My first coop cost me $180 and a lot of lessons. The listing swore it housed six hens. In reality I could fit three before it felt packed, and that was being generous. The “predator-proof” door was a little slide bolt a toddler could work, and one night a raccoon proved the point by flipping … Read more
I almost lost a whole flock to a single August afternoon. I’d left for work on a morning that was already warm, and by the time I got home the thermometer on the coop read 104. Three of my hens were flat in the dirt under the run, beaks open, wings held away from their … Read more
The first winter I kept chickens, I got almost everything wrong. I stapled plastic sheeting over every gap to block the wind, clipped a heat lamp to the rafters for the worst nights, and felt pretty good about it. Then one morning in January I found my friendliest hen, a Barred Rock named Pidge, with … Read more