Table of contents for July - August 2025 in Chickens

Whiting True Blues are not Araucanas, Ameraucanas or Easter Eggers; they’re their own breed named after the poultry geneticist, Tom Whiting, who developed them. Whiting True Blue chickens are the rarest breed when it comes to what chickens lay blue eggs. However, this breed is an excellent egg producer, averaging five-plus pastel blue eggs weekly (280 to 300 eggs annually). The hens of this breed are calm, friendly and inquisitive. Whiting True Blue chickens aren’t aggressive toward humans or other chickens, making them ideal for the novice. They’re also a hardy breed that tolerates summer heat and winter chills. Hens live a respectable 5 to 10 years. Whiting True Blue chickens come in many colors but don’t breed true. Murray McMurray Hatchery describes the hens as “excellent layers and aren’t…

Eggshell quality and the need for adequate levels of calcium in a laying hen’s diet, in order to produce strong shells, is often addressed in poultry books, literature and online circles. What is usually not addressed, however, is the importance of maintaining good bone health in laying hens. As a hen produces eggs, she uses calcium from her daily feed and mineral intake, and she slowly uses calcium from her own skeletal system as well. By the time a hen is laying weak or soft-shelled eggs, she is showing signs of insufficient calcium in her diet and has usually depleted vast reserves of calcium from her own body. Avian skeletons, including those found in chickens and turkeys, are unique and complex. Composed of several types of bony material, a bird’s…

THE MOST FASCINATING COCKEREL I’ve ever encountered strutted about the first day he hatched. He was the scourge of the other cockerel in that hatch, pummeling him into abject submission by the time they were 6 weeks old. The Buff Orpington phenom tried to mate with a hen when he was 8 weeks old. If a pullet rejected his aggressive advances, he viciously pecked her until she submitted. Alas, the avian dynamo never reached his first birthday to officially become a rooster. One day he killed a hen which resulted in the demon cockerel becoming the main course for a Sunday lunch. Frankly, I felt no remorse dispatching him as his daily modus operandi was to sneak attack me from the rear. My wife, Elaine, wouldn’t even enter the door…

This recipe turns a classic take-out dinner into a filling, healthy breakfast. Leftover brown rice is cooked with vegetables and pork sausage, then a generous amount of gently cooked eggs is stirred in. This recipe can easily be modified for new versions. Swap cauliflower for the broccoli, add shredded carrot or use chopped bacon or ham instead of sausage. SERVINGS: 4 to 6 INGREDIENTS • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil• 1 small shallot, finely chopped• 1½ cups chopped broccoli florets• 1 cup sliced red or yellow bell pepper• 1 cup thinly sliced cabbage• ¼ teaspoon salt• 2 cups cooked brown rice• ¼ pound pork sausage, cooked and crumbled• 4 large eggs• 1 to 2 tablespoons soy sauce• 1 scallion, sliced• chopped cilantro for garnish, optional PREPARATION Heat 2 tablespoons of the…

You’ve done the research. You’ve chosen your breeds, and your coop is freshly painted and ready to go. There are egg recipe books stacked high on the kitchen counters, and if you’re anything like me with my first flock of chicks, tiny peeping noises are coming from the tub in your bathroom. So, what comes next? Getting your laying birds off to a healthy start in life sets the stage for how well they’ll lay for years to come. As you’ll soon see, those tiny fluffy chicks grow in a matter of weeks. Their bodies are designed to grow rapidly and reach maturity quickly while still meeting developmental and physical milestones. But as their keeper, their surrogate mother hen, you have a big responsibility to feed those little bodies. Because…

The sweltering, sultry, stifling days of summer are almost upon us, and I am fully in my element. I don’t know about you, but I crave the heat when it’s the dead of winter. Once the summer arrives, I look forward to all the ways to soak the sun — and vitamin D! — deep into my bones before the wind starts to howl and the leaves begin to change again. Like all of us, chickens reap enormous benefits from sunshine, too, but they aren’t too keen on the heat itself: In fact, serious heat can be downright deadly to your feathered friends. It’s not a personal preference on their part; most of our laying breeds are simply not designed to tolerate heat as well as cold, and without proper…

If you’re looking to start or expand your backyard flock but not sure which chicken breeds to are the best, I can help! While I can’t tell you which ones would be the perfect match for your particular situation — more than a dozen factors affecting your decision come to mind off the top of my head — I can share which chicken breeds worked for my family and which ones crashed and burned. The following six comprise part four of my 2025 series honestly recounting my experience rearing these breeds of chicken. AMERAUCANA We added White, Blue and Black Ameraucanas to our farm because of their beautiful baby-blue eggs, the same kind laid by their rarer Araucana cousins. We had read that, like Araucanas, Ameraucanas had reproductive issues due…

Did you know that your chickens are more susceptible to heat than cold? Many chicken-keepers are surprised to learn that their feathered friends struggle more with high temperatures, and it’s no wonder: Chickens naturally run hot, with a body temperature of 105 to 107 degrees. When the thermometer climbs and humidity is added to the mix, their ability to cool down is put to the test, making them vulnerable to heat stress and other health issues. This concern is becoming increasingly important as our planet experiences more extreme heat days. In fact, a recent study by World Weather Attribution and Climate Central researchers, and sourced by the Associated Press, found that climate change has added an average of 41 extra days of dangerous heat worldwide in 2024. Here in Tennessee,…

My story is quite a story but not in the predictable way. Having a farm to call my own was never something I thought would happen. I was from a suburb just outside Detroit, Michigan, and lived there my whole life. I got married in 2016, and we had two beautiful children. We planned on living a quiet, suburban life — pretty typical. In August of 2023, my husband tragically and unexpectedly passed away, and I was left shattered and facing a new chapter in my life as a young widow. I was 33 when he passed. Faced with a decision to raise my children, 5 and 3 years old, in the same area my husband and I were familiar with or do something completely unexpected and new, I knew…