Kelly's Country Squawk

This week has been much better than last week's constant predator attacks. Although the chickens have still be hiding from the "unknown predator", they come out of their hiding spots when I'm outside with them. I haven't discovered anymore missing hens, which makes my heart happier! My radio station is still playing music 24/7 for the chickens in the coop. The radio has really helped keep "walking" predators from getting too close to the chicken run. Hearing human voices

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner Everything eats chicken. They taste good and are very easy targets. Since my flock has gotten much larger, I now have a bigger target in my yard for predator attacks. Last week I lost four birds...but there were no bodies left behind and only a few feathers left on the ground. One of my greatest fears might be happening...I might be dealing with a larger predator stealing my birds. During the six years of having chickens, I've gotten used to

Two weeks ago I doubled my flock by purchasing clearance chicks for a $1 a piece at Tractor Supply. Some of my chickens are getting older, and I needed to have younger chickens to keep up with the growing farm-fresh egg demand. Because of the colder temperatures of fall and the very chilly nights, I didn't feel comfortable leaving the chicks inside my baby coop. My baby coop is better for chicks hatched in the spring when the weather is getting warmer. I decided to do reno

This summer I had an overproduction of roosters at my farm. Out of the 40 eggs I incubated, about 20 of them were roosters, 10 were hens, and about 10 of the eggs were duds and didn't hatch. My farm was quickly getting "boy heavy". Roosters are very special to me. They are wonderful protectors, have interesting personalities, and are gorgeous. But, having too many roosters in a flock is dangerous for all the chickens. Too many roosters can mean hens get "overly-mated" an

It's time to start writing again...the kids went back to school today! At a family gathering this weekend, my sweet Uncle Don asked me why he hasn't seen a post from the Squawk in awhile. The simple answer is—I'm in a writing slump. Writer's Block is a true condition, one that I'm suffering from right now. After I applied to more writing contests this spring and summer, I was disheartened when I didn't make the cut for any of them. I decided to put my "pen" down for a bi

Raccoons, the criminals of the woods.... Cute, but deadly to a chicken flock. I've blogged so many times about raccoons this year. After six years of having chickens, the raccoons have finally discovered the location of my coop and have caused all kinds of troubles for my flock this year. My first raccoon break-in happened this winter when that black-eyed bandit discovered how to walk through the chicken door while following a chicken on the chase. The raccoon killed four o

Hello Readers! Happy Summer! Sorry about the long pause! I took a two month break from Kelly's Country Squawk to focus solely on my family and their many special events. So many things happened this spring! My middle son graduated from elementary school in May and is officially a middle school student. We also celebrated my oldest son turning 13 and becoming the coolest teenager ever...I'm one blessed mom! My family and I took a family cruise in the Bahamas and swam wit

With my 60 chickens squawking nonstop around my yard from sunup to sundown every single day, my house definitely sounds like a farm. My hens are like a bunch of fluffy, gossiping ladies constantly chatting about everything from the weather to how cute the rooster looks today. My rooster proudly thinks he is a beautiful pastor with tail-feathers whose job is to loudly preach the good word so the whole world can hear him. The chickens have been teaching me their "language" f

It's still Baby Season at my house! My loud, stinky chicks were placed in their "big girl" coop last week. They are loving the extra space to flap their wings and to take dirt baths in the sun. Every morning, when I open the door to the chicken run, the chicks run as fast as they can to their breakfast. It's so cute! While buying chick food at the Tractor Supply last week, I noticed seven chicks in their metal bird pens were quite a bit larger than the day old chicks.

Several people have been asking me when my next book is coming out....well, my answer is not simple and keeps changing. After the first of the year, I had planned to self-publish one of my stories that's had a special place in my heart for ten years called Bubble Man Pop. It's a story that will be definitely be published in one form or another eventually, but I decided to submit it into a writing contest this spring. Since winning third place in The Detroit Writing Room co

The chickens roosts where the arrow's pointing. Last month I discovered a pile of feathers next to the perching section of the chicken run, but no dead chickens. The next morning, I found a another pile of freshly plucked feathers. This continued for about a week with feather piles accumulating inside the chicken run. Every morning when I fed the girls their breakfast, I discovered more feathers. Some of my girls were developing bald patches on their bodies. A new mystery.

Happy Spring! The girls are so HAPPY it's finally SPRING! Not only have they been free ranging more often, but they have been giving me a healthy dose of eggs....SO MANY EGGS! The kids and I have started delivering eggs to our neighbors again since our 45 laying chickens are giving us about three dozen eggs each day, The Infamous Chicken Limousine Last fall I joked about wanting a chicken limousine for my egg deliveries ( Kelly's Chicken Car for Neighborhood Egg Deliveries

Curious chicks left their warmer to check out the basement. After playing "chicken midwife' for the past three days, The Squawk added 13 hens (hopefully hens!) to the flock. The littles are kept in an enclosed playpen in my basement for the first three weeks until they go outside to my "baby coop". Chicks are kept underneath a warmer until their baby fluff falls out and is replaced with their first set of feathers. Because it's not every day you get to see something being

Every February/March, I get my good ole Nurture Right 360 incubator out onto my kitchen counter and start "cooking" baby chicks. Nineteen days ago I placed 22 of my favorite colored eggs inside the incubator. Although my eggs are laid by mixed breed chickens, most chicks hatched will eventually lay eggs a similar color as their momma hens. My preferred egg color is the light blue and light green color. They look so pretty sitting on the counter of my kitchen! Hatching bab

This week was the first week I bought eggs from the store in five years. Why would I do that when I've get eggs for "free" from my hens? (Free is in quotations because I still have to pay for feed, housing, and bedding. If you asked my husband how "free" our eggs are, he would say they are thousand dollar eggs, haha!) I bought eggs, because I was curious to see the difference between one of my chickens' eggs and the eggs they sell at stores. Here is a picture of the eggs

Michigan schools give their students a midwinter break around the middle of February. Since this winter has been pretty intense with the snow and the cold, our family decided to take a trip to the Kansas City Great Wolf Lodge during the kids' midwinter break...a chance to get away from Michigan for a couple days. We had a blast at Kansas City! Although it's not a huge touristy destination, we still found lots of things to do between the two-state city and it was much war

With 10 inches of snow on the ground for the past month, my husband makes a "chicken trail" between the coop and out house to make it easier for me to carry unfrozen water to the coop throughout the day. Frozen eggs are always a problem this time of year, but has REALLY been a problem with the subzero temperatures Michigan has faced this winter. Straw is key to preventing frozen eggs as well as someone collecting eggs from the nesting boxes on a daily basis. I keep straw ev

Hello! I hope everyone is handling this frigid weather in a warm, cozy place around friendly faces. With all the school closings because of the snow and North Pole type weather, my own family has been getting quite "chummy" being in each other's space since it's been too chilly to go outside. My kids have been moody and annoying each other (and me, haha), so I brought out my 1,000 piece Christmas puzzle. We've been working diligently on it all week. It's amazing how much

Happy New Year to Everyone! Believe it or not, this new year has ALREADY brought about an interesting problem for The Squawk...a new predator. I shouldn't be as shocked when something new or unusual happens inside my chicken coop. I've had chickens for six years now...you would think I would be able to handle uncertain things about my coop including the good, the bad, and the ugly. But three days before Christmas, just after I posted my Christmas blog full of love and ho

Earlier this week, I blogged about a chicken chore I've been putting off for a long time...not trimming my Christmas tree, but trimming the three inch spur off my rooster named Maui. Since I held myself accountable for this task by posting about it, I put Maui at the top of my Christmas priority list this week. My chickens HATE being held. Some of my fellow chicken bloggers have pet chickens in their homes wearing diapers or have chickens riding on their shoulders around th