From the category archives:

Keeping chickens

Peace has broken out in the coop

March 12, 2010
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The new chickens seem to have settled in well. in less than a week. That’s the good news. What we’re wondering now, though, is whether the real squabbles will start when they begin to mature.

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The new chickens are settling in

March 9, 2010
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Our new chickens have now been with us for three days, and they’re settling in surprisingly well. The worst of the pecking and squabbling is over. The only thing we need to sort out now is sending them up to roost at bedtime.

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Introducing new chickens to our flock

March 7, 2010
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We are introducing three new chickens to our little home flock. It has led to some fighting as they try and find a place for themselves in the pecking order with the three we already have.

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We’re getting some new chickens

March 5, 2010
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As our chickens start to get a little older and slow down on laying eggs, we’re taken the decision to buy three new birds to add to our flock. We’re picking them up tomorrow, so today is the last day of our current chickens’ blissful ignorance.

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The chickens lay a rubber egg

February 19, 2010
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One of our chickens has laid an egg with a soft shell that did not form properly inside its body. It was very soft and rubbery – so much so that we could safely squeeze it without the malformed shell breaking.

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January 2010 egg count shows how our chickens are declining

February 6, 2010
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Chickens lay fewer eggs as they get older, but how much does production drop off after one year? In our case it seems to be a massive 66% after comparing our January eggs counts for 2009 and 2010.

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The chicken bomb in our garden

January 28, 2010

Seems chickens aren’t just good for laying eggs. The British government spent time and money during the Cold War developing a bomb that would have used them to stop its mechanism from seizing up.

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How cosy is a chicken coop?

January 27, 2010
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By putting a thermometer in the chicken coop we have been able to keep an eye on how cosy it gets in there when the door is closed and they’re all packed in overnight. The answer, it seems, is not that cosy at all.

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Eden Project chicken coops

January 21, 2010
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The Omlet Eglu finally has some serious competiton. The Eden Project is selling its own plastic hen houses made entirely out of recycled plastic. They are the quick, easy and environmentally-friendly way to start keeping chickens.

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A new feeder for the chickens

January 11, 2010
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The chickens love their kitchen scraps, but they make a terrible mess. Like a dog with a rat, if we don’t cut it all up (or send it through the blender) they shake everything they pick up to try and make it smaller.
That’s fine, except that when half of it goes flying off across the [...]

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