Meet your teacher
Hi, I’m Krystal.
I’m the teacher behind Feathered Fundamentals and the builder, gardener, and chief chicken (and goose) wrangler at Roots, Roost & Rafter. I’m easy to spot – I’m usually the one with sawdust in my hair, a plaid jacket on, two geese at my heels, and a massive tumbler of ice water in hand.
Most days, you’ll find me out in the chicken village – checking on birds, collecting eggs, building, fixing, cleaning, rearranging something, or just hanging out. My husband Gary and our son Zack jump in when I need extra hands, but this homestead and these flocks are very much my day-to-day life and my favorite place to be.
Life on the Homestead
When I’m not working with the birds, I’m usually still somewhere nearby – I rarely leave the property.
I spend my non-chicken time gardening, working on graphic and web design projects, planning my next build or village renovation, homeschooling my son, working on storybooks featuring the residents of my little chicken village, or relaxing outside with a cup of coffee while the geese chew on me like I’m a snack.
For someone who’s extremely introverted and would almost always choose staying home over going anywhere else, building a life like this was probably inevitable.
There’s something incredibly grounding about caring for animals and building something with your own hands and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
My Flocks
Right now, I care for 34 chickens (five of them being roosters) and 2 geese.
They live in what I like to call our chicken village – a collection of eleven coops with attached runs and small pasture spaces, each housing small groups of birds. This setup allows me to manage flock dynamics more easily, keep a closer eye on health and behavior, and create a calmer, more balanced environment overall.
And while all of that is absolutely true the real reason there are so many coops is because I couldn’t bring myself to send my hand-raised roosters off to be someone’s dinner.
The bachelor coop I tried so hard to make work failed horribly, so I brought home a bunch of sexed female chicks and teenage pullets with the plan to raise them and eventually give each of the boys hens of their own. Then I built each rooster his own coop.
Of course, that plan also resulted in a surprise rooster from a batch of sexed “female” chicks I brought home from the feed store… which led to yet another coop build for him and some ladies instead of just expanding the flocks I already had.
Turns out, that’s how a village happens.
#ChickenMath
Every coop in the village was built by me, from the ground up. When I started, I knew absolutely nothing about building and I hadn’t made anything out of wood since high school shop class. What started as “I think I can probably figure this out enough to build one coop” turned into eleven coops, each one a little better than the last. I’ve done it so many times that I think I could almost build a coop in my sleep at this point.
Lessons From the Flock
Every bird here has played a role in shaping the way I approach chicken keeping today. Along the way, I’ve had temporary house chickens, navigated major personality clashes that led to bullying, and faced everything from bumblefoot and coccidiosis to frostbite, prolapse, and respiratory infections. I’ve dealt with “failure to thrive,” heart issues, salpingitis, egg issues, various wounds and injuries, rooster conflicts, broody hens, and more.
It’s been a wild ride!
The reality is, the more chickens you have and the longer you keep them, the more likely you are to run into these kinds of challenges, but every one of them has added to my experience and helped me become a better, more confident chicken keeper.
Those lessons are exactly what I bring into Feathered Fundamentals – so you can learn from my experience instead of having to figure it all out the hard way.
What you can expect from me
No fluff – just real, practical guidance based on experience.
I’ll always teach what actually works – not just what sounds good on paper or gets passed around in chicken groups. That means honest, science-backed advice (whenever possible) paired with real-world experience, even when it challenges the status quo, along with realistic expectations and practical solutions you can use in your own flock.
Chickens are a lot of fun to have around, but it’s not all rainbows and sunshine. I make a point to share the hard parts too, so you get the full picture and know what to expect.
My goal isn’t just to teach you, it’s to make sure you feel capable, prepared, and confident doing it yourself.
Why Feathered Fundamentals Exists
Feathered Fundamentals came from years of hands-on experience, figuring things out in real time as challenges came up, consulting with veterinary textbooks, and four years of near constant research and learning.
Chickens, and giving them the best care possible, have become my passion. Honestly, I’m a little obsessed.
I created this workshop to take everything I’ve learned – the lessons, the mistakes, the things I wish I knew sooner, and the obsessive late-night research – and turn it into something practical, approachable, and easy to follow. A clear, realistic starting point that gives you a rock-solid foundation, helps you avoid common mistakes, and teaches you how to truly understand your birds.
This is the workshop I wish I had been able to attend when I first started with chickens. I haven’t come across anything quite like it here in Nova Scotia.
Whether you’re bringing home your first chicks or just want to feel more confident in what you’re doing, my goal is simple: to help you build a healthy, happy flock with less guesswork, more clarity, and a whole lot less overwhelm.
