I’m hoping enough time has passed that I can tell this story without incriminating myself. A few years ago, I inherited a beautifully built chicken coop and three very friendly hens from a friend in my network. This coop was small, just four feet by eight feet, but it...

“You can’t potty train a chicken.” I looked at my friend and fellow chicken owner and questioned what made her say that to me. It was such an obvious fact. To be honest, I have been a bit frustrated with my chickens as of late. Yes, they are laying eggs, but I hate...

Being a chicken mama during the winter months is not glamorous. It is all work and no, or minimal, egg production. I know egg production always drops this time of year, but when I see other chicken mamas thriving, I start to question my skills as a chicken mama. Late...

How to keep unexamined assumptions from limiting your growth I inherited my Icelandic chickens from my chicken coach. When she started growing her flock, she ordered some eggs from an Icelandic chicken breeder and incubated them at her home.  When she gave me some of...

Over the years of raising chickens, I’ve noticed they follow a rhythm that’s oddly reliable. There’s the season of egg abundance, when my hens behave like tiny, feathered overachievers and make me feel like the world’s most competent chicken mama. Then comes “broody...

One of my favorite parts of being a chicken mama is hatching out little peeps. Just to be clear, I don’t hatch them out personally, but I love being a part of the process. Seeing the hens sit so patiently on those eggs for three weeks and then finally hearing the...