Reading Time: 5 minutes By Chris Lesley Smart gardening, material reuse, and other easy tricks to incorporate into environmentally friendly chicken keeping. Because of the negative impacts of industrial agriculture on our ecosystems, opting out of that system and keeping your own chickens is an environmentally friendly poultry choice. What chicken breeds to keep, or … Read more
Reading Time: 6 minutes By Susie Kearley – Taking care of guinea fowl can be uplifting … or cause problems with the neighbors! When an old friend, Roy Miller, invited us to camp on his field in Lincolnshire, he didn’t mention the bird life, so it was an unexpected delight to be greeted by a flock … Read more
Reading Time: 5 minutes Cotswold Wildlife Park is nestled in a quiet part of the English countryside, renowned for its quaint villages and yellow stone cottages. The park is home to a wide range of animals from rhinos to giraffes, to exotic birds. Today we’re meeting Chris Green, one of the bird keepers, who takes … Read more
Reading Time: 5 minutes By Doug Ottinger – Many chicken owners know that egg yolk color is heavily influenced by the feed their birds eat. But do they really understand how interior egg quality can be impacted by the feeds the chickens eat? For instance, most know chickens fed lots of green feed will produce … Read more
Reading Time: 5 minutes By Cappy Tosetti Sometimes, all it takes is a simple bowl of goodness like egg custard to wash away the worries and stresses in life. Something that provides a feeling of well-being and nostalgia — that warm and fuzzy emotion associated with fond memories from long ago. But what is custard? What is … Read more
Reading Time: 4 minutes As spring chicks start to grow up and lay eggs, odds are you may find a double yolk egg in your egg collecting basket. To be clear, double yolk eggs are just that. When you crack a single-shelled egg open, you won’t find a fully formed egg inside of an egg, … Read more
Reading Time: 6 minutes The rules have changed. When I was a kid, hatching eggs for kids in schools was as simple as bringing in eggs and an incubator. The eggs sat for 21 days, chicks hatched, and kindergarteners gathered in fascination. Then a farmer arrived to take the chicks home to their new coop. … Read more
Reading Time: < 1 minute A chicken egg takes 21 days to hatch. By candling the eggs, you can determine stage of development or if the egg has failed to develop and died within the shell. Flock Files are educational materials for you to Print, Save, and Share! CLICK HERE to get your pdf! Source … Read more
Lice and mites taking bites: ectoparasites on ducks. Story by Erin Masur, DVM With their downy feathers and hardy nature, ducks are less vulnerable to lice and mites than chickens. However, duck owners would be remiss to assume we have one less thing to worry about. Ectoparasites — the creepy-crawlies, including lice and mites, that … Read more
Tasty traditional cinnamon rolls and pecan and citrus variations. Recipe and photos by Rita Heikenfeld One bite of BETTY HOWELL’S homemade cinnamon rolls during a brunch class we taught together was all it took for me to decide that these sweet, larger-than-your-hand heirloom treats were keepers. “Baker Betty,” as my grandkids call her, lives with … Read more