Author: Me
-
When Do Pullets Start Laying? Signs, Timing and Why Yours Is Late
Your pullet hit 20 weeks in October and gave you nothing. Every chart you pulled up had a number — 18 weeks,…
-
Integrating Chicks Into Your Flock Without Losing One
The hen that almost killed my first pullet wasn’t being vicious. She was just three times the pullet’s size, and I put…
-
When Can Chicks Go Outside? Feathers, Night Lows and Predators
My friend Matt moved his grow-out batch outside at six weeks because that’s what the internet told him. Woke up the next…
-
Medicated vs Non-Medicated Chick Starter: How to Actually Decide
That Bag in Your Car Isn’t What You Think It Is The bag of medicated starter has been sitting in your car…
-
Baby Chick Problems in the First Week (and Which Ones Need a Vet)
Day Three Is the Inflection Point Day three is when things either turn around or go wrong fast, and the difference is…
-
Brooder Temperature for Chicks: Watch the Chicks, Not the Thermometer
You just got home with a box of chicks and you’ve got a thermometer clipped to the side of your brooder —…
-
Chick Brooder Setup: What’s Worth Buying and What’s a Waste
The feed store sold my neighbor a $90 starter kit the day she brought her chicks home, and two of those items…
-
Raising Baby Chicks: My Week-by-Week Guide From Brooder to First Egg
First 48 Hours: What You’re Actually Looking For You probably already have the brooder set up, the feed in a bin, and…
-
Which Chicken Breeds Lay Which Egg Colors, and What It Costs You
A mixed basket of eggs is why a lot of people get chickens. It’s a good reason. But shell colour is set…
-
Chicken Run Enrichment That Actually Stops Boredom Pecking
A bored flock finds something to do, and what they find is usually each other. I lost the back feathers off 2…
-
12 Backyard Chicken Hacks That Will Save You Major Time
Most chicken hacks you’ll find are somebody’s first month of keeping birds, written up as though it worked. Some of these did…
-
12 Bucket Nesting Box Ideas That Will Save Your Farm Budget
A 5-gallon bucket makes a better nest box than most of the plywood ones I’ve built. That’s not me being cheap. Plastic…
-
12 Wing Feather Sexing Tips That Will Save Your Flock’s Future
I stopped paying $1 extra for vent-sexed chicks the moment I realized a three-day-old wing held more data than a ten-week-old crowing…
