Author: Joe Farris

Automation to the Homestead

So a number of ideas have been working their way through my thought processes.  One is the morning and evening routine of opening and closing the chicken coop door.  So an automatic door is on the list. The start of this project will be using a couple of timers and switches, but some sort of [...]

Chicken Killers – Dog Attack

Chicken Killers The Buff Orpington momma hen and two of her ten chicks cruelly killed by someone's dogs. It pretty well goes that if you have chickens, you will have predators. And we have had our share.  Foxes, raccoons, opossums, snakes, and hawks have all been visitors in search of a meal.  We  have owls [...]

November 2017 Egg Production

[show-rjqc id=”16″] Really expected to see a slow down in egg production during November.  Some but not much.  Mostly the four hens from 2016 as they stopped production to take some time off to molt. Also a couple more hens decided to go broody and set on the nest.  Seems to me like it might […]

IP Cameras in the Chicken Coop

Monitoring the chicken coop with a web cam?  Yes, I do.  Several of them in fact. And even send video to live streaming onto YouTube from time to time, like when the hen goes broody and the chicks are about to hatch.  It is a great deal of fun to hear from the granddaughters that [...]

Drama in the Chicken Coop

Finally, Another Broody Hen Our efforts last month to get a hen to go broody met without much success. Buff Yellow, would love to get on the nest full of eggs and sit for hours. About 4 hours. Then she had enough and went about the rest of her day. A few times one of [...]

Baby Chicks – First Day Out with Momma Hen

Baby Chicks - First Day Out with Momma Hen At a week old, the Momma hen got a chance to take the baby chicks on their first outing, and she headed them to section of the garden now covered in weeds and tall grass. One of hens from last year, Sophia Red, came over to [...]

Encouraging Another Broody Hen

Encouraging Another Broody Hen Now that we have had our first successful hatch with a first time broody hen, we got to wondering, can we repeat the process? From reading a number of both online and offline articles on broody hens we learned hens go broody most often in the spring and fall of the [...]

Rooster Time Out

Rooster Time Out Hunter is currently the top of the pecking order for the roosters.  He thinks he is top of the pecking order for everything and everyone else too. Recently, he has been attempting to sneak up behind me, and either challenge or attack me.  Most of the time he just gets close, flaps [...]