Hi there! I’m Sarah, the Real Simple Mama, and I love chickens. But it’s heartbreaking when one of our feather babies is molting, or has been bullied, or is feather picking. Losing feathers is an annoying, often painful process for our sweet birds. So I’m here to give you some suggestions of how to help your chickens grow feathers back. Read through the article, and check out the YouTube video of the same name, found at the end of the article!
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Chickens can really be the most wonderful pets. They have a fantastic and individual personality, they’re absolutely beautiful, they’re hilarious and sweet and even feed your family! But what happens if the flock harmony turns into a disaster? Get my tips here for how to stop bullying in backyard chicken flocks so that everyone is safe, happy, and healthy.
Continue readingLet’s get right to it: Chickens are dirty. They dig around in the dirt all day and with that comes a certain amount of, well, mess. So bumblefoot happens. It’s sometimes possible to have a non-invasive bumblefoot treatment where you don’t have to cut into your chicken’s foot but can heal the bumblefoot with soaking and topical medications. Read on, and know that I’m here to help!
Continue readingRSM has one of the new chicken coop kits by Aivituvin! Check out the assembled Air27 model, suitable for 1-2 chickens, and see how it measures up. Make sure you look at all our photos and the video tour too!
Continue readingThe winter season is kinda lame. To be honest, I call it the “Season of Waiting” because that’s largely what we do: we wait. Wait for the plants to come alive again, wait for animals to wake up and be active… and if you’re a chicken tender, you’re probably also waiting for eggs! Here’s my winter checklist for backyard chickens (and chicken chores) so that you can be ahead of the game when the weather warms up again.
Continue readingWhen you become a chicken tender, you learn that having a backyard flock is a lot like having feathered kids who poop in the grass: they get hurt, they get sick, and you are their caregiver so it’s on you to take care of them. In the three years of having chickens, I’ve started to build an arsenal of what to have in your chicken medical kit. Here’s what I have, how I use it, and how you can be prepared!
Continue readingI love chickens! And I love plants! But how do you successfully combine the two? No one wants to spend time and money at a nursery only to have their backyard flock consume everything, but we also don’t want our chickens to be in an ugly dirt wasteland (or even worse, get poisoned). In this extensive article, get my suggestions on how to research and pick plants, and keep them in with your chickens! And of course check out the video at the end which shows you what can I plant in my chicken run!
Continue readingAlso add links for food and treats
If you have chickens, you need a chicken journal. I’m a firm believer that you should get a central place to keep all of your flock-related data, expenses, and observations. So I’m here to advocate for chicken journals everywhere, and how to set one up! Hey I’ll even include a free PDF Table of Contents and a video demo!
Continue readingWe have backyard chickens and they’re in a run, or yard, within our backyard. While we don’t anticipate having any crazy predators come through our little San Antonio suburban neighborhood, it’s always a good idea to install bird netting for your chicken run. In this article I’ll break down what bird netting is, why you want to use it, and how we did our install. Enjoy our article and the demo build video at the end!
Continue readingWell how’s that for a niche title, huh? But it’s true – we have backyard chickens, and we adopted a new dog for our family; it took a few weeks of consistent work for us to get her acclimated to our backyard chickens (and them to her!). Here are all of our suggestions of how to introduce a dog to your chickens, including a multi-step video demonstration at the end!
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