All Birds

Most people don’t realize how smart chickens are. I’ve enjoyed training my chickens to do fun tricks and show off their talents. Like most animals, chickens respond to a food reward when being trained. They can also work off a clicker, just like a dog. Just think of when you call out as you approach […]

Did you know that chickens are highly intelligent animals that can do amazing tricks? I didn’t know how intelligent chickens were until I moved to my homestead and inherited a little mixed flock of chickens. Soon I began to wonder just what I could teach my chickens to do and how. Is chicken training possible?

When I moved to a homestead of my own, I inherited a semi-blind chicken: a rooster named Cockeye Pete. My chicken could see some shadows, which made him jumpy, but other than that, he was quite blind and utterly helpless, and the other chickens didn’t want much to do with him.  I took pity on

Protecting your chickens from eagles can be difficult. Although eagles are majestic and beautiful, they can be stressful when you have free-range chickens. That’s especially true when they grabbed one of my prize chickens and flap away like a harbinger of death. Several birds of prey in the Northern U.S. are known to predate on

I’ve noticed that among my chickens, intelligence levels vary. Miss Samantha has to be one of the sassiest and kindest chickens I have on my smallholding, but she’s also one of the least smart chickens I own.  She is good with the children and doesn’t mind being pushed around in a stroller occasionally. I don’t

I recently got some chickens for our homestead. Since I preferred healthier eggs, I was adamant that my hens would be free-range chickens. I was excited about the idea of happy chickens and healthy eggs (and, of course, the fact that it would be cheaper to have eggs straight from the hens).  At least, that’s