Whether you’ve hatched out your own chicks using a broody hen or an incubator, or bought straight-run chicks, or even ordered ‘pullets’ from a hatchery, at some point in your chicken raising experience you may find you have one too many roosters than you were planning on keeping. Of course,...

Chickens are very sensitive to high temperatures, much more so than cooler temperatures. While winter chicken keeping does pose its challenges, summer chicken keeping also presents a whole new set of issues. Chickens have a normal body temperature around 105-107 degrees F, so keeping them cool in hot weather is...

Whether you are starting off with your first homestead flock or you have been raising chickens on the homestead for years, we all find ourselves asking, what is my chicken doing? Chickens are entertaining to watch, but knowing what their different behaviors, sounds, and body language means makes watching them...

Chickens form a dynamic flock that is run by their own set of rules and codes. Each bird has a place in the flock and knows its limits. When a flock’s dynamics are interrupted, havoc can break out! Knowing how to properly introduce new birds into your flock can prevent...

We all want to keep our homestead flock healthy and cool during the summer months! Monitoring your flock’s diet during the summer is essential to helping them handle the heat. It will also help them stay healthy during the summer months. These 5 bad summer foods for chickens are ones...

Chickens can handle cool weather way better than warm weather. High temperatures can cause a drop in laying or cause the hens to lay soft eggs. Chickens can also suffer from heat exhaustion and heat stroke very rapidly in hot weather. There are several ways you can help your flock beat...

If you’ve ever aspired to raise your homestead flock naturally, then I am sure you have contemplated all the variety of useful ways you can use herbs on the homestead for your flock. However, there are several different types of herbs for the homestead flock. Each type of herb has...

A clean chicken coop is essential to raising healthy backyard chickens. As any chicken keeper may tell you, keeping the chicken coop looking brand new is nearly impossible! However, there are ways you can keep your coop clean. No more smelly coops, no more dirty coops, and no more sick...

No homestead chicken raiser likes to think that the litter they have in the chicken coop can actually be harmful to the their flock. However, no matter what coop litter you choose there is always a health hazard that needs to be addressed. Coop litter dangers can pose a threat...

One important aspect of raising a homestead flock naturally is knowing how to care for their injuries and diseases using natural remedies. By treating chicken diseases naturally, you will hopefully not have to resort to using chemicals on your chickens. Although natural treatments may not be the quickest solution to...

It’s the dilemma that every homesteader will face at some point in their chicken raising experience… how to tell if a chick is a pullet or a cockerel? Knowing how to sex chicks and chickens is a helpful skill to have on the homestead. Being able to tell male chicks...

You may have a good start on knowing how to raise baby chicks, and you probably already have a plan for when those chicks are mature, but what about while they are growing? Learning how to manage growing chickens is important for the health and well being of your future...

One of the biggest challenges with homesteading is finding someone to care for your animals when you have to be gone for a few days (or a few weeks). Some homesteaders are perfectly content with not traveling a whole lot, however, other homesteaders have the traveling bug, or at least...

I have incubated hatching eggs using both an incubator and a broody hen. Starting off using an incubator to hatch eggs made me realized just how much easier it is to let a mother hen hatch eggs! Honestly, I thought caring for a broody hen while she is incubating eggs...

Before you even get chicks, you should be planning out your chicken coop! It gives your flock a safe, dry, and clean area to sleep, eat, and get away from inclement weather. A chicken coop needs to have a few key elements in order for it to be functional and...

A chicken’s dietary needs change from the time it is a cute little fluffy chick to the time it is fully mature and reaches reproduction age. Knowing what to feed growing chickens is important for the overall health of the homestead flock! Protein needs change, digestive systems become stronger, and...

Herbs have long been valued for their medicinal and culinary uses for people, but did you know that they are great for your chickens too? I love growing herbs for my chickens, and despite my green thumb not being the best, I still manage to maintain a little herb garden...

Those cute little fluff balls are hard not to obsess over, but over the years I have come to realize that chicks are not as fragile as I first though they were. Proper breeding, care, management, and diet do play a role in how hardy chicks are, however, when all...

Chickens are such adaptable creatures. However, caring for chickens can vary depending on your regional zone. Weather patterns, different seasons, and availability of resources can all have an effect on how you care for your homestead flock. Care practices that work for one flock may not be the best for...

There’s nothing more exciting on the homestead than watching a mother animal do her thing and raise her babies! As much as we love to get our hands into the mix and do the raising ourselves, it’s always so much more fun, a whole lot less work, and so less...