I am learning what every first-time chicken keeper knows: chickens grow fast. At three weeks old, our 6 birds had outgrown their rubbermaid brooder. They were getting a bit too excited about their flight feathers and were constantly crashing into things, like the mesh ceiling of their brooder. They clearly needed more free ranger space. Thankfully,…
Chickens
My, How You've Grown!
The chicks are two weeks old now. They are changing day by day. I’m a bit shocked by how fast they are growing. Relatedly, I am a bit shocked by how much they eat. Yesterday morning my daughter called out, “Mom! Come here!” in that voice that means something is really, actually wrong. One of…
A Half-Dozen Of My Favorite Things About Chickens
Best things about adding chickens to our backyard, in no particular order: 1. Their eggs are just better. Homegrown egg on left, organic store-bought on right. Note the larger, darker, richer yolk and the firmer, tighter white on the homegrown egg. They fry up beautifully too. 2. Chickens make very willing weeders and soil cultivators. (I wish…
We Have Chickens! Meet The Girls!
As you may have heard through the Facebook page, I adopted a pair of chickens on Wednesday. As little as a week ago, the plan had been to hold off on chickens until next spring to give us time to finalize our mini-orchard and the gobs of other things around the ol’ homestead. And then…