chickens

As per request, I'm starting a thread on broodies. They are those things that make us go crazy each spring and summer, but also increase our food production in the most natural of ways. If you have broody questions or broody information to ask or impart, this is a thread for that. Whether you...

Yesterday morning I went into the coop to let the girls out and found a dead chicken. I've only had these birds since November, they were not supposed to be that old, maybe a year, and a friend picked them up from a lady who was part of a co-op but was downsizing for the winter. Their beaks were...

This coming week is International Heritage Breeds week. From the email I received from the Livestock Conservancy... "Several factors have contributed to the demise of these rare or “Heritage” breeds, but the leading cause is an increasing reliance on only a few highly specialized breeds in...

I try every year to improve egg and meat production, while still trying to maintaining a balance in a dual purpose flock, of both. I don't want to lean too far one way or the other or one loses the meaning and purpose of a dual purpose breed~that of acceptable production of both meat and eggs...

I try to stay as natural as I can with the food animals and now also with the nonfood animals, so I keep some things on hand for deworming and other parasite removal, as well as treatment of boo boos. This morning the cats got their spring worming via ginger paste in tuna....every drop was...

Hello, I'm Lynn in California, and a member of BYC. My new hubby of 5 months,Michael, & I started a little mini farm two years ago. We raise chickens & ducks for eggs, quail for both eggs & meat, and rabbits for meat also, although I must admit two things: I've turned 4 of them into pets, & I...

----- quick warning this is a bit of a long post... the feed questions are broken up into sections since we have chickens and will soon have ducks and meat rabbits. so we are asking for each animal ----------------- Okay, so I asked this same question over at BYC a few months back and got a...

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum (and to being self sufficient), and I'm looking for some ideas/feedback. A little background, I'm moving to a 7 acre farm on the 30th, I raise Golden Retrievers, I have horses, I've had 1 big and successful garden, I have a flock of chickens, and I have a...