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 Don’t throw those Halloween pumpkins, decorative gourds, or dried corn cobs out - feed them to your favorite chickens instead!
Feeding pumpkins or gourds to chickens is as simple as cutting them in half, and setting them cut-side up in their run. They devour them; and seem to really love having access to fresh vegetables after everything else has stopped growing. Dried corn on the cob is even simpler, just throw it in the run – they’ll pick the cobs clean. Of course, treats should always be fed in moderation.
We grow and store quite a few pumpkins and gourds to feed the chickens throughout fall and winter; and we’re always on [...]
Continue reading Fall Decorations = Chicken Treats
In our part of the country, we had a drought for most of the summer and then suddenly rain. The rain was very welcome, but caused some monster zucchini in our garden – much larger than I really wanted to use. So, what to do with all those monster zucchini – feed them to the chickens. They’re very happy to have them.
It’s seldom that we see the roosters taking a break and laying down, they’re usually on the alert for predators and food all the time. So, we were amused to see that even they were willing to sit down, take a break, and enjoy the [...]
Continue reading Monster Zucchini? Chicken Love Them
 I had to look this definition up, because we ordered “pullets” from the feed store in Amish territory and expected to pick up young hens – instead we picked up day-old peeps! The definition for a pullet from the dictionary is: a young hen; specifically : a hen of the domestic chicken less than a year old. So I guess that leaves it pretty much wide open.
When we think of a pullet, we think of a female chicken that’s just old enough to start laying eggs. But that’s not what the definition is in Amish territory in Ohio – there it’s [...]
Continue reading Definition of a Pullet
 This chili is really more like a stew – just full of chicken and lots of red and yellow peppers. It can be made with chicken breasts from the grocery store, but is really tastiest when roasted heritage* chicken is used. It’s a favorite at our house - delicious and healthy too!
*Heritage chickens are traditional chicken breeds that are raised over a longer period of tme than today’s factory raised chickens, and therefore develop more flavor (see Heritage Birds for Real Chicken Flavor).
8 cups chopped yellow onions (6 onions)
4 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and diced (large dice)
4 yellow bell peppers, cored, seeded, and diced (large [...]
Continue reading Heritage Chicken Chili
 This pot pie is terrific made with homegrown heritage* chicken, but it’s also delicious made using store-bought chicken breasts. It’s really a thick chicken stew covered with a puff pastry, so it’s very easy to do too. It’s quickly become one of our favorite ways to eat heritage chicken because it’s got so much real chicken flavor.
*Heritage chickens are traditional chicken breeds that are raised over a longer period of tme than today’s factory raised chickens, and therefore develop more flavor (see Heritage Birds for Real Chicken Flavor).
2 whole heritage roasting chickens (app. 4 lbs. each) or 3 whole, bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
5 cups chicken stock [...]
Continue reading Heritage Chicken Pot Pie
 This is so easy (marinate overnight and then bake); and it tastes so good hot or cold (great for picnics), it’s nearly ridiculous. I love to make it ahead of time, and then relax as I serve it. If there’s any leftover (and that’s not probable), it’s great cut up on a salad the next day too.
1 cup honey
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup peeled and grated ginger root
2 skin-on chickens (3 1/2 – 4 lbs. each), quartered (backs removed)
Combine the honey, soy sauce, and ginger in a small pan and cook over low heat until the honey is dissoved.
Arrange the chicken in [...]
Continue reading Asian Ginger Chicken
 Memorial Day weekend corresponds with our wedding anniversary; so we’re usually off somewhere celebrating. In the past, we’ve traveled exotic places, seen spectacular scenery, and attended great events. But this year we decided to stay put; and since we rarely enjoy a Memorial Day weekend at home, some photographs seemed appropriate.
The cats, Sugar and Spice, are the ones I miss first when we travel, but I also worry about them least – they’re pretty self-sufficient. They’re sisters from the same litter, although you’d never know it by looking at them.
One reason for staying put this year was to get some ongoing projects done. One of these was installing an automatic chicken-coop opener. With it installed, the chicken coop hatch automatically opens when the sun [...]
Continue reading Memorial Day Weekend
 I’ve been working for awhile trying to get a website up for the farm, and it’s finally complete enough to at least say that it’s out there (I thought it would be finished over winter – hah!). It’s at www.bramblestonefarm.com; and it’s meant to be a website for the farm rather than a blog like Better Hens and Gardens. Someday, I hope to advertise that we have goats, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, honey, and who knows what else for sale; but today it’s just eggs.
The plan is to consolidate some of the blog posts from this site there [...]
Continue reading New Farm Website!
 Spring finally seems to be here, so in the first semi-dry weekend, we cleaned and inspected the year-old chicken coop. We use the “deep-litter” method for managing coop sanitation, which basically means putting down a 4” layer of pine shavings (the “litter”) mixed with a little diatomaceous earth, adding more pine shavings as the ratio of droppings to shavings gets too large, and cleaning in the spring and fall (see Deep Litter & Healthy Chickens). For the health of the birds, it’s important not to let ammonia levels get too high, so it’s a good idea to clean before spring [...]
Continue reading Semi-Annual Chicken Coop Cleaning & Evaluation
 It’s time to process the 11 Buckeye roosters that didn’t make the cut; and although that’s not exactly pleasant, I’m expecting big things from the meals they’ll be featured in. That’s because heritage birds like the Buckeyes have something that today’s supermarket birds don’t – they have flavor.
The commercial chickens grown for meat today have been bred to reach a marketable size in confined space within 9 weeks, thereby maximizing throughput and minimizing costs. If these birds are kept for more than 9 weeks, losses from disease and health issues are high – they have simply been bred for fast [...]
Continue reading Heritage Birds for Real Chicken Flavor
 Right now, it’s very important to focus energy on cleaning up the vegetable garden. I wish that all my cleanup chores were done; but I’m still working on it because I know a few hours of work now will make a huge difference in next year’s garden.
It’s most important to remove and destroy (not compost) all the remains from this year’s vegetable plants because many vegetable pests survive from year to year on old plant debris. This will help prevent insect and disease problems from starting next spring and summer.
After getting all the plant debris removed from the garden, I like to get a good layer of leaves [...]
Continue reading Fall Garden Cleanup
 Thirteen Weeks Old
I picked up one of the chicks last night, and did a double take. She was a lot heavier than I expected – those sneaky little girls are growing up!
We don’t know exactly how old they are (they were a surprise with the new coop), but think about thirteen weeks. We got them at five weeks, and first kept them in an old Eglu while we painted the coop interior. At eight weeks, we slowly transitioned from the medicated starter feed they were being fed to non-medicated grower feed, and didn’t observe any problems.
At nine weeks, they moved [...]
Continue reading Growing Pullets
 Ok, this post may be a bit “deep” (sorry for the pun), but I’ve been researching chicken litter management. For the past couple of years, our chickens were either housed in an Eglu (with a pull-out shelf for dropping removal), or in a barn stall, where we could shovel dirt and bedding in and out as necessary for sanitary control. However, now that we’ve got the new coop (see New Coop), I’ve been investigating the “deep litter” management method.
What Is It?
The “deep litter” technique originated in Ohio in the 1940’s, and was an important development in poultry management because it [...]
Continue reading Deep Litter & Healthy Chickens?
The chicken coop has residents! First, temporary installation of the chicken cam:
Mandoor & Camera In Coop
Next a feeder, waterer, and new bedding:
Adding Bedding to the Coop
And finally, the chickens:
Chicks In Coop
We’ve been handling them daily, so it was no problem catching them and carrying them to the new housing. They were fine with that.
But once we left the eight week olds in their new home, they seemed quite agitated about the space. I think it was just too big for them after that tiny Eglu, and all six of them piled into one single nest [...]
Continue reading Chicks In Coop
 After the new coop arrived, Randy wondered whether we should “paint the inside” to protect the wood, and make it harder for chicken parasites to hide-out. Not knowing the answer but thinking it sounded reasonable, I asked on the Backyard Chicken forum, and the response was unanimously in favor of painting. Everyone noted how much easier to clean, better-looking, and pest resistant coops were if treated before being put to use.
One responder to that post (thank you!), also suggested that Minwax (Helmsman) Spar Urethane was a product that they had researched, was safe, and would be good for protecting the inside of a chicken coop. We did [...]
Continue reading New Chicken Coop Protection
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