My Pet Chicken Blog

When your chickens are refusing to roost in the coop, it can be a big problem. A group of cats is called a glaring, which well describes the look cats give you if you try to herd them. This look is often bestowed from above, as out of reach as possible… or from beneath the […]

Connecticut’s state motto: “He who is transplanted still sustains.” This is so fitting! We moved in November of 2013 from a rural/suburban New England town to our current residence in Connecticut, and have been fighting ever since to sustain our dwindling flock of chickens. While we had run-ins with predators at our old haunt—including raccoons, hawks and coyote—it […]

This morning I could hear the yipping and howling of coyotes down in our holler. Even so, I’m not too worried; I have roosters to help keep a look out. But how can roosters hope to deal with coyotes? Let me explain! Coyotes are in my area year-round, but we tend to be aware of […]

Have your chickens ever encountered a skunk? The other morning I had a chicken skunk encounter–yikes! It happened quite early in the morning when I was out taking sunrise photos.  I especially love those rosy mornings in spring and fall, where the light casts everything as pink. Our silvery old barn is always a little […]

Chickens and dogs: they don’t naturally get along. A reader writes to “Listen Lissa,” asking how to handle the loss of her chickens to a neighbor’s dogs: My neighbors’ dog gets out of their house a lot. Twice he got into my enclosed chicken yard and has now killed half of my hens. How do […]

Do your chickens have enough sense to come in out of the rain? Probably not. Actually, that your flock would “come in out of the rain” is not necessarily sensible behavior… not for chickens. A rainy day can be a good day for a chicken to forage more widely than normal. On overcast days, the extra […]

I am possibly in the process of designing my third DIY chicken coop.  I guess it’s a little odd; after all, I could just buy one of the amazing coops that MPC sells—but that would be too easy for the likes of me! 😉  I’m just a DIY person at heart. It’s not even about […]

I got a call from a friend last week about chicken predators. “I was on my way to work,” he explained, “and I saw something—I wanted to let you know!” It seems what he’d seen was a black bear–a big one!–probably a mile or two from our house, and headed in our general direction.   […]

Several years ago I got it in my head I needed a pet duck or two. A normal person would discuss this with their significant other and plan how to tackle the new addition to the family. I, however, got sneaky. A friend gave me some fertile eggs and I set them under some broody […]

A couple of months ago, I dreamed my flock was destroyed. I bolted upright out of bed, fuming mad at those (!@*$) darn raccoons… and then, in a fog, realized it was just a dream. The coop in my dream was the wrong one–it was from a house we lived in years ago. The chickens […]