I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately about one of my most popular posts, Garden Betty’s Homemade Whole Grain Chicken Feed. Since I started feeding my chickens a whole grain diet in December 2011 (when they were still pullets), they’ve been as happy and healthy as ever. All three ladies are in peak egg [...]
backyard chickens
If you asked most people what color egg yolks are, they would likely answer yellow. Yolks have always been associated with the color yellow, which is unfortunate because backyard chicken keepers know better. Backyard chicken keepers know that yolks can and should be a bright, bold orange, and those bright, bold orange yolks are a [...]
It’s the middle of winter. You’re getting very few eggs from your flock, if any at all. They’re still in the stages of molting, or they’re just finishing up their last molt. With their reproductive systems taking a rest and your chickens shedding their coats, winter is an important time for them to rebuild their [...]
Have you ever wondered why a hard-boiled, farm-fresh egg — from your own backyard or from the farmers’ market — is such a pain to peel? As any backyard chicken keeper knows, a day-old egg is notorious for being sticky and difficult. The shell comes off in bits and pieces and you inevitably peel part [...]
Last year, I started mixing my own soy-free, mostly organic, whole grain chicken feed. The decision to feed a whole grain diet — versus a commercially formulated diet — is a personal one based on what I believe is best for my chickens. Luckily, it also turned out to be an economical decision and a [...]
Despite many chicken-keeping sources claiming chickens like to share nest boxes — up to four of them per nest — each one of my divas prefers her own throne. Go figure.
One of my favorite things about backyard eggs — besides the orange yolks, the daily discoveries, and the hilarious hens themselves — is not having to refrigerate them. That’s right, I leave my eggs out. Sometimes for weeks. And you know what? They’re just as fresh (if not fresher) as the eggs I used to buy [...]
