Many Cackle Hatchery® customers depend on homegrown chickens to fill their freezers and feed their families. First-timers often have questions about the process. Below are 9 of the most common questions our team answers about raising meat chickens. Which chickens are best for meat? Some people prefer Cornish cross broilers. Others savor the heavyweight heritage […]
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Are you on the fence about whether or not to include a rooster in your flock? Here are 5 reasons to keep a rooster. And, just to confuse you, 5 reasons not to keep a rooster. Reasons to Keep a Rooster Baby Chicks One of the main reasons to keep a rooster is to get […]
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Since you like chickens, you’d love the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Chickens are everywhere. Tourists like to lure them with treats to get close-up photos. Local residents like having the chickens gobble up the island’s numerous native venomous centipedes. But some people complain that feral chickens are a nuisance. Nuisance Chickens The feral chickens of […]
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Chickens have three primary goals in life — to eat, to avoid being eaten, and to make more chickens. Thus, flock necessities involve providing your chickens with everything they need to achieve these goals. Nutrition A chicken’s nutritional needs change, depending on the chicken’s age. Commercially prepared poultry feed therefore is variously formulated for baby […]
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Bantam chickens make perfect starter birds for beginning poultry keepers, especially young ones. Here are 10 reasons why bantams are the best chickens for kids. Bantams Are Small Pint-size bantams rarely weigh more than two pounds. Because of their smaller size and lighter weight, these diminutive chickens can be less intimidating for kids than some […]
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What, exactly, are free-range chickens? According to USDA, free-range chickens must be “allowed access to the outside.” That doesn’t mean they actually have to go outside. They just have to have outdoor access. On the other hand, to many rural chicken keepers, free range means letting the chickens go wherever they wish. That’s a non-starter […]
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Some 75.5 million Americans — or about 30% of the entire population — live in a community governed by a Homeowners Association (HOA), according to the Foundation for Community Association Research. Further, the 365,000 different HOAs each enforce their own set of rules. And not all Homeowners Association rules allow chickens. Chickens and HOAs An […]
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Each fall most chickens go through an annual molt, during which a shiny new set of feathers replaces their previous plumage. During the molt, nutrients used to produce eggs are diverted to producing feathers. As a result, laying slows, or ceases altogether. The best layers molt fast and furious, as if in a hurry to […]
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What’s the difference between a standard chicken versus a bantam chicken? To understand the difference, let’s look at what a standard chicken is and what a bantam is. Standard Chicken The word “standard” when applied to chickens can be confusing. In some contexts it means that the breed has been standardized by the American Poultry […]
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Easter Egger bantam chickens are a smaller version of chickens that originate from a cross between blue-egg laying Ameraucanas and breeds that lay eggs with brown shells. The result is a breeding population of chickens with a variety of conformations and plumage colors, and that lay eggs with a wide range of shell colors. Physical […]
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