Our poultry tractors used to sit dormant in between bird batches, now they are used year round, in a variety of ways. Our multi-purpose…
The first livestock most new homesteaders bring home to the farm are chickens—and rightly so. Here's how to start raising chickens from scratch. They’re small,…
When I moved to this two-acre croft in Iowa, just outside Iowa City, I was pleased to become part of the management of a…
Hens are fussy about their nests, just like any other bird. Although there are many reasons why hens stop laying, dissatisfaction with their environment…
Five years ago, my husband and I designed and built our backyard chicken coop. The design was based on photos of a friend's chicken coop…
I have learned to accept the gentle smiles and assumptions of others when the subject of chickens is mentioned. It is always assumed that…
The North American Wild Turkey can be found in every state of the U.S., as well as in southern-most sections of most of the…
The popularity of keeping chickens is undergoing a dramatic resurgence since the turn of the twenty-first century. Laying hens are making appearances in astonishing…
Is any homestead complete without ducks? I don’t believe so; we've been raising six ducks since this spring and we sure enjoy them! I…
Thirty years ago my parents loaded my little brother and me into Dad’s 1978 powder-blue Dodge pickup and headed fifteen miles north to a…
A Portland guy walks into a butcher shop, tells the man behind the counter he has to kill his beloved chicken, it's old and sick,…
A homestead can always use another source of income. So when you are ready to search for a new source of money, an animal…
What started as a seasonal endeavor to raise turkeys for meat, became so much more. It was a pleasure to cater to our seasonal visitors;…
Mail order chicks are a great way to start a new flock on your homestead. However, if you have fertile eggs available, why not hatch…
Whenever I watch Sarge, Ash, and Baldy waddle past me, I grin. Those three Muscovy ducks are the reason my partner Larry and I went…
An exotic and perhaps odd-looking breed of poultry, the Guinea Fowl, is fast becoming not just the friend of the poultry farmer, but a…
This is the second submission by single-mom and homesteader, Mariann Foster. Click here to read her very popular first article, "Making a Life, Not…
Chickens are one of the easiest forms of livestock to raise and can be raised in many areas, including dense suburbs. Chickens can be very…
The humble chicken is a worthwhile pet, a voracious eater of insects, and a sumptuous provider of meals when raised properly. A safe and…
It’s autumn and Romeo smells like he just peed all over himself... which he has... for the umpteenth time. The usually-white hair of his…
