, and chicks who...

Incubating Chicken Eggs Part 3- Lockdown & Hatchingby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | April 25, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. For those of you following along in our homestead Incubating series, part three covers the last two big parts of incubating...

How to Control Humidity in an Incubatorby Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | April 18, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. There are three essential conditions that chicken eggs need in order to hatch: heat, humidity, and turning. Humidity is necessary during incubation...

Should Chicks be Fed Medicated Chick Starter Feed?by Alexa Lehr | The Pioneer Chicks | April 11, 2023This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclosure for more information. Raising a healthy brood of chicks, naturally, is always the goal on the homestead! When deciding what to feed your brood,...

Welcome to the second post in the series “Incubating Chicken Eggs”! This three post series is designed to help you successfully incubate and hatch chicks on your homestead! If you aren’t quite to the stage of putting hatching eggs in the incubator, then you will want to jump back to...

I feel like spring is the both the most exciting time and the most frustrating time for raising chickens on the homestead. Spring means it’s time to hatch chicks, and it’s hard not to have a good day when you have chicks on the homestead! However, spring can also be...

The three main elements needed for incubating chicken eggs are heat, humidity, and turning. All incubators should have an automatic method of controlling the temperature. And you can often choose incubators that have an automatic turning system as well. However, humidity features in different incubators vary and can range from...

How much does it cost to raise chicks? Do you know how much of an investment those cute little fluff balls will be for your homestead budget? I didn’t either until I started keeping poultry expense records for my 4-H poultry project each year. Every year I would record what...

If you are planning on hatching chicks on your homestead without using a broody hen, you will need to invest in an incubator. Nowadays there are plenty of incubator models and styles of incubators to choose from. They range from small tabletop models to large cabinet style models. Aside from...

Welcome to the first post of our ‘Incubating Chicken Eggs’ series! This three post series will guide you through the process of incubating and hatching chicken eggs. It will provide you with the basic guidelines you need to know for storing fertile hatching eggs, programming an incubator, candling eggs, setting...

Coccidiosis is a very common chicken disease that is most prevalent in young chicks and chickens. It is a protozoal disease that destroys the intestinal lining in a chicken’s gut. Acute coccidiosis can lead to death. The coccidia protozoa are found nearly everywhere there are chickens present. It naturally exists...

One of the biggest flock health issues northern homesteaders face is frostbite. Frostbite occurs when the flesh freezes and prevents blood flow from reaching the frozen appendages. Frostbite can happen suddenly and if not treated quickly, it can get infected and cause fatal health issues. It is thought that even...

What is coccidiosis? Coccidiosis is one of the most common chicken ailments to affect young chicks. Coccidiosis is a protozoal disease that destroys the intestinal lining, causing malnutrition and sometimes unrepairable damage to the instestines. Since coccidiosis is so common, it is one of the biggest health concerns when raising...

When a mama hen can’t be used to raise your chicks, that means you are responsible for providing them with a safe and protected area in which to grow for the first few weeks of their life. A brooder can provide the perfect oasis if it is set up in...