As the winter slowly fades into Spring, I have heard quite a few inquiries and questions on keeping chickens.  For the next few blogs, I am going to share some of what I have learned in the last year of keeping these delightful, feathered friends.  I happily welcome any questions or feedback.  The following recommendations are for keeping chickens as an egg source and not as dinner.

Where to Start 

The first place to start is to see if it is legal for you to have chickens on your property.  You will need to find out what zoning laws exist for where you live.  To find this information, you need to look on your city/town’s website, contact city hall, or contact the local zoning office if there is one.  Due to the recent heightened interest in backyard chicken keeping, many cities have become accepting of backyard flocks (yay!).  Most neighborhoods also have their own rules about backyard chickens-check into your homeowner’s association.  Hens are obviously much more accepted in a city setting than roosters since they are quieter.

Gathering the Supplies 

If you have found out you are legally allowed to keep chickens, that’s exciting news!  If you aren’t allowed, it’s time to start a petition to get those laws changed!

A medical word of advice: chickens do put off a dander so if you or someone in your family has a lot of animal allergies, asthma or COPD, make sure this will not aggravate their conditions before you go through the time and expense of getting everything established.

Next is to obtain the necessary supplies you will need over the next few months.  Anticipate spending anywhere from $50-$100 on supplies.  This is the higher average, it is definitely possible to do it for less with more frugal choices.  Chicks need to be kept in a brooder box for several months (if you get day old chicks).  A brooder box is a secure box that houses food, water, a heat lamp and the chicks themselves.  My general rule of thumb is they stay in the brooder box until their chick fluff is gone and they have feathers to keep them warm.  Typically once this happens, it has warmed up outside as well (in our area).  Some people move the chicks out to the coop sooner than later and place a heat lamp in the coop.

The brooder box needs to be a deep box with enough space for the chicks to walk around comfortably.  There are all kinds of ideas for brooder boxes, from plastic swimming pools to wood crates.  We used a large plastic storage bin and cut the inside of the top out and replaced it with chicken wire.  Make sure you have a top on the brooder box because they can find their way out!  In the brooder box you need to have a watering container that is kept full of fresh water at all times.  Make sure you get one that is especially designed for chicks, they are not very smart and can drown in an improper container.  You also want to have a feeder and a heat lamp.  Both of which can be purchased at the local feed store.  Wal-Mart also sells heat lamps near the car/camping section and the bulb will be with the regular house light bulbs.  Chicks are little and unable to maintain a steady body temperature.  We kept the heat lamp on most of the time and made sure it was angled at one end of the box so if they got hot, they can move to the other side.  Just be careful of fire hazards, make sure its not too close to anything flammable, they get very hot.  Here is what we used (with the top off):

   

There is conflicted feedback on what type of shavings to use with chicks.  The majority of what I read says that cedar chips are toxic.  Just keep in mind that chicks are babies and will likely eat whatever type of bedding you use, so make sure it’s something natural and non-toxic.

Check out your local feed store for chick feed options.  You can also purchase feed online, although I never have.  Tractor Supply and Southern States are our local franchise options.  However, we like to support the local feed store down the road.  Make sure you are buying the right feed for the age of your chickens.  There is different feed for each major phase of life.  We chose to keep our chickens natural and hormone free so we made sure our food was sans antibiotics.

You now have all the materials you will need for your little chicks.

The next step is to find and purchase your future egg layers!  Check back for the next blog to continue our chicken learning adventure.

Until next time…

Don't miss the whole chicken talk series, check out the full blog for more info HERE.

In his first book, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An all natural approach to raising chickens and other fowl for home and market growers (Chelsea Green 2011), modern-day homesteader, Harvey Ussery has created an encyclopedic and engaging work that may well be the most important poultry book published in past 75 years or more. Ussery has a keen awareness of fowl behaviors and an uncanny ability to nurture those behaviors to significant benefit for both bird and homesteader. To say that The Small-Scale Poultry Flock inspires only begins to peck at the true value of the wisdom contained within its pages. 

 

I've followed Harvey Ussery's creative homesteading work for years through his articles in Mother Earth News and other back-to-the-land and poultry periodicals I regularly devour. And I've tried and modified many of his methods in my own endeavors with poultry. Quite simply, his ideas are good ideas that help create an intricate network of ecological cycles that leave the homestead soil more healthy and the homesteader more healthy and satisfied - all while honoring the animals that help make it work. Harvey is most definitely an animal husband and his methods make for a good life for the birds involved.

When I met Harvey for the first time at the most recent Mother Earth Fair in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, let's just say that I was thrilled. I eagerly put my money down on a signed copy of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock and felt lucky to get one as they were pretty much unavailable by the second day of the fair.  

 

Within the pages of The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An all natural approach to raising chickens and other fowl for home and market growers, you will find everything you need to know about choosing breeds, housing, health, feed, processing, and even putting together business plans. However, unlike so many dry, technical manuals, or so-called how-to books authored by the obviously less-experienced, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock is written in Harvey's experienced voice with an encouraging style that will surely inspire poultry enthusiasts of every experience level. This book is as valuable for folks just getting started with poultry as it is for experienced flock managers looking for an edge or a new approach. For example, some of Harvey's ideas on using chickens to make compost or to process green manure can be used by commercial operators to profitable advantage.  

The book's section on Working Partners is my absolute favorite because it explains how to give the animals a wonderful life, while reducing some of the pesky yard and garden chores such as tilling, composting yard, garden and kitchen waste, bug control and much more. Additionally, sections on geese, turkeys, guineas and other types of fowl are as informative as they are engaging and even entertaining. Have you ever thought about using worms to compost your vegetable scraps? But what if you don't like to do that much fishing? A composting worm farm might be just what you need to provide high quality protein for your birds, while processing waste into valuable nutrients. Ussery shows you how to do this and so very much more in The Small-Scale Poultry Flock.   

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock is a must read for anyone interested in or currently raising poultry. The book should be required reading for anyone in a poultry science program, if for no other reason than to understand that chickens are not merely cogs in some factory machine, nor some organism that's so well understood that it doesn't need an outlet for its most basic of instincts - such as scratching the earth in search of morsels of food. The book is my top pick of the decade for poultry farmers of all kinds, backyard bird enthusiasts, homesteaders, and virtually anyone with some level of curiosity for the domestic animals that have so helped shape humanity. I don't care whether you are vegan, vegetarian, omnivorous, raw, paleo, organic, no-till, minimum-till, conventional, biodynamic - Harvey Ussery's The Small-Scale Poultry Flock will give you an insight into the fascinating lives of domesticated fowl that is enlightening, heartening and that cuts to the heart of ecological cycles on the homestead. 

 

 

Andrew and I were both raised with chickens. We each were used to the “standard” backyard operation. There was a wooden shed-like coop which housed nesting boxes, roost, feeder and waterer. This coop was located not far from the house and was surrounded by a small chicken yard made of wood posts and chicken wire. Both of our families kept on average of 1-2 dozen birds being mostly hens with a single rooster. I’ve always loved poultry of all kinds, and Andrew also likes birds but is an even bigger fan of eggs! So we always planned on having chickens. However, the first 6 of our 8 married years found us renting homes with land, but inside the city limits where poultry aren’t well thought of.

Two years ago we moved a doublewide onto a small corner portion of my parents land. This gave us time and the ability to save money to purchase our own land, which was our main goal. It also gave us a whole 1/3 of an acre with no restrictions! Well, no restrictions as long as my parents approved that is. Since we were not planning on living there long and my parents already had chickens in their barn, we did not need to build a permanent chicken enclosure. After a few months we found ourselves with an empty 10 x 12 foot chain link dog kennel. The idea struck us that this kennel could be turned into a portable coop for a few hens. So Andrew got to work modifying the dog pen into a chicken pen. By adding tarps to the top, an empty igloo dog house on “stilts” made of concrete blocks, a ladder for them to climb into it, and a few well placed boards running along the top to support the hanging feeder and waterer, we were ready to go! We headed to a neighboring counties poultry breeder and came home with 8 young hens around 6 weeks old. These hens were $5.50 each. Seven were a commercial egg-laying cross called a Cinnamon Queen, and the other was one Macey just had to have called an Americana. We were told these Cinnamon Queens would begin laying by five months of age, and would lay at least 6 eggs a week! Well, we were doubtful about that but wanted to give them a try. A few weeks after purchasing them, Andrew built a covered two nest nesting box on short legs to sit inside the coop. This was the perfect size and design for such a small number of girls in a tight space! Much to our surprise, by 4 ½ months old every one of the Cinnamon Queens were laying big beautiful brown eggs! Something that still continues 15 months later.

 

In December of 2010, we moved our home and family onto our own farm. Instead of that 1/3 acre lot, we now found ourselves with 24 vacant acres! We knew we wanted to switch to pasture raised poultry, and went about devising a way to do so in a manner that would compliment our other plans. This spring Andrew completed the first stage of our land improvements by fencing 2 acres in field fence and building a small barn. Inside this barn, was one large stall for sheep and another smaller stall for our chickens. This stall is assessable to our birds, but not to the sheep or guard donkey.

 

To do this, we simply installed a 4 foot gate across the entry way, and build a wooden rail across the remainder of the opening with space between the rails large enough for our birds to come in and out but not the sheep. So far, this has worked very well for us! Inside we keep a 50 gallon barrel for feed (with a secure lid of coarse!), roosts, 4 nesting boxes, and a large hanging feeder and waterer. Now we had a nice set up, but only 8 hens! So we headed back down to the poultry breeder and picked up an adult barred rock rooster and 6 barred rock young hens. Rocky, the rooster, is still my favorite bird in the field!

 

 

So now we had 14 laying hens and one rooster. By this time, several of our friends knew we had chickens and therefore, eggs. With everyone wanting eggs and needing enough to feed our own family we just didn’t have enough birds. Buying them was getting expensive though. So we went to my parents house and pulled out the incubator and egg turner I had purchased for a project in high school. This 40 egg capacity incubator was all we needed for what we had planned! We headed home and spent the next few days collecting well formed, large sized, clean eggs. 23 days later, our first run of chicks hatched! It was only April, so we kept them inside for two weeks before looking for a draft free location to move them outside. While these young ones were growing, we started another run of 28 eggs in the incubator. We eventually decided to move the young birds into our storage shed in the back yard. Since it was still very cool, we put a single heat lamp over them.

Lesson #1 learned the hard way: Don’t put chicks in a location where you can not completely control the environment if it is enclosed. For the first 5 days our 8 little chicks were fine. On day 6, we were all away from home. This day the high went into the upper 70’s instead of the 60’s we had been at. I had closed the shed doors when we left to prevent any predator from having an easy meal. When we came home three hours later, every bird was dead. The temperature inside the closed shed, under the heat lamp, in their cardboard box read 108 on the thermometer. I had unknowingly killed our entire run of chicks!

Two weeks later our second run of chicks hatched. This time we had started with many more than our first run, out of the 28 eggs we started 23 hatched! Now commercial hatcheries usually have around a 70% hatch rate. Our second attempt yielded an 82% rate!

 

This time, I was leaving nothing to chance! We purchased large plastic totes and new digital thermometers. These chicks stayed inside for two weeks also, starting all together in one tote and then moving into two totes as they grew larger. We gradually raised the heat lamps farther from the containers to lower the temperature. Then we removed one completely and left the other partially heating both containers. After 20 days of being inside, we headed outdoors to that trusty dog pen turned chicken pen. With some modifications, it became the perfect summertime nursery for baby birds! We put new tarps on the top, bracing on top to secure the tarp as well as to hang heat lamps and feeders from, and then put mobile home flashing around all of the lower inside portion to keep all their little heads from poking outside the pen (we were having dog issues at the time).

 

After a few weeks outside we only lost 1 of our 23 original hatches. The end of April and early May were unseasonably warm. However, in mid May we found ourselves facing a 38 degree day with young birds in an open pen! At this time we not only had baby chicks outside, but had also added 7 guineas, 5 turkeys, and 2 ducks to our baby nursery. That’s a total of 36 babies in need of a warm nights rest! Luckily, Andrew had some extra thick plastic laying around, and our “chick totes’ were clean and in the shed. Much to my city friends horror, and our country friends amusement, we moved all the birds into our master bathroom!

 

We lined the bathtub with thick plastic, then a layer of cardboard, and topped it with shavings. Doing it this way made for a mess free, very quick clean up! All of the chicks moved into the tub. The turkeys, ducks, and guineas were a little bit younger. They all went into the totes and shared a heat lamp. Two days later, they were all able to return to the great outdoors. We didn’t loose a single bird!

After several more weeks in the “nursery” pen, all our babies were ready to join the adults out at the barn. We moved all of the young stock (chicks, turkey, guinea, and ducks) into the barn right before dark. Placing them up on the roosts well before the adult hens and rooster came in for the night. Many of them immediately jumped off and ran outside to explore. The timid ones however chose to stay up on the roost!

 

Lesson #2 learned the hard way: chicks don’t swim! The next morning Andrew headed out to the barn to do a head count. He came up one short, and during our search for the missing bird we found her floating in the top of the sheep stock tank. Apparently, chickens don’t swim! The dilemma here is they must share this field, the sheep obviously can not drink out of a chicken waterer. And the chickens can not be kept away from the tanks. This is just one of those things you have to consider when deciding where to raise your birds. For us, the benefits of having them free range on grass out-weighed the risk of an occasional incident. So all the birds stayed where they were, the stock tanks stay full, and we have not lost another bird in this way since.

Now I have heard all sorts of things regarding keeping turkeys and chickens together. While I’m sure there are occasional problems and the threat of black head may be higher in some areas rather than others, we have not yet had any issues with keeping mixed poultry together. Our turkeys pretty much wander around together as do the chickens. The ducks mingle well with the turkeys, but pretty much avoid the chickens. Now the guineas are a little different. Some days they stay by themselves, others it seems they make it a game to chase the chickens. Since the turkeys hit the 20 lb. mark though the guineas have left them alone!

 

By August we had gotten pretty good at the chicken hatching/raising thing! After our second run, we started a run of turkeys and then another run of chicks. This last run of chicks yielded a 93% hatch rate! When the county fair rolled around, we decided to enter some eggs and see how ours stacked up compared to others in the county. Andrew and I disagreed over which eggs were more attractive, browns or blues. So he entered a ½ dozen blue eggs against my ½ dozen browns. Well, his blue eggs got 2^nd and my brown eggs got 3^rd.

 

We decided in August it was time to put up the incubators. Our last run of chicks was in the nursery pen, and all our others were out at the barn. In the 3^rd and last hatch, we had 23 chicks. At 8 weeks old we learned another lesson.

Lesson #3 learned the hard way: Raccoons CAN climb between tarps and support poles. One morning we went out to check everyone and found 3 dead chicks in our nursery pen. Andrew had already caught a raccoon in the corn field that same week in a live trap. We were pretty sure our culprit was a coon. The second night, we lost another 5 chicks. Well, that was the end of that. Andrew moved his oldest coonhound into the adjoining dog pen (which had recently been vacated by the run of turkeys we hatched). We have not had a predator loss in the nursery pens since.

Lesson #4 learned the hard way: Turkeys look for ways to die. We lost 3 of our young turkey poults during the first raccoon raid, but not from the coon. After the first killing of 3 chicks the turkeys were still in the neighboring dog pen. Andrew placed live traps around the outside of the dog pens. Well, turkeys are not to bright. Several of the turkey poults flew out of the top of their pen during the night, walked into the coon trap triggering the closing door, and died somehow before we checked the trap the next day. We moved the other turkeys out to the barn that evening before moving the hound into the pen. Another turkey breeder told us that turkeys just look for an excuse to die, and I’m leaning towards agreeing with him!

So here we are in October with 25 laying hens, 4 roosters, 7 guineas, 4 Narragansett turkeys, 1 bourbon red turkey, 2 Crested ducks, and 13 young chickens. Over the coarse of this years poultry production we have sold 3 roosters, 8 hens, and put 11 roosters in the freezer. We lost 18 chicks and 3 turkeys that we hatched this year and gave 8 to my parents. Our oldest hatch is now 6 months old and laying. We kept a barred rock crossed rooster from this hatch. Not as pretty as his daddy, but still a nice little boy!

 

By hatching our own poultry this year we have literally saved hundreds of dollars. It has also produced “extra” birds which we have used both to sell and buy feed, as well as to feed our family. We have had several people ask if we would recommend they hatch their own or buy birds. Our answer would have to be, it depends on your purpose!

Assuming you are only wanting a few hens to provide eggs for your family you would be better off buying young hens from another breeder. I would not suggest young chicks, unless you are willing to spend a good bit more on the necessary equipment to raise them. However, I also don’t recommend that you buy laying hens from anyone unless you know them or they are highly recommended by a knowledgeable person. Many people will sell off their “old” stock that are at the end of their egg laying years to others. Often times these hens are $10-15 each and will only lay a few eggs a week for a while, and then they taper off. Instead, I would suggest finding a reputable farmer or a certified poultry breeder and start with young hens around 2-4 months old. While they are not as cheap as chicks, and you will have to wait a few months for them to lay you will be better off in the long run. The money you will save by not buying heating lamps, containers, chick feed, and such will more than cover the additional fee for buying older birds. And the laying life span of hens this age will more than compensate you for the few months you have to wait on them versus buying older “worn out” birds.

Another question we usually get is do you have to have a rooster? For the above person who is only interested in owning a few hens for family egg production the answer is no. A hen will lay eggs regardless of whether a rooster is present or not. However, those eggs will only be good for eating. The eggs from hens raised without a rooster will be no different in nutritional value, size, or frequency than those from hens with a rooster.

Now you may want to start a good sized flock and provide eggs for not only yourself but for friends and family as well. In this case you would be much better off investing in a few “foundation” birds (again, looking at 2-4 month old birds) and then hatching your own. How many birds you start with really depends on the breed. For us, our Cinnamon Queens lay 6-7 eggs a week. At that rate, you can quickly fill up a 40 egg incubator. Other breeds may only lay 2-3 eggs a week. So you would need more foundation hens to fill up that incubator quickly. Another alternative is to simply buy fertile eggs from another farmer. This sometimes yields mixed results, as you have no way of knowing how old the eggs are or if they have been handled properly for hatching. This is a good method though for those wanting a more diverse flock of several breeds of birds.

The internet gives many different opinions on how long eggs are viable, how to store the eggs, and whither to wash them or not. We have found that collecting fresh, clean eggs and storing them in egg cartons at room temperature for no more than 5-6 days yields the best results. Place your eggs in the carton and simply rotate ¼ turn each day until you are ready to start the incubator. We do not wash our eggs before incubating, but are careful to select only clean eggs for hatching. Turning is very important, as failure to do so will make the yolk stick to the side of the shell and result in dead or crippled chicks. Only select large well-formed eggs, not those that are excessively large or small.

So after you decide what breed is right for you, purchase your foundation stock, and raise them to laying age you need to be looking for your equipment. There really aren’t many necessary items required for hatching eggs. Of coarse you need an incubator. There are many, many different sizes, shapes, and brands on the market. Regardless of which you choose I would highly recommend spending a few dollars more on a forced air (circulating) incubator. Still air incubators do not have as high of a hatch rate. We use a simple Little Giant brand forced air incubator with egg turner. Egg turners must be purchased separately, and often cost as much as the incubator itself. But trust me, it is worth the extra expense if you plan on raising more than just an occasional run of birds! We spent a total of $90 on our incubator and egg turner. Many incubators come with a mercury thermometer. We have found these to be virtually useless. We switched to a digital thermometer and had around a 72% hatch rate. We then switched to a kitchen meat thermometer which we stuck into one of the vent holes in the top of our incubator. The thermometer cost $3, and increased our hatch rate to 93%! Humidity is very important and crucial for a successful hatch. Be sure to locate the water reservoirs in your incubator and keep them full during incubation. Avoid frequently opening the lid, as this lowers both the temperature and humidity. In fact, do not open the lid at all the last 48 hours before hatching. If you do purchase the egg turner, don’t forget to turn it off 3 days before your expected hatch date. Typically, chicken eggs will hatch 23 days after incubation. It isn’t unusual for some early hatchers to appear a day early, or late bloomers a day late. We leave our incubator running for two full days after our expected hatch date just in case.

Once your chicks hatch, you need a draft free place of consistent temperature to keep them for at least two weeks. We use large Rubbermaid containers ($11 at Wal-Mart) and keep them in a bathroom. Basements, heated and cooled garages, or utility rooms work great if you have them! You will need shavings, a chick feeder, chick waterer, and heat lamp for each container. Red bulbs are better than clear ones, even though they may be a little more expensive. They don’t seem to be as hard on the chicks eyes, and the chicks are better able to relax and sleep while it’s turned on. Chicks require special chick food, which you can purchase at any co-op, Tractor Supply, or other farm supply store. After those first two weeks, if it is warm outside you can relocate them outdoors. Just remember our storage shed experience, and our 38 degree day in May! A heat lamp or two may be required even outdoors. Large fluctuations in temperatures can result in dead or sick chicks so keep your eye on the weather and your birds. They will tell you if they are to cold or hot!

It may sound quit complicated, but hatching and raising your own birds is actually pretty easy with the right equipment and an attentive eye. It is also much more rewarding! You may find yourself, as I did, so happy with hatching chicks that you decide to try a few other birds such as turkeys or ducks. For those wishing to have large flocks, there really is no cheaper way of acquiring your birds.

 

 

Partin says his simple, elegant and energy-efficient design can be erected quickly and economically, with basic costs as low as $50 per square foot. That's well below typical construction expenses. Over time, he asserts, with reduced energy and maintenance needs, savings will mount substantially.

Partin has the talent, training and track record to give weight to his assertions. Now somebody needs to step forward and give him a chance to prove what the Earthbarn can do. It's time to move the barn from blueprint conception into the field as a working prototype that can be measured, studied and emulated. The need is great.

In modern agriculture, the CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), which raise animals for meat, have created staggering environmental and health concerns. As reported in the The New York Times on Sunday, June 12, animals raised on a mass, industrial scale for human consumption are often held in barns which are unsanitary and can lead to profound health problems, including MRSA which is now widespread in hog barns and among people who deal with hogs.

The Earthbarn is a working building in natural concert with its surroundings, as evident from its both its structural profile, and from its actual above-ground enmeshment with the Earth and the forces of nature. Situated above-ground by design, the Earthbarn is buttressed literally, visually, and metaphysically through berms of soil which surround it, keeping it high, dry, solid and sleek against whirling winds.

By working with the natural forces of the earth, rather than against them, the barns provide low-cost, energy-efficient, light-filled and secure shelter for livestock. The barns could make a profound difference on farms not just in rural areas, but also in suburban and urban communities where so many sustainable food initiatives -- from CSA to urban ag -- are underway in the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, and in hundreds of other places around the globe.

From this inspiration, Partin initially envisioned an earth-sheltered residential structure constructed on these principles: the Undergreen House. He produced a Youtube video to share the idea.

Soon though, the design idea developed further. Living in Steele City, Nebraska where he has established Partin Studios in the town's celebrated brickyard near the Little Blue River, he was in position to recognize the acute problems faced by farmers who raise swine or poultry for human consumption. Partin's vision rose to the challenge and he created the innovative, patented barn design. He posted another Youtube video specifically about the Earthbarn. To appreciate the barn's design principles and elements, though, it's necessary to watch the Undergreen home segment first.

In addition to their low cost and their physical harmony with the land, Earthbarns have three key strengths:

• Air. The use of earth berms to support and insulate the barn creates a dramatically high, virtually airtight insulative factor for temperature regulation. Underground earth tubes bring in a natural flow of fresh air, while filtering the smells of outgoing air.

• Light - clerestory widows running the length of the barn roof bring natural sunlight to the animals in support of their health and well-being. The clerestory windows bounce natural light into the parabolic interior of the barn, flooding the space below.

• Energy - the Earthbarn design is energy efficient because earth terraces protect the structure. Thus the barn, while actually above grade, has the snug security of being underground and supplied by fresh air that is regulated by the earth to establish a nearly constant median temperature to maintain a comfortable environment. Consequently, Earthbarns consume a minimal amount of energy, and can be built as off-grid structures with minimal energy needs that can be supplied by solar panels.

With the patented Earthbarn design complete, Charlie is seeking an opportunity to build the first prototype so it can be tested, evaluated, and constructed widely.

Although I've yet to try even a significant fraction of the recipes in Deborah Krasner's lavishly illustrated and beautifully written book Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat, I'm well on my way. Wow, this book is so much more than a cookbook. Good Meat is a thoughtfully written guidebook that delves into the modern state of meat, why grassfed and locally sourced meat is a better bargain environmentally, nutritionally and culinarily, and then leads the reader through all kinds of adventures with one of nature’s most valuable sources of protein and high-quality calories. Krasner’s keen understanding of just what goes on in our nation’s factory farms and processing facilities and her way with words make understanding why we want to grow our own or source it from an artisan agriculturist a no-brainer. And in the process she takes all the mystery out of cooking with grassfed meats and free-range poultry – nope, you won’t find any tough-as-leather, dried out disasters on these pages. 

As a celebration of the best, cleanest and most humane meats available (in your own backyard), Good Meat offers an accurate animal anatomy lesson (species by species) with such complexities as primal cuts, retail cuts and even how to break down a carcass nicely explained. If you find yourself with a lamb shoulder sub-primal on your hands, you will discover that you can create a bone-in or boneless shoulder roast or shoulder blade chops and arm chops from the cut. Even if you will never butcher and break down your own lamb, Krasner gives you the language and the understanding to have a meaningful conversation with your butcher. Once you have an understanding of the anatomy and what it means for the table, Good Meat offers some general cooking considerations for each of the parts and then bursts into an explosion of delectable delights in the recipes that follow. Not sure what to do with that lamb shoulder? Why not try it braised in cider with yogurt and quinces? 

Good Meat is most definitely not another grilling or barbeque book, although it does contain many such meaty recipes. Instead, Krasner offers us a choice among simple to sophisticated ways to enjoy that ultimate gift of nourishment. How about a split pea soup with bacon batons or a sweet and salty bacon cornbread? Perhaps rabbit with prunes marinated in red wine catches your eye – and your palate. Wondering what to do with all those pheasants that wind up in the freezer come fall? How does pheasant in lemon cream sauce with nutmeg sound – yes, just writing that makes me long for those dry fall days and it isn’t even spring yet.

Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat belongs on the shelf of every carnivore out there. If you eat meat and if you raise animals for meat or if you have ever considered eating meat or eggs, you need a copy of Deborah Kranser’s work of art. The thoughtful essays, equipment and seasonings chapters alone are worth the price of admission, but the anatomy lessons, cutting instructions and more than 200 recipes make the book a rare bargain indeed.

Look for Good Meat: The Complete Guide to Sourcing and Cooking Sustainable Meat at your favorite online or brick and mortar bookstore.

 

GRIT blogger Michelle Hernandez is so passionate about backyard chickens that she and a team of really smart folks have created a breed selection iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad app in conjunction the folks at Mother Earth News. I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of this backyard chicken breed picking app and found it so engaging that I've spent way too much time playing with it on my iPhone -- and I already have a large laying flock! The new Pickin' Chicken app was put together with expert breed advice from the American Livestock Breeds Association and the APA, so you know the information is eggscelent.

The new Pickin Chickens iPhone/iPad app from Mother Earth News describes 75 chicken breeds with pictures and helps you select the breeds that are just right for you.  

Would you like brown egg layers that are also good for meat production? Pickin' Chicken offers 25 choices to select from. If you’re looking for an excellent layer in that group, the selector can narrow the field to seven choices. After you’ve seen the options, you can select either “heritage” or “endangered” breeds from the list by tapping a button.  

One touch of your screen will take you to a more detailed description of each breed or hybrid. Descriptions include free-range foraging ability, purpose (eggs, meat or both), egg size, growth rate, mothering ability, place of origin, conservation status and more.   

In “eggspert” mode, the Pickin' Chicken app can help you select chicken breeds by even more specific traits, so if you want calm birds that are good foragers but can thrive in smaller spaces, too, the app will guide you to the right breeds. Select purpose, group (standard or bantam), egg size, egg color, lay rate, growth rate, temperament, climate and other traits that you want, and the app will show you which breeds are the best match. If you’re not looking for specific characteristics, you can simply browse pictures of the 75 breeds in the alphabetical listing.  

After you’ve selected the chickens you want each year, the app provides information on caring for them, a glossary of poultry terms and links to other useful resources. Pickin' Chicken features 250 photos of 75 breeds and hybrids. Breed descriptions include information on bantams when available. 

Whether you’re planning to buy chicks for the first time or just want to try new breeds of this fascinating bird, the new Mother Earth News Pickin' Chicken app can help make breed selection a breeze. Go to www.MotherEarthNews.com/PickinChicken for more information and to download the app for your iPad or iPhone. The app is designed for iPhones, so it’s small format, but you can increase the size for an iPad. 

Don't have an iPhone or an iPad? Check out similar information in our Perfect Chickens article here on GRIT.com or at the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

 

I wanted to answer some questions about the the incubator here on the farm.

Did you build or buy the incubator?

It is a large walk-in incubator that FarmMan built. You can see more here –> Incubator 

The building was empty and not finished for several years (it still needs painting, always something waiting to be finished around a farm) until last year when FarmMan decided he wanted to start hatching eggs again.

 Years ago he hatched and sold all types of poultry and enjoyed it. He insulated the building

 

and built an inside walk in unit to hold the eggs.

 

How many eggs will the incubator hold?

 

A whole lot! Over a thousand. Thank goodness we haven't set that many ... yet. Both sides of the incubator can hold the tubes of eggs.

How long can you wait to set the eggs?

Hatching eggs should be incubated within 1 week to 10 days after they are laid.

How do you store the eggs?

Until they are incubated, hatching eggs should be stored in cartons or cases. We have these plastic trays that FarmMan bought at a livestock auction years ago.

Place the eggs large end up at 40 to 70 degrees F (50 to 60 degrees F is best) with a relative humidity of about 75 percent. Which was in my dining room last year. This year we have the eggs in the brooder section since we don't have biddies yet.

How do you set the eggs?

FarmMan made these wire tubes that hold around 12-15 eggs each. He places the eggs with the small end down.

 

The tubes then sit on the racks in the incubator. To turn the eggs we just carefully flip the tube over to the side.

How often do you turn the eggs?

We started out turning 3 times a day but found out that 2 turns a day(12 hours apart) will yield just as many baby chicks. What should the humidity level be? Moisture is also very important in hatching. The moisture level in the incubator should be about 50 to 55 percent relative humidity, with an increase to about 65 percent for the last 3 days of incubation. The black pan in the corner holds water. We have another pan of water on the other side also. Each side also has it's own fans, heating elements, and wafer thermostats to get the incubator heated up to the correct temperature.

 

What temperature do you keep the eggs at?

Between 99 and 102 degrees F. We try to keep it at 99.5 degrees F. It is very important to keep the eggs at the right temperature we found out. When we first started trying to hatch eggs last year week after week we were disappointed with very few eggs if any hatching. See more here –>Problems. 

We found out our thermometer was not showing the correct temperature. I ordered a new one – A DIAL THERMOMETER/HYGROMETER. The description states that it is the most accurate incubator thermometer available. It is supplied with a wick and may be used as a Hygrometer in circulated air incubators by mounting a water bottle below the tip of the thermometer.  From then on we had pretty good hatches.

What is your percentage rate on hatches?

After we solved the temperature problem the hatches stayed around 85 to 90 percent most weeks. Some weeks better. Some not as good.

Do you sell the baby chicks?

Yes. Even though I wanted to keep them all, we take most of them to livestock sales/auctions to sell.

Where do you keep all the baby chicks after they hatch?

The front part of the incubator building is the brooder section. We use heat lamps to keep the biddies warm.

 

We also have this brooder that we bought at the livestock/animal auction. It is an older model but all the lights still worked.

It is also in the front section of the building.

We use it mostly with the Pharaoh Quails.

 

 

What bedding material do you use in the brooder?

We tried wood shavings but found out that the pine straw works better in the brooder. The biddies were always trying to eat the wood shavings.

I hope I answered most of your questions. If I miss any or if you have more questions feel free to ask. There is work involved with hatching and raising the baby chicks. Plus not a big profit. But there is a lot of satisfaction seeing the end result.

You have to admit, they are cute!

Please visit me on my personal blog here –> Life on a Southern Farm

Have a great day.

I'm exercising a bit of restraint in the backyard chicken arena this year by resisting the urge to add another thousand or so chicks to our already sufficient flock. Oh, I tempt myself practically every evening by poring over colorfully-illustrated catalogs from some of my favorite commercial hatcheries. But, my laying hens turned up the egg production a few weeks ago and reminded me that I need to grow our egg customer base before I can rationally think about expansion. I will place an order for meat birds later in the year, but for now the backyard flock, as it exists, will have to suffice.

Of course, just as I write that, I am reminded that the backyard chicken flock will grow a little this year because I plan to increase the numbers of purebred, and fairly rare, buff Catalana birds on the farm. We have just a single Catalana rooster and three hens at the moment -- the birds are about 6 months old and have exhibited sufficient signs to indicate that they've passed through puberty. The hens have begun laying eggs -- my plan is to collect a few incubator loads of the eggs later this spring and see whether I can increase the numbers right here on the farm. I'll never give up the motley crew of brown-, speckled-, mauve-, and green-egg laying chickens for purebreds entirely, but it will be fun to add the slightly off white Catalana eggs to our cartons in the future.

For those of you with backyard chickens in the works, or in the plan, now is a good time to book your mail-order chicks, especially if you have your hearts set on any specific breed. And if you don't want to deal with disposing of unwanted roosters, be sure to spring for the pullets, as opposed to straight run birds. Either way, just remember that you need to have a brooder of some sort, feed, feeders and waterers set up before the chicks arrive. You can brood the chicks in something as simple as a cardboard box, plastic tote or a small stock tank -- and all you need is an incandescent light to keep them warm. You can read all about brooding chicks here and how to build a chick brooder for virtually nothing, here.

Even if you don't have a backyard chicken coop worked out yet, you will have plenty of time to build or buy one while the chicks are confined to the brooder. So don't let the lack of a coop keep you from placing your order. If you feel lucky, you can sign up to win a Cadillac of a backyard chicken coop here.

I frankly cannot imagine a life without backyard chickens. Whether it's just sitting in the shade of the huge hackberry tree and watching the big, gentle Barred Rock rooster dance for his ladies, or chuckling at the mostly-white Ameracauna hen who flies the coop every morning to pick through the hog pen and returns to the coop in the evening, or revelling in the daily anticipation of finding fresh, delicious eggs in nests, backyard chickens are good for the soul.

Buff Catalana photo and author photo courtesy Karen Keb.

Get them while they’re hot – off the press that is. Last December, while most folks were dreaming about Christmas and all the days off they were going to enjoy with family and loved ones, the GRIT crew was busy putting together our Guide to Backyard Chickens. This first special issue launches the magazine’s Country Skills Series, which will cover topics that you all help prioritize.

GRIT’s Guide to Backyard Chickens is a one-of-a-kind reference book that contains the latest and greatest information on how to get your backyard flock started and how to keep the eggs and meat coming. If you live in town, no worries, we have sections devoted to keeping smaller flocks inside the city limits and even included step by step instructions on how to approach your municipal government in towns where chicken keeping is not legal. So if you fancy yourself an urban farmer or city farmer, the Guide to Backyard Chickens has you covered. Likewise, if you live out where the pavement ends, and don’t have any legal issues to contend with, our Guide to Backyard Chickens takes you through the steps for incubating fertile eggs, receiving and brooding day old chicks, building chicken coops and so much more.

Worried about bird health and protection from predators? GRIT’s Guide to Backyard Chickens offers expert advice on how to keep diseases out of your flock and provides detailed information on how to keep predators of all kinds from picking off your poultry. If you wonder about how chickens might help control ticks and other pests and help build rich garden soil, then you will definitely want to read GRIT’s Guide to Backyard Chickens. This new book also includes 25 time-tested and delicious recipes covering everything from for using up excess eggs to creating mouthwatering chicken burgers.

GRIT’s Guide to Backyard Chickens goes on sale tomorrow at Tractor Supply stores, Sam’s Club and select bookstores nationwide. If you can’t find the title at your local book seller or newsstand, you can purchase it directly from us – right here.

This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of taking part in a group chicken processing project as part of our Community Chickens venture, and it was a fulfilling experience processing meat that I won’t soon forget, even after I cook and eat the birds I brought home.

I’ve long been a fan of providing my own meat, a process I learned about growing up on a farm where hunting and fishing were encouraged recreational hobbies. This experience was much different though, as it brought together members of GRIT, MOTHER EARTH NEWS, Ogden Publications advertising staff and spouse and offspring, and thrust us all together into the business of killing and cleaning meat birds. We had a great setup at GRIT Editor Hank Will’s Osage County Kansas farm.

Unlike my experiences with pheasant and other game birds, these were chickens just like I’d usually buy at the store – albeit more humanely raised – which I’d never fully processed before, with people whom I’d only had a professional relationship with. It was awesome.

For me, my goal at the outset was to have a hand in every phase to fully be able to process a chicken in the future, which I want to do again someday.

In the kill cones, I took part in the dispatching early on in the day. Next, it was on to the scalding tank, where I dunked a rooster for about a minute, then to the plucker, which worked beautifully. I only had to spend about five minutes at most cleaning the final feathers off the chicken. And then came the evisceration table, and it was here that I spent most of the remainder of the day.

I don’t mind cleaning guts; through hunting I’ve done it numerous times. But unlike a pheasant, we cleaned these broilers so that every bit of the meat was saved. With pheasants, I often try hardest to save the breast and wings. Now it was about cleaning out the entire inner cavity.

Just like cleaning any animal, you don’t want to puncture anything for the cleanest possible process. Most importantly though for saving the quality of the meat is to avoid the gall bladder connected to the liver. As the day went on, I felt more and more comfortable with this and developed my own technique for slowly and carefully pulling out innards (we processed around 30 chickens that day). I wasn’t the only one at the table who jumped when, my hand in the cavity, an air pocket at just the right place resulted in the headless chicken quacking like a duck.

After a little while of just fishing for innards, we started to have a small excess pile of birds that hadn’t had the head and neck parts cut, so a little observation and coaching by MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ Sr. Associate Editor Troy Griepentrog let me get the removal of the crop of the neck as well as the esophagus and windpipe down, as well as cutting off the legs and the oil gland on the rear. Then it was back to making a small cut above the vent and removing innards.

I learned so much about processing chickens, and look forward to being able to do it again one day. To some, it would seem almost barbaric to gather and slaughter meat birds in this way. To me, as always with processing animals, it’s far less barbaric when you observe reverence for the bird by processing it yourself; at least that way you are forced to observe and recognize the gravity of the life-taking moment, paying due respect to the animal itself.

Bottom photo by Suzanne Griepentrog

Shortly after my husband and I moved to our 5-acre slice of heaven, I saw the most amazing sight. While looking out in our field, I was startled to see odd-looking polka-dotted birds wandering through the tall grass. I stared for a little while at them trying to figure out what on earth they could be.

Were they some kind of wild turkey? Were they vultures? What on earth were these basketball-shaped birds that moved at amazingly fast speeds for their rotund shape?

As it turns out, they were guinea fowl. I was immediately intrigued and wanted to learn more. I found that guinea fowl are very beneficial to farm life. Unlike chickens, they do not scratch or eat established plants. That isn’t to say they won’t have a sample now and then, but they prefer the insects, grasses and seeds to the plants.

As I read more, I learned that they kill snakes, eat ticks, and, when allowed to free range, are fairly self-sufficient in terms of feed. I was hooked! I wanted my own flock to help me with gardening and pest control.

Last year I got my first guineas as day-old keets. I raised them with day-old chicks. They were quite adorable, I must say.

They grew up healthy and happy. Then, this spring, two of my Guineas had five offspring.

They came out chipper and looking like their mommy and daddy. One went to my neighbor, and we kept the other four.

 

Having raised keets already, we used our original setup to raise our second group. We did everything the same … almost. I will explain more on the change in routine later.

I was surprised to see around 10 days of age my keets started walking oddly. They were walking on their haunches. It would be like humans walking on their knees with their feet out in front of them at a ninety degree angle. I also noticed at this same time they were sometimes sleeping with their legs stretched out. I did not have much experience raising keets, but I knew this was not normal behavior.

I began frantically searching Google and posting on forums for causes and cures. I read it was possible that wire floors could make them start walking funny. I tried making “Hobble Braces” out of band-aids to see if it helped. However, I saw no improvement.

I then checked possible diseases. I came up with possibly botulism or a vitamin/mineral deficiency. My instincts said it was a deficiency, since they had started off very perky and alert. Since there were so many possibilities, I was not having great luck finding the elixir for my birds. I went to my local pet store and bought vitamin/mineral supplements for their water. However, their condition did not improve.

I thought back to what I had changed from the first group of keets the previous year and realized I had different feed. I normally feed organic chick starter, but I had some game bird starter I had just purchased while bird-sitting my neighbor’s poults. I had thought it might be nice to start with the higher protein feed in game bird starter since I had just purchased some and had some left over. However, I decided, this may not have been a wise decision.

While not conclusive, I further validated my suspicion when I spoke to my neighbor who had my other keet, and she said it was happy and healthy. She makes her own feed, ground daily.

As I was trying my cures, valuable time was passing. I had changed back to my organic chick starter, but the keets were looking listless. I lost my first keet within a couple of days of the first symptoms. A second keet’s health was declining rapidly. I had posted on forums but the responses focused on hobble braces.

I then remembered a woman in Burnet, Texas, who specializes in raising guineas. I immediately contacted April with H and H Poultry and received a prompt response from her:

"This [condition] is very common in Guineas. It is a vitamin deficiency. Can you please try some Red Cell? The deficiency is selenium (vitamin E). In the summer, when it is very, very hot, feed goes through a loss in selenium because the oils in the soy have a tendency to go rancid, much like grocery store vegetable oil does. ... Additionally, commercial feeds are heat processed. Heat causes oil to be unstable. ... Red Cell is for horses but can be used at the same strength for keets. … [Another good remedy is] wheat or wheat berries ground up fresh and fed to them. Also, wheat germ from the grocery store [can help]. The vitamins in the water are [useful]. You can't reverse the problem but you can stop any more from having problems. Sometimes they will live through it and straighten out a bit and do okay as adults. "

I hurried out to the grocery store and bought wheat germ to get started. I also snipped open Vitamin E capsules and dipped the tip of the keets’ beaks in the oil. Keets can be testy, but these were more willing to accept the treatment in their weakened state. I planned on getting some Red Cell the next day from the feed store.

I was amazed at the change in health within 24 hours. The two remaining keets (1 died the morning of the initial treatments) looked like new birds. They were chipper, alert, and walking on their feet, not their haunches. While this may be old hat for seasoned farm people, this was a miracle to me!

It has been another day since the miracle transformation. I have no guarantees that the keets will survive, but I have great hope based on what I have witnessed. While I wish I had stayed with my chick starter feed, I am hoping my sharing of this experience will help others learn from my mistake. You cannot underestimate the importance of good nutrition.

The folks at the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame plan a grand opening for the National Poultry Museum tomorrow at 10 AM.  The National Poultry Museum is located  in Bonner Springs, Kansas on the grounds of the Agricultural Hall of Fame near Kansas City. If you are in the area, you won’t want to miss the grand opening.

The National Poultry Museum is an endeavor more than 15 years in the making.  The initial exhibits of the National Poultry Museum were unveiled in 1994 upon completion of a Hatchery Building within FarmTown USA  -- an early 1900's farm town constructed on the grounds of the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame.  Since 1994, the focus has been on raising the funds necessary for additional exhibits, gathering artifacts and determining how to tell the rich and intriguing story of poultry -- come explore the "Evolution of an Industry."

If you aren’t able to make the National Poultry Museum’s grand opening, plan to stop by for a visit the next time you are passing through Kansas City. And while you are there, you can check out all kinds of antique farm machinery, homestead tools and learn about the many individuals who helped shape and continue to shape agriculture in the United States.

For directions to the National Agricultural Hall of Fame, click here.

 

Andy G. Schneider, the national radio personality known as the Chicken Whisperer plans to give away 500 baby chicks on Saturday, April 11^th starting at 8:00 AM at the Greenwoods on Green Street restaurant in Roswell, Georgia, located at 1087 Green Street 30075. The Chicken Whisperer’s plan is to promote the keeping of backyard poultry and to get folks thinking about growing more of their own food with this “Chicken Stimulus Package.”

Schneider, host of the nationally broadcast radio show Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer, and his station manager at Radio Sandy Springs came up with the idea after the city of Roswell went after one of its citizens for keeping pet chickens in his backyard. According to Schneider, the big chicken give away has the support of citizens and former lawmakers alike.

All baby chicks have been donated by hatcheries across America.  Only two chicks will be given away to each family and they will come with a starter bag of feed, care instructions, and a map to North Fulton Feed and Seed in Alpharetta where they can pick up additional supplies. “This is our very own small economic stimulus package for the people of Atlanta,” the Chicken Whisperer says. “In the middle of layoffs, foreclosures, and a poor economy we want to teach people how to become a little more self-sufficient, and keeping backyard pet poultry is a good start.”

 As a huge fan of backyard poultry, I am pleased to see that the Chicken Whisperer has been able to put the chicken feed right where the municipal beak is … so-to-speak. With any luck at all, the Chicken Stimulus Package will stimulate local lawmakers to rethink the whole topic of backyard poultry in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Folks, it’s time to take back your right to produce clean safe food … and to keep chickens as pets, of course.

 

The other day I stumbled across a wonderful website that’s devoted to helping folks raise chickens in urban and suburban residential environments. The website,  UrbanChickens.org (Albuquerque, NM) is the brainchild of  KT LaBadie and her husband Mark Scully … the couple founded the website in 2007 after KT gave a presentation on the benefits of chickens in urban environments in one of her graduate planning classes. “This presentation sparked a lot of interest from fellow classmates who were unaware of Albuquerque’s chicken friendly ordinances and zoning,” KT says. “This prompted Mark and me to start the Albuquerque Urban Chickens group as a way to educate the local public and teach urban chicken keeping classes.”

From this local start, the chicken-loving couple took their project worldwide with the goal of encouraging and helping folks around the globe to raise chickens in town. The website is a treasure trove of information covering everything from the fundamentals of chicken keeping to navigating murky municipal waters. Although KT and Mark are passionate urban farmers, their advice and wisdom, and that of the many forum contributors, is relevant to virtually any small-scale chicken operation anywhere.

KT and Mark live in Albuquerque with their four chickens Gloria, Switters, Omelet and Buffy. If you fancy fowl, check out the Urban Chickens website … and if you have any insight and experience to share, don’t be shy about doing just that.

Logo and photos courtesy KT LaBadie.

Kate and I have raised our own poultry off and on for more years than I care to count. We have raised both meat birds (broiler chickens, geese and turkeys) and layers. In every case, raising our own poultry helped us save money, while providing endless hours of entertainment and providing higher quality meat and eggs than we could have ever even hoped to buy at the time. Now that we are once again living on the land, raising our own chickens has become a priority.

When it comes to raising chickens, I am a little more conservative than Kate is. She will often go overboard (in my mind anyway) when chick ordering time comes around. I always ask what we will do with all those chickens; she always answers we will enjoy every minute of them. And she is right.

All you need to raise chickens is a little space, a little know how (mostly know to leave them well enough alone) and some desire. If you order day old chicks through the mail, you will need to make a brooder for them. The brooder can be as simple as a heat lamp suspended over a cardboard box (it’s best to staple cardboard across the box’s corners to “round” them … this keeps the chicks from piling up in the corners and suffocating those on the bottom of the heap. You should definitely take a look at our books and articles on raising chicken if you have never done it, but suffice it to say this isn’t rocket science.

As you might imagine, raising your own chickens requires a commitment to care for and nurture the animals. For best success, you need to protect them from predators … including pets and children, and you need to provide food, water and access to shelter throughout their lifetime. During the growing season, much of that food can come in the form of grass, clover, alfalfa, bugs, worms, various garden trimmings and excess fruit and vegetables. The shelter can be a chicken house, barn, shed, old grain bin, you name it.

Some might argue that it isn’t possible to grow your own broiler chickens for less per pound than the limp, bleached out stuff they sell at the grocery store for below a dollar a pound. That might be true. But you can grow chickens yourself for less than the plump nicely colored organic free range chicken that sells for dollars a pound … likewise with homegrown eggs. But, I find that comparison to be lacking, and somewhat anti-intellectual. With chickens, saving money isn’t just about the obvious products they provide.

The fact is, you can raise your own chickens and eggs for less per pound than premium eggs and chicken cuts sell for at the grocery store. If you grow their feed, production costs go down even further. Chickens will also help you save money by keeping insect pests at bay in the garden and yard. Chickens will also help you save money by weeding and tilling your garden. Chickens will also help save you money because they are so entertaining. Once you discover the joys of sitting and watching the chickens peck, you will spend less money on trips to town for a movie … or movie rental. You will spend less money on exercise because your chickens will require daily care … morning and night. And since you and your family will be eating the best, most local food there is, chickens will save you money with physical and mental healthcare to boot.

Kate and I consider raising chickens to be part of our “golf game.” As such, those birds make a huge contribution to our savings account. And that’s a good thing, especially in 2009.