Backyard Chickens
How to Start Keeping Coturnix Quail in Your Backyard
How to start keeping coturnix quail: space, brooding, feed, water, laying age, and the honest downsides to weigh before you add a quail run to your…
Backyard Chickens
How to Keep Baby Chicks Hydrated in the First Week
How to keep baby chicks hydrated in the first week: teach them to drink, pick the right waterer, use electrolytes the OTC way, and spot a…
Backyard Chickens
How to Prepare the Coop for Spring Chicks: A Winter Checklist
Prepare the coop for spring chicks before they ship: the repairs, bedding, waterer, and predator checks I finish in winter so the move-in goes smoothly.
Backyard Chickens
How to Reduce Ammonia in a Chicken Coop This Winter
If you can smell ammonia in your coop, your hens are breathing too much of it. Here's how I cut it down in winter: dry bedding,…
Backyard Chickens
How to Keep a Chicken Coop From Smelling (Neighbor-Friendly)
A well-kept coop shouldn't smell past the fence. Here's how I control chicken coop smell for the neighbors: dry bedding, dry water, airflow, a cleaning rhythm.
Backyard Chickens
How to Keep Chickens Safe Through a Winter Power Outage
When an ice storm takes the power, your hens still need water, dry air, and calm. Here's my plan for keeping chickens safe through a winter…
Backyard Chickens
How to Start Keeping Backyard Ducks Your First Season
Thinking about adding ducks to your backyard flock? Here's what I wish someone had told me before my first season with four Cayugas — water, housing,…
Backyard Chickens
How to Set Up a Chicken Quarantine Pen (and Use It)
A chicken quarantine pen protects your flock from new and sick birds. Here's how I set mine up on a small lot, what goes in it,…
Backyard Chickens
How to Set Up a Heated Base for a Metal Waterer
How I pair a heated base with a galvanized fount so the girls have liquid water all winter, plus the cord and placement mistakes that actually…
Backyard Chickens
How to Train Chickens to Use a Nipple Waterer This Winter
Learn how to train chickens to use a nipple waterer: the tap-the-pin trick, how long it really takes, and why the old waterer stays out for…