Whiteley Creek Homestead

Chickens do not handle stress well. It can hinder their growth and adversely affect egg production. Although a chicken's breed factors into its personality, creating and maintaining a calm environment will help to produce mellow chickens with friendly dispositions. It will prevent what I refer to as "Chicken Little" hysteria.

A small cardboard box within a wire cage provides comfort and security until it is time to transition to the larger space that a coop provides then beyond to the big world of the yard and the buckwheat field and the woods thick with fallen autumn leaves. The box mimics a coop where chickens habitually enter at dusk when darkness begins to settle across the landscape. A "roost" created from a small tree branch allows young chickens to practice perching, which is a natural instinct.