Summary: <br> This Week on Vegetable Gardening<br> In this week's episode, Mike sits down with a good fried to the show, Lisa Steele of <a href="http://fresheggsdaily.com/">Fresh Eggs Daily</a>, to talk about raising chickens and ducks. Lisa will tell you all about how to properly plan for and take care of both chickens and ducks and what are absolute musts if you plan on jumping in for the first time.<br> From there, Lisa will let us know of which feed she uses for her own flock and why, as well as mixing in herbs for healthier birds. She'll give us her tips on coop cleaning, along with her thoughts on roosters and whether or not owning one is right for you.<br> This and so much more, on this week's episode of Vegetable Gardening!<br> In this Episode, Here's What We'll Cover<br> <br> Raising Ducks<br> Raising Chickens<br> Roosters<br> Herbs in your feed<br> Cleaning the coop<br> Predators<br> Dust baths<br> <br> Items Mentioned in this Podcast<br> <br> <a href="http://fresheggsdaily.com/">Fresh Eggs Daily</a> (website/blog)<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/1N9yMfg">Fresh Eggs Daily (book)</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/1N9yNQe">Ducks Eggs Daily (book)</a><br> <a href="http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/chick%20days">Chick Days at Tractor Supply</a><br> <a href="http://www.motherearthnewsfair.com/pennsylvania/">Mother Earth News Fair</a><br> <a href="http://www.countryliving.com/fair/">Country Living Fair</a><br> <br> About this Week's Guest, Lisa Steele<br> With an impressive audience that spans the globe, I am well-recognized as the creative force behind Fresh Eggs Daily®, the most popular destination for natural chicken and duck keeping advice. A fifth-generation chicken keeper who has been around chickens most of my life, I have been raising my own backyard flock since 2009 and sharing my farming adventures on my wildly popular blog and Facebook pages, charming readers and drawing them to Fresh Eggs Daily® in record numbers to help them learn how to keep their flocks safe from predators, how to build strong immune systems, and how to keep them healthy and happy without using antibiotics or other commercial medications.<br> An aspiring herbalist dedicated to raising my own animals as naturally as possible, I offer practical, down-to-earth and time-tested advice for raising chickens using herbs and other holistic preventives and remedies - and show my readers how to have some fun while doing it. In addition to chicken keeping tips, I also share DIY projects for the coop and run using repurposed materials, natural household and personal products, gardening ideas, and recipes using fresh eggs, vegetables and herbs.<br> A sought-after contributor for such publications as Backyard Poultry, Molly Green, Hobby Farm, Urban Farm and Chickens Magazines, as well as Better Homes and Gardens, Grit.com and HGTVGardens.com, I have taken the backyard chicken keeping arena by storm to become the most trusted voice in natural chicken keeping, often interviewed for or quoted in articles. I have appeared on local television as well as P. Allen Smith's radio and television programs and the reality show Coop Dreams on Discovery's Destination America. <br> <br> My husband and I share our small farm in Maine with a menagerie of chickens, ducks, a German Shepherd, a Corgi and a Tuxedo cat. When I'm not tending to my flock or writing, I love to garden, knit, sew, and dabble in canning and bread making.<br> I wrote a book titled <a href="http://amzn.to/WZLv1Q">Fresh Eggs Daily: Raising Happy, Healthy Chickens...Naturally</a> (St. Lynn's Press, 2013) which not only offers basic advice to those just starting out on their backyard chicken journey, but also compiles the best from my blog in the areas of the coop, run, nesting boxes, dust bath area, and more, to guide readers on a more natural path to chicken keeping. I am working hard to bring back methods that had been used for generations, but most
