Goose eggs are delicious! Just one egg makes a formidable omelet, although goose eggs are less often used for culinary purposes than for hatching or — because of their large size and thick shells — for creating goose egg craft items such as Christmas ornaments and decorative jewelry boxes. Yet goose eggs may be used […]
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A duck’s legs and feet are made for flying and swimming, not walking. Ducks have structurally weak legs, and the most common affliction of ducks is lameness. A duck may start to limp and eventually go lame for any number of reasons. Injury Ducklings brooded on wire can get a tiny hock caught […]
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Thinking about adding some waterfowl to your flock? Ducks are a great place to start. Many breeds are small, social and easy to handle, and their eggs typically have more protein and healthy fats than chicken eggs. Today we’d like to take a moment to appreciate one of our favorite duck breeds—the Welsh Harlequin. […]
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Keeping chickens in the garden may be picturesque, but chickens can do a lot of damage in a surprisingly short time, especially to freshly planted seeds or tender sprouts. A couple of chickens roaming in a large garden after the plants mature may do little damage, but in a small or newly planted garden just […]
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The Polish chicken breed was not developed in Poland, but in the Netherlands. It was originally intended as a layer of white-shell eggs, but the breed is now considered to be primarily ornamental because of its characteristic puffy head feathers, known as a crest or topknot. The reason these chickens are called Polish has been […]
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Of all the chickens in the world, the Ayam Cemani is one of the most unusual and interesting breeds. These chickens are instantly recognizable thanks to the pitch-black color that covers them from head to toe. This rare coloration is due to a genetic condition called Fibromelanosis that causes hyperpigmentation in the chickens. In fact, […]
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Most eggs sold at the supermarket have white shells. So where do brown eggs and blue eggs come from? The color of the shell is determined by the breed of the hen that laid the egg. Most white eggs sold at the supermarket are laid by Leghorn hens. Many other breeds lay eggs with white […]
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In honor of Mother’s Day, we’d like to take a moment to appreciate the remarkable maternal instincts of mother hens. Although some hens tend to make better mothers than others—Silkies and Orpingtons are widely-regarded as some of the best breeds for hatching—all hens have natural maternal instincts that kick in as soon as their chicks […]
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Chickens do not attract flies. Filth attracts flies. Backyard chickens are confined to an unnatural environment, and problems arise when that environment lacks proper management. An accumulation of moist droppings provides an ideal place for flies to lay eggs and for the eggs to develop into maggots, which in turn make more flies. Droppings can’t […]
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A hen can stop laying eggs for any number of reasons. At the top of the list is the fall molt. As winter approaches, chickens shed their worn feathers and grow a set of new plumage to better keep them warm through cold weather. During the molt, all hens slow down in production, and some […]
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