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Why is supplemental lighting important?
You provide your hens with a well-balanced diet, fresh water and ensure that they are healthy. So why all of a sudden are your hens not laying eggs like they did in the spring and summer? Many hens will…
- January 27, 2020
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- Chicken Care, Egg Laying
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The Arrival of New Chicks- Week 1
Our 15 Rudd Rangers arrived safely this morning! The post office gave me a call first thing Thursday morning and we picked them up. It’ a good idea to call your local post office as soon as you get your…
- February 14, 2020
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- The Diary of a Chicken Owner, Chicken Care
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Keeping Water Liquid
Like humans, chickens enjoy sipping cool refreshing water. They drink a surprising amount, even in winter, and it’s essential that they always have it available. There’s a problem. Winter! When the temperature plunges below freezing water soon becomes ice. A…
- February 6, 2020
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- Chicken Care
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Jason Mattingly- Cup of Customer
My name is Jason Mattingly and I am a Senior at Gilroy Highschool and the Reporter for the Gilroy California Chapter Future Farmers of America. I became interested in pheasant production because of 2 reasons. One being, I wanted to…
- January 30, 2020
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- Leave a comment
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- Cup of Customer
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2020 New Breed Line-Up
When planning our new breeds for 2020, we were a little more careful in choosing breeds to add to our line-up. You’ll see less breeds than last year, but the ones we added are both beautiful and will give you…
- December 9, 2019
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- Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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Fun Gifts for Chicken Lovers
Are you trying to find the perfect gift for the chicken lover in your life? Look no further! We’ve rounded up the best gifts for chicken lovers. You’ll be sure to find something for your favorite chicken person in this…
- November 15, 2019
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- Uncategorized
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Useful Gifts for Chicken Keepers
It can seem hard to find the perfect gift for someone that owns chickens. They seem to have everything that they could need. Most chicken owners are frugal and don’t want to spend a ton of money on themselves. I’ve…
- November 8, 2019
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- Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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How to Help Your Chickens Through a Molt
Have you noticed that your chickens start to lose some of their feathers late in the summer every year? A couple times a year, chickens go through a process called molting where they lose feathers and their egg production drops…
- November 5, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Molting, Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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How to Easily Prepare Your Chickens for Winter
Winter is coming! If you believe the Old Farmer’s Almanac, we’re in for another cold, snowy, and icy winter across the Midwest. That means it’s time to start thinking about how you will keep your chickens warm this winter. There…
- November 5, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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How to Raise Fall Meat Birds
Ever heard of a spring chicken? This phrase came about because it was common to start meat birds in the spring, along with other livestock on the farm. Meat birds were raised in the spring because that was when chicks…
- October 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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Can You Feed Pumpkins to Chickens?
Chickens on a farm can be like having a flock of small pigs in the backyard. They seem to eat everything and you can give them a lot of the scrap material from your kitchen. But what about some of…
- October 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Feeding
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How to Identify Chicken Predators: Weasels
This less common chicken predator is one that shouldn’t be written off just because it’s not as common as the fox, raccoon or birds of prey. Chicken keepers that have weasels should always be prepared to deal with this vicious…
- September 9, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Pests
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How to Identify Chicken Predators: Birds of Prey
It may seem silly to think that a hawk could attack a chicken and fly away with it, but it happens all of the time. Red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, eagles and owls will all attack chickens if given the chance.…
- September 9, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Pests, Uncategorized
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How to Identify Chicken Predators: Raccoons
Unfortunately, there are many animals out there that would love to make an easy meal of your flock. One of the most notorious chicken predators is the raccoon. Raccoons are deadly, smart and determined. They’re also vicious and unrelenting. Here’s…
- September 9, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Pests
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4 Ways to Encourage Chickens to Lay in Nesting Boxes
The time of year when spring chicks start laying eggs is a very exciting time! Finding the first little eggs is such a reward for all the hard work we put into our chicks all summer long. You know what’s…
- September 9, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Egg Laying, Uncategorized
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Helpful Coop Items
Chicken care websites, books, and magazine articles list items absolutely necessary to care for a small chicken flock. Feeders, nests, roosts, food storage bins, and waterers are bottom line essentials. Sometimes these sources neglect the other tools and supplies that…
- August 29, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Homesteading
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What to Include in Your Chicken First Aid Kit
Keeping stocked first aid kits for the different animals and humans on your homestead is always a good idea, and chickens are no exception. This post will cover what to include in your chicken first aid kit. As I’m sure…
- August 29, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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How to Start Raising Livestock -Try Chickens!
Raising livestock on your farm is a really rewarding, but can be a hard experience. Here’s how we suggest how to start raising livestock, try chickens first! Many people dream of pastures filled with cattle, horses, sheep or goats. But…
- August 19, 2019
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- Homesteading, Uncategorized
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Simple Ways to Start Homesteading -Even if you live in an apartment!
Homesteading is a way of life that comes from a desire to live more simply. There are so many simple ways to start homesteading, many of them can be done from your home, whether you live on a farm or…
- August 19, 2019
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- Homesteading, Uncategorized
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Summer Photo Contest Winners Announced!
In July, we hosted a Summer Photo Contest for our customers and they never disappoint! We had so many great submissions it was hard to pick winners. We had a few different categories so that we could select multiple winners,…
- August 2, 2019
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- Customer Snapshots, Photo Contests, Uncategorized
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Methods for Preserving Fresh Garden Vegetables
A home vegetable garden can provide you and your family with an abundance of healthy and delicious food. Today we’re providing some methods for preserving fresh garden vegetables. The extra garden goodies can be preserved so that your family can…
- August 2, 2019
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- Homesteading, Canning & Preserving
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How to Safely Can Poultry Meat
You can’t compare the flavor of home-raised poultry to the flavor of birds that are raised commercially. If you’re raising your own birds for meat, you’ve probably looked at how you should be storing the meat after you’ve harvested the…
- August 2, 2019
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- Homesteading, Canning & Preserving
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10 Reasons You Should Raise Quail
Do you dream about raising birds, but you can’t raise chickens in your urban area? Or maybe you do raise chickens, but you’re looking for something different. If you want to raise birds that lay delicious eggs and have meat…
- July 22, 2019
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- Ducks & Fowl, Quail, Uncategorized
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Kauai’s Wild Chickens
Visitors to Hawaii’s island of Kauai are surprised and often delighted to spot chickens nearly everywhere. Kauai’s wild chickens lead strings of chicks across shopping center parking lots. Rooster crowing seems to come from every direction, and often cars must…
- July 2, 2019
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- Uncategorized
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Benefits of Keeping Guineas on the Homestead
We currently have three beautiful guineas (one lavender, one grey, and one white guinea) respectively named Peanut, Cashew, and Avalanche. Here are some benefits of keeping guineas on the homestead. Our Guineas have been a great addition to our homestead…
- July 2, 2019
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- Ducks & Fowl, Guineas
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Raising Turkeys- How are They Different From Chickens?
This is our first year raising turkey poults, but we have had an adult Tom turkey, Tarzan, on our homestead for several years. We enjoy keeping a mixed flock of birds and are excited to share what we’ve learned so…
- June 20, 2019
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- Uncategorized
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Buffalo Gnats: Should You Be Concerned for Your Birds?
For several weeks in the late spring and early summer, gnats, flies and other nuisance insects make their arrival known. Most of these are simply a nuisance. However, buffalo gnats, also called black flies or turkey gnats, are more than…
- June 12, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Pests, Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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Tips for Integrating Chicks Into an Existing Flock
Oh happy day! Your baby chicks are fully feathered and you’re excited to put them in the chicken coop with the other chickens. But wait! Don’t just put the new birds in the coop and assume everything will be awesome.…
- May 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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How Long Should Chicks Stay in the Brooder?
Now that you’ve gotten your chicks, how long should they stay in the brooder? When will they be old enough to be introduced to the coop? It’s a good rule of thumb that chicks need to stay warm until they…
- May 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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Why Your Kids Need Chickens
I’m a huge advocate for having children involved in raising livestock. One of the easier species of livestock to keep is chickens. Chickens are a great farm animal to get kids involved with. Chickens require just enough care that children…
- May 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Homesteading
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Keeping Your Flock Safe From Predators
Chickens are a wonderful addition to any farm or backyard. Chickens, however, attract not so wonderful critters to your farm or backyard. You may realize that chicken feed will undoubtedly attract mice to your feed shed. But have you thought…
- May 31, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Uncategorised, Uncategorized
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Using Food Scraps To Feed Your Chickens
If you have chickens, there is no reason to toss leftover food or food scraps into the garbage. Not only can you reduce landfill waste by feeding your chickens food scraps, but you can also save money on feed costs…
- May 16, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Feeding
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Why You Should be Feeding Your Flock Mealworms
Mealworms look entirely disgusting to us. The crunchy brown worms seem entirely unappetizing. To a chicken, mealworms are bites of heaven. Chickens will go absolutely crazy over mealworms, and for good reason. There are several reasons that you should be…
- May 16, 2019
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- Feeding, Chicken Care
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Three ways to Make your Lawn more Sustainable with Chickens
Most families that keep a flock of backyard chickens have a front or side lawn, but few use it to advantage. Even a small lawn can help chickens. There are many ways you can reuse your lawn clippings when you…
- May 13, 2019
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- Homesteading
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Five Easy Ways to Deter Poultry Lice & Mites
There are several types of poultry lice and mite parasites that love infecting chickens. Primarily carried by visiting wild birds or rodents, they can also be introduced if you unknowingly add infected full-grown chickens to your flock, and they can…
- May 3, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Pests
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Giving Your Chickens A Good Night’s Sleep
Both people and chickens appreciate a good night’s sleep. As warm months approach odds are better that humans will be more comfortable after dark than their chickens. After all, people live in well-ventilated houses with screened windows to exclude pesky…
- May 3, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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A Guide for Feeding Growing Chickens
A trip to your local feed store may leave you asking more questions about chicken feed than before you visited. What percentage protein should they get? What about calcium? Are my chicks old enough to get a pellet feed? There…
- May 3, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Feeding
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Why Do Chickens Need Dust Baths?
If you’ve owned chickens, you’ve probably seen them giving themselves a dust bath. Chickens will lay in a shallow area of scratched up dirt and kick it all over themselves. If you haven’t seen it before, it can look a…
- May 3, 2019
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- Chicken Care
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Preventing & Treating Ascites in Meat Birds
Water belly, or ascites, is a condition most commonly found in rapid-growing birds, such as Cornish crosses between the ages of 4-6 weeks old. Ascites is usually a result of pulmonary hypertension. The rapid growth seen in meat birds causes…
- April 18, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Diseases
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Do Chickens Make Good Pets?
A woman is occasionally spotted on a New York City sidewalk, leash in hand, walking a chicken. Ask her if chickens make great pets and you’ll get an enthusiastic, “Yes! They are wonderful.” Her chicken lives with her in her…
- March 15, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Uncategorized
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Starting Chicks Off Right – Chick Nutrition 101
The Basics: Nutrition is fundamental in starting your chicks off right and setting them up for a healthy and successful future. We worked with NatureServe’s Chet Wiernusz, PhD, Poultry Nutritionist, to look at chick nutrition basics 101. It all starts…
- March 1, 2019
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- Chicken Care, Products We Recommend
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Choosing Chickens For Their Traits
In many ways chickens are like people. Both species come in a dazzling array of sizes, body shapes and colors. On top of easily seen features are less visible traits. Chickens, like people, are individuals. They have personalities. Watch a…
- December 2, 2018
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- Uncategorized
