Can you spy the oddity in this picture? How about the chicken egg behind the bush?Which, upon looking closer, turned out to be a whole nest of eggs. It seems our chicken Austra has been laying for quite some time. We had our suspicions when her feathers grew back in completely and comb turned characteristically bright red, a sign of egg production. Then last week, we came home from a short walk and the dogs [...]

This week, we lost our speckled sussex hen, Sussie. Suss had not been active, or laying eggs, for a few weeks. We tried several recommended treatments but she continued to lose weight and strength. On Thursday, Alex found her dead in the coop. In life, Sussie was the most skittish and shy of our hens. She had a funky gait and I wonder if she battled a weak heart or other congenital defect. Lil loved [...]

Our backyard chickens are surviving well through this winter’s ice, snow, and feather-burning bulbs. They look plump and healthy and even brave cold feet to come clean up around the base of our bird feeder when there’s no active participation. But they aren’t laying well. We are collecting an average of two eggs a day from our four hens in comparison to last summer’s four eggs daily. We miss the abundance of yolks and whites. [...]

Some may find pictures in this post graphic. Sometimes you have one idea in mind and the day takes a totally different direction. Today was such a day. A fellow chicken-keeping family called around 10 in the morning and said this was the day they wanted to kill one of their hens. Speckles, a Speckled Sussex like our Sussey, wasn’t laying eggs and wasn’t following the flock. They invited us to participate. After a quick [...]

This is our chic Australorp hen, creatively named Austra. I like to call her the queen of the chickens and generally regard her as a bit more intelligent than the rest of the flock. She is the definitely the most responsive to our family’s actions, coming and clucking gently when we call her. I was naturally concerned when I noticed the tips of feathers missing on her right wing a few weeks ago. They were [...]

“How are your chickens?,” I am asked frequently. The follow-on question is, “Are they ok in the cold?” We chose backyard chicken breeds specifically for cold hardiness.  Indeed our Orpingtons, Australorp, and Speckled Sussex seem to be surviving quite well, though they are not clucking and cooing with pleasure as they did in the summer and fall.  Maybe they miss their visits from Lil, far more infrequent in the cold weather. Winter Chicken Keeping Tactics [...]

Austra: Hey hey, whatcha got, there Pecky? Pecky: Can’t talk now, mouth full of mouse. Pecky: How am I going to eat this thing? Sussey: Hey, Pecks, can I have some? Pecky: No way, sister, this mouse is mine! Our chickens are most decidedly omnivores, as they demonstrated this morning with a little rodent hunting.  They also eat insects and worms with relish when free ranging. I am absolutely against chickens eating meat meal, especially [...]