Detailed instructions on best practices in raising chickens from chicks on up. This video was created for the JustFoodNow initiative in Western Massachusetts which was created to share information about sustainable food in that area.
Tamar Haspel gives a really good walk through of the considerations to make in planning to keep chickens.
Backyard Chickens, Internet Pilot Episode from Sky Sabin on Vimeo.
Danny at Soulsby Farm writes on why chickens are good livestock to raise as well as giving lots of information on how to get started (selecting your breed, finding chicks a good reference book on chickens and how to feed and water them). He’s also posted neat pics of the coop building process and of his flock.
Danny and his family live on a small farm in Hudson, Ohio. He writes “We believe in sustainable farming from organic heirloom seeds and are strongly against GMO’s. We grow everything organically and let our hens free range around the garden (and sometimes the neighbors yard).”
Check him out at his blog The Soulsby Farm: A Very Small Farm.
Find out more about the non-profit he started, Project Garden Share (especially if you’re in that part of Ohio as they’re looking for donated seed, plants and tools) connect individuals in need of food with people who grow gardens.
California seniors Myrna and Earl Fincher are organic market gardeners who dug themselves out of financial hardship through farming.
In the video Earl and Myrna show us around their farm operation: Earl’s unique electrical germination set-up, the seed sowing boards he built out of plywood and wine corks, the bird and bathouses he uses and sells (the couple try to attract birds and bats to eat insects, since they don’t use pesticides on their crops). Myrna also shows us her preserve storeroom. She cans and freezes a wide variety of foods. Earl and Myrna also keep chickens.
Myrna says “People can really take care of themselves if they are willing to do the work.”
The Real Know How 