Owl and the Pussycat

Our rooster “Owl” or “Owlie” looked so good in the sunshine today that I had to take a picture, I called him hoping he would turn and pose like he usually does but instead this happened and I will be quoting Edward Lear for the rest of the day. Continue reading

Do Free Ranging Chickens Lay Fewer Eggs?

This wonderful question showed up as a search term in our site stats and I thought I should answer it in case that viewer came back. The short answer is “probably” and the longer answer is “it’s complicated.”   In general, hens begin to lay when between 18 and 22… Continue reading

Outdoors is Really Scary!

Today was the first day outside for this year’s chicks. With great excitement opened the chicken house door and… well nothing. I was ready with camera in hand (a rarity for me) but these were no divas. I think about half of the girls ended up having a quick look… Continue reading

Chicken Tractors?

I had really wanted to move the chickens into tractors so they could clean up the field, eating the spent vegetable plants, bug, grubs and weed seeds, and at the same time we would know where they were laying their eggs. It seemed ideal and totally fitting with our sustainable… Continue reading

Meet the Flock

We have a mixed flock of free range chickens. Our oldest girl, Ziggy, is almost 8 years old and our youngest hens are less than 1 years old. We keep these hens for their eggs, but due to the nature of chickens and free ranging, production rates vary wildly. Normally… Continue reading