Coolest Coops! America's Favorite Poultry Magazine 2021 WINNERS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 • VOLUME 16, NUMBER 4 EMERGENCY CHICKEN ACCOMMODATIONS POTENTIAL COOP DANGERS FOR HUMANS COOP ELEMENTS TO KEEP YOUR FLOCK SAFE PLUS DO CHICKENS HAVE FEELINGS? $5.99 US backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com 6 Chick Minimum Free Shipping Hatching Smiles for Generations. For over a century, McMurray Hatchery has been a trusted, family-owned company dedicated to providing generations of customers with the highest quality poultry. Are you looking for a rainbow of fresh eggs, meat birds to feed your family, or just a few chickens for your backyard? Visit our website for the widest selection of rare and Heritage breeds, low minimums, and the supplies you need. ORDER ONLINE OR REQUEST A FREE CATALOG | MCMURRAYHATCHERY.COM | 800.456.3280 full page ad absorbant #1 contents august/september 2021 08 Editor’s Letter 09 Photo Essay: Five on a Farm 12 Something to Crow About 14 Flocks to Follow 16 Ask the Expert Marissa Ames answers reader questions about their flocks. 22 All Cooped Up: Salpingitis Lacey Hughett profiles flock diseases, prevention, and treatment. 24 Flock Files: Salpingitis By Lacey Hughett 26 Flock Photos The best of the best submissions via snail mail and our social sites. 28 Chicken Shawarma By Rita Heikenfeld 31 Lemon Chicken and Orzo 35 By Hannah McClure 32 Victorian Sponge Cake By Cappy Tosetti 34 Coolest Coops Our annual contest to see who has the best coops out there. 35 Coolest Coops: Editors' Choice/Grand Prize — Chicken Barn 39 Coolest Coops: Facebook Voters' Choice — 48 The Chick Inn 42 Coolest Coops: Instagram Voters' Choice — Pinehill Cottage 44 Coolest Coops: Honorable Mentions 48 Emergency Chicken Accommodations By Tove Danovich 50 Coop Design Elements to Keep Your Flock Safe 28 50 By Stacy Benjamin contents august/september 2021 52 Potential Coop Dangers for Humans By Janet Garman 56 Tips and Tricks for Setting Up Chicken Coops By Ann Accetta-Scott 58 McMurray/APA Flock Inspection By Christine Heinrichs 60 Do Chickens Have Feelings? By Tamsin Cooper 64 Rambo the Rescue Chicken By Evelyn Rose 66 Art of the Feather By Sue Norris 69 Emus are Emusing Part 1: Acquisition By Boo Heisey 74 Marlow Chicken Hotel, England White Langshan: Photo by Susan Trukken By Susie Kearley 58 courtesy of McMurray Hatchery. 76 Secret Life of Poultry: Chickens of Gondor By Lacey Hughett 78 Breed Profile: Dorking By Tamsin Cooper 82 Backyard Poultry Bookstore 86 Marketplace 87 Coming Events 94 Breeders Directory 95 Classifieds 96 Just for Fun 66 74 Can You Or mail your entry to Find the Roo? P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451. He looks just like this Roo. We’ll pick one random winner to If you find him, visit receive a Backyard Poultry mug. backyardpoultry. Enter by 8/7/21. iamcountryside.com/giveaways/ These adorable mugs are new to Our June/July winner is find-roo and let us know where the Backyard Poultry store. Thomas Greninger, Oregon. you see him! iamcountryside.com/shop/byp-mug from the editor backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com EDITORIAL Marissa Ames, Senior Editor [email protected] Steph Merkle, Content Director I’m a Coop can’t beat the cost! We will build the frame from pallets then invest in a few Editorial Assistants Cheapskate Samantha Ingersoll, Ann Tom sheets of OSB siding and a corrugated Maybe it’s metal or fiberglass roof. Then I’ll apply Publication Designer Traci Laurie my humble some custom artwork to make it all rural beginnings; look higher-end than it actually is. Online Course Producer Lacy Armentor maybe it’s my But still, as cheap as I am, I drool current humble over the stunning entries into our Audience Engagement Ana Skemp rural existence. But Coolest Coops contest. The Barn Coop Marissa Ames while I admire all the is so stunning we had to use it on our OPERATIONS spectacular coops we Editor cover, and I love the personal touches Operations Manager feature in every Au- on the Chick Inn. Chad Kuskie gust/September issue, and envy them to In addition to our Coolest Coops win- Customer Service Specialist a certain level, my chickens’ digs aren’t ners, we have some great stories for you Melonie Bryant nearly as luxurious. … on setting up coops, keeping poultry ADVERTISING Right now, we’re collecting pallets to safe in their coops, and keeping humans build the next chicken coop. Have you safe when cleaning the coops. Alicia Soper, Advertising Director seen the price of lumber lately? But wait! There’s more! (There’s [email protected] The weather in Fallon, Nevada always more.) Do chickens have feel- 715-829-7330 doesn’t necessitate insulated coops; we ings? Tamsin Cooper details studies Kelly Weiler barely get to single-digit temperatures, done that determine if chickens are [email protected] and that’s only a couple of days out sentient beings. We have a Secret Life 715-965-1234 of the year. I love those “living roof” of Poultry story about the Chickens of Backyard Poultry’s Main Coop coops but with annual rainfall of five Gondor, an All Cooped Up profile of Backyard Poultry inches per year, I would need a dripline salpingitis and why it’s crucial to treat P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451 just to keep that roof alive. What we the disease promptly, and a Breed backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com need is wind protection: draft-free Profile of the ancient Dorking chicken. Subscriptions (U.S. funds): walls with decent ventilation at the top, Enjoy our Coolest Coops issue! And $29.97 for six print issues secured to the ground so it doesn’t go if you have a coop under construction, $29.97 for digital only flying in the next windstorm. And we even with our crazy lumber prices, $39.97 for all-access (print + digital) need shade. Extra sweet, blessed shade. please considering entering our backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/ all-membership As I write this, my phone rests on my contest next year. We would love to see desk, open to the weather forecast. your poultry palaces! Or mail to: Three straight months of triple-digit May your coops be shady and Backyard Poultry Subscriptions highs. Typical. sheltering, P.O. Box 1690, Greeley, CO 80632 I’ve seen some pretty snazzy coops 970-392-4419 made from pallets, though. And you Printed in the U.S.A. Backyard Poultry (ISSN 1559-2251, USPS 023-374) is published bi-monthly by Countryside Publications, at P.O. Box 566, Medford, WI 54451. Periodicals postage paid at Medford, WI and additional mailing offices. ©2021 Countryside Publications. Countryside Publications is owned and operated by Fence Post Co. The views presented here do not necessarily On The Cover represent those of the editor or publisher. All contents of this issue of Backyard Poultry are copyrighted by Countryside Publications, 2021. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited except by permission of the publisher. Editor’s Choice Winner: Chicken Barn built by Mike Ayres. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); See more Coolest Coops winners on page 34. NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: Send address corrections to Backyard Poultry Subscriptions, P.O. Box 1690, Greeley, CO 80632 8 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2021 | BACKYARD POULTRY flock community FTER OUR SECOND daughter turned three, my Ahusband Tim and I decided we wanted to raise our kids in the country. Five on a Farm We wanted them to be outdoors, enjoy all nature has to offer, and grow up rais- BY SHANNON CREAGER ing animals of their own. We bought our very first home on an acre of our own in northern Arizona. First things first, of course, and it was time to choose our first farm animal. Chickens! Listen, we all know that chickens are the gateway animal to any good farm. We were over the moon excited when we brought our first baby chicks home. The kids loved to help feed them and give them their daily snuggles. We now have a flock of over 20(ish) and far too many roosters, but we love it! I am not sure Tim loves it because I have a new idea weekly for these birds, but I sure appreciate how he humors me. We have two sweet ducks named Rookie and Zippy, and they have the absolute best roommate and secretly our favorite animal on our little farm: a little Kunekune pig named Lulu. It is the most adorable thing to see this trio of unlikely friends on our farm, but they love each other, follow each other around all day, and cuddle up together at night! Besides our animals, we love to gar- den. When we first moved, I had more of a brown thumb, so it has been rewarding to learn how to grow different things and what works and what does not. The kids love to help harvest, and Halloween is always a big hit when they get to carve a bunch of pumpkins that they grow themselves! We love this life we've built and love to share our stories and what we have learned. Our kids are always so involved, and we are so grateful to create these memories with them. We hope to one day own more land and continue to experience all this life has to offer. Thank you for following along and being part of our journey! Follow Shannon Creager on Instagram: @Country_Fried_Tina Paisley sharing her pocket with sweet baby, Rookie. She is most definitely a mama hen to all of the babies on the farm! BACKYARDPOULTRY.IAMCOUNTRYSIDE.COM 9 flock community 1 4 2 5 6 1.