Search Results for: label/chickens

172 results

Chicken Coop Complete

Homegrown Neighbor
Animals, Chickens
7 Comments
...finished. The students did a lot of the work themselves and many had no building experience when we started. It was pretty great to watch them figure out how to use a drill. The coop is big, 10 feet by 20 feet. The first four chickens have moved in and are very happy in their new home. These first four chickens needed a home and the school was happy to provide them one. In the future we hope to have up to twenty chickens at one time. There is a s...

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So Much Poultry, So Little Time

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
6 Comments
Homegrown Evolution just got back from the American Poultry Association Annual Meet at the Ventura Fairgrounds. We know nothing about show chickens and we’re too exhausted to blog coherently, so we’ll let the pictures speak for themselves with just a few observations: -If you don’t want to bother raising chicks, a poultry show is a good place to start a flock and talk to some knowledgeable folks. There were quite a few chic...

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Los Angeles Chicken Produces World’s Largest Egg

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
3 Comments
...For your amusement we’ve lined up a set of freakish and normal eggs above. From left to right, a banty egg, one of our Plymouth Rock’s eggs, Chickenzilla’s big-ass egg and, on the ruler, the shell free egg. Chickens have been bred to be egg laying machines. Occasionally an egg will emerge before it’s time and you get an egg without a shell. Conversely some eggs will stay in longer and get big. You also get oddly shaped eg...

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Simple Tech

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
RLeave a comment
...world bleed them dry for the raw materials that keep our SUVs, plasma screens and iPhones running. Isn’t it time we in the first world used some of these low-tech ideas–say by replacing our iPhones with a flock of chickens? Do you know how many chickens you can get for the price of an iPhone? Two hundred. Of course your deluxe $100 iPhone calling plan courtesy of AT&T will only pay for around 400 pounds of chicken feed a month, s...

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Slaughtering Turkeys for Thanksgiving

Mrs. Homegrown
Animals, Food
25 Comments
...7;t have it in him to slaughter frequently, because the act is intense and emotionally draining. Though Steve is now well practiced in killing birds, he has not become callous about the act. He loves his birds–he raises chickens, ducks and turkeys with care, and does not take killing them lightly. Each kill is difficult for him, and he believes that it should remain so, always. He strives to remain open to the complex emotions that accompan...

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The Perfect Chicken Coop?

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
7 Comments
Do a Google image search for “chicken coop” and a solid majority of the results will look very much like this nearly 100 year old coop featured in The Gardener’s and Poultry Keeper’s Guide and Illustrated Catalog. Why is this basic design still with us? The attached run gives chickens some space to scratch around in while keeping them safe from predators if you can’t make it home by dark. You can hang a feeder in...

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The Poultry Review June 1908

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
8 Comments
...and harbor bill, or even the fate of our foreign dependencies.” The article goes on to tell how the Boston Herald took up the question and offered a prize for the three best answers, a testimony to how many people kept chickens at the time. For those tired of poultry, an ad in the back of the Poultry Review asks, “Are you Discouraged with Chickens? If so, try the Ginseng Business. It will pay you LARGER, SURER, PROFITS, requires very...

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The Barrier Method

Mrs. Homegrown
Gardening, Pests
6 Comments
...of some of the possibilities: Our seedling trays are now contained within The Germinator ™: a large screened box. Prior to this invention, we arched chicken wire over our seedling trays to keep squirrels and loose chickens out. All of our beds, whether raised or in the ground, are spanned with arches of wire which hold up aviary netting. The netting is held down around the edges with a variety of anchors, anything from brick...

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Chicken Talk at the LA Green Fest Saturday November 17

Mr. Homegrown
Events
RLeave a comment
I’ll be doing a talk about keeping chickens on Saturday, November 17 at 2:00 pm at the Los Angeles Green Festival. Topics will include: How to construct a chicken coop What’s involved in keeping chickens Predator proofing What to feed your chickens Chicks vs. pullets The Green Festival will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Kentia Hall, 1201 South Figueroa Street. The convention center is right next to the Metro Bl...

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Chicken Cannibalism!

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
9 Comments
We caught our Rhode Island Red pecking at the base of our Araucana’s tail this weekend. Fortunately we stopped this act of cannibalism before it got past a small wound and a few missing feathers and we’ve been able to isolate the victim from the perp until she recovers. Cannibalism is common amongst chickens and there are a number of theories as to why it happens including dietary inadequacies, genetics and simple chicken boredom. Th...

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