backyard chickens

DIY Roosting Bars for Chickens

If there is one coop upgrade that pays you back every single night, it is a good roosting setup. Chickens want to sleep up off the floor, tucked in with their flock, and they will absolutely judge your carpentry while they do it. A well-built roost helps keep feathers clean, reduces stress at...

Mixing Chicken Breeds in One Backyard Flock

I started chicken keeping with three Rhode Island Reds and the confidence of someone who had never met a bored hen with opinions. Fast forward a dozen years, and my yard is home to a friendly chaos of Orpingtons, Wyandottes, and Ameraucanas. Mixing breeds can be delightful and it can also turn into...

Deep Litter Method for Chicken Coops

The deep litter method sounds a little bit like a chicken keeper dare: “So you are telling me I should not scoop the coop every week?” But when it is set up correctly, deep litter is one of the easiest, least smelly ways to manage bedding in a backyard coop. It relies on a thick, dry carbon layer...

Chicken Coop Ventilation Without Drafts

Coop ventilation is one of those topics that sounds boring right up until you smell the inside of a closed-up winter coop. If your eyes sting when you open the door, or you see condensation on the walls and windows, your chickens are breathing air that is way too wet and way too dirty. Here is the...

Chicken Coop Size Calculator

If you have ever stood in the backyard with a tape measure thinking, “Surely this is enough room for six chickens,” you are in excellent company. I started with three Rhode Island Reds in a coop that was basically a glorified garden shed. It worked… until winter hit, everyone was stuck inside more,...

Predator-Savvy Chicken Breeds for Free-Ranging

Free-ranging is one of the best parts of keeping chickens. Watching a flock spread out like tiny feathered detectives, flipping leaves, debating a worm, then sprint like Olympic athletes when someone sees something suspicious, it is pure backyard entertainment. But free-ranging also puts your birds...

Dual-Purpose Chicken Breeds

If you have ever stood in the feed store staring at the chick bins thinking, “I just want a bird that does both ,” welcome. Dual-purpose breeds are the work boots of the chicken world. They are usually heavier-bodied birds that can put a nice basket of eggs in your kitchen and offer respectable...

How to Choose Healthy Baby Chicks

I still remember my very first chick purchase: three Rhode Island Reds in a little farm store bin, peeping like they had a lot to say about my life choices. I had brought the wrong kind of box, asked approximately 400 nervous questions, and left convinced I had chosen “the good ones” purely because...

Heritage Breeds vs. Hybrid Chickens

When I brought home my first three Rhode Island Reds twelve years ago, I thought “a chicken is a chicken.” I was mostly dreaming about breakfast. Fast forward to today, and I can tell you with a straight face that breed type can change everything, from how many eggs land in the basket to how often...

Best Heat-Tolerant Chicken Breeds for Hot Southern Climates

If you keep chickens where summer feels like you are living inside a warm washcloth, breed choice matters. Heat stress is one of the fastest ways to turn a happy backyard flock into a panting, cranky, egg-laying slump. The good news is that some breeds are simply built for hot Southern climates....

Quiet Chicken Breeds for City Backyards

If you have close neighbors, a small yard, or an HOA that keeps a close eye on the rules, chicken noise matters. The good news is that you do not have to give up fresh eggs just because you share a fence line. Some breeds are naturally more mellow and less chatty, especially when you keep a...

Bantam vs. Standard Chickens

If you have ever stood in the feed store aisle holding a bag of chick starter and thinking, “Do I want tiny chickens or regular ones?” you are in good company. I started out with three Rhode Island Reds because that is what everyone around me seemed to have. Years later, after adding fluffier birds...

The 7 Most Docile and Kid-Friendly Chicken Breeds

If your kids are picturing a chicken they can cuddle like a feathery housecat, I have good news and a tiny reality check. Yes, some breeds are wonderfully gentle and will happily squat to be carried around the yard. But even the sweetest hen is still a chicken. She startles, she flaps, she has...

Top Cold-Hardy Chicken Breeds for Freezing Winters

If your winter forecast looks like a snow globe that someone forgot to put down, breed choice matters. A cold-hardy chicken is basically built like a feathered parka, with a heavier body, dense feathering, and (this is huge) a smaller comb and wattles that are less likely to get frostbitten. I...

10 Backyard Chicken Breeds That Lay Colorful Eggs

If you have ever opened a nesting box and found a surprise teal egg staring back at you, you know the feeling. It is like your hens are leaving you little pastel love notes. I started with plain brown eggs from my Rhode Island Reds, and I still adore them, but the day I added my first Ameraucana,...

About Maggie Harper

Hi, I’m Maggie Harper , and I’m so glad you’re here. Welcome to The Cluck Loom , my little corner of the internet where backyard chickens are taken seriously, but not so seriously that we can’t laugh when a hen steals your shoelace and sprints away like she just won the Olympics. I’m a suburban...