Backyard chickens can lay a variety of colored eggs depending on their breed. The colors are fun to see, but can also alert you to a health issue such as exposure to too much heat. Even before your hen has heat stroke she may begin to lay eggs of a different color.
This page documents the growth and development of backyard pet chickens over a six week period. This is a page about chicks week-by-week (weeks 1-6).
Prior to bringing home your new chicks you will want to get all of your supplies and set out their brooder box. Then the fun begins. This is a page about getting ready to raise chicks.
Giving your brooder chicks the opportunity to roost will give them a head start for life in the chicken coop. This is a page about how to build a brooder box perch for chicks.
Hens do not lay eggs year around, there are breaks during the colder months. Older girls also eventually stop laying. If none of these apply, you may want to check with a vet to make sure your hen is not ill or egg bound. This is a page about hen not laying eggs.
This is a page about caring for chickens. When growing poultry for meat or eggs in your own backyard, you want to make it an enjoyable experience for your birds and your family.
This page is about predator proofing a chicken coop. Making sure your birds are safe from uninvited visitors will keep your hen house secure.
Do you break-even raising chickens for eggs? What are the important things I need to know? My partner wants to also eat them for meat, but I know I will fall in love with them.
Can I raise two Black Bottom hens together in a cage rather than letting them free-range roam?
We raise our chickens and are getting 8 eggs a day now. It is nothing short of wonderful to know there are plenty of eggs on hand and we are raising some new chicks.
Last year was a devastating year for our family. We lost all 6 of our chickens to raccoons over the course of a few months. Two of them were almost 6 years old and another was more like a pet dog than a chicken to us. After a lot of contemplation we decided to try again, after extensive fortification of our coop. These are our 5 new girls, exploring outside for the first time!
Mother Earth News has done testing on free range chicken eggs vs. the normal store bought eggs and the differences are remarkable. Their new chicken and egg page has test results and information on raising chickens. Basically free range chickens are chickens that are allowed to walk around, peck, eat grass, weeds and insects plus chicken feed as opposed to those that spend their lives in a tiny pen.
It makes sense and very interesting. I don't have chickens, merely eat them, but this is very fascinating.
I use to raise a lot of poultry,chickens ,ducks,pheasants,once a few geese.My chickens had the run of the farm.Raised both laying hens and broilers.
Had a coop when I was a child living on some land. Now a suburbanite and have a handful of pullets. Lots of cheap fun.
Two RIRs and two EEs.
Every week, people usually spend $3 on eggs. Now that may not sound like much but it adds up! So, my family and I have decided that we are going to get chickens.