• Last updated 4/9/12 by BYC Project Manager

So You Want a Colorful Egg Basket!   I’m very partial to a colorful egg basket. No blah all white or all brown eggs for me!  The more colors, the better.  Like many people, I grew up thinking white eggs were what you bought at the grocery store, and brown eggs were what you got from a farm.   I remember the first time I saw  blue eggs.  We had gone to our local farmers’ market, and there was a farm family selling eggs.  The eggs were beautiful – all browns and blues.  After that, and  until I got chickens of my own, I went to the farmers' market each weekend and... read more

• Last updated 4/9/12 by BYC Project Manager

  It's cold! Record lows in the area have brought our chickens to an indignant resolution to stay in their coops. In order to manage chickens in colder temperatures one needs to consider several things: Ventilation- there must be adequate ventilation to allow dissipation of the moisture from the chickens' breath. If not, the moisture will settle on combs and wattles- freeze- and cause frostbite. 'Ventilated' does not mean drafty. Drafts are very dangerous if in direct line of the chickens' roosts, but an air-tight coop is not good unless fully heated to above... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by Nifty-Chicken

Over the years BYC has become the #1 destination for everything related to raising chickens.   The reason:  our wonderful community of chicken enthusiasts!!       We have a ton of super smart and helpful members of our community that have and do work hard to make BYC what it is today.   For this reason we've created the BYC Project Manager program and award.   Members of our community who have this award help manage aspects of our site.   Here are examples of past and current projects...   Chick Sexing Project BYC Coloring Book Contest Current... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

 Keeping your chickens healthy My healthy Silver Laced Wyandotte free ranging!     Here are some ways to keep your chickens healthy and happy.   1.Cleaning the coop Cleaning the coop is very important for keeping happy, healthy chickens. If you don't clean the coop you risk an infestation of lice, mites, and other parasites. Cleaning your coop isn't always easy but it sure is worth it. Start by getting all the bedding from the floor of the coop and the nesting boxes and dumping it. If any eggs have cracked then make sure to clean up that mess too. Then... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

  Yikes, one of my chicks is a cockerel! What do I do? by Becky Flanagan     Remember when you bought your chicks from the feed store? They came with a 99% chance of being a hen. And, like most backyard chicken keepers, having hens was all that was in the plan. You imagined a small flock that provided your family with fresh, wholesome eggs each morning. What you probably did not imagine was that of the hundred chicks in the cage, you would go home with the one rooster.  If you do indeed win (or, rather, lose) the chicken lottery and end up with a cockerel (a... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

When I was a little girl, one of the greatest adventures was accompanying my grandparents on their annual spring trip to our local feed store, where they would buy 50 or 60 little yellow peepers to take back to their Texas ranch.   There they were settled in the ‘broody house’—an extension of my grandmother’s big henhouse—to lounge under a warm light and drink out of their Mason jar waterers till they were feathered out and big enough to join the rest of her flock of white Leghorns.  I’d sit in there as long as my grandmother would let me, watching them tumble around,... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

Bargain from The Garry Farm and How Our eggs are wrapped, packed and delivered to the Post Office. Please don't copy any parts of this without giving a Reference to our Farm - The Garry Farm http://thegarryfarm.yolasite.com/ I've been asked this so many times, that I thought it was time to formally describe it.  Throughout this process, I'm thinking of you and what I know about you, praying over the little egg and its journey to be and praying that your hatch will be one which is a marvelous adventure that blesses you and your household. Step One: First the... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

Most Americans are used to eating chicken from the store. Most of this chickens are about 8 weeks old or younger, and just like any other meat source, the younger the animal, the more tender the meat. You can fry, bake, grill, broil, stew, or crockpot store bought chicken, and pretty much be guaranteed you will still have tender meat.   Each year, millions of non-meat chickens are raised. While many chickens either die from predators or natural causes, there are those who look with a hungry eye upon a older, non-laying layer hen, or a rooster that is a year or two... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

How To Keep Your Flock Happy (Let them act like birds!) What?  Keep your chickens happy?  They are, after all, well... CHICKENS!  Yes, yes; however you can make their lives happier and healthier by acknowledging a really important concept.  That is, although they have been domesticated for about a gazillion years, and do OK inside small areas, they were once wild critters who roamed the jungles looking for food,  keeping their young safe, protecting their flock, etcetera.  Watching them over their life-cycles is fascinating and informative, and we come to realize that... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by support

  Raising Chickens on a Shoestring By Sandra Higgins Hanna      Whether you’ve received a couple chickens as a ‘gift’ or just couldn’t resist baby chicks, you now need housing for the little sweeties. What can you do if you hadn’t budgeted for new pets? Join many of us and ‘shoestring’ it! My white Silkie pullets were a Christmas gift. Best Christmas ever! These bantam chickens lay small eggs sometimes. For consistent egg-layers, research hen breeds before buying or taking home free hens. Here's what I saw that Christmas morning.   Hens, Chicks.... read more