Minneapolis - April 1, 2024: A few years ago, I published an article right here at Randy’s Chicken Blog about organic eggs. Specifically, it was about the inadequacy the federal rules governing organic eggs. If you’ve purchased organic eggs, you’ve probably been reassured by that official looking organic sticker announcing that the eggs in the carton in your hands have been vouched for by an agency of the US government. And you’ve probably felt good that you were supporting farmers who raise their hens in a sustainable and humane way. Well, as my previous article pointed out, when it comes to ..read more

I spend a certain amount of time in the coop every day, and I try to keep tabs on every chicken. But sometimes I just miss stuff. For instance, there was the day that my wife, Kathy, on one of her occasional coop visits, asked me “What’s up with Emile’s spur?” Emile the rooster was perched on a roost bar just inside the coop. Normally his spurs are fairly invisible – completely obscured by the dandy feather pantaloons that go all the way down to his feet, in the popular Cochin fashion. But because of the way he was perched, one of his spurs was rakishly exposed. And it was curved—so curved it ..read more

Do you give your chickens a little yogurt as a daily treat, secure in the knowledge that you’re offering them a healthy snack? Or, do you avoid giving your flock yogurt and other dairy because you realize that it’s bad for them? Or, are you stuck in the middle, conflicted about the merits or issues that surround giving dairy to poultry? I hadn’t been keeping chickens very long when I first ran into the hullabaloo swirling around giving yogurt and other dairy products to chickens. Like most folks, I turned to the internet to find information. How did we get along before the internet? The intern ..read more

You are no doubt familiar with chicken math—the logic that your flock is not complete until you get one (or two…or three…or a handful) more chicken(s). Well, at least for me, chicken book math is also a real phenomenon. There’s an apparent infinite number of books about chickens out there. New books continue to get published and I’m continuously discovering older books. And I have to get ‘em—each and every one! As the guy in charge at Randy's Chicken Blog, (um…well…the only guy), I believe it is incumbent upon me to provide you, my readers, with a few insightful recommendations. Worth noting ..read more

Here are the five stages of chicken acquisition, according to me. First. You decide you should maybe get some chickens. Because your neighbor has some, or you’ve read about them, and the idea resonates with you. Having a few hens pecking and clucking around the yard would give your home the bucolic atmosphere that you’ve been yearning for. And all those eggs would provide you with an appreciation of where your food comes from. Second. You begin reading everything you can get your hands on about chickens – you subscribe to a chicken magazine, pick up a dozen or two chicken books, and start foll ..read more

Many readers land on my website because they’re looking for information on health issues or other problems that their flock is experiencing. And that’s not unusual. According to a UC Davis poll of backyard chicken keepers in California, 87% percent of respondents say they use the internet as the main source of information about poultry. The internet is a useful tool. As a chicken blogger, how could I have anything other than a favorable opinion of chicken info online? There are a host of good chicken blogs that are well written, amusing, share good information and have an interesting story to ..read more

Here’s some really good news! A chicken movie is being created right now as you read this! This is no faux chicken movie with a few chickens wandering around in the background. The focus of the movie is chickens!  For a good long while now, I’ve been promoting the idea that the world needs a couple of good chicken movies. Matter of fact, I published a piece a few years ago that suggested just that. That article is still on my page for all to read. It’s called “The World Needs A Couple of Good Chicken Movies.” The premise is right there in the title, right?  Welcome to Chicken City! I ..read more

In Part 1, I searched for chickens in Egypt. I found some. But definitely not in the numbers I was expecting. I also searched for the beginning of chickens in Egypt. Since the written record stretches back thousands of years, I thought that surely somebody would have made note of the first appearance of these cool and interesting birds. I think I managed to track that down as well. I pinned it on the Persian and their arrival in 525 BC. But then I encountered a problem. There are ancient recorded instances of chickens clucking and pecking around Egypt before the Persians arrived. Way before! T ..read more

To imagine Egypt, you must imagine an entire country covered by an immense desert. Jagged mountains of rock and soft, undulating dunes of sand. Then, you must imagine the Nile. That enormous torrent of African water twisting through the desert like a life-bringing vine. You also must imagine the Egyptian people living on the banks of the Nile. An ancient culture rooted in a powerful pharaoh-ruled civilization.  I traveled through Egypt recently. Egypt exceeded everything I had imagined about it. Chicken blogger rides camel (photo: Randy Graham) To imagine Egypt, you must imagine Egyptian ..read more

Minneapolis – April 1, 2023  In 2011, paleontologist Jack Horner, in a TED talk that quickly went viral, announced that he was undertaking a project to genetically engineer chickens into dinosaurs. “When our dino-chicken hatches,” he promised, “it will be our poster-child, or what you might call the poster-chick, for technology, entertainment, and design.” Three years later, in November of 2014 Horner affirmed in a Washington Post interview that the project was underway and discussed progress. He suggested “I’d be really surprised if we don’t have them [dinosaurs] in 10 years.” Those ten ..read more