Conventional wisdom says you should never keep turkeys and chickens together, because turkeys are susceptible to blackhead, a disease with devastating consequences. However, lots of backyarders raise chickens and turkeys together without a problem, and with some benefits. Here are three good reasons to keep turkeys with chickens, and two reasons not to. Thumbs Up […]
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If you’ve never seen a chicken dust bathing, the sight can give you quite a shock. Lying in the dirt while vigorously twitching its feet and flopping its wings, the chicken first looks like it’s having an uncontrollable fit. Then it lies perfectly still in the hole it just dug, looking like death itself. Go […]
Continue ReadingCrevecoeur Chickens
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Chickens are endlessly fascinating. The more time you spend with them, the more you discover how intensely complex these creatures are. Here are 20 weird and wonderful facts about chickens: If all the chickens on earth were evenly distributed among all the people on earth, each person would have at least 3 chickens. The chicken […]
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Whether or not your chickens experience cold stress in winter depends on a number of factors, including how rapidly the temperature drops, how cold it gets, how long it stays cold and the chickens’ ability to stay dry and out of the wind. A well-feathered bird can be perfectly comfortable at an air temperature of […]
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Chickens have a naturally high body temperature, averaging around 106°F, which allows them to remain active despite cold weather. As the temperature drops, a chicken’s metabolism speeds up to keep the bird warm. At the same time, the flow of blood to a chicken’s legs decreases to minimize the escape of body heat from […]
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Giving chickens to underprivileged women will lift them out of poverty. So says Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is getting a lot of flak from his country’s political elite. But consider this: Chickens were once the savior of poverty-stricken rural Americans, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Wallace (1933-1940). In the 1900s, […]
Continue ReadingClick on the image to enlarge In the United States, approximately 9 billion chickens are raised for their meat each year! About 25,000 family farmers have production contracts with the broiler chicken companies. Approximately 95% of broiler chickens are produced on these farms while only 5% are raised on company-owned farms. The U.S.A. has the […]
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If you spend much time on YouTube, you may remember seeing a massive Brahma rooster strutting his stuff in a video that went viral last year. We received quite a bit of interest in Brahma chickens as a result, so we figured this would be a great opportunity to provide our readers with a little […]
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Named for their trademark fluffy plumage that feels like silk to the touch, Silkie Bantams are among the most beloved ornamental breeds in the world. Their soft, beautiful feathers have made them a popular choice for exhibition birds, but the striking appearance of Silkie Bantams is far from their only virtue. Silkie Bantams have a […]
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