What's Up Everyone. Please Check out our last post and video about what's been going on in The Serene Forest as far as our chickens are concerned. You can go there by CLICKING HERE

So we have had some predator problems. In the video prior to this, I talk about predator problems while allowing the flock to free range. Ever since those predator problems, I have kept the flock in our run. I thought the security was tight. But apparently it hasn't been tight enough.

We had 4 chicks hatch (5 if you include the compost chick - again watch the video in the link above) and began losing one each night the past few nights. We woke up to one chick gone but no evidence of foul play. The next night another one was taken with no evidence of foul play. I began thinking there must be rats or…

Today's post revolves around a video update about where we are at in our own homesteading journey with chickens. It has been a wild time out here with our chickens. We have dealt with predators, new chicks hatching, and even a surprise hatching that no body would have ever imagined was possible.... at least not us!!!

Check out the video below to learn more about what's been going on in our homestead we call "The Serene Forest". You can also head over to our blog to see our journey as it comes by CLICKING HERE

In this video, I discuss a brief history about our chicken flock after we were flooded by Hurricane Ian. Prior to Ian, we had a flock of several chickens.... I think 7 total??? that we had to rehome since our property was flooded.

Since then, we adopted 8 bantam chickens. 7 hens and 1 rooster.…

Having a food forest and chickens is a huge step towards a successful homestead and self-sufficient lifestyle. Free ranging chickens can be a huge benefit to your soil. Not only do chickens eat insects that could be causing damage to your food crop, but they add nitrogen through their droppings. Free ranging chickens can reduce your need for supplemental feed and help you achieve a closed loop system between the garden and your chickens.

But chickens can also be destructive to the garden on their own. Chickens love to scratch the ground in search of edible critters. While this is a great way to have your garden's soil tilled and weeded, it’s not so great when they scratch underneath your food plants. If you don't replace the soil they scratch out quick enough, you could easily lose plants due to damaged roots. Losing plants can be costly. Especially for high…

After the flooding caused by Hurrican Ian, we had to rehome the hens we adopted when we bought our home in 2020. Our road remained flooded for weeks and we couldn't take care of them anymore. Over a year later, my wife and I were ready to take care of backyard chickens again. We adopted 8 Welsumer Bantams that someone nearby was trying to rehome. We have enjoyed these Bantams and it was my first time every having Bantams.

The Bantams have been fun to watch. Since they are smaller than normal chickens, they can fly much better. I often find our chickens roosting in our enermous Live Oak. They are good tempered. Even the rooster is not aggressive. The only downside is, the eggs are small too.

So, we decided to begin trying to add to the flock to better support our family's consumption of eggs. A friend from…