I love diving into a new poultry book and seeing what helpful nuggets I can dig out to apply to my homestead flock. Reading about other chicken keepers’ experiences and learning the general facts about poultry will help you raise your homestead flock better. I have acquired many different chicken...
An imbalance in a chicken’s diet can cause the chicken to not receive the proper nutrition it needs, either by having an excess of a dietary element or a deficiency in a dietary element. Dietary imbalances can occur when a chicken’s diet is not balanced or when a chicken’s dietary...
A nutritionally complete and balanced diet for your flock should help prevent a majority of dietary issues, however, sometimes dietary imbalances can be caused by factors that we can’t control or are unaware of. Dietary imbalances can result in a chicken not getting the nutrition it needs to stay healthy....
All chickens who are over a year old molt at least once every year, usually in the late summer and fall months. Molting is when a chicken replaces its old feathers with new feathers, which will help keep it warm and stay healthy. Molting can be stressful for chickens and it...
We’ve reached that time of the year where you get no fresh eggs from your homestead flock and it looks like someone plucked all your hens: welcome to molting season. All birds molt, both wild and domestic. It is a natural occurrence that is often triggered by weather patterns. Molting...
Making these high protein quinoa cakes as a DIY treat for chickens is a great way to sustainably spoil your homestead flock and still keep them healthy! Chickens love special treats and snacks, and spoiling your flock can be fun and entertaining. However, you don’t want the treats to take...
Chickens and dust bathing go together like peanut butter and jelly. If you don’t provide a dust bath spot, your flock will make their own. Even if you do make a DIY dust bath for your chickens, they may still choose their own location! Whether you make your flock a...
Why do chickens dust bathe? Chickens dust bathe for several reasons. The primary ones being because it seems to be enjoyable for them and it provides natural health benefits that would be important for a flock’s survival in the wild. It seems contradictory, but dust bathing is one way that...
Whether you have one rooster on the homestead or multiple roosters in the homestead flock, knowing how to care for a rooster is important for the health and happiness of your homestead flock! Roosters have different dietary needs than hens. They exhibit different behaviors and play specific roles within the...
Chickens are on their feet all day. Even when they roost, perch or relax, they are still on their feet! Consequently, foot and toes injuries can occur no matter how many preventatives you implement. Bumblefoot is one such ailment that is caused when an infection develops in the foot pad...
I know you have probably heard me say this over and over in my articles, or at least something like this: your flock’s diet is their life blood. It’s what gives them energy and keeps them healthy. And it must change and adapt based on the seasons. What your flock...
A chicken’s diet is essential for keeping it healthy and productive. Sudden diet changes can be hard for your homestead flock to adjust to, and feed switches can even cause health problems if they are not done properly. While complete diet changes should be avoided as much as possible, there...
Any kind of poultry parasite is annoying, but I have found that northern fowl mites are terribly persistent little buggers that require patience and time to treat. While they may seem like any other external poultry parasite, northern fowl mites are one of the hardest mites to treat since they...
The crop is the gateway to a chicken’s stomach. Ensuring that the crop is functioning properly is essential for keeping your flock healthy and productive! There are two common ailments that affect the crop: sour crop and impacted crop. Learning to tell the difference between sour crop vs impacted crop...
Why is my chicken losing feathers? A chicken’s feathers are what protect its skin and helps keep the chicken warm. There are two main reasons why a chicken would lose its feathers. Usually feather loss is caused by molting or the feathers being pulled out by other flock members. Feather...
Boredom can become an issue for homestead flock’s that have to be cooped up due to inclement weather. The winter months are an especially hard time to keep your flock entertained and active. Preventing boredom not only makes for a happy flock, but it also prevents issues like feather pulling,...
Biosecurity is extremely important for homestead chicken keepers. Biosecurity is the measures you take to prevent disease, parasites, and pathogens from affecting your flock. Understanding how biosecurity works and all that it entails will help you keep your flock healthy and free from disease and parasites. I use these 8...
A balanced diet is important year round to keep your flock healthy. During the winter, your flock’s dietary needs change slightly due to weather changes, decreased activity, and the increased need to stay warm. If these changes are not met, your flock could suffer from a deficiency or surplus in...
While I like to source most of my natural remedies right from my homestead, I am also not against supporting certain all-natural products! With raising homestead chickens on the rise, numerous large companys and small brands have come out with natural products that you can use on pets and poultry....
You may have heard about putting apple cider vinegar in your flock’s water to improve their health. However, before you go about adding this natural supplement into your flock’s diet, you must first learn how it affects their health. Vinegar can be both a help and a hindrance to the...