If you are raising chickens or ducks you are bound to come across the term “broody”. Â What does it mean, why does it happen and is it something you need to worry about? Female chickens and ducks (and most of their wild bird relatives, and occasionally even some male birds!) have natural instincts that tell …
If you own chickens, you are familiar with the term “chicken math”. Â At first you are only going to get 3 hens and then before you know it you have 13, not because of accidental chick hatching, but adding new, cool breeds of chickens is addicting! Â Well I can tell you “duck math” is …
My husband and I were just getting ready for a lovely 6 day getaway cruise – just him and I, no kids! Â This is a rare treat for any parent, but for a parent with 4 human children and 23 critter children it is not only an incredibly rare treat but a logistical headache. Â Luckily, …
Before I brought my first ducks home, I was doing some research on the best food to feed them. My local feed store carries several kinds of chicken feed and a “mixed flock” feed, but nothing specifically for water fowl. Way more people keep chickens than they do ducks, so chicken feed is generally …
Ducks are pretty easy animals to add to your farm. Â They don’t need much in terms of shelter – just a secure, safe place to retreat to. Â It can be a sectioned off corner of your barn or you can even house them in your chicken coop if you want to. I gave my ducks …
All I knew about ducklings before we got them was they are super messy. Â That was enough to scare me away for years, but their cute little faces won me over eventually and I thought “how messy could they be?”. Â The answer to that question is very. Â Very, very messy. Even though I like things …
Making a brooder box from a plastic tote is super simple and even someone with limited DIY skills can do it! *UPDATE* when I made this original brooder box, I just used a large bin that I already had. When some mice chewed a hole in it while stored in the shed, I replaced it …
*edited to add – this article was written in 2016 just before we got our first ducks. As we learned more about our duck friends, I’ve add some links to this article to help beginners learn more. Feel free to click around! I am SO excited!  We are only T minus 3 days until ducklings …
