Be Your Best During Difficult Conversations
Over the past week, most of the country experienced cold, winter weather. In the Pacific Northwest, we had a storm that impacted the entire region. At our home, it snowed for nearly two days straight, with a snow total of more than 12 inches. The dogs really enjoyed...
My First Encounter with a Rooster
I’d like to preface this story with a reminder that I grew up in the city. I’ve never been around many farm animals, including chickens. So, with this in mind, I’ll tell you about my first encounter with a rooster. When I went over to my chicken coach’s home to get my...
My Costly Mistake Of Not Keeping Score
The week before Christmas I filled my chicken coop with hens and one rooster. I felt pretty good about myself as I was finally on my way to achieving my goal of having free-range eggs on a daily basis. The following afternoon, I went up to visit the chickens and...
And to All, A Good Night!
Reflecting Back As I stood outside my chicken coop this morning, I reflected back on all that has happened in 2020. When the pandemic hit, I had two goals in mind. First, to build a chicken coop and second, to give the gift of humanity to as many people as...
Are you ready to accelerate into 2021?
This is the time of the year when people start thinking about next year. And many of us are really looking forward to putting 2020 in the rearview mirror. I’d venture to say that those of you who did set goals had to either really scramble to...
Another Attempt at Raising Chickens
Over Thanksgiving weekend, I received one hen and four 5-week-old chicks. We put them in the run (which has been secured to keep the chickens from flying out), and the chicks immediately escaped the run through the chain link fence. As we ran...
The Big Chicken Experiment
I saw my former chicken yesterday. She was hanging out with my neighbor’s goats and horses. Seeing her made me reminisce about the times when she would come lay eggs in my beautiful chicken coop. Oh, those were the good ol’ days. So, those of you who are...
Better Than the Pecking Order?
Did you know that chickens can follow a pecking order 136 chickens long? What that means is, through a series of skirmishes (some more violent than others), chickens establish their own governing body within their clan. The strongest chicken, typically a rooster, is...
Are Your Employees Free Range?
For the past few weeks, l've been writing about employee engagement. Although employee engagement has been on the rise for the past few years, 35% engagement isn't a number that we should consider success. My last article described a company that judged productivity...