What’s the new Community Chickens project all about? It’s about sharing the joy of keeping poultry and spreading the knowledge to help people successfully raise chickens, ducks and other fowl.
Cheryl Long, the editor in chief of Mother Earth News, and Hank Will, the editor of our sister publication, Grit, keep flocks of chickens. So do Bryan Welch, the publisher of both magazines, and a few other people around the office. We had several poultry-related products that we planned to test and write about. Then, Hank had a great idea. Why not write about the whole life cycle of chickens (and other poultry) as it’s happening — egg to table — and share the experience with our readers? (Great idea, Hank!)
The Community Chickens website serves as a resource for poultry information. As part of our commitment to poultry enthusiasts everywhere, we will be hatching eggs, trialing incubators, brooding chicks, raising and processing broilers and writing articles and reports that chronicle our efforts every step of the way. Our goal is to get more people raising poultry for food, fun, pest control and profit.
“Community chickens” could mean a lot of things. In some neighborhoods, people take turns caring for the chickens: Someone opens the coop in the morning; another person gathers eggs during the day; someone else may feed chickens. Everyone shares the responsibility — and the eggs. If responsibilities are clearly defined, that’s a great idea for the right group of people. But our project is about bringing information to the community of people who are interested in raising poultry.
