Self-taught farmers confidently raising chickens, ducks, geese, and pigs. Our focus is on practices that are environmentally harmonious and respectful to our livestock. We appreciate the beauty around us, clean eating, fermenting, and responsibly utilizing the bounty of the land. If you like thinking for yourself, continuous learning, and connecting with the homesteader lifestyle, check us out.
Can you identify which is a duck egg and which is a chicken egg? It’s arguably a trick question: there’s one duck egg and two chicken eggs…really. The very small egg is a pullet egg, from a young hen (pullet) who is just beginning to lay. Continue reading “Test Yourself: Egg Identification Quiz”
There’s much debate about the merits of keeping a rooster in a dual-purpose or primarily layer flock. We’ve chosen to keep a flock rooster (and would actually like to have two, if they could get along in the long-term), but have learned some things along the way.
When we first started our flock of chickens, we purchased straight run chicks and ended up two males (out of 18). That’s a ridiculously low proportion of cockerels to hens, but we were tickled. What luck!
Continue reading “The Importance Of Choosing The Right Rooster”
We live in an area that is rife with predators, and have shared stories of losses to owls, foxes, and hawks. We’ve had close calls with loose dogs, too. This is what seems to be the most challenging time of year for protecting our free ranging poultry, so we have to stay on our toes.
Since our property is largely rolling topography, we can only see part of it from indoors (plus an outbuilding partially obscures the view). We keep a couple of sets of binoculars handy to scan the trees for aerial predators, and make a mad dash outside as soon as a hawk is spotted. There have also been strange dogs on our property from time to time; our house dogs alert to the presence of the interlopers and nearly go through the window. Just opening a door has been enough to send the dogs running away. Continue reading “I’m The Livestock Guardian Animal”
You probably know that ducks are very, very messy. One reason is that they love water, and will splash it everywhere. Another is that they have very wet poop, and they do a lot of it.
The Runner/Pekin family (mom and 9 ducklings) have been spending their nights in the larger coop that looks like a bit like a jumbo doghouse. It’s made of an eco-friendly plastic material*, so it can be hosed out when needed…invaluable when you’re housing ducks. With 10 ducks in there all night, it gets messy in there fast. To keep abreast of the rapidly-generated waste, we’ve been using the “deep litter” method, basically adding clean bedding atop the dirty. At some point, it all comes out and you start over. It was time to redo it all. Continue reading “Cleaning Out The Duck Coops”
It’s that time again – this year is coming to its end. We like to look back at the year because you can forget how much you learned and during that period. We also like to recognize our accomplishments, as well as identify needed improvements. We characterize 2016 as our year of learning on the farm.
Chickens
2016 started on a sour note, with about half of our small flock of layers lost to predators. We implemented deterrents and learned about the importance of having a vigilant rooster (or two) to keep watch over the flock. We hatched 4 groups of chicks and learned about integrating new chickens into an existing flock. We processed roosters, treated injuries, and let a (surprise) broody hen hatch some eggs.
Ducks
We started with a small group of Muscovies going into 2016, due to some predator losses. We were thrilled when the ducks began laying, and wanted to expand our flock. Continue reading “Goodbye, 2016…Hello, 2017!”
If you’ve read earlier posts, you know that I make (lots of) kombucha tea. With each batch, a new cellulose pellicle is formed, starting as a thin, cloudy-looking film and growing bigger and thicker with each successive batch. The Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast (SCOBY) isn’t strictly necessary to properly culture a batch, if sufficiently strong tea from a previous batch is added to “inoculate” the brew…but it looks really cool in a jar (scare your friends!).
A few huge discs had formed in my 2.5 gallon kombucha vinegar jar and were taking up too much space, so I pulled the thickest ones out and put them in the refrigerator. They sat in a big bowl for a few days until I remembered them and tossed them out for the chickens and ducks. These things are meaty, rubbery mats, but the chickens will peck them apart without much effort. Sometimes the ducks even get in on the action. Continue reading “Today’s Entertainment: SCOBY Decimation”