DISABLED AND KEEPING CHICKENS TREATING COMMON America's Favorite Poultry Magazine CHICK AILMENTS FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 • VOLUME 16, NUMBER 1 LUNAR NEW YEAR! CHICKENS IN CHINESE MEDICINE RED EGG AND GINGER CELEBRATION MARBLED TEA EGGS RAISING EXOTIC PHEASANTS PLUS PLANTS TOXIC TO CHICKENS $5.99 US backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com contents february/march 2021 08 Editor’s Letter 10 Photo Essay: Mulberry Meadow Farms 14 Something to Crow About 18 Flocks to Follow 20 Ask the Expert Ron Kean and Marissa Ames answer reader questions about their flocks. 26 Flock Photos The best of the best submissions via snail mail and our social sites. 28 Hearty Breakfast Burritos By Hannah McClure 29 Chicken Satay and Pad Thai By Rita Heikenfeld 33 Chicken in Chinese Medicine By Christine Heinrichs 37 35 Red Egg and Ginger Celebration By Cappy Tosetti 37 Marbled Tea Eggs By Cappy Tosetti 40 Raising Exotic Pheasants By Kenny Coogan 44 Medicine is the Best Medicine By Kenny Coogan 48 Plants and Vegetables Toxic to Chickens 48 By Ann Accetta-Scott 51 Flock Files: Plants Toxic to Chickens By Ann Accetta-Scott 52 Treating Common Chick Ailments By Rebecca Sanderson 54 Rookie Chicken Mistakes By Patrice Lewis 56 How Covid-19 Has Affected Chicken Keepers in the UK 40 54 By Susie Kearley Depend on us when their start depends on you. The success of your flock depends on raising pullets the right way. With Pen Pals poultry feed it is proven performance from the Wholesome Choice. BackyardPoultryNutition.com ADM Pen Pals Poultry contents february/march 2021 60 Small is the Next Big Thing By Christine Heinrichs 64 Disabled and Keeping Chickens By Sue Norris 68 Tips for Natural Brooding of Heritage Turkeys By Stacy Benjamin 71 Fixed on Chicks By Mark M. Hall 73 Grains of Truth in Chicken Mythology By Rebecca Krebs 76 Counting Chicks By Laura Garnham 78 Call Ducks By Tove Danovich 80 Breed Profile: Plymouth Rock By Tamsin Cooper 64 83 Coop Inspiration: From Shack to Sanctuary By Chelsea Hansler 86 Backyard Poultry Bookstore 90 Marketplace 92 Coming Events 93 Breeders Directory 95 Classifieds 73 96 Just for Fun 71 Can You Find the Roo? He looks just like the Roo above. If you find him, visit backyardpoultry. iamcountryside.com/giveaways/ find-roo and let us know where you see him! Or mail your entry to P.O. Box 566, Medford,WI 54451. We’ll pick one random winner to receive a Backyard Poultry mug. Enter by 2/12/21. These adorable mugs are new to the Backyard Poultry store. iamcountryside.com/shop/byp-mug 80 NATURAL PRODUCTS FOR HEALTH & VITALITY Promote digestive health and support immunity with essential oils and prebiotics for backyard flocks Add to drinking water Scatter in coop to keep to strengthen immunity it dry and smelling fresh Learn more at GetStrongAnimals.com BACKYARD POULTRY backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com EDITORIAL Marissa Ames, Editor [email protected] Steph Merkle, Content Director [email protected] Editorial Assistants Samantha Ingersoll, Ann Tom from the Publication Designer editor Traci Laurie ADVERTISING Alicia Soper, Advertising Director [email protected] 715-829-7330 common chick maladies,adorable Happy New Call ducks, and how to brood heritage Kelly Weiler Year! turkeys, we’ve got your cuteness factor [email protected] covered. 715-965-1234 ...Wait. A year ago, a new kind of pneumonia Wasn’t that ignited a global pandemic. Covid-19 Backyard Poultry’s Main Coop January 1st? response manifested in toilet paper Marissa Ames Those follow- Backyard Poultry shortages and the panic-buying of P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451 Editor ing the Gregorian chickens. Those breeding, selling, and backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com calendar marked educating worked hard to ensure this New Year’s Day with a countdown, new generation of poultry owners had Subscriptions (U.S. funds): dropping ball, and maybe a designated the necessary tools. Writers Patrice driver. But many Eastern cultures fol- $29.97 for six print issues Lewis, Christine Heinrichs, and Susie $29.97 for digital only low lunar or lunisolar calendars. Kearley report on mistakes, lessons $39.97 for all-access (print + digital) February 12th also starts the new learned, and how life changed for those backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/ all-membership year for China, Korea, Mongolia, Tibet, in the poultry business in 2020. and Vietnam. Burma, Cambodia, Laos, We hope you enjoy this February/ Nepal, Thailand, and parts of India will Or mail to: March 2021 issue of Backyard Poultry. Backyard Poultry Subscriptions celebrate around April 14th. Whether your new year has already P.O Box 1848, Carson City, NV 89702 If you celebrate, or have been invited started or you have yet to celebrate, 970-392-4419 to celebrate, the new year in an Asian we hope it is filled with luck and good tradition, you probably noticed sym- Printed in the U.S.A. fortune. bolism dating back centuries. Here at Backyard Poultry (ISSN 1559-2251, USPS 023-374) is published Backyard Poultry, we hope to honor a bi-monthly by Countryside Publications, at P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451. Periodicals postage paid at Medford, few of these traditions — at least some WI and additional mailing offices. ©2021 Countryside centered around poultry. Publications. Countryside Publications is owned and operated As we revolve from winter to by Fence Post Co. The views presented here do not necessarily P.S. New year, new look! Page through represent those of the editor or publisher. All contents of this springtime, we cannot neglect the new this issue and let us know what you issue of Backyard Poultry are copyrighted by Countryside chicken owners — and new chicks — Publications, 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole think. or in part is prohibited except by permission of the publisher. peeping with joy. With stories about POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to Backyard Poultry Subscriptions, On The Cover P.O. Box 1848, Carson City, NV 89702 A Gold-laced Polish chick, owned and photographed by Lizette Medina. 8 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 | BACKYARD POULTRY NEW PREMIUM LOOK... SAME PREMIUM INGREDIENTS! happyhentreats.com flock community Mulberry Meadow Farms BY CORINNE AND EMILY PHOTOS BY ANDREA VANLAAN Mulberry Meadow Farms is a small hobby farm located in Paw Paw, Michigan, owned and operated by Corinne and partner Emily. Corinne is a veterinary technician and a full-time farm mom, while Emily works full-time for an auto prototype engineering department. UR FARM IS JUST OUTSIDE OF THE CITY, purchase a property. The property was so perfect for us, five sitting on five heavenly acres. Mulberry Meadow acres with three fenced-in pastures and a big ol' barn to top it OFarms didn't always look this way; in fact, our first off. We moved in February 2020 and quickly filled the farm dreams of owning a homestead started back in 2016, smack with all of our dream animals. dab on a city block with only a quarter-acre of property. This included four huge chicken coops to hold the prettiest We had just purchased our first home, and one of my breeds around: Splash Ameraucana, French Black Copper dreams had always been to own a flock of backyard chickens. Marans, Blue/Black/Splash Silkies, and of course Rainbow So, where did we end up in the middle of March in a Michi- Eggers! Soon after our chicken coops' arrival, we received gan snowstorm? Tractor Supply Company, of course … our NPIP certification to legally ship and sell chicks and during CHICK DAYS! We walked in with no intentions of hatching eggs. On top of our beautiful chickens, we also raise starting our backyard flock that soon, but who can resist registered Juliana Mini pigs, Nigerian Dwarf goats, Mini those sweet little hatchling faces? No one — especially not Nubians, and various rabbits. Let's just say our life revolves us. We came home with six chicks, and the rest was history. around our animals, and we wouldn't want it any other way- Tending to our backyard flock gave us serious farm fever, This life chose us, and we are so happy it did. so we saved all of our pennies and made the big jump to Facebook: facebook.com/henshousehomestead | facebook.com/mulberrymeadowminipigs Instagram: @Mulberrymeadowfarms 10 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2021 | BACKYARD POULTRY 1 3 1. Our breeding coops were custom built by a local Michigander; we designed them to hold about 15 standard-sized chickens. They include four nesting boxes and a roosting bar. Emily built the attached runs. 2. Pictured here is Sugar, our one of our black bearded show Silkies. 3. Our barnyard holds much more than just chickens. Pictured here is our “bachelor” pad, which consists of two goats (Hutch and Bear Claw), one Juliana mini pig (Hamlet), and our mated pair of Pilgrim geese (Giselle and Gustavo). Previous page: Silkies are our favorite chicken breed on the farm. Their 2 adorable fluff and calm personalities make for amazing pets. BACKYARDPOULTRY.IAMCOUNTRYSIDE.COM 11 flock community 1. Mulberry Meadow Farms offers day-old chicks, hatching eggs, and assorted grow-outs March through October. Pictured here are a dozen of our “rainbow eggs” freshly collected, getting ready to be shipped to their new farm. 2. Snowy Call ducks are a great addition to any small-scale homestead. Their personalities light up a barnyard and their small size makes for easy keepers. Their eggs are smaller than a standard- sized duck egg, but hold just as much nutrition. 3. Look at the fluff on this one. Big tail, don’t care! 4. Our Splash Ameraucana and French Black Copper Marans pen.