This edition of the Happy Homestead talks about raising your own laying hens from hatching all the way up to full grown hens ...

Raising chickens in your backyard has become a trend not just for aspiring farmers, but for anyone wanting to be even a little self-sufficient. There's also something meditative about watching hens ...

So, as farmers go about their farming business, here are 10 things you can do to encourage hens to lay their eggs in clean nest boxes. There will be no need to discard dirty eggs again with these ...

"They like to go out of the bright light and go into a nest box to lay their eggs." As we watch, we catch a glimpse of one chicken doing exactly that. A wet, warm egg rolls slowly out of the nest box.

In these cage-free barns, thousands of squawking chickens flap between perches, grabbing food on one level, rolling in dust on another, and laying eggs in the nesting areas.

Chicken in a nest with eggs [iStockphoto] ... So, as farmers go about their farming business, here are 10 things you can do to encourage hens to lay their eggs in clean nest boxes.