I’ve been patiently waiting and watching this incubator for 21 days. Twenty one days of turning eggs and waiting for pips. Our experience with hatching chicks had been quiet and non-eventful, until suddenly, everything happened at once. Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Three days ago we were sitting on the couch reading when Nico suddenly got up and…
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A broody hen is one that develops the natural urge to hatch eggs and raise chicks. Here are ways to tell if your chicken is broody and tips to deal with a broody hen. Two weeks after we started eggs in an incubator, one of our hens started showing signs of broodiness. Out of our whole flock, this is the…
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Candling chicken eggs is a way to see if the eggs are fertile and will hatch into baby chicks. Candling is also used to monitor the fertilized egg to see if it has stopped developing. See how our eggs are developing on incubation day 5 and day 7. The candling process works by lighting the interior of an egg so…
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If you are aiming to live a more sustainable life, composting is a great way to make a direct impact. Composting not only keeps organic waste out of the landfill, it returns valuable organic fertilizer to the earth. To gardeners, compost is often called, “black gold” because of the many ways it benefits the garden. Using compost in the garden…
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The great thing about gardening is each year you have the opportunity for a fresh start. Here are tips to analyze your garden failures and plan how to make improvements for next year. No matter how much gardening you have done in your life, it is always a trial and error activity. Each season is a learning experience even for…
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Silkies are a breed of chicken named for its unusual soft, fluffy silky plumage. Silkie chickens have several unique genetic and behavioral traits that make them stand out from other chicken breeds. The Silkie chicken is one of the most popular chicken breeds today. Silkies are a cute, fluffy, small breed chicken with a calm personality. These traits make…
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It was March, chilly and rainy. My husband and I were on our way to a local farm to finally realize my dream of having chickens. We drove for what seemed like forever, convinced we were lost until we passed the tiny farm sign that said “Chicks for Sale.” We turned around and pulled into the drive. There were a…
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There’s no denying it, chickens are very strange creatures. To prove it, we’ve rustled up a dozen weird chicken facts, all about our feathered friends. How much do you know about chickens? With more and more people interested in keeping backyard chickens, it seems only natural to want to know more about this peculiar bird. Did you know that from…
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We said we wouldn’t get attached. We said we wouldn’t name our birds. We’d read in all the books before we brought home those fuzzy babies that if you ever plan to eat your chickens, you can’t name them. We bought dual purpose chickens so that we could use them as meat birds or layers. It took 7 months of…
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