“It’s not the human, or the chicken or the garden.  It is how the human, the chicken and the garden are connected.” -Bill Mollison

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Popular Backyard Chicken Breeds

Rhode Island Red Buff Orpington

Barred Plymouth Rock Americauna (Easter Egger)

White Leghorn

Chick Brooder Examples

Chicks need heat, food, water and bedding.

They should be kept at 95 degrees their first week of life and dropped 5 degrees each subsequent week.

Types of chicken tractors and coops

Chicken wire vs. hardware cloth

Roosting and Nesting

• Roosting bars are where the chickens sleep and should always be higher than their nest boxes, which is where they lay their eggs.

How to tell if your eggs are rotten: The float test

• If it sinks, it’s fresh

• If it sinks but stands on end, it’s older, but not yet rotten

• If it floats, throw it out CAREFULLY, it could be a rotting time bomb!!

Clipping your chickens’ wings

A molting chicken vs. a victim of pecking

• A molting chicken will be losing all types of feathers from all over her body and there will be feathers covering the coop (what looks like an entire chickens worth) -- there should be no blood.

• A chicken that is the victim of violent pecking will typically be missing tail feathers and feathers from her lower back, which can be picked bald. There is frequently bleeding as a result of this.

Enjoy your own backyard eggs, fertilizer and friends!