I’ve been raising chickens since 2013, and ducks more recently… and from the very beginning, herbs have been part of how I care for them all. It’s not really a surprise, though, is it? I already grow herbs for my own apothecary here in New Hampshire, so it made sense to start using them for…
It’s true… I keep chickens and ducks on my homestead even though I don’t eat the eggs, and I don’t sell them either. Most people who get into raising chickens do it for fresh eggs. I was one of them, too… until I found out I’m sensitive to egg whites. (I’m hoping that changes someday,…
Have you ever considered chickens or ducks for pest control in the garden? It’s one of my favorite things about raising them! They actually come with a lot of benefits (learn more about the benefits of chickens and ducks on the homestead here), but pest control is one of the biggest. Between the three duck…
I’ve raised chickens off and on for years, but our first ducks came just a few years ago. That first year we had both together, I let them free-range side by side before I created a permaculture poultry system design. Part of the reason was practical — we’d had a horrible slug problem that wouldn’t…
I love my backyard chickens! They’re often not in the backyard of course. Sometimes they’re in the side yard, the front yard, or even under the house! Wherever they are, they are so much fun to have around and have so many wonderful uses. I can’t imagine my homestead without a flock of backyard chickens. …
Introducing new chickens to your flock is something most chicken keepers have to figure out at some point. When we tried introducing new chickens to our existing flock for the first time we made one huge mistake and learned the hard way what to do and what not to do. Here’s the thing: Chickens are really serious about…