My Pet Chicken Blog

Here’s an article I recently wrote about grocery store egg labels for dLife, a wonderful online resource for folks with diabetes. Many chicken-keepers are already aware of the difference “cage-free” and conventional eggs—and that’s part of the motivation for keeping chickens. For you who aren’t aware, this one’s for you. Checking out the egg case [...]

I love my flock!  Watching their funny antics, getting mobbed when I show up with treats, and being adored by a few lap chickens is rewarding, but being able to supply my family with delicious, healthy eggs from happy hens is one of the main reasons I keep chickens. Hens with access to fresh greens [...]

How can you teach a blind hen to forage if she can’t see what’s on the ground? That was the problem that presented itself to us when Hildy learned to go outside. When our blind hen learned to use the coop door to come outside, we were thrilled—but also frightened and worried for her.

Now is the time to get pumpkins for chickens. Scoop up all the left over, cheap pumpkins you can find from the grocery stores and farmers markets. They should be cheap now, or perhaps even free! Chickens just love them and they are a nutritional powerhouse for our fine feathered flockers. Pumpkins are loaded with [...]

How to prepare your chickens for winter isn’t especially intuitive, and many people may take steps that can actually make things more difficult for their flock rather than helping them to become cold weather chickens!  Choosing cold hardy breeds (if you live in an area of cold winters) is certainly an important first step! But [...]

Successful small flock owners may have vastly different management styles. Some may hatch their own birds, while others may order from a hatchery or buy from a breeder. Some small flock owners will free range their birds, while others–just as successful–may provide confined range. Some add supplemental light in the winter, while others let their birds experience [...]

Oh, me, did I ever bite the bullet. One of my lovely chickens, a Campine/Black Marans cross named Hot Shot, developed a foot infection, commonly called bumblefoot. Off we go to the vet and she had surgery to open up the infected foot and came home to live in the house and get her daily [...]

When I go out in the morning to bring treats to my girls and collect our little egg gifts for the day, I’m greeted at the run door by hens begging for me to let them out. How could I turn down those sweet little faces?

Our personal flock recently had its very first illness, and I am 100% to blame. In seven years, we’ve had to worm our flock ONCE. That’s the single solitary health problem we’ve ever had. Then, I had to go and get dumb. Although I’m smacking my forehead and slightly embarrassed about my lapse in judgment, [...]

For people new to chicken keeping, deciding how they will manage their flock—free range or confined— can be pretty daunting. Part of the problem is that there isn’t really one BEST way to keep a flock. A lot will depend on your own situation. For instance, my chickens free range in the true sense. That [...]