My Pet Chicken Blog

Before I got chickens, I pictured them as rather easily spooked, nervous, flighty. But nothing seems further from the truth. When I walk outside, they don’t scatter and run away. Instead, I am the target of a chicken stampede. If you keep chickens, you know what I mean. Wherever they are in the yard, they [...]

I wrote a post a while ago, entitled “three ways chickens will freak you out.” A recent comment by a reader reminded me of another way chickens can freak you out, and it inspired me to share the story of how I almost gave our chicken sitter a heart attack! Poor John. He didn’t take his “chicken sitter” duties [...]

My chickens free range, and there are a lot of benefits that go along with that. I love to garden… and there are a lot of benefits that go along with that, too. Sometimes these two hobbies are tough to combine though. Chickens love to scratch. They love to dig. They love to dust bathe. [...]

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 [...]

Can you save money on chickens? You bet! Keeping chickens is inexpensive and rewarding… and everyone seems to want to keep chickens these days. After all, chicken feed is synonymous with cheap, and you also get the benefit of beautiful, healthy eggs and fun pets. There is an upfront cost to get started, though, and that [...]

I recently taught my first backyard chicken class–what a blast! Over the years, I’ve answered a lot of chicken-related questions, but I find that hands-on demonstrations really help with in-depth understanding. This was the first official chicken class I’ve taught… but honestly I’ve taught “unofficially” for years. For instance, we’ve had guests and friends to [...]

If you like backyard chickens, you can probably, without even having to think, count off many of the benefits of keeping hens: they produce eggs, they’re compost machines, they’re easy to care for, they eat bugs, etc. etc. And you’ll know, too, about the more subjective benefits. They’re funny; they’re pretty. They can make you [...]

Chicken ornaments. It’s time to get mine out. And yes, I decorate with chickens for the holidays… at least partly. (Then again, everything in my life is at least partly chicken!) I always thought that if I got ambitious enough, I might get a photo of my family with three French Hens in front of [...]

I loved Autumn’s post about Chicken Family History early this week. It reminded me of an old family letter I have. It’s a letter from my great great great grandma Virginia Jackson Marshall, written to my grandmother when grandma was eight and great granny was 92. In the letter, there’s no punctuation to speak of, [...]

Now that fall has arrived, many of my hens are either molting or have just finished the process.  Some of my molting hens lose feathers very gradually and the only obvious sign that they are in a molt are lots of fallen feathers littering the run and yard.  Others lose many feathers all at once.  [...]