Winter Sun Homestead is offering our beginners chicken keeping course, a weekend adventure for anyone interested in learning how to keep their own flock of backyard chickens!

**The next course will run on April 25th and 26th 2026!**

If you are interested in signing up for the course please email us at wintersunhomestead@gmail.com or text 613 639 4409!

In the course we will go over topics such as:

- Chicken breeds
- Hatching eggs and raising chicks
- Housing requirements/types of bedding
- Dealing with predators
- Feeding your chickens
- Winter care
- Keeping roosters
- Butchering chickens
- Ethics

And probably lots more!

The course will be held on our homestead in Griffith Ontario (about 4hrs northeast of Toronto and 2hrs southwest of Ottawa). Due to the remote location it will be an overnight course; we will have multiple riverfront cabins/rooms available for rent at a discounted rate if you would prefer a comfier stay or you are welcome to bring your tent, camper etc and camp out on our land! You are also welcome to stay longer before or after the course days if you just want to enjoy the wilderness a bit more :)

The weekend will also include:

- A homemade dinner & breakfast
- A printed booklet of info
- Optional swimming (or cold plunge depending on the season!) in the Madawaska river
- Optional hiking in the woods during downtime
- A group hike with our small herd of Nigerian Dwarf goats

This weekend is more than just a course, it is a mixture of a farmstay, wilderness retreat and learning experience all in one. After the course material has been covered you are welcome to spend your time as you please – hiking, hanging out by the river, relaxing in your cabin or tent, or spending time with the farm animals!

Please bring:

- Good footwear and clothes for the season
- Sunscreen/bug spray if you like
- Bug protection (head net, lightweight long clothing, light colours are best)
- Food (except for 1 dinner & 1 breakfast)
- Camping gear if needed
- Swimwear if needed
- A notebook (if you are the kind of person who likes to take notes)

A bit about my chicken keeping style so you can decide if this is the right course for you:

- I was vegan for about 10 years before I started raising chickens and so the ethics and morality of keeping animals for food is a big thing for me. I will probably talk about that a lot haha! I care quite a bit about making the animals lives as happy and free as possible.

- We do harvest (kill) extra roosters sometimes but have not yet raised a flock of meat chickens so most of my course information is geared towards laying hens. However I do know a lot about meat chicken breeds/practices too so I will include that in the course!

- I aim for pretty “natural” practices in most of what I do however I am open minded to different approaches and will do my best to share all of the different options I know, not just what I choose to do (in terms of feed, health interventions etc)

Pricing:

2-day Chicken Keeping course Goat hike: $350

Cabin rentals: $50/night for a private room in a shared cabin, $150/night for the whole cabin

Camping: Free!

IMPORTANT NOTE:

We have 2 dogs one of which is a primarily outdoor Livestock Guardian Dog. He is doing a great job and since having him we have had zero chicken losses to predators! However his guardian instincts extend to strangers entering our land. He is a sweetheart once he knows you are a friend but proper introductions are necessary. So please park at the garage across from our driveway and call or text me to let me know you have arrived. I will bring Laz up to meet you away from the house (where his guarding instincts are the strongest) and then you can walk down with us!