How Old Do Chickens Need to Be to Lay Eggs?

When will your chickens start to lay eggs? The wait for the first eggs from your new hens may seem long, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not. When hens are about five to six months old they will start to lay eggs. Find out more about what to expect when you're egg-specting!

Homemade Bath Salts and Scrubs

Making homemade bath salts and scrubs is easy and decadent. These two recipes are so great you’ll find yourself making them again and again. 

A Guide to Raising Baby Chickens for Beginners

Nowadays many are taking back some control and raising their own food via a flock of backyard chickens. It’s not a bad idea! If you’ve never raised a flock before, or need a quick refresher, here's a quick guide to raising baby chickens for beginners.

How to Make Glitter and Floral Print Easter Eggs

These fun Easter egg decorating techniques give a nod to my girls, who love anything sparkly, and to my garden for the life it brings after a long winter’s sleep. Learning how to glitter your eggs and make floral print Easter eggs is easy, fun and colorful!

Creative Easter Egg Decorating Ideas

Easter's such a fun holiday. So why not step it up and use some creative Easter egg decorating ideas your whole family is sure to love.

As I grew up, we always bought our white eggs from the store and used a PAAS Easter egg kit to make beautiful Easter creations. It’s not that my mom didn’t know how to dye eggs with food coloring; I just think my sister and I loved buying our cool egg kits so much that she didn’t deny us the pleasure.

Fast forward to today, and at Easter, my egg customers have a definite preference for the white eggs laid by my Brown Leghorn chickens. They see all the kits in the store and fall for the myth that white eggs dye so much prettier than other colors. Nothing, in my opinion, can be farther from the truth. In my family, we prefer to dye the brown and green eggs laid by the rest of my flock. I love the deep, rich tones that the brown and green eggs provide when they’re dyed. And frankly, we don’t need a kit from the store. We use the food dye from our pantry and find that it’s so versatile that we can make tons of interesting combinations.

Polka dot, rubber band and flower decorated eggs. 

How to Make Marbled & Tie-Dyed Easter Eggs

Why make Easter decorating hard on yourself or expensive? You can make marbled eggs and tie-dyed eggs using everyday ingredients from your pantry including food coloring. These techniques produce beautiful eggs that look like they came from a fancy egg dyeing kit. Both you and your kids are sure to love them!

Marbled Eggs

How to Make Silk Tie Dyed Eggs

Silk tie-dye eggs are a beautiful way to reuse old silk (think ties) you may have around the house. They are mess-free and easy since they get the hard-boiling and dyeing done in one step. An added bonus is their wow-factor. Here's how to create your own... 

7 Tips for Buying Chicks From the Feed Store

Make Sure You're Prepared Before You Get to the Feed Store

For a few months each spring, when you walk into your local feed store, you're greeted to the chorus of tiny chicken chirps as the annual chick season tempts so many shoppers. If you're not sure of where to buy baby chicks, this is a great place to pick up your first flock members or add to your existing flock of backyard chickens. It's local. It's immediate. And it's fun.

Here are some tips to make the process easier on you and your new flock members.

How To Care For A Shamrock Plant

This is the time that shamrock plants are in abundance in stores each March. Should you lay down a few clams and purchase one? Yes! Shamrock plants are worth it for a holiday treat and an easy-to-care-for houseplant that will rebloom again and again. 

Molting Chickens Explained

Molting is a natural process that chickens go through at different times in their lives. A chicken's first molts take place as it grows from a baby chick to an adult. Because they're babies, we tend to think of this as a process of growing up, and it is, but it's technically molting.

As adult chickens, molting takes place in late summer and fall when birds replace old feathers with new plumage.

What is the Preen Gland on a Chicken?

The uropygial gland, better known as the preen gland or oil gland, is located near the base of the tail. It's normally hidden under feathers, but molting and feather loss can expose it. What is the preen gland on a chicken? It’s a gland that produces the oil that chickens use when preening their feathers.

Can You Raise Chicks in the Fall?

Chick season is prominent in the spring, but can you raise chicks in the fall? Yes. In many parts of the country, fall weather is mild and raising chicks is easy. But even in the North, raising chicks in the fall is possible and even preferable by many. If you'd like to start a flock or expand your existing flock, fall is a great time to take the plunge!

Why do Roosters Crow? Plus Answers to Other Odd Chicken Questions!

Why do roosters crow? Have you really stopped to think about all that crowing? Why so much? If you feed your chickens meat will they turn into cannibals? What about your backyard swimming pool; is that a place your chickens might like to visit? So many questions! Here are five top chicken questions along with the answers.

Feathers 101 - Why Does a Chicken Lose Feathers and More....

Why does a chicken lose feathers? Why are some feathers fluffy and others not? Why do roosters have different feathers than hens? There are so many questions about chicken feathers. Here’s a helpful guide to answer those questions and more…

Does Chicken Egg Color Affect Taste?

Does chicken egg color affect taste? It's a common question. When people see green or blue eggs, they'll ask out loud if they taste different. Some people voice strong opinions by saying they like brown eggs better than white. Even seasoned chicken keepers venture into this question and say some of their chickens lay eggs that taste more creamy and better than others.

Let's face it. People associate egg taste with shell color. But do eggs with different colored shells taste different? No. Eggshell color has nothing to do with taste. Egg tastes only change because of a hen’s diet and the egg’s freshness.

How to Grow Parsley from Seed

Learning how to grow parsley from seed means you'll have ready access to this versatile herb almost year-round. Named 2021’s Herb of the Year by the International Herb Association, parsley is one of the most recognizable of herbs. If you’ve been to a restaurant, you’ve probably been served curly parsley as a garnish. However, parsley is much more than a garnish and it can be an important herb to grow if you’re selling herbs and produce for profit.

How to Use Rosemary in Your Home and Chicken Coop

Rosemary uses are as varied as its varieties from the kitchen, throughout the house and even to the chicken coop. A native of the Mediterranean, Portugal and northwestern Spain, the name rosemary means "sea-dew" since its blossoms have a dew-like appearance. Known for remembrance, rosemary is certainly a hard-to-forget herb!

A Pollinator Field Guide

We know that pollinators are important, in fact, they are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we take. This has spurred on a backyard revolution of planting for pollinators. While everyone’s busy making their land animal and insect-friendly, it’s fun to know who’s who in the garden. That way, when you start spotting the pollinators you’ve attracted, you’ll know what you’re spotting and some fun facts about them.

Chicken Breeds Made in America

Just in time for Fourth of July, it’s fun to consider adding some chicken breeds made in America to your flock. These breeds are the backbone of a hardy, productive flock. They are good egg layers with high levels of production. They can endure the tough weather we often get in this country. And many have unique features, such as hawk-coloring to avoid predator detection. Nothing fancy, only purpose, for these breeds whose history, in many cases, goes back to our founding fathers and helped to bring about a growing nation.

Do Chickens Eat Ticks and Spiders?

Have you ever wondered if chickens eat ticks and spiders? The short answer is yes. In fact, before we got chickens, I did a lot of research on this subject because we had a problem with black widow spiders.