There are many ways backyard hens can die. If you raise them long enough, you’ll see your share. But buff Orpington chickens tend to be survivors. My first clue to their talent for living came when a ...

Luke Fitzgerald smiled as Pot Pie — a two-and-a-half-year-old Buff Orpington chicken — climbed onto his lap inside Baldwin Borough Public Library’s program room. “What are you doing there?” he asked, ...

Shannon Eve with her son Samuel, 7, and daughter Elinor, 13, on May 3 in Kalispell. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake) Shannon Eve carries one of her larger chickens into the garden where she is keeping ...