 In this post, I'll show you how to make a DIY chicken waterer. This is 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.
Many years ago, in another life, I had my first flock of chickens: six buff Orpingtons I’d ordered through my local feed and seed. They were sweet as heck, and not quite legal, but adored my neighbors. I loved those birds, but since they were my first, there was definitely a steep learning curve for me. I had dutifully purchased everything they needed, including a large plastic poultry waterer. It was pricey (something similar would set you back about $50 now) and had an open trough that made it hard to keep their water clean. I suspect that this design, along with my inexperience, contributed to one of my birds falling ill. After that experience, I wanted a way to both save money and keep our birds’ water as clean as possible. The solution? Making our own DIY waterers at home. It’s incredibly easy, and in this post I’m going to show you exactly how to do it! All you need is a few minutes and a few simple tools.
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 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.  Here in Western MA, where our farm is located, winters are often tough and unpredictable. We can experience everything from sudden spring-like temperatures to blizzards in the same week. There is one constant, though: a lack of greenery, with no pasture or forage available to our flocks.
When winter has killed off everything but the pines, we pamper our chickens with sprouts. Nutrient dense sprouts are great for our birds all year round, and they are the perfect way to give our chickens the greens they are craving during the coldest months of the year. The best part? Sprouts are INCREDIBLY easy to make yourself, and in this post I'll show you how. 
Two friends enjoying the view.
Caring for your chickens in winter can feel like a daunting task, especially if you are a newer chicken keeper. There are so many things to consider. How do you keep your flock’s water from freezing? How cold is too cold? Should you shut the coop up completely in cold weather? Add supplemental heat?
It’s easy to get worried about your chickens out there, braving the cold and snow. But chickens are tough, and with the right strategies, they can get through winter comfortably. In Western Massachusetts, where our farm is located, New England winters can be harsh and unpredictable, with snow and temperatures that dip into the negative. Despite all that, our chickens do just fine, as long as we prepare well and provide them the right care. In this post I’m going to talk about all aspects of chicken winter care, from coop building down to how to best keep your chicken’s toes warm at night (spoiler alert, these two things are actually related!).  Using medical tape to treat a crooked toe. Have you ever wondered what medical supplies you need on hand in a chicken first aid kit? You want to be ready for everything from emergencies to common ailments, but it can be hard to sort through all the supplements and medications out there to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and what you actually need.
In this post, I’m going to go over everything I keep on hand to take care of our birds. Putting together a medical kit for your chickens is an investment of both time and money. I hope this peek into our medical supplies will help you save both, and be a starting point for you to put together your own chicken first aid kit.  A speckled Marans egg: our first pullet egg of the year. This speckled Marans beauty was our first new layer egg of the year. These pullet eggs aren’t much to eat, and they shouldn’t be hatched, but damn, they are magical--tiny hints of what’s to come, and always a thrill after months of nurturing a bird from hatch to point of lay.
These eggs also mean it’s time to assess our first round of grow outs as we begin to make decisions about who will be part of our breeding programs next year. There’s a lot to think about with each bird. Assessing our growouts and breeding stock is a multi-layer, ongoing process. In this post, I’m going to chat about selective breeding and the things we take into consideration when making breeding decisions. This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive guide to breeding poultry--that is far too much for one blog post! Instead, I'll be sharing an overview that will give you some insight into everything we think about when making our breeding choices and what this process is like for us on our farm.  Welcome to Dear ChickensWelcome to Dear Chickens, a new and somewhat regular feature on the Silver Fox Farm blog!
How this column started: I am a huge fan of advice columns and find them incredibly entertaining. I remember reading Ann Landers in the newspaper when I was a kid, and now enjoy reading newer columns like Savage Love and Dear Prudence. So of course I was thrilled when two of my favorite chickens on the farm, Janine and Egon, told me that they wanted to write their own advice column. I get a lot of questions about chickens, but who better to give chicken advice than an actual chicken? As it turns out, folks want all kinds of advice from these two birds. All responses are from Janine and Egon; I just read questions to them and record their answers. In need of poultry or life advice? You can submit your own questions to Janine and Egon through the form at the end of this post. They can’t wait to hear from you! That’s enough from me. Let me turn it over to Janine and Egon, two young Olive Eggers living their best life together on Silver Fox Farm. This week they’ll tackle topics including how to deal with an overly friendly neighbor, returning to ‘normal’ life, chicken diapers, and the question of free ranging your flock. Enjoy! --Maeg  I can't really blame a chicken for wanting to taste this rainbow! Chances are, if you have chickens, you love eating eggs. Unfortunately, sometimes your chickens will get a taste of their own raw eggs and love them, too! If you’ve ever had a serious egg eating issue in your flock, then you know how frustrating it can be to care for your flock with no eggs in return. In this post, we will talk about why and how the egg eating habit begins, and the interventions you can use to snap your birds out of this habit.
 An Ameraucana hen and her three babies. If you’ve ever experienced a broody hen, you know they are fierce and determined as they sit on and protect their eggs. They are also a great way to expand your flock, as they will incubate, hatch, and raise chicks for you.
On the flip side, she can be an unwelcome disturbance in the flock, especially if you don’t have fertile eggs or young chicks readily available. They also often need their own space, but they don’t pay egg rent. Not only that, but broodiness can put a real strain on your hen. In this post we will look at both sides of the broody coin: how to support and care for your hen while helping her become a mama, and how to break a broody if need be while minimizing stress to her.  Two bantam Salmon Faverolles from our hatch last week. What is an Eggtopsy?Spring has arrived and with it, hatching season! Perhaps you collected and incubated eggs from your own flock, or you patiently waited for eggs to arrive in the mail from a breeder. Either way, you spent 21 days incubating and anticipating the arrival of your new babies.
Then hatch day came and went, and there are still some unhatched eggs sitting in the incubator, leaving you to wonder why some hatched, but these didn’t. First of all, this is totally normal. In most cases, not all the eggs you set will hatch. A good hatch rate for fertile, fresh eggs from your own yard is anything over 75%, and the average hatch rate for shipped eggs is 50%. While it’s expected that some eggs won’t hatch, those unhatched eggs can leave you guessing about what happened, and if there’s any way you can improve your hatch rate next time. To troubleshoot your hatch, you can perform an eggtopsy, otherwise known as a “breakout analysis,” on your unhatched eggs. A breakout analysis simply means opening each unhatched egg and studying its contents for clues as to why that egg didn’t hatch. An eggtopsy may not help you pinpoint the exact cause of death for each individual embryo, because there are so many factors affecting each stage of development. However, an eggtopsy will help you recognize patterns, troubleshoot issues, and possibly figure out the cause of a disappointing hatch. |
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