Life is Better with Chickens https://betterwithchickens.com/ Triumph (and sometimes trouble) at the henhouse Sun, 25 Feb 2024 02:02:07 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://betterwithchickens.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/cropped-cropped-p_egg-rotated-1-32x32.jpg Life is Better with Chickens https://betterwithchickens.com/ 32 32 Renata and the Case of the Bulging Wattles: A Chicken with a Tick Bite https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-with-a-tick-bite/ https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-with-a-tick-bite/#respond Tue, 27 Feb 2024 06:00:36 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=417 This story begins with some bad, sad, hard news: in early December we lost one of our two sweet tiny twins to an in-coop hawk attack. More about “coop maintenance (super hard) lessons learned” to come. This left our sweet Renata a tiny gal, without a tiny pal. Chicken body language can be ambivalent at...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-with-a-tick-bite/feed/ 0 Trouble at the Henhouse, or Raising Chickens is A Lot https://betterwithchickens.com/trouble-at-the-henhouse-or-raising-chickens-is-a-lot/ https://betterwithchickens.com/trouble-at-the-henhouse-or-raising-chickens-is-a-lot/#respond Tue, 17 Oct 2023 06:00:02 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=347 I have written quite a bit about the triumphs and near losses of raising chickens, but friends, it all exists. The subtitle of this website is “Triumph (and sometimes Trouble) at the Henhouse.” I chose this for two reasons: My favourite Canadian band, The Tragically Hip, released an album in the 90’s called Trouble at...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/trouble-at-the-henhouse-or-raising-chickens-is-a-lot/feed/ 0 Lang, the Fox, and a bit about Chicken Predators https://betterwithchickens.com/lang-the-fox-and-chicken-predators/ https://betterwithchickens.com/lang-the-fox-and-chicken-predators/#respond Tue, 03 Oct 2023 06:00:17 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=328 It was a late August afternoon. I was on the phone with a friend when I heard a wild cacophony of clucking and bah-gawking circling the house. I looked out the side porch and saw the silver blur of Lang dart by, and then what my eye-brain synapses decided was (taking in a big fluffy...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/lang-the-fox-and-chicken-predators/feed/ 0 Minnie and the Mystery Malady: When Your Chicken Gets an Insect Bite https://betterwithchickens.com/when-your-chicken-gets-an-insect-bite/ https://betterwithchickens.com/when-your-chicken-gets-an-insect-bite/#respond Tue, 15 Aug 2023 06:00:42 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=298 It was late on a Monday afternoon in mid-July in east Tennessee. A real warm day, by local standards. I was about to corral the chickie girls into their run for snacks, preens, and drinks before bed. They had been out most of the afternoon and were lolling about in the corner of the yard...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/when-your-chicken-gets-an-insect-bite/feed/ 0 The Chicken and the Egg Colour https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-and-egg-colour/ https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-and-egg-colour/#respond Tue, 18 Jul 2023 06:00:52 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=260 The amazing technicolour egg palette that can be part of a backyard flock is, at the very least, enchanting. When you pick out your babies or pullets or hens, part of what you might consider is the egg colour they will offer. And—happy news!—hens that lay beautiful coloured eggs can be just as prolific (or...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/chicken-and-egg-colour/feed/ 0 Oprah Our (Buff Orpington) Chicken Girl https://betterwithchickens.com/oprah-buff-orpington-chicken/ https://betterwithchickens.com/oprah-buff-orpington-chicken/#comments Mon, 26 Jun 2023 06:00:28 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=232 It’s been a very challenging few weeks. We’ve definitely had some trouble at the hen house. There’s lots of tricky stuff to process and write about, but it needs time to settle. Right now I’d rather share some happiness and joy. Which means, it’s time to share the story of bringing home and getting to...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/oprah-buff-orpington-chicken/feed/ 2 Lady the Chicken and the Red-Tailed Hawk https://betterwithchickens.com/lady-the-chicken-and-the-red-tailed-hawk/ https://betterwithchickens.com/lady-the-chicken-and-the-red-tailed-hawk/#respond Tue, 25 Apr 2023 06:00:44 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=212 The first thing you’ll probably notice after a predator threatens your chickens—they all disappear. I mean absolutely all of them and I mean absolutely disappeared. Still and silent—not a cluck, feather, or a shadow to be seen. This was what we found on an afternoon in October 2021. Where the girls had all just been...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/lady-the-chicken-and-the-red-tailed-hawk/feed/ 0 Chickens Are Not Gardeners https://betterwithchickens.com/chickens-are-not-gardeners/ https://betterwithchickens.com/chickens-are-not-gardeners/#respond Tue, 18 Apr 2023 06:00:55 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=184 Chickens are tiny rototillers. Chickens are lightly domesticated velociraptors. Chickens are annihilators of insecta and annelida—annihilators with hyper-focused intensity. Chickens are not gardeners. Gardening with chickens? Before you read more, may I suggest Metallica’s Seek and Destroy. A chicken’s mission is to gobble up every bug, worm, grub, leaf, fruit, and whatever other nourishment it...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/chickens-are-not-gardeners/feed/ 0 About Phaedra, Our Sweet, Sweet Parrot-Beaked Chicken Girl https://betterwithchickens.com/our-sweet-parrot-beak-chicken-girl/ https://betterwithchickens.com/our-sweet-parrot-beak-chicken-girl/#respond Tue, 04 Apr 2023 06:00:24 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=163 Like humans, if you spend time getting to know your chicken girls, you’ll likely find they each have their own unexplainable and entirely lovable special needs. I don’t say this to make light of any being living with challenging disability. I say this because we are each unique and perfectly damaged in some small way...

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]]> https://betterwithchickens.com/our-sweet-parrot-beak-chicken-girl/feed/ 0 They Just Get More Beautiful: A Bit About Booted Bantams https://betterwithchickens.com/a-bit-about-booted-bantams/ https://betterwithchickens.com/a-bit-about-booted-bantams/#respond Tue, 28 Mar 2023 06:00:35 +0000 https://betterwithchickens.com/?p=118 Update: my first post was a “beginning” post, because at that time I was going to write chicken stories along the linear progress and unfolding of everything we have enjoyed, endured, and overcome as backyard chickeners. Then I remembered, I am writing these posts to enjoy, unwind, and reflect. I am writing for a break...

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