Have you ever wanted to raise your own quality meat but don’t think you can in a small space? Please know that it can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. We live on 1/5 acre, smack dab in the middle of a little town, and are able to raise our own chickens, turkeys, ducks and… [read more]
Chickens VS. Ducks on The Homestead
Chickens or ducks on the homestead? I have to admit, I am a chicken collector. A friend of mine was looking to rehome about 30 of her hens due to space constraints, and I didn’t even blink an eye when I said, “Sure, bring them over.” Of course, since my wonderful hubby keeps me in… [read more]
Butchering A Chicken-How To Harvest Meat HUMANELY
**Warning: some of the pictures may be graphic and unsuitable for some viewers, as it shows butchering a chicken from start to finish. Full video tutorial at the end as well** Whether it’s home grown meat chickens, or that noisy rooster, a good homesteading skill to have is how to butcher your own chicken. We… [read more]
Keeping Lights On in a Chicken Coop over Winter
To keep our chickens laying all winter long, we do something that many other homesteaders don’t. I’m talking about keeping lights on in a chicken coop over winter. A chicken needs a certain number of daylight hours to lay, and during the winter, they don’t get that. It’s a common question among chicken new chicken… [read more]
Homemade Chicken Feed-Feed Your Chickens Cheaply
Happy chickens make great eggs! Here’s a recipe to make your own feed for smaller flocks, or supplemental scratch for larger flocks. When you have laying chickens, they will need to be fed. The best feed for chickens, of course, is their natural diet of bugs, grass, and worms. Even free range chickens that get to run,… [read more]
Converting a Dog House into a Chicken Coop
Converting a Dog House into a Chicken Coop Here are our sweet Silkie chickens. My daughter has these babies as “show chickens” for 4H. Aren’t they adorable? We had them separate from the other hens since they were show birds, and their coop was just an open box. It did the trick, but we wanted… [read more]
How To Raise Chickens For Meat On The Homestead
Raising chickens for meat, either as broilers or roaster chickens is one way to be assured of the quality of chicken you are feeding your family. Let me show you some tips from what we learned on how to raise chickens for meat. Our family raises 150 meat birds each year, and we will can… [read more]
Moving the Compost Bin into the Chicken Area
We decided to move our compost bin from our garden to our chicken area recently. Before everyone starts giving me all the reasons why it’s not a good idea, let me tell you why we did it. Our chickens are free range. That means they have full control of a fenced in area. Sometimes that… [read more]
How To Get Ready for Chicks
Spring is on the way, and with it, new life on the homesteads. There are a lot of homesteaders that can and will hatch their own chicks, either by incubator or broody hen, and there are those of us without roosters that will be ordering more chicks. Either way you choose to add to your… [read more]
Caring for Your Chickens in the Winter
Chickens are a rather low maintenance animal, in my opinion. Caring for your chickens in the winter doesn’t require much effort, just a little foresight. Chickens need water in the winter. You will want to keep it from freezing as much as possible. My affiliate partner, Amazon, sells these really cool heated waterers that work… [read more]