 Frostbite is a real risk for chickens during harsh winter weather, affecting their combs, wattles, and toes. The key to preventing frostbite is maintaining a dry, well-ventilated coop, protecting vulnerable areas, and monitoring water and roosting habits. If frostbite occurs, gradual warming, protective sprays, and careful monitoring can help your flock recover. Here’s everything you need to know about how to prevent and treat frostbite in chickens.
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 If you’re asking yourself, “Should I use supplemental light in my chicken coop during the winter?” the answer depends on your goals. Chickens naturally slow or stop egg production in colder months as daylight hours shrink, and while supplemental light can extend laying, it may also cause stress or affect long-term health. Many flock owners prefer to let hens rest naturally, while others add gentle morning light to keep eggs coming. Done carefully, supplemental lighting can be safe—but it’s not always necessary.
 Winterizing your chicken coop is essential to keep your flock safe, healthy, and comfortable during cold months. Proper winterization includes the right-sized coop, draft-free ventilation, insulation, bedding, predator protection, and snow-proofing your run. Here’s a complete guide on how to winterize your chicken coop for maximum warmth and safety.
 If you’re wondering, "Should I use supplemental heat in my chicken coop during the winter?", the answer is usually no. Healthy adult chickens are well-equipped to handle cold weather, and adding heat often creates more risks than benefits. Supplemental heaters can cause fires, condensation, and dangerous temperature shock if power fails. Instead, focus on proper coop ventilation, dry bedding, and choosing cold-hardy breeds to keep your flock safe.
 Keeping chickens’ water from freezing in winter is absolutely essential for their health. On our farm, the easiest solution for us is a heated poultry waterer, which keeps water just above freezing with minimal electricity. In this post, we'll share our favorite winter waterer and discuss other options for keeping your chickens' water from freezing.
 Ready to start keeping chickens? In our second post on raising chickens for beginners, we'll cover how to incubate hatching eggs, brood chicks, and the basics of caring for your chickens into adulthood.
In our first post in this series, we explored everything you need to know before getting chickens: local ordinances, how to choose a breed, where to purchase chicks or hatching eggs, and more. If you haven't checked that out yet, we highly recommend it! Alright, let's get started! First, for those of you that are choosing to hatch your own chicks, let's talk about incubation.  Interested in having a backyard chicken flock for the first time but not sure how to start? In this post, we’ll go over everything you need to know before getting your birds: navigating local chicken ordinances, how to choose the best breed for you, whether to hatch yourself or buy chicks or adults, and where to source your first flock. If you’re starting from scratch with backyard chicken keeping, this post is for you.
 In this post, I'll show you how to make a DIY chicken waterer using the exact design we use on our farm. These waterers are easy to make, inexpensive, and will keep your flock's water fresh and clean.
 What is a Biosecurity Plan?A biosecurity plan is a set of measures put in place to prevent the introduction of disease into a flock, or keep disease from spreading within a flock. While the phrase “biosecurity plan” might bring to mind industrial scale poultry houses, these precautions also have a place in a backyard flock or small scale farm.
Biosecurity plans don’t have to be fancy. They are composed of simple, everyday things you can do to protect your birds from disease and keep them healthy. In this post, we’ll break down what each element of a biosecurity plan means, and give examples of how they can be applied to your own flock.  Bantam Salmon Faverolles chick. Have you ever wished you knew which chick in a hatch came from which egg? Are you launching a breeding program and wondering how to keep track of matings and offspring? Or do you simply want to keep tabs on your feathered friends for fun? In this post, we’re going to talk about how to pedigree your chickens, which will help you do all of the above.
Knowing how to pedigree your birds is a valuable skill that will come in handy whether you’re a serious breeder or just love hatching chicks for your backyard flock. What does it mean to pedigree chicks? Put simply, it means keeping track of your bird’s genetic background. Depending on your breeding program or goals, this practice may take different forms and happen for different reasons. The pedigree process is necessary when managing a breeding program and allows you to trace the origins of the chicks you hatch by pen or individual mating. When breeding for egg color, you can track the color of the egg a chick hatched from (definitely helpful when selecting for darker Marans eggs!). Tracking the pedigree of chicks is not just for breeders, though. These tools are also incredibly helpful for identifying and separating breeds and crosses that look the same at hatch, or keeping tabs on an individual bird’s behavior, health, and vigor. |
Hi there.We're just two shy chicks who are passionate about raising poultry. On this blog, we share what we've learned from decades of chicken keeping and breeding rare poultry on our small farm. 
No more guesswork! In this free guide, we recommend poultry products we've tried, tested, love, and actually use on the farm.
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