This textbook scenario is the very reason many chickenkeepers give up on a flock of cuddly pet chickens and settle for the usual transactional relationship: food and lodging in exchange for eggs.If this is your experience, I’m here to assure you that it is perfectly possible to transform a standoffish flock into a highly friendly one.

Even if you have no desire for pet chickens, but are a homestead reliant on chickens to sustain your family, it cannot be overstated how valuable it is to have a flock that trusts you.

In the event of injury or illness in the flock, or the need to sell or relocate a chicken, your own sanity and the chicken’s frayed nerves will benefit from a little trust.

Forging a bond with your flock at the chick stage could not be simpler. Like any relationship, you’ll be investing time.

Sit with them in a contained play area where they are free to explore and grow accustomed to your presence.

Pick them up periodically throughout the day. Do so gently, never squeezing or making them feel restricted. If they are distressed, open your hands and allow them to hop out.

Keep your hand firm enough not to drop them, but loose enough that they do not feel you are restraining them. You may want to allow them to stand in your hand and shelter them with the other. This is a good way to not only show the chick that she is safe and in control, but you also begin truly stepping into the role of the mother hen.

If the chicks were to be raised by a hen, the hen would be the place of safety from any dangers and cold. They would gather under her wings, knowing they are completely safe.

By gently placing your hand over them, like a mother’s wing, you are telling them, “I am a safe place”.

This is, of course, the easy part.

But what happens when your flock becomes a group of hormonal teenagers, and they are upgraded to new living arrangements, where they so much enjoy their freedom that they forget all about the lovely bond you so carefully cultivated, only for them to never call or write, and for all intents and purposes, you cease to exist in their lives?

Joking aside, moving house is stressful. And stressed-out chickens will restructure the pecking order in the interest of survival. This usually results in editing out of the ranks the loving chickenkeeper who did not move house with them.

But this does not mean that all of your efforts were in vain. They have not forgotten you, nor your bond. Chickens are highly intelligent and scientifically evidenced to be empathetic and capable of love.

But they will need to be reassured that you are the same place of safety and you aren’t abandoning them.

The day after you move them into the coop, do not become discouraged with their suddenly sittish or aloof behavior. Resist the urge to chase after them. This will be seen as aggressive and result in a knee-jerk flight response.

Chickens are prey animals, so it is vitally important that they feel safe and in control. View it from their perspective.

The ancestors of our backyard flocks grew up in harsh jungle environments with no shelter and very little defense against every creeping thing in the shade of the trees that had the taste for chicken.

Even now, there are many dangers for the backyard flock. While the lucky chickens of Hawaii may have very little to worry about, the dangers in my area include owls, hawks, eagles, weasels, coyotes, neighborhood dogs, foxes, raccoons, possums, skunks, and bears.

They have every reason to lead with mistrust. They can’t afford not to be scanning for danger.

But that makes you especially valuable to them. You can be their safe place. You can be the trusted protector that they rely on.

The key to showing them that you are not out to harm them is to establish yourself as a non-aggressive mainstay of their environment, and avoid any behaviors that their predators would do, such as chasing and squeezing them.

If you need to quickly gather up your chickens, do not chase them, and keep your emotions even. If you are stressed, they will be too.

The following information is applicable regardless of whether the birds you are hoping to establish a friendly relationship with are hormonal pullets you raised or full-grown chickens that you have adopted.

Spend time in the run with them, or in the yard where they free range. Be a safe, calm fixture in their environment.

Rather than simply throwing their chicken feed to them, maybe strew some enticing snacks around where you are sitting. Chickens are highly food-motivated, so they will probably be willing to get closer to you, but don’t interact with them at first.

Show them that you are safe and you are not out to eat them. Over time, the boldest of the birds will likely dare to jump into your lap. And once one has broken the ice, the queens of FOMO that chickens are, the others will follow. Just give it time.

Especially skittish birds may require more time to decide you are safe. This is okay, give them time. Give them patience. Bonds are not formed in an instant.

Pick your chickens up periodically over time. If a hen does not feel she is held securely, she may squirm. Try holding her in a different way that makes her feel safe and secure. If a hen is reluctant to be picked up, what you learned about holding baby chicks applies to grown hens. Allow her to stand in your lap and hold her with a relaxed grip that she understands she has the full ability to leave if she chooses. Over time, your flock will be running up to you, not just for treats, but for hugs.

That is all to say, the secret to cuddly chickens is, unsurprisingly, trust. Trust: the cornerstone of any healthy relationship.

With that in mind, even if your strategy for establishing it differs, you can reach a great bond with your flock. Remember to consider how a chicken would view your behaviors and be patient with them as they weigh you against their instinctual scrutiny.

Chickens are, in my mind, some of the finest pets available, and I firmly believe that everyone, everywhere should be able to keep chickens, and maybe someday, it could be a reality. Whether you want to keep chickens for your homesteading needs or you just want a delightful flock of birds for pets, chickens are up for the task.

The post The Secret to Cuddly Chickens appeared first on Homestead.org.

Because they do not need much space they are a perfect opportunity for urban homesteaders. Cages can be kept in the garage or in the backyard. The small space you are working with will require extra attention to cleanliness. Cages will need to be cleaned daily and sanitized weekly. Apartment homesteaders will be limited to the space on their porch or balcony, but they can also enjoy the many benefits of raising rabbits.

Homesteads with small children are the perfect place for rabbits. Rabbits are gentle if handled regularly and most rabbit husbandry chores can be performed by children. If they are too small to complete the chore on their own, they certainly can assist.

Before you purchase your rabbits you need to be clear on what you plan to do with them. Although there are breeds that crossover, there are specific rabbit breeds for meat and fiber, as well as show breeds.

Meat Rabbit Breeds

The best meat breeds are New Zealand White, Giant Chinchillas, Californians, and Champagne D’Argent. New Zealand Whites reach an average market weight of 10 pounds and they are known for the high quality of their meat. Giant Chinchillas reach a market weight of 12 pounds and their meat is rated excellent. They are a crossover breed, prized for their pelts as well as their meat. Californians are also rated excellent, as are Champagne D’Argent, who are also raised for their fur.

You can get creative with the type of shelter you provide as you meet three requirements. First, the hutch should be easy to clean. Second, the shelter should receive plenty of air flow. Finally, provide ¾ square foot per pound of rabbit (mature weight).

Wood hutches are fine but do not last as long as wire cages. Rabbits will chew on the wood and the constant urine causes the wood to decompose fairly quickly. Wire hutches with a pull-out tray make stacking and cleaning easier. Cages should be located in a shady area that receives plenty of air circulation.

In addition to shelter cages, a rabbit tractor or movable pen is advisable. Allowing rabbits to pasture-feed decreases food costs, allows rabbits to act more like rabbits, and provides tastier, more nutritious meat. Your rabbit run needs to keep rabbits in and predators out. It also needs to be in an area that has plenty of shade.

Feed rabbits their portion of commercial feed in late afternoon or early evening. Make certain your rabbits have access to salt and fresh water every day. Urban homesteaders will find themselves more reliant on commercial feed since their access to pasture is limited.

One of the benefits of raising rabbits is they are prolific breeders. You will never be without rabbits unless you take steps to stop breeding them. Medium and large rabbit breeds are ready to breed at just six months of age. Giant breeds are not ready to breed until they are a year old.

Once your rabbits reach the appropriate age for breeding, take the doe to the buck’s cage. The doe is very territorial and will defend her territory instead of breeding if you take the buck to her cage. If mating doesn’t happen after 10 minutes, return the doe to her cage and try again the following day.

After mating occurs, return her to her hutch. Fill out the hutch card, including when the doe should kindle. The gestation period is 28-35 days, usually occurring on day 31. You can breed the same doe every 90 days.

Once the doe approaches her kindling date, place a nesting box in her cage. Fill the box with hay or other nesting material and keep the doe in her personal cage instead of allowing her to go out to pasture. Slightly increase the amount of food you offer her until you notice she isn’t eating very much. That is a sign she is soon to go into labor. Provide constant access to fresh water.

Meat rabbits can be harvested as fryers at three months of age, weighing between 1 ½ – 3 ½ pounds. Roasters are older rabbits, harvested at 8 months of age. When harvesting your rabbits keep the pelts as whole as possible. Tanning rabbit hides is a relatively simple process and can double the profit made from each rabbit.

Raise Fiber Rabbits

If you want to raise rabbits but do not want to harvest them for meat, you can raise fiber rabbits. Natural fibers are very popular and can make you a handsome profit without harming your rabbits. You can sell the wool as is, washed, carded or spun. The more value you add to the fiber, the more profit you will see.

The four popular fiber breeds are English Angora, French Angora, Giant Angora, and Satin Angora. The English Angora is a small breed, weighing between 5-7.5 pounds. The wool is extremely soft and it can be white or colored. The French Angora rabbits are slightly larger, weighing between 7-10 pounds. Their wool is slightly coarser than the wool of English Angoras, but still very desirable. The Giant Angora is a 9-10 pound rabbit with white fiber. The fiber on the Satin Angora is white or colored and has a beautiful sheen.
Angora wool is obtained by pulling the loose hair from the mature coat. It does not hurt the rabbit.

Although rabbit farming is relatively simple, there are seasonal chores that must be done in addition to the daily care you give your rabbits.

Winter is when you need to increase their caloric intake. They need it to keep themselves warm. Make sure their water does not freeze. Rabbits will refuse to eat if they do not have access to drinking water. Add extra straw to their bedding. If you live in an area that experiences freezes, stop breeding the rabbits. If you do not experience freezes and you want to continue breeding, provide an artificial light source.

In early spring, check and repair the rabbit tractor or rabbit runs before you send them out to pasture. Make any repairs on their overnight cage shelters.

Summer is the most important time to make sure your rabbits have constant access to shade and cool water. Source your hay for the winter and breed does for the final kindling of the year.

Autumn is the time to repair or replace any equipment before winter arrives. Plant your clover and perennial rye plots. Winterize the rabbit housing and make sure your records up to date.

When it comes to making money from your rabbits it is never too early to start marketing. Begin talking to customers, both in person and online, to gauge their interest. For a niche product such as rabbit it is a good idea to set up a Facebook page and target your local market. Diversify your product offerings as much as possible and be specific in your advertising.

Your best markets for processed rabbit are private chefs and local, high-end restaurants. You can also add rabbit as an option in your CSA packages. You are more than likely prohibited from selling processed rabbit at the farmers market, but you can advertise and direct your customers to come to your farm to pick up their order. The price of a dressed rabbit starts at $10.00.

Harvesting rabbits for meat automatically provides you with two more products. If you have kept the pelts intact, tan them and sell them at craft fairs, Pow-wows, and Renaissance fairs. You can sell the pelts as is or make your own blanket, fur-lined mittens, or other value-added items. A tanned pelt costs $10.00. This doubles the profit from one meat rabbit.

If you remove the bones when processing meat rabbits, wash and dry them. When the bones are completely dried out grind them into bone meal and sell to gardeners.

Gardeners will also line up to purchase rabbit manure. It is an excellent fertilizer that can be put directly in the garden without any chance of burning the plants.

If you are operating a no-kill rabbit farm you can sell breeding trios – one male and two females. Add value by building and selling rabbit hutches with your trios.

Angora wool is a high-priced commodity and an excellent option for the no-kill rabbit farm. Processed angora wool sells for up to $95.00 a pound. Whether you breed fiber rabbits or meat rabbits, hosting a hands-on workshop is another way to profit from your rabbits. Remember, someone wants to know what you know.

Small-scale rabbit farming is a relatively simple process that has remarkable income potential. Start small and increase the size of your warren as you grow more confident.

Pick the Perfect Poultry for Your Homestead: A Beginner’s Guide

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Anyone who finds themselves living in the country for more than a few days will discover this statement to be true.  In nature, as witnessed by living close to it, there’s a right—or optimal, at least—time for every task or adventure.  A time to plant and harvest crops, or to trim trees, to dig ponds, to pick mushrooms, or to go fishing.  Likewise, spend any amount of time outdoors, and you’ll realize there are seasons of the year or hours of the day when animals are more active than other times.

For instance, spring is the time to watch for wild turkeys because the North American wild turkey mates in early spring.  Most of the year, turkeys are elusive and tend to hang out with their own sub-groups.  Mature males (called gobblers or Toms) tend to hang with other males, while females (known as hens) can often be found keeping with other females and any young.  Immature males (called jakes) move in groups with their other immature buddies.  But for a few weeks each year—starting in about early April and running through mid-May—both males and females can be heard and seen calling, strutting, and posturing for the attention of the opposite sex.  It’s a great time to peer into the world of an animal often all but unseen the rest of the year.

The North American Wild Turkey is a close relative of the species of domestic turkey often seen picking and strutting around rural homesteads.  Oftentimes, domestic birds are white and grow quite large.  Wild turkeys are usually dark in color, covered in dark brown or black feathers that sometimes have a copper glisten in the sunlight.  The coloration works amazingly well at letting the big birds blend almost mystically into their surroundings and slip away undetected.  Anyone who spends a lot of time in the woods has likely seen anywhere from one to a half-dozen mature birds seemingly appear out of nowhere as they catch a glimpse of movement and look closer to find a small number of birds spreading out and working their way across a hillside or up an old abandoned roadway.  Also, you can be watching those birds and look away for a moment, or blink, and then look back and, if the birds have stopped to pick a bug or seed, they’ll seem to have melted into the backdrop —until they begin to walk again.

Gobblers will usually have a reddish colored neck and head.   They’ll also often have red “wattles”, dangling folds of skin that protrude from just beneath the beak and down the front of the upper neck.  In honesty, if you envisioned “magnificent” or “majestic”, well, a wild turkey probably wouldn’t come to mind.

Depending on where you live, but especially in the eastern half of the United States, you can spot small to large flocks of wild turkeys picking bugs and seeds in fields and wooded field edges throughout the year.  Odds are that what you’ll see most often will be hens with their young, or sometimes small flocks of jakes.  Human teenagers tend to hang out in groups… and the same holds true for teenager turkeys.  A lot of wild animals feed twice a day, just after sunup and just before sunset.  That’s when you’re most likely to see these groups of hens or jakes wander out of the woods and into fields.

Turkeys usually feed as they meander along, picking and stopping to look around.  While they can fly short distances, their best defense is staying alert.  Sometimes birds will find an area where the grass is sparse—often a tractor lane around a field edge—and squat down to rest their underside in the dirt and flap their wings, pitching dust up onto their backs.  The dusting helps keep down annoying bugs while also providing a cooling effect.

Okay, we’ve established that spring turkeys are unique birds to watch in the first part of the year, but not only are they more visible now, but they’re more vocal as well.  Much of the year, you might spot a few birds feeding in a field or sneaking through the woods, but you’ll rarely hear anything from them; that’s not the case in the springtime.

Turkeys have their own language.  They gobble and cluck; cutt and purr; putt and cackle; even kee-kee and whine on occasion.  While I’m not some kind of turkey whisperer, I know that centuries of observation and decades of dedicated research have revealed a little about what some of those vocalizations mean.  With spring turkeys, it’s usually all about love talk.  Here’s my best Dr. Joyce Brothers or Dr. Phil interpretation of what’s being said:

First, turkeys roost in trees at night.  When sunup comes, they awake and start looking for the first mate of the day.  A male will stretch its ol’ neck out and give a good hearty gobble.  The goal is to let the ladies (the hens) within hearing range know that the man of the woods is awake and ready for some action.  Ironically, an eager gobbler can be “triggered” into gobbling by the hoot of an owl, the bark of a dog, the gobbling of another male, or even the slamming of a truck door.  Turkey hunters will often use artificial calls, operated by the mouth or a rubber bellows, to help locate roosting gobblers during early morning hours.

Hens will make constant noise as they go about their daily life.  Listen closely, and you can hear them cluck and cackle.  Sometimes, while feeding, they’ll purr, kee-kee, or make a small whining noise.  When a male gobbles—which can be heard from a mile or more away—females in the neighborhood will often yelp in reply.  This is yet another kind of locator call.  As with humans, the males tend to do most of the pursuing of the opposite sex.  Willing females will yelp to let the eager man know they’re willing to “hook up”, but it’s up to him to close the gap and seal the deal.

So, the male will hear the female’s reply and often set out in her direction.  As said before, the sounds of turkeys can carry for hundreds of yards or more.  If the male hasn’t already flown down from the roost, which can create an impressive racket on its own, he’ll quickly pick out a flight path and find his way to the ground.  Likely, he’ll gobble again, just to make sure he’s still connected and can hone in on his new girlfriend now that he’s firmly on terra firma.  She’ll usually reply with more yelps.  Over the next few minutes, which can seem like an eternity to the casual bystander, the gobbler (sometimes accompanied by a friend or two, or a small team of jakes eager to get in the game) will work his way toward the gentle replies of the female.

This is where hunters, and even photographers, gain a strategic advantage in the spring.  The goal is to be able to sound like a love-starved female bird and be able to draw a male to within range of rifle or camera.  The same actions that make turkeys easy prey can make them entertaining to observe.

Now, this is where the real dance begins; for me, the show starts from the vantage point out the kitchen window or from the lawn chair in the backyard.  When the gobbler closes the gap of 50 yards or so he’ll sometimes begin calling more aggressively.  As the female all but ignores him completely, the big fellow will start to try getting her attention in other ways.  One tactic is to utilize an air sack in his chest to make a spitting noise by quickly expelling air in a quick burst.  Or maybe he will make a low-pitched drawn-out growl, called “drumming”.  At the same time, he’ll tense up, tuck his head and neck back into his chest, and plump up his body feathers.  He’ll fan out his tail feathers in a display that makes him look much larger and more impressive.

The big bird will strut around in half circles and back and forth, drumming and spitting in an effort to show his dominance and need for attention.  Sometimes he’ll break out of the strut and stretch his neck out and stick his head way ahead of his body and let go with a big, “Goobbbllllleeeee”.  Then he’ll return to his strut position and go back to drumming, spitting, and doing the dance.  As long as the intended female stays attentive, he’ll eventually ease his way closer until he jumps on for some action.  The whole scene can get pretty graphic for the first-time witness.

A little earlier we talked about the looks of the gobblers versus hens.  Young males will also look different than either mature males or females.   The loose, wrinkly flesh on a male’s head and neck can range anywhere from blue in color to blood red depending on his mood and temperament at the moment.  He also has a fleshy flap of skin that protrudes above his beak called a “snood”.  When the big guy gets worked up—angry or otherwise—the snood, and other fleshy wads of skin called “caruncles”, can fill with blood and change colors.  He has a couple other characteristics that tend to identify him as a man.  Males usually grow beards from their upper chest.  Juvenile birds will have shorter beards, while old males may have as many as three going at a time.

Another way to identify a mature gobbler from a jake is the tail feathers.  A youngster will have longer tail feathers showing when he fans them out to strut, and the feathers on either side of the fan may not extend to a point parallel to the ground or beyond.  Mature males will have a full tail fan of feathers of nearly equal length—a sure sign of maturity.  One more thing: while all turkeys have three long toes extending forward and a short one facing to the rear, males will also have a fifth growth extending from the back of each leg.  These “spurs” aid if fighting, and their length, along with the length of the beard, are bragging rights for hunters who harvest wild birds for dinner.

As with most creatures, there are occasional anomalies.  Like you might find at a circus sideshow, in the turkey world, there’ll be the occasional bearded lady.  In some sub-species of the birds as many as 20 to 25 percent of females will sport beards.  And occasionally a female will make “gobble” calls, and males will “cutt” and “purr”.

Wild turkeys can range upward of 30 pounds, but in most areas of the Midwest and southern United States a 25-plus-pound gobbler is considered a great bird.  Hens will run smaller, generally, and jakes will put on mass as they mature to “gobbler” status.  All turkeys are capable of flight, but usually in short bursts.  Limiting air travel to a couple tenths of a mile at a time, at most, the awkward-looking birds can reach speeds in excess of 50 miles per hour.  Most of the time, they’ll only fly while moving from the ground to a tree limb and back for roosting at night.

Do you think you have turkeys roosting on your property but can’t get close enough to check them out?  Look beneath the tree canopy for turkey manure.  Large, long droppings that are white, brown, or black in color indicate turkeys are using the trees overnight.  If some of those droppings are shaped like the letter “J”, then you have proof you have at least one male in the crowd.

And what are those birds eating as they pick their way through the back-40 acres?  Most likely, they’re foraging for seeds, berries, insects, or worms.  They’ll also enjoy the occasional small lizard or snake.  In the woods, they often munch on acorns, hickory nuts, berries, pinyon pine nuts, and other hard mast.  Sometimes they even eat grass.  Talk about a varied diet.

The list of enemies for wild turkeys is long.  Most adult birds fall prey to coyotes, domestic dogs, foxes, or large cats (bobcats, cougars, et cetera).  Young birds and eggs are dining fodder for everything from snakes to rodents to raccoons and opossums.   From the air, they must be on guard against owls and eagles.   On the ground the list also includes skunks, groundhogs, and… humans.  Hunters account for a small percentage of life lost; the most decline comes from humans encroaching on good nesting and ranging habitat.   That doesn’t mean humans and turkeys can’t share the country life.  They’ve cohabitated for all of history, and watching birds come up into the yard to feed is great entertainment, especially this time of year.

The post Spring Turkeys appeared first on Homestead.org.

Learning to coexist with the natives of nature can often be one of the more rewarding parts of rural living.  An early summer morning with that first cup of coffee out on the porch can become a concert when turkey gobblers begin sounding off from their perches in trees where they roosted overnight.  Nothing on the television can compare to watching out the window on a snowy winter day as a wily fox makes his way along the fencerow in search of an unsuspecting rabbit or rodent.  And who doesn’t like watching deer feeding in clearings just before dark?

But surrounding yourself with entertaining nature doesn’t necessarily happen automatically.  When humans make inroads into rural areas they can often nudge wildlife along deeper into the woods or to the next ridge or valley over.  But there are simple things a rural landowner can do to encourage wild animals to stay close and to even attract wildlife to your property.  Just as city dwellers will build bird-feeding “shrines”, squirrel perches or koi ponds to have a touch of nature close, living in and near nature the rural homesteader can plant wild animal food plots, create mineral licks, and build water sources to keep their wild neighbors within viewing range.

Just as a property owner wants to maintain healthy woodlots and streams, maintaining a healthy animal population is important as well.  Creating food, water, and mineral sources for wildlife is neither expensive nor exceptionally difficult.  First, it’s important to have a very basic understanding of how animals live and eat.  Then you simply choose the right locations on your property and set about creating some habitat enhancers.

Before you start it’s important to realize that, unlike suburban bird feeders, food and water sources for larger animals will not be located in your yard.  In fact, they can be a hundred yards or more from your house or outbuildings.  Animals such as turkey, deer, foxes, and smaller game will range a couple miles or more.  Still, providing food and water sources will help hold more animals on your land, which equals more viewing opportunities.

Understanding the Animals

The goal is to attract wildlife to your property.  There are a few basic steps you can take which will benefit a wide assortment of creatures.  For instance, having deer passing through or living on your land will mean they’ll leave behind antlers each winter when the bucks shed their headgear.  Discarded antlers contain calcium, which will be eaten by squirrels and other small creatures for the mineral content.  Minerals found in man-made mineral licks you place on your property will be utilized by deer to grow larger and stronger bone and antlers, and by turkeys to develop stronger eggshells and healthier poults.  More wild turkey, quail, and other poults of ground-nesting birds will mean necessary food for foxes.  Plants grown in small food plots will increase the rabbit population, which will also benefit foxes relying on rodents and other small furbearers for food.

For years we’ve maintained food plots and mineral licks throughout our farm.  Periodically throughout the year, we set up a game camera—a weatherproof digital camera triggered by movement—near the food plots to see what is stirring.  It’s common to capture snapshots of any combination of songbirds, hawks, crows, quail, squirrels, opossums, rabbits, raccoons, foxes, turkeys, and deer feeding together at the same time from the same feeder, plantings, or mineral lick.  To keep it simple, the best bet is to stock feeders or plant greenery, which will benefit a variety of animals.  Likewise, all animals can benefit from a year-round water source.

Turkeys breed around March or April and lay a clutch of eggs that will hatch in about 28 days.  Deer will mate in the fall and, following a 180 to 200 day gestation period, will give birth in May or June.  Squirrels and many other small furbearers mate in late winter or early spring and give birth a month or two later.  All animals can benefit from proper nutrition both during the gestation cycle and when raising newborns.

Spring and early summer can be considered the most critical time for deer.  It’s during these months that bucks are sprouting and growing new antlers.  Unlike cattle, which grow horns and keep the same set for a lifetime, antlered deer grow a new set of headgear each summer and shed the antlers in mid-winter.  Think about growing a new set of arms or legs and how that might tax your body.  Growing two sizable antlers in a matter of months can require lots of extra nutrition and minerals.  At the same time, female deer, or does, impregnated in November or December will be completing their gestation period.  If growing new antlers can rob you of nutrition, try growing an entirely new animal … or maybe even twins or triplets.  And bucks can lose up to 25 percent of their body mass between January and April.

Where and How to Attract Wildlife to Your Property

I manage my family’s hunting property.  It consists of 78 acres that were once my grandfather’s working cattle and hay farm in the Missouri Ozarks.  At his passing a dozen years ago, the property had about 50 acres of fields and 28 acres of woodlots.  We cut and sell about 30 acres of hay each year now, with the rest rapidly diverting back to woods.  I started off by putting up some homemade grain feeders.  These are simple and cheap to make, and I’ll give the directions for making one a little later.  The feeders, which cost about $5 to $8 a piece to make, can benefit a wide variety of animals.  They are attached to a tree using wire, twine, or a bungee cord, and can be installed and removed with no damage to the tree.

My next move was to plant two food plots several years ago.  Now I’m working on a couple more.  With each food plot, I create I also start a mineral lick nearby.  A mineral lick is every bit as important as a food plot, and I’ll explain why shortly.  When choosing a site for a feeder, food plot, or mineral lick, I make sure my habitat enhancers are located near established travel lanes and plenty of escape cover. This makes the animal feel safer when dining at your food stop.  If you’ve lived on or visited your property very much, chances are you’ve seen animals coming and going. Look closer and you’ll find travel paths that often lead between feeding and bedding areas. A water source nearby is a definite plus, and one can be created for cheap.

Make a Homemade Wildlife Feeder to Attract Wildlife to Your Property

The simplest way to help feed wild animals is with homemade feeders.  A basic wildlife feeder can be made with plastic sewer pipe and fittings from the nearest hardware store or lumber yard.  It requires only a handsaw or some type of sharp utility knife.  Gluing the pieces together is optional but suggested.  Painting the feeder will help it blend into the surroundings, but the animals really don’t seem to care if you leave it white as it comes from the store.

You’ll use this type of wildlife feeder to distribute whole, cracked or crimped corn, chicken scratch, oats, birdseed, or a combination of feeds.  I tend to use a mixture of cracked corn and oats.  Birds tend to prefer the cracked corn, and if you use whole corn kernels the squirrels will simply gnaw a hole into a kernel and eat the meat out of the seed anyway.

To make a feeder you’ll need a four-foot piece of thin- or thick-walled PVC (plastic) sewer or water line.  I prefer a thin-walled pipe that holds up for 10 years or so before becoming brittle from sunlight and the elements.  You’ll also need two end caps for the pipe, and a 45-degree three-way slip fit joint.  The easiest way is to purchase an 8-foot piece of pipe, four end caps, and two 45-degree joints—which makes two feeders.  It’s as easy to make two at a time as it is to make one.  Doing so will only take about 15 to 30 minutes to complete.

Here’s how! Cut the pipe to a four-foot length.  Now cut off a four- to six-inch piece of the pipe and set it aside.  On one end of the longer piece of pipe glue the 45-degree joint on with the straight run in line with the pipe and the 45 degree opening pitched back toward the length of pipe.  Next insert the short piece of pipe into the opposite opening of the straight run.  This creates a sleeve on which to glue one of the end caps, which will be the base of your feeder.    The second cap will not be glued in place, but will serve as a removable lid for the feeder.   It’s that simple.  If you choose to paint the feeder now is the time.  If so, paint the lid as well, but don’t put the lid on while the paint is wet, or it will stick in place.

To use the feeder all you have to do is attach it in an upright position to a tree or fence post (using wire, twine or a bungee strap) near an existing animal trail or area where you wish to view wildlife.  Remove the cap and fill the length of the tube with feed.  A four-foot long feeder will hold about 25 pounds of grain.  When you fill the tube a small amount will spill out of the 45-degree opening, but don’t worry about it because it’s normal.  During use squirrels and other animals will drag out a little feed onto the ground, but turkeys and other birds will quickly clean it up.  Replace the lid cap to keep the grain in the feeder dry.  When I first install a new feeder I’ll also scatter a few handfuls of grain around the feeder to initially attract animals.  I have as many as a dozen homemade feeders in place on our farm throughout the year.

Here’s an important note: Some states prohibit feeding, or “baiting”, turkeys or deer during hunting seasons.  If you or anyone else intends to hunt on or near your property you might want to brush up on the laws of your state to assure there’s no misunderstanding about your intention to feed wildlife.  In our case our land is used for hunting, so we remove all supplemental feeders several weeks prior to hunting season.  The brief interruption in feeding doesn’t seem to deter the animals from returning once the feeders are back in place.

The next step up is to plant small “plots” of grains and greens to be used by wildlife.  These food plots can range from a few square yards to a quarter-acre or more each.  Here again, the goal is to grow plants that multiple animals will benefit from.  For example, a small patch of corn will be visited by raccoon, deer, squirrel, quail, and pheasant.  Sunflowers will attract songbirds, doves, and even deer.  Sorghum is popular with raccoon, deer, and other foragers.

If you really want your plantings to do well, make sure your soil is optimal. If you’ve never had your soil tested, or even if you have but it’s been a while, spring is a good time to take a soil sample to your local Soil Conservation office for a pH test.  If the test reveals a need for lime, spring is the ideal time to incorporate it.

The folks at the soil office can provide specifics based on the test results, but an ideal pH level for milo and many other food plot plants is about 6.5.  A rule of thumb is that it’ll take about a half-ton of crushed limestone to raise the pH on a quarter-acre plot by about a half of a point.  The limestone should be added to the soil and turned under if at all possible.  Either way, the lime needs to be added prior to seeding, or spring growth for existing plants.  If you wish to fertilize a general suggestion would be a 12-12-12 mix of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

If you’re starting a new food plot, or adding new seed, consider corn, soybeans, vetch, milo, sorghum, clover, alfalfa, or sunflowers—all good choices for supplemental spring and summer greens, beans and grains.  As for corn, I’ve planted everything from a garden variety “candy corn” to common field corn.  Just because your planting this spring and want to see some immediate results, don’t overlook planning ahead for the other seasons.  Some winter hardy choices include winter wheat, rye, and oats.

Sorghum offers some unique qualities of food plot seed.  Deer generally won’t eat the plant at all during the summer, but the seed heads are a delicacy during late summer or fall.  Since deer aren’t interested in the plant’s stem, it helps guarantee a crop planted in the spring that won’t be eaten when other options are available, and then will already be in place when fall arrives.  And it doesn’t require a lot of water.

Water for Wildlife

Having a water source near your food plots and mineral licks will only help draw and hold wildlife on your property.  Consider it “one-stop” shopping, and who doesn’t enjoy a refreshing drink after a meal.  Look at all the hoof prints around a woodlot pond and you’ll know what I’m talking about.  I’m fortunate that my grandfather put in several small ponds throughout his farm back in the mid-1900s.  All the ponds were dug using a drag scoop, sometimes called a slip scoop, pulled by a team of horses or one of his old Farmall tractors.  Two food plots on our land sit close to a spring-fed stream that flows little more than a trickle most of the year.  But a trickle is enough to keep a few puddles and bends of the little gravely creek filled with fresh water.

If you have a creek or stream nearby that’s ideal.  Digging or using an existing pond would be the next best option.  But unless you’re a farmer or own an earthmoving business, the cost of putting in ponds for animals which are not sold for income can be pretty expensive.  But don’t fret, because there are other options.  Consider hiring the work done by a local contractor or farmer with a backhoe, dozer, or skid steer.  If that doesn’t pan out, use galvanized farm stock tanks, or build your own water tank from an old heavy equipment tire.

Setting up a small galvanized or rubber stock tank is the simplest.  The main drawbacks are that galvanized tubs are metal and heat up quickly in direct sunlight or summer heat.  Stagnant water that gets hot can quickly turn slimy and undesirable.

Another option is using an old equipment tire to make a water tank.  Tractor tires work well, but combine or skidder tires hold a lot more water.  If you decide to go this route you’ll be sealing the bottom of the tire with one of three options—plastic sheeting, concrete, or bentonite.    The plastic is cheaper but has to be replaced periodically.  Concrete is more permanent but also more expensive (and you’ll likely be mixing bags by hand to do this relatively small job far away from the driveway or state road).  Bentonite—often used as a binding agent in sand casting, in model rocket parts manufacturing, and in winemaking to remove excessive proteins from white wine among other uses—is the third option.  Since this tank will likely be filled on occasion by dumping water in from a bucket or barrel for this use we’ll stay away from the Bentonite which can be washed away with a stream of water under pressure … such as being dumped from a height.

If you opt to go this route, here are the steps for a tire tank: First, cut out one sidewall of the tire.  A reciprocating saw works great for this and a chainsaw is another, albeit more dangerous, option.  Leave about six inches of sidewall from the tire lugs in toward the center.

If you’re using concrete to seal the bottom, go ahead and set the tank in a place where it will sit with the intact sidewall and bead down.  It works great to dig the tire partially into the ground.    The other option is to mound and pack dirt in around the base on the outside.  Next, fill the hole in the bottom with concrete.  Use a stick to push it up under the bottom sidewall and fill until the top level extends just above the bead of the tire.  Allow the concrete to dry for 24 hours or so, and the tank will be ready for use.

The other option is using a piece of plastic sheeting to line the bottom of the tire tub.  In this case, you’ll want a heavy plastic about twelve inches larger in diameter than the hole in the bottom of the tire.  First, fill the area within the bead of the tire with dirt to within about an inch of the bead.  Now scuff the bottom outer area of the plastic sheeting with a grinder to rough it up to help with adhesion.  Make sure the exposed inner portion of the bottom sidewall and bead are free of dirt and debris, then apply a layer of silicone adhesive or thick tar to the newly scuffed plastic and flip it over and press it in place.  Let it dry before filling the tire with water.  An extra step that helps is to screw the plastic sheeting to the tire’s sidewall with self-tapping, broad-headed screws every six inches or so.

A tire or stock tank holds far less water than even a small pond, but it’s still a way to get some water where it’s needed if digging a pond is not an option.

Supplemental Minerals for Wildlife

Growing antler, bone, and viable eggshells requires minerals.  Bucks with big headgear need lots of them.  It’s equally important for does to grow healthy fawns, or turkey and quail to have strong shells on eggs.  A weak shell can be crushed by the weight of the sitting hen and is more prone to damage by scavengers.  Investing in feeders, food plots, and water sources are great uses of your time and resources.  But the triangle needed to attract wildlife to your property is not complete with talking about supplemental minerals.  Animals will discover the minerals within a matter of days and it’ll become a regular stop on their travels in no time.

You can mix up your own mineral mixture using simple ingredients found at any farm and ranch or feed store.  Over the years I’ve seen lots of recipes for mineral lick mixtures and am relatively sure most of them are beneficial and in no way harmful.  But I was given one several years ago by a coworker that is simple, relatively inexpensive, and easy to mix and use.  It uses three ingredients: trace minerals, di-calcium phosphate, and common stock salt.

All the ingredients are readily available in 50-pound bags from your local animal feed store, and you’ll be using a ratio of 2-to-1 trace mineral compared to the other two ingredients.  That gives you 200 pounds of mineral mix, enough to establish two decent-sized licks and keep them “freshened up” for about two years.  The day I was writing this article I checked on prices with the feed store in town and the total cost for all three ingredients was $60, only a few dollars higher than my last visit several months ago.  That’s not bad for 200 pounds of antler and fawn-growing goodness.

Mix the ingredients only when you’re ready to use them.  Otherwise, keep the bags separate and stored in a dry place.  To start with you’ll be using about 25 pounds of mixed product per location.  Find a tub or barrel big enough to hold that much and allow for easy stirring to mix the goods together.  Now measure out about six pounds each of stock salt and di-calcium phosphate and 12 pounds of trace mineral.  If you don’t have a scale then use a discarded coffee can which already has the weight-by-volume amount worked out and marked on it.  Once enough of each ingredient is in the barrel or tub mix it thoroughly.

To create a lick you can dig a hole slightly larger than what would be necessary to hold the roughly 25 pounds of mix.  Remember, your goal here is to feed the deer and not the earthworms so keep that indention wide and shallow.  My mineral licks are about 10 to 15 yards away from the edge of my food plots and about 10 to 15 feet across.  With a hole dug, now stir in some of the soil you just removed and some of the mineral mix and stir it in the hole.  Add more soil and more minerals and stir it together until you have all the dirt and mix mounded up in the hole.

When the deer and other animals discover the lick and it won’t take too many days for them to start excavating the mineral-rich soil from the hole.  By then any rain showers will have dispersed the mineral into the surrounding ground as well.  The most used lick on our property is now about 20 feet across and nearly a foot deep in places.  Return to the lick in three or four months and freshen it up with about half as much mixture as you started it with—about 12 pounds.  Just broadcast the mixture into the hole and let nature takes its course.  Repeat the process every four months or so.

Whether it be making and installing simple feeders, planting a food plot, creating a water source, or establishing a mineral lick, the time and effort invested to attract wildlife to your property will have a direct effect on the wildlife population and, subsequently, the number and diversity of animals you’ll see on your property.  You’ll quickly discover that some of the most interesting new neighbors you’ll find in the country have four legs or feathers.

The post Attract Wildlife to Your Property appeared first on Homestead.org.

All domestic chickens are descended from their wild ancestor, the Red Jungle Fowl.  Breeding season for the Red Jungle Fowl usually occurs in the late winter or spring.   The Red Jungle Fowl will typically lay about a dozen eggs and will incubate them for 18 – 20 days.  Although domestic laying hens have been bred to produce an egg almost daily, it does not detract from their broodiness.  To the contrary, if a hen is allowed to lay a full clutch of about a dozen eggs, without having the eggs removed, she will usually decide to incubate them.  If a healthy, happy domestic hen is left to her own devices, she will typically lay three or four clutches of eggs a year and hatch all of the eggs.

Chicken owners should consider their birds’ natural wild instincts when it comes to egg laying.  A hen, like any other bird, will not be looking for a place to lay your breakfast… she will be looking for a suitable place to hatch her eggs.  She will leave each egg once laid because she will want to lay about a dozen before starting to incubate them.  This way all the chicks hatch on the same day.  It is, therefore, necessary to provide hens with suitable nests for hatching, even if you remove the eggs before they accumulate.  If the hen doesn’t think she has a safe, comfortable, private place to hatch her chicks, she simply won’t lay, or her laying may be sporadic and in different places. If left in the wild, a hen will choose a private, confined place on the ground to lay, such as beneath a big pile of brush.  Remember also that when a hen is laying, she is 100% vulnerable, even more so than at night when she can’t see.  A laying bird is the equivalent of a woman giving birth.  If a predator (which includes humans) tries to catch her while laying, she is helpless to flee.  For this reason, a hen will prefer to be completely obscured while laying.

Do not underestimate the intelligence of chickens.  Many people mistakenly believe chickens are stupid because they don’t fly or because they are cute and comical to watch.  Penguins share these traits and are accepted as an extremely intelligent animal with complex and intricate social behavior. It is true that through inbreeding, the IQ of many chickens has diminished.  Chickens that are allowed to inbreed can be observed as becoming more dependent on humans for their survival, less skilled at foraging for food, and less adept at flying into trees to roost.  Unless raised as pets, chickens should be energetic and feisty.  Bred properly, chickens are highly intelligent survivors.

Chickens are also cunning.  My hens are well aware that I expect them to lay eggs for my use, and indeed, that I will go searching for their eggs in likely hiding places if they don’t lay in the boxes I provide.  Some of my hens have been known to lay an egg in the laying-box every other day, as usual, only for me to discover that the same hen has been gathering eggs under a brush pile in the forest!  These hens have devised a carefully thought-out plan: they are broody, and they don’t want me to come searching for their hidden eggs, so they humor me by laying, alternately, an egg for me and an egg for their clutch.

Chickens also carry out complex social interactions.  They develop meaningful friendships and partnerships.  Many people think you put one rooster with five or six hens and there you have it.  A closer study will reveal that the hens establish a clear pecking order with one hen establishing herself as alpha hen, and the rooster’s “first wife,” so to speak.  If possible, she will roost beside him at night and will get first pickings of any tasty tidbit he finds while foraging.  Chickens have a sense of humor, they like to have fun, they fall in love, and they pine for lost ones.

I have a hen who gets a kick out of taunting the dog.  Everyday, Goldie hides in the collards beside the fenced-in dog run, waiting for the dog to come out.  When the dog comes to the fence to watch the chickens, Goldie leaps out of the bushes, and zooms to and fro along the fence while the dog chases her on the other side, barking with frustration. Her behavior is no different from that of a Dachshund which teases a Rottweiler through a fence because he knows it can’t catch him!  I have a three-month-old rooster whose life revolves around playing pranks on his younger brother and sister.  He’ll follow them around all day just so that when they take a nap, he can creep up and peck them before running off.

There are some truly monogamous partnerships between my chickens wherein a rooster abstains from mating any hen besides his chosen mate, and will fight voraciously to protect her from other roosters.  I’ve seen an alpha hen get broody and raise chicks, only to discover when the chicks are grown that another hen has taken her position beside the rooster.  I’ve watched her suffer and pine as she fights in vain to regain his love and attention, only to finally resign herself to the position of a subordinate.  I’ve seen my alpha rooster embrace certain new hens as part of his flock, and drive others away.  I’ve seen him fall in love with a beautiful frizzle hen, give her priority over all other hens, shelter and protect her, and when she died in a tragic accident, I watched him drive all the other chickens out of the coop that night so he could be alone to mourn.

Chickens are just as interesting and worthy of respect as any other breed of bird.  And when providing them with housing and nesting sites, careful attention needs to be paid to their preferences.  Just because they will accept poor quality when nothing else is offered, doesn’t mean they like it.  Hens ideally like a nest box that is made of natural wood, is just big enough for them to fit inside and turn around, and has wood shavings or similar bedding inside.  When facing the box, make sure it has an entrance to the side (i.e. off-center) so they cannot be seen while laying.  A hinged roof makes it easy to check for eggs in the evening.  Co-operate with your hens and they will try to please you.  And don’t forget, they are mothers too, so consider buying your eggs in the spring.

The post Hens Are Birds, Too appeared first on Homestead.org.

Another benefit of raising heritage turkeys on the homestead is you can choose the length of the project.  You can choose to purchase turkey poults every year, making this a short-term annual project or you can keep a tom and a few hens and let them hatch out poults for you.  If you want layers, you MUST keep a heritage breed.

Heritage turkey breeds are the only choice for you if you want to keep a flock of turkeys and hatch their eggs out each year.  Heritage breeds are able to mate naturally whereas the turkeys you buy at the supermarket, Broad-breasted White Turkeys, have so much breast meat they are unable to mate naturally.

If you want to breed heritage turkeys, keep one tom for every ten hens.  Turkey mating occurs in spring.  It takes 28-31 days for the fertilized eggs to hatch and 6-7 months for the poults to reach maturity.  Turkey poults cost $10 a bird so if you have the time and space for a few extra birds on your homestead, it makes economic sense to hatch out your own.

Blue slate turkeys, bourbon red turkeys, Narragansett turkeys, and black Spanish turkeys are excellent heritage breeds.  Young toms reach 23 pounds and the young hens reach 14 pounds.  The Royal Palm Turkey is a smaller heritage breed, with young toms reaching a weight of 16 pounds and the young hens reaching 10 pounds.

Spend some time in the winter, before your growing season gets busy, researching the breed of turkey that is best for you and your farm.  Put some feelers out in your area, and contact your best customers, in order to have an idea of the number of turkeys you will be able to sell. Continue creating a customer list by advertising at farmers markets, Facebook and other social media platforms, and word of mouth.

Turkey poults are extremely sensitive at the beginning of their life.  That is why you need to have a clean, secure brooder ready before you receive your poults.  Build your brooder in early spring before you become busy with spring and summer homesteading chores.

Order your poults in June.  Make sure you are ordering from a reputable hatchery and inquire about any guarantees when you order. Thoroughly check over your poults when they arrive and immediately place them in their brooder.

In addition to being secure and clean, make sure the brooder is warm.  Attach a 250-watt clamp-style lamp in order to keep their nest around 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week.  Gradually lower the temperature each week until they no longer need an extra heat source and are out on pasture, around week seven.

Check on your poults hourly throughout the day for the first week or two.  Baby poults are prone to flipping onto their backs and suffocating. Check for drafts as well, and continue to check the temperature.  Aerate and clean the bedding daily.  They need adequate feed and fresh water at all times.

While they are in their brooder, create a turkey run on pasture.  A mobile poultry tractor works great because it allows the birds to receive adequate, fresh pasture and can be moved frequently, allowing your land to rest.  The coop should have at least 3 square feet per bird and it should be tall enough that the birds can stand upright.  Provide areas for turkeys to roost.

Once the turkeys are strong enough to leave the brooder, they are easily integrated with chickens.  As long as there is plenty of space, and the feed can be separated, chickens and turkeys will thrive on pasture together.

Start your poults on a high-protein feed and be certain they have fresh water at all times.  The starter feed should be fed for eight weeks.  From 8-16 weeks, you can decrease the protein to 20%.  Their finishing diet (16 weeks to slaughter) should contain at least 16% protein.  Protein sources can include fish meal, soybean meal, or peanut meal.  Provide your turkeys with grit as well.

Over the course of 20 weeks, toms on a commercial diet will eat 100 pounds of feed each, and hens will consume approximately 64 pounds of feed.  Providing access to good-quality forage will decrease the amount of purchased feed while allowing your birds to benefit from exercise and natural sunlight which promotes good health, as well as tastier, more nutritious meat.

September is the time to contact everyone who expressed interest in purchasing a holiday turkey.  Remind them of their interest, quote your prices and ask if they will be purchasing a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Tell them you will call again in November to arrange a pick-up or drop-off date.

Some people who expressed interest earlier will decide not to purchase a turkey from you. You should know how many turkeys you need to sell after contacting your customer base. Ramp up your advertising in order to sell all the turkeys you have raised.

It can be difficult to know how to price your turkeys.  You will not be able to compete in price with the turkeys sold in supermarkets, nor do you want to.  Commercial poultry farms are gargantuan in size and the turkeys are crammed in as tight as possible.  Birds bred for weight and large, white breasts cannot mate naturally.  They are medicated in an effort to prevent the diseases that sunlight and exercise prevent naturally.

The minimum amount you should charge for a pastured heritage turkey is $4 per pound, and it is not uncommon to create a set price of up to $75 per bird.  Research prices in your area.

Pastured turkeys are ready to harvest and process at 20-24 weeks.  If you are selling to neighbors and local individuals, you can process the turkeys yourself.  If you are selling to restaurants or other retail outlets it is best (legally and financially) to let a local processor do it for you.

If you are selling your turkeys as “fresh, never frozen”, the week of Thanksgiving is going to be a busy one.  Get your harvesting and processing area ready Sunday night so you can get right to work Monday.  Keep your processed turkeys as cold as possible without freezing and deliver fresh turkeys on Tuesday.  An alternative to processing all of your turkeys in one day is to give customers the choice of receiving a frozen turkey.  Frozen turkeys can be done in batches before the fresh turkeys need to be harvested and delivered.

Mount a turkey-sized killing cone to the side of a building.  Have two or more sharp knives ready, along with a cull bucket and a water hose. Set up a processing table close to the scalding area.  You need a pot large enough to in which to dunk and swirl the birds, and a heat source that can reach 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  Finally, have a large cooler filled with ice next to the processing table.

To harvest each turkey, hold it upside down and carry it to the killing cone.  Pull the head through the bottom of the cone and slit the jugular vein and carotid artery.  To do this, cut just behind the tendon where the beak and tongue attach.

Holding the feet, dunk and swirl the turkey in your pot of 140-degree water.  In just a few seconds, the feathers will remove easily.  Pull out of the water and pluck.

Rinse the bird.  Remove the feet and head.  Eviscerate, taking care to not cut into the intestines.  Cut the muscle tissue around the neck, then bend and break through the bone to remove the neck.

Once the bird is processed, rinse with cool, running water inside and out.  Place the bird in the cooler filled with cold water, making sure the turkey is completely submerged.  Chill for one hour before patting dry and packaging.

There are other ways to make money from your turkey farm after you have sold the bird to grace a holiday table.  First, if you are hatching turkey eggs, hatch out extra and sell the poults.  Remember, these sell for $10 a bird – much more than day-old chicks.  Second, after processing, collect and dry the feathers.  You can sell them to local crafters or incorporate them into your own crafts.  Finally, turkey manure is an excellent compost, either alone or mixed in the compost you have.  Bag it up and sell it to your local gardening club.

Turkeys are an easy way to make holiday cash on your homestead.  Give it a try this year with a small flock. If you enjoy it, and you make money with it, you can grow your operation.

The post Raise Heritage Turkeys for Holiday Cash appeared first on Homestead.org.

In that case, I hope these home remedies for chickens will serve as a reminder that you are not alone, it is not hopeless, and you are not helpless.

The following information is not to be taken as medical, veterinary, or otherwise professional advice by any means. Many remedies have not been evaluated, tested, or studied exhaustively by qualified parties, and use of any of these remedies is at your own risk. Always remember to consult a licensed veterinarian. This article should not be taken as a substitute for any professional wisdom.

You can begin building your chicken home remedy toolkit in your own backyard with a little well-researched foraging. Keep in mind that these wild medicinal herbs may not be native to your region.

Forage safely and responsibly! Do not overharvest populations of herbs in a given area. Do not forage at roadsides or other areas where chemical runoff, pollution, pesticides, herbicides, or other harmful substances may be a concern.

Do not use plants unless you are completely certain you have correctly identified them. Research and familiarize yourself with each plant beyond any doubt. The information below is no more than a brief, amateur introduction and will not include all benefits, cautions, or how to properly identify them.

You must research more extensively from qualified sources. One excellent resource is The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies” by Nicole Apelian, Ph.D and Claude Davis.

Be wary of any wildlife that may be in the area as you forage, be certain you have permission to forage in the spot you’ve chosen, and take note of any allergies you may have and avoid related plants. Some plants have poisonous look-alikes. When in any doubt at all, steer clear.

Foraged Remedies

If your birds free range, it is very likely they sample many of these herbs as they feel they need them. But if your flock is in an enclosed run, you will need to do the backyard herb shopping for them. Plant material not used right away can be easilly dried out and stored for later use.

Dandelion, Taraxacum Officinalis: Used for digestive troubles, detoxifying, protecting healthy liver and urinary tract function, and bolstering the immune system. Said to help with botulism. WARNING: Some people report contact dermatitis from the sap.

Goldenrod, Solidago spp.: Used for the urinary tract, kidneys, bronchial congestion, etc. Topically, it is used to stop bleeding and help heal wounds and burns. WARNING: Goldenrod can be a challenge to properly identify, as there are deadly look-alikes. Goldenrod is susceptible to powdery mildew. Inspect the leaves and do not use any infected material, as this is not healthy to consume for you or your chickens.

Plantain, Plantago Major: Used for wounds and sores, as well as the digestive system. Said to help with Marek’s disease and Coccidiosis. A favorite forage for my flock, particularly the seeds.

Stinging Nettle, Urtica Diotica: Used for inflammation, wounds, burns, and as a whole body tonic. Said to help with Marek’s Disease and Coccidiosis. WARNING: It can’t be understated that stinging nettle is true to its name, and is a real monster to harvest. You will want to wear long pants and sleeves in an area full of stinging nettle and wear some very protective gloves. Cooking them will remove the sting. Harvest the leaves before the flowers appear in order to utilize them safely.

Violets, Viola Sororia and Viola Odorata: The flowers are a favorite snack for my flock, but the leaves are also edible. Used for respiratory issues and pain. WARNING: The seeds are not edible. Some people get contact dermatitis from the leaves. There are poisonous look-alikes.

Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium: Known historically for its blood-clotting capabilities. Used for internal and external bleeding, swelling, fever, pain, anxiety, etc. WARNING: Eating too much yarrow could be harmful due to the blood-clotting effects. Not to be used before surgery. When overused externally, the affected skin can become sensitive to sunlight.

Slippery Elm, Ulmus rubra: The inner bark is regarded for its mucilage content. Used for digestive disorders, respiratory diseases, urinary tract infections, skin irritations, and impacted crop. WARNING: This one may be better off purchased ready for use for the sake of convenience and the risk that harvesting bark poses to the tree. If not done properly, the tree could be exposed to disease or be entirely cut off from its nutrition and die.

Gardened Remedies

Borage, Borago Officinalis: A favorite treat for my flock, they can eat the leaves, flowers, and stalks. Borage is rich in antioxidants. It is a calming herb that soothes the digestive system. WARNING: Not for those with liver problems. Harvest with care, as the fine hairs on the plant can cause contact dermatitis in some people.

Cabbage, Brassica Oleracea: Used to treat wounds, cancers, and intestinal ailments. Can be served to your flock cooked, raw, and chopped, or simply thrown whole into the run, where it will keep your flock entertained for hours to come.

Garlic, Allium Sativum: Garlic has antibiotic properties. Used for treating viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections. A clove or two can be crushed and added to the flock’s water. Offer in moderation, as overdoing it could upset the balance of their digestive systems.

Oregano, Origanum Vulgare: Used to treat internal and external infections, and speed healing. It is often used to help keep the flock free of unwanted parasites by crumbling the dried herb in their feed. It may also discourage pests when spread throughout the coop bedding.

Sage, Salvia Officinalis: Excellent for general health. Sage has antibacterial qualities and alleviates pain, so it’s a good option as a compress for external wounds.

Marigold, Tagetes Tenuifolia and Tagetes Patula: Used for anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities, to improve egg quality, and support the immune system. The petals can be sprinkled throughout the coop and run to help repel unwanted pests.

Pumpkin, Cucurbita Pepo: Used to support overall health and egg quality. Legend has it that the seeds act as a natural dewormer. Opinions differ if this is, in fact, true. Regardless, a healthy chicken is a most inhospitable host for parasites, so a nutritious pumpkin is a step in the right direction. Many homesteaders just slice a pumpkin in half and toss it into the run, but I find that my spoiled girls will just pick out the seeds and leave the rest to rot unless I roast it beforehand.

Impacted Crop Protocol

If a chicken’s crop remains full overnight and has become hard, it may be dealing with an impacted crop. I will bring that chicken indoors, withhold food for a day, but provide lots of water.

After that time has elapsed, I mix a small amount of powdered slippery elm inner bark in water to form the unmistakable slime. If the bird will not freely eat this, I add it to a small amount of yogurt. The birds generally eat this freely without any coaxing. This is accompanied by periodic, gentle crop massages.

Waterbelly Protocol

Waterbelly, also known as ascites, is a buildup of fluid in the chicken’s abdomen, characterized as a water balloon, often very taut. Many resources recommend draining the fluid with a syringe, though this advice comes in tandem with the warning that such a technique is a temporary fix and leaves the bird open to infection. You must make the decision that is best for your flock. Some situations may be dire enough to justify the risk.

For the situations that I encountered, I deemed draining it to be too risky and tried something else. I brought my hen indoors and did a combination of the following remedies when she exhibited waterbelly symptoms. She was successfully treated twice.

• High-water-content treats, like watermelon and cucumber.
• A tablespoon of apple cider vinegar diluted in a gallon of water.
• Abdominal massage from the bottom of the breast bone toward the vent.
• Epsom salt baths, preferably for at least ten minutes. Resources differ on the recommended amount of epsom salt, but when in doubt, a quantity of 1/4 cup per gallon errs on the conservative side. I also added medicinal herbs like stinging nettle for additional benefits.
• Special Slurry: This concoction is not an exact science, and may need to be adapted to the bird’s palette if they do not wish to eat it. If the chicken is reluctant, err on the side of less eyebright and brewer’s yeast, as these ingredients are quite bitter.
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt
  • A pinch of powdered eyebright
  • A pinch of brewer’s yeast
  • A drop or two of garlic honey*
  • Optional: a teaspoon of herbal tea, such as dandelion or yarrow

* Garlic honey is easily made at home. In a sterile jar, gather fresh, raw garlic cloves, and cover with raw, organic honey. Lid and let sit 30 days, opening the jar every day to let out the gases accumulated during the fermentation process. Remember to ensure that the garlic remains submerged in the honey throughout the process.

Final Thoughts

When illness in the flock disrupts your idyllic homesteading dreams, don’t panic. Keep a cool head, do your research, calmly address the problem with care and wisdom, but most of all, remember that you are doing well.

No matter what happens, remember that anyone as concerned as you are about the health of their flock is doing a great job, and your chickens are so lucky to have you.

The post Home Remedies for Chickens appeared first on Homestead.org.

Bella and Cleo have also kidded.  Cleo is the best of mothers.  She never even leaves her kids to eat or drink the first day.  Instead, she stands attentively over them, waiting for me to bring the hay and water to her.  Her kids are always hale and full of life.  As good a mother as she is, Bella, Cleo’s own daughter from two years ago, has proven herself to be a horrendous mother.  Last year, she kidded and all was well for about a month.  Then she refused to have anything to do with her kids and butted them away when they tried to nurse.  She walked off, leaving them to fend for themselves as if she’d never had them.  I found a family with a child in 4-H who took on the twins, and they thrived under her care and hand-feeding.

This year Bella had triplets.  She has abandoned them even faster than she did last year’s twins.  I found them where she’d left them, plopped out and scattered from one end of the goat shed to the other—Bella was nowhere in sight.

Yesterday I gathered them up and locked Bella in the kidding pen with them.  They nursed while she munched the hay and green brush that I hand-cut for her.  She drank water sweetened with molasses to boost her strength.  At first, she allowed the triplets to nurse but soon became testy, continually butting and walking away from them, even within the kidding pen.  I decided that being away from the herd might be too much stress for her, so reunited her with them.  She immediately stalked out and began picking fights with the other does in the herd, re-establishing her pecking order.  Once she’d gone a few rounds with the does immediately above and below her in the ranks, she settled into the middle of the herd and then pretty much abandoned her triplets. (Note to self: cull this bitch.)

One of the triplets has disappeared, and I suspect an owl.  At night, I keep the herd within strong, 4×4-wire goat-fencing with an outer hot wire.  Nothing but an aerial assault makes sense.  Tonight, I find a second triplet cold and almost lifeless.  She is outside the pen, no doubt having lost her way as she stumbled around looking for her errant mother.  I put her inside my coat, next to my warm body, and take her to the house.  I revive her in a sink of warm water, dry her by the woodstove until she is revived enough to suckle, and then feed her with an eyedropper.  In the morning, I will slip her back in with mom and her remaining sibling, hoping Bella will come to her senses. (Bella never does come to her senses, and Little One is destined to become a bottle baby.)

Before returning to the house with Little One, I had also checked on Orie, who is due any time.  Like Cleo, she has proven herself to be a good and reliable mother.  I am grateful and have no reason to doubt her this year.

Myotonic (fainting) goats can usually deliver and care for their kids without any help from me, but I like to be close by, watching, just in case.   Goats need to lick their babies clean themselves so that mothers and kids bond.  The smells and tastes of the kid imprint it on its mother as she clears away the caul from its nose and dries its body with her tongue.  Within an hour, if I leave them be, the kids are dried off, standing on their own four feet, nursing, and getting that much-needed colostrum.  All I usually need to do is to make sure they have a deep bed of clean hay or straw to keep them all warm and dry.

Of late I’ve been reading that you should not even cut the cord but let it break away naturally.  I am relieved to hear that this is okay, because, in all my years of goat herding, I have never cut a cord, never had to.  Most of the time, the doe even eats the placenta.  So usually I sit back and watch the miracle unfold.

But as trouble seems to come in packs, I did have to help Fanny’s larger twin into the world this year.  After her first, ill-fated twin squirted right out, so tiny it didn’t matter which end presented first, the second and larger twin tried to come out face first with her forelegs still inside the womb.  The front legs are supposed to be extended out in front of the face as if the little kid were diving out into the world.  This one was trying, but she was stuck. With clean hands lubricated with a homemade concoction of olive oil, beeswax, comfrey, and tea tree oil, I pushed her nose back into the womb and felt for the legs.  I found one but couldn’t get hold of the other.  But that was enough.  With one leg out in front of the nose, the doe was able to push out the second, larger twin.

Kidding time teaches me more each year and leaves me marveling about life, how insistent and robust it can be but also how very fragile.  I see how unique each animal within a herd is and how complex the dynamics among members of the herd.  One kid is already copying the behaviors of its mother at a day old–nibbling at hay, leaves, and blades of grass as its mother does, making believe that it can eat such things before gamboling back to the teat.  The other kid never really stands on its own and is gone within a few hours?

I wonder at the goats’ behavior and what it all means, and I also wonder at mine.  I coddle weak kids.  Against my better judgment, I bring them in and put them in a laundry basket by the wood stove.  I employ “heroic measures” to try to feed them frequent little dribbles or to tube feed them when they’re too weak to nurse.  All this, and next week I will load up a batch of yearling wethers and take them to market.  Last year I worried over and checked these wethers just as often in their first hours of life.  When they were just weeks old, I went out searching for them when they became separated from their mothers, who stood bellowing to them.  Most times the kids had fallen asleep in a heap as the herd browsed nearby and had continued to doze as the herd moved on, even sleeping through their mothers’ urgent calling after them.

I like to quote writer and contrary farmer Gene Logsdon regarding his farm animals.  In Gene Everlasting, he says, “We raise our farm animals with loving care, grow quite fond of them, put our lives at risk to save theirs if necessary, and then we kill and eat them.”

A good life and a quick kill are kinder than the way animals treat one another.  The natural world is a violent place.  If you’ve ever had two bucks in rut or more than one rooster at any time, you know the maiming and mayhem that can occur.  Even the hens and does have their pecking order, and heaven help any challenger of the status quo.  In the wild when an animal eats another animal, it is rarely a quick and painless death.  Life feeds on life.  All of us must eat, must consume in order to live, and thus we affect the rest of life by our mere existence.  The sanest thing we can do is to keep our own numbers in check so that we do not outpace our resources and other species.

But, I am a heretic among goatherds.  I have tried to educate myself in the conventional ways of goat herding, and when I’m in a pinch, I research the web, contact other goat owners, and even call the vet as a last resort.  But mostly I listen to and watch the goats and they tell me what they need, which most of the time is for me to leave them the hell alone.  They have been in the business of being goats for millennia without human help or interference.  When they first started walking this earth, no one was around to worm them or to feed them corn, and yet here they are, even becoming feral in parts of the world like Jamaica and Australia.

I haven’t figured out why they insist on kidding in wintertime when the frailer kids are subject to hypothermia in their first few hours.  Is it because all of the parasites and harmful microorganisms are frozen?  Is it because the frail ones are not meant to live, produce, and pass on their inferior genes?  All but Fanny’s tiny one and—I’m learning—anything that comes out of Bella, have done very well on frosty ground.  Every year I am tempted to make them wait to breed so that the worst of winter will be over before the kids arrive.  Every year the does beat me down with their relentless loud bleating for the buck when they are in season, or the buck outwits me and destroys a fence to get to them.  Maybe they know best.

The frozen ground crunches underfoot as I return to the goat shed with my bundle.  Although it is 6 am, there is no sign of the sun even beginning to lighten the eastern sky.  The Big Dipper has disappeared beneath the northern horizon as it is wont to do this time of year in the Southern states.  It is moonless and the Milky Way spills across the sky–so many stars!  “See this, Little One?” I tell my bundle.  “If you can make it, you get to see this big beautiful sky every single day and night of your life.  No roof to block your view, Little One.”

Bella is lying with the one little triplet that she has not yet neglected to death.  He will not let her neglect him.  He is robust and relentless, dogging her every turn, catching a sip from a teat when he can.  I slip Little One in beside her and next to brother, hoping no one will notice.  This is how I introduce new chickens to the henhouse, slip them in during the cover of night and hope no one will notice the interloper when they rouse themselves at daylight.  The day will warm to the 50s and tonight will be warm as well.  Being accepted back into the fold is Little One’s best chance at a healthy life as a goat.  It is up to her, her mother, and the ways of nature. Will it work? I have no idea.  The only thing I know for sure is that goats know more about being goats than I do.

The post Ruminations on Ruminants: a Goatherd’s Diary on Kidding appeared first on Homestead.org.

Why am I slopping through slushy ice to water the sheep while all of my friends are in the house curled up by the fire with a book?

Why do I have chapped hands and lips from working outdoors when my friends are at the mall getting facials?

Why are the most-worn boots in my collection a mud-encrusted, steel-toed pair of Red Wing insulated lace-ups and my friends are wearing the latest trends?

Wintertime on the homestead is not about snow angels, adorable scarves, and sleigh rides. It’s about work that was already difficult getting much, much harder.

One thing we’ve learned after 12 years of homesteading is that you can’t wait to prepare for winter until the first freezing night. You have to be thinking ahead, planning, and preparing for whatever Old Man Winter throws at you, way before the snow flies. If you do your homework, your animals will ride out the storms as comfortably as possible and you will be able to do the minimum of work in the winter. If you don’t plan ahead, you’ll be worrying about finding enough feed, thawing frozen water troughs, and trying to crowd too many animals into your barns while it’s snowing, sleeting, and just plain miserable outside.

Here are some of the things that you should keep in mind during wintertime on the homestead.

Water

Adequate water can be the most difficult aspect of keeping critters alive in winter. First, don’t make the mistake of thinking that your animals can lick ice or eat snow to stay hydrated. Cattle can drink between 10 and 15 gallons of water per day, and that number rises when they are lactating. Sheep may need up to 3 gallons per day. These animals eating dry fodder (hay), need that water to function even when it’s cold. They’d have to lick ice 24/7 to even come close to staying hydrated. Also, ice and snow will lower their body temperatures, meaning that they’ll need to eat even more to stay warm in the cold.

To be a good farmer, you have to provide free choice of unfrozen water to keep your animals healthy. This can be done in several ways. Livestock troughs work well in warm months, but in winter, you have to be able to keep the water flowing. In the past, we’ve used electric, submersible tank-heaters to keep the water thawed. If you don’t have these, you’ll have to go out and break up the ice at least twice a day to allow the animals to drink. We’ve used a heavy, metal pry-bar to break the ice. It works best if you dislodge all the ice and toss it out of the trough.

Also, be careful if you use other kinds of plastic tubs for watering. We’ve cracked many of these improvised water troughs in winter when breaking the ice because the plastic gets very brittle in cold temps. So, if you have a plastic storage bin pulling double duty as a waterer in winter, be really careful with it as you break the ice and move it around.

Farm ponds are also a decent choice for watering. Again, though, you will have to go out and break the ice for your animals. If you live in a somewhat temperate region of the country, you may be able to use ducks to keep the pond free of ice. These feathered friends swim on ponds even in winter which keeps the water from freezing.

Insulated automatic waterers are the most expensive but, for us, the most reliable water source. Ours tie into a waterline linked to our well. They keep the water thawed and flowing for our animals to drink as much as they like. However, don’t take it for granted that they are always going to work exactly as you plan. We check ours regularly to make sure they’re operating correctly. It’s easier to resolve a malfunction before you have 20 thirsty cows standing around the waterer aching for a few drops. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way.

Also, don’t forget that, if you plan on filling troughs in winter, you can’t always rely on hoses. If you use a water hose, you’ll want to drain it every single time you use it. If you have one of those “frost-proof” water faucets in the ground, be sure that it doesn’t drip. A dripping hydrant means that the pipe is still full of water and at risk of bursting. Also, if it gets REALLY cold, we try to avoid using these hydrants unless we have electrical heat tape on them. That’s because we worry that the water will drain out of the pipe so slowly that it will freeze inside it.

Feed

Before winter closes in, figure out how much feed you will need for your critters to get them through the winter. This can vary widely depending on the weather and climate in your area, but you can talk to your local extension agent if you’re unsure about how much feed you need.

Don’t wait until it snows to source your hay, because everybody in the county will be hunting for it then. Prices will go up, and if it’s been a dry year, hay may be scarce.

Also, for your grains, be sure that you have a store of things like chicken food and supplemental grain for animals. If a storm traps you for a few days, you’ll want to be able to take care of your animals. Store these in a dry place out of the weather. You probably want to put out a few mousetraps too, since mice love gnawing through bags of grain and spoiling the contents with their feces. Since we have barn cats who could be caught in traps, we put our spring traps inside a shoebox with a mouse-sized hole in it to catch the rodents without hurting our pets.

Shelter

In some parts of the country, many animals can spend the whole winter outdoors, provided they have a place to get out of the wind. If you don’t have a tree line to act as a windbreak, you can line up large rolls of poor-quality hay behind which the animals can bed down.

However, still keep a close eye on your animals. While many are tough enough to handle the cold, some more delicate animals, like dairy cows or older horses, will really be better off in a shed or barn on stormy and/or extremely cold nights.

Additionally, if you have animals who are going to give birth in the cold, watch them carefully for signs of impending calving, lambing, or kidding. Many animals do fine giving birth in the cold, but you do entertain an element of risk by leaving them outside at this vulnerable time. A lamb or calf that has a difficult birth may be too sluggish in the cold to get up quickly and warm his belly with life-giving colostrum.

If you put your animals inside when it’s cold, be sure to have a manure management plan in place. You will have to muck out stalls if they stay inside very long at all. It’s not healthy for the animals to live in their own waste, so invest in a good pitchfork and a cart or wheelbarrow to clean up after them. Also, be sure to stock up on good bedding, whether it’s straw or wood chips.

Be sure that your buildings have good ventilation too. Even in the winter, your animals need good air flow to stay healthy. Without ventilation, animals will develop breathing issues from dealing with the fumes from their waste and dust from their feed.

Livestock: Making the Hard Choices

It’s hard to talk about, but good farmers have to make hard choices before winter sets in. If you don’t have enough feed to get them through the winter, you are going to have to let some of your animals go. Evaluate your animals for which ones are the most productive and sell the ones who are less productive. On small homesteads, this is sometimes emotionally hard, since many of these animals have names and distinctive personalities. However, we’re not doing our animals any favors by skimping on feed to get them through the winter. Sell them while they are healthy and fat from summer grazing. Two or three fat cattle sold in October will bring in more money than half a dozen skinny, sickly, half-starved animals in late February.

Sheep

If you have wool-sheep, you may be pleasantly surprised at how well their coats protect them from cold. The oils in their wool repel water and the fleeces are toasty warm. However, hair-sheep or sheep that were shorn late in the year may need some shelter from the cold, especially if it’s wet and cold.

If you don’t get much snowfall, keep an eye on your sheep’s delicate feet. Our sheep tend to get footsore from walking on uneven, frozen mud. We examine them carefully for cuts that could lead to infection or foot rot. If they start limping, we take them off the barn lot into a well-bedded, clean stall where their feet are cushioned. If there is a cut or bruise, we try to soak the foot in a warm Epsom-salt bath to get ahead of any infection that could be cooking in the cut. After 4-5 days in a stall and several footbaths, our sheep are perfectly fine and ready to rejoin their mates in the barn lot.

Cattle

Beef cattle are surprisingly tolerant of cold temperatures, but only when they are well-fed. The rumen is a giant fermentation vat in a cow’s digestive system that generates enormous heat to keep the cattle warm. To keep the rumen functioning normally, your cattle need forage. You can give grain as a supplement, but they do need hay or something fibrous for the rumen to break down and generate heat. When beef cows are well-fed, they will have ice and snow frozen to their backs, but they’ll still be just fine.

Dairy cows are often less tolerant to the cold weather, just because they don’t have as much fat on their bodies. While our beef cows never come into the barn because of the cold, my dairy cow is usually inside on really cold and stormy nights. Be sure that you feed your dairy cow well, especially giving her excellent quality hay. I’ve noticed that simply upping my cow’s grain ration only makes her produce more milk. However, giving her excellent hay, especially good quality alfalfa, helps maintain her body condition when it’s cold.

Like sheep, cows may struggle with their footing when the mud freezes. Their feet aren’t quite as delicate as the sheep’s, but you still need to pay attention to their feet and how they are moving. If you have to move them, do so slowly. Let them take their time when crossing uneven, frozen ground. Hurrying them can leady to strained muscles or bruised hooves.

Horses

Most horses do okay in the winter. Nature has equipped the animal’s body to adapt to cold weather; in fall, they put on subcutaneous fat and grow in a nice, thick, fur coat. We don’t blanket our horses, because doing so short-circuits their body’s natural preparation for winter weather. Neither do we put our horses in the barn. They do just fine outdoors if they can get out of the wind.

That said, there are exceptions. If a horse is old, or struggling with poor body condition, or has some other health issue that prevents their bodies from handling the cold, it’s better to err on the side of caution by helping them stay warm. A horse blanket, or coat, and a warm, indoor stall will make fragile horses more comfortable. Also, if you buy a horse in the fall or winter and they’ve been blanketed or kept inside by the previous owner, you’ll want to continue that treatment. It takes time for a horse to develop the fat and fur that they need for protection, and just sticking them outdoors when their bodies aren’t prepared is cruel.

Also, you have to feed horses well for them to manage the cold. Horses don’t like scrubby, crummy hay and if all you can find, or afford, is of poor quality, you may want to find a new place for your horses. You can supplement with grain also, but good hay is essential for horses.

Do keep an eye on your horse’s feet. Walking on the frozen ground can lead to bruising and abscesses. These can be resolved easily, but only if you treat them in a timely manner. If an abscess or a limp persists for more than a day or two, call your veterinarian or farrier and have them come take a look; a horse is only as good as its feet.

Chickens

Our chickens have done very well in winter. However, at times, we’ve had frostbitten combs and wattles. They look a little funny after they heal up, but it doesn’t really seem to affect the chickens too badly. In places where you have extra-cold winters, you may want to choose a breed of hen that has smaller combs. I like the Dominique chicken with their lovely rose combs.

A few things about chickens and wintertime: water is the biggest problem for us. This is the time of year when we put away the plastic water fountain because it will freeze and crack. Some people buy heaters for their chicken waterers, but we simply buy 2-gallon plastic buckets from the farm supply store. We have several and bring one or two inside to thaw every morning, carrying a filled pail from yesterday out for that day’s water. Another thing to remember is that, while you need to keep them warm, you can’t completely seal up your henhouse. Chickens are very susceptible to respiratory illnesses and the dust and fumes that they generate can irritate their lungs.

We don’t muck out our chicken house every few days. We use a deep-bedding system, piling fresh bedding on top of the old stuff. Every few days I scatter a handful of grain on the floor of the henhouse so that the chickens can turn the bedding for me. After the winter, I’ll have a thick layer of excellent, rich compost for my garden. Additionally, the decomposing manure and bedding generate heat to help the hens stay warm.

Pets

All of our animals live outdoors. In the fall, we feed them extra and they grow thick fur coats and a layer of body fat to help them deal with the cold. Our cats find cozy spots in the barn, usually in the hayloft, burrowed into the hay.

Our dogs love the cold. They are Great Pyrenees livestock dogs and they never come indoors. They are happier in the cold than in the summer. In fact, when it snows, we love watching them roll in the snow just for the fun of it. However, if you have a dog with short hair, a small body mass, or is elderly or infirm, keep a close eye on them and bring them indoors if needed. Some friends of mine with a Mastiff usually hang a heat lamp in an outbuilding to keep him comfortable when it’s cold.

Also, if you somehow end up with an indoor dog in the cold months, don’t assume that they’ll be fine outside. Dogs need time to build up the subcutaneous fat and heavy fur coat to keep warm.

Be sure that you keep a supply of liquid water available for your outdoor animals and feed them well. On particularly cold nights, we’ll feed our dogs a rich mixture of beef broth, eggs, and milk to warm them from the inside before we go to bed.

Family Members

Prepare yourself and any family members who will be helping you outside by buying the proper gear. Heavy gloves (buy extras because they always seem to disappear), and a heavy work-coat are just the basics. Insulated, water-resistant boots and a pair of insulated coveralls make a big difference in how comfortable you will be outside. Don’t forget to buy a good, warm head-covering, too. Long underwear and flannel-lined jeans are also excellent clothes to have in your stash of winter gear, and don’t forget some heavy socks.

Remember that it’s not as important how your winter farm gear looks as how warm it is. In fact, the cuter, more fashionable hats, scarves, and gloves are usually not as warm or durable as the ugly stuff you find at the farm store. These items are an investment. If you buy a good brand, your winter gear will last for many years before you need to replace it.

When it’s super cold, you should be aware of the symptoms of hypothermia (shivering, nausea, hunger, breathing quickly, difficulty with speaking, confusion, dizziness, lack of coordination, fatigue) which occurs when the body’s temperature drops too low. Mild hypothermia means that you need to get inside as soon as possible and warm up. Even if it means that you have to go out several times to do chores because it’s too cold to get them all done at once, it’s better to work in shifts.

While winter is not my favorite time of year, it is a time of rest for the land. Good, hard freezes can reduce the numbers of pesky insects that hang around from year to year. Winter is a nice time to take a break from the active growing season, evaluate the successes and failures of the previous year, and create a plan for next spring. And, when March and April’s warm breezes blow and things begin to green up, winter makes you truly thankful for the joys of nature.

The post Wintertime on the Homestead appeared first on Homestead.org.

For many homesteaders, living in the cold northern regions of the country, proper winter animal-husbandry can be a daunting challenge. Read on for tips to help ensure your animals are not unduly stressed by the elements.

Environmental Variables for Winter Animal Husbandry

In a homestead animal-husbandry management-system, environmental conditions should reduce behavioral problems and enhance performance, while minimizing disease and death loss.

Predators, insects, parasites, and weather affect pastured livestock. Extremely hot or cold weather causes stress. Just as horses and cows in extreme heat require shade, livestock exposed to extreme cold require protection from the wind, supplemental feed, and non-frozen water. In winter, pasture plots with mounds, a south-sloping exposure, and a windbreak are recommended to provide dry areas, out of the wind, where grazers can rest.

A plan of animal-husbandry management that will work well for you is one that is dependent on factors unique to your operation and local environment. When locating and building pens, paddocks, coops, and barns, consider the terrain, the direction of prevailing winds, water accessibility, and ease of maintenance.

• Plant shrubbery and trees to provide windbreaks.

• In snow-prone regions, snow fences can help prevent deep drifts from creating winter farm maintenance problems.

Animal-husbandry management also includes managing mud. One can’t have animals without having mud. Mud, commonly found in areas where livestock congregates in winter, causes farm animals to be constantly chilled. Wet feet also increase the likelihood of animals contracting hoof and mouth diseases, such as thrush and foot rot, while encouraging parasitic infections.

• Use gravel, wood chips, gutters, sand, or drainage tiles to control winter water movement, minimizing mud accumulation.

During the bitter cold months of winter, animals require exercise to promote skeletal and muscular health. Exercise helps prevent overgrown hooves and obesity.

• Trim hooves as needed, checking for inflammation, swelling, and infection.

• Keep pens and paddocks clean by removing mud and manure.

• Promote exercise by varying water and feed sites.

Cool, Clear Water

Homestead domestic animals require a clean, reliable, year-round source of water. In winter weather, one might think that water requirements are satisfied; they can eat snow or lick the ice. Wrong!

Water requirements vary, dependent on species. A cow requires 12 to 14 gallons of water a day. A single sheep need at least 3 gallons a day. It is important that these needs are met. You do not want your animals eating snow; it lowers body temperature and increases energy consumption: stressing the animal.

•  prevent water troughs from freezing. Low-wattage units are inexpensive and energy-efficient.

• Providing plenty of water will encourage domestic animals to be in the best of health and will prevent impaction and colic.

Nutrition for Winter Animal Husbandry

Nutritional requirements in livestock increase dramatically during cold weather, especially when animals are wet and the north wind blows. Dependent on species, research indicates that the lowest temperatures livestock can tolerate without supplemental energy demand to support their normal body temperature is from 20 to 37 degrees Fahrenheit. Animals with wet coats have an increased energy requirement of two percent for every degree the mercury drops.

• Except in blizzard conditions, livestock tolerates cold weather if adequately fed.

Winter Manure Management

When caring for homestead animals, a well-designed manure management plan maintains clean facilities, minimizes the generation of dust and odors, minimizes parasites, rodents, and vermin, and prevents pollution of air, soil, and water. Although manure and sanitation in the pasture are not as big a concern as clean pens and paddocks, care should be exercised at water sites and cattle crossing to prevent soil erosion and to protect water features, especially when surface water is utilized as a water source.

If grazing animals are allowed access to water bodies, they add to natural resource problems when they degrade water quality by dropping manure directly into the pond, stream or lake. Unmanaged, manure carries disease-causing microorganisms. Grazing animals also contribute to stream bank destabilization and accelerate the loss of erosion-controlling bank vegetation.

• Prevent Erosion. Restrict livestock access to streams, lakes, and wetlands.

Keep in mind, any increase in the number of animals about your homestead equates to an increase in problems you may be encountering regarding manure collection, treatment, transport, storage, or utilization.

When collecting and processing manures on the homestead, you can add liquid and solid animal-manures, spilled feed, used bedding, or any other organic by-product or livestock waste to the garden compost-pile. Annual applications of organic compost containing well-aged manure to gardens, orchards, cropland, and pasturelands, improves soil condition and provides essential nutrients for plant growth.

On a small homestead, land available for manure application at agronomic rates may not be feasible. However, well-aged organic manure is always a salable “cash crop” that many homesteaders rely upon as a steady stream of supplemental income.

• Proper manure management methods benefit the homesteader as well as the entire ecosystem.

Animal Handling

Homestead animals may become nervous and excitable when confined in close quarters. Bone-chilling cold, high winds, and dramatic changes in barometric pressure seem to exacerbate this tendency. Facilities for capturing, sorting, testing, treating, loading, or confining livestock should allow enough space to work with your animals to keep them calm, should be durable and cost-efficient, and of the utmost importance, safe for you as well as your animals.

• Floors in holding or housing areas should be properly drained.

• Handling alleys and barns floors should provide traction to help prevent injuries to handlers and animals.

• Pens, paddocks, and handling alleys should be free of sharp protrusions to prevent injuries.

• Handling areas should encourage animal movement as much as feasible.

• Avoid loud noises when working with animals; move slowly, talk softly.

• When muddy conditions occur, provide traction in slippery holding and handling areas with additional bedding.

Transportation

When transporting animals, comfort and safety should be the primary concern. Animals can become stressed when transported. Stress is aggravated in adverse weather conditions, especially during periods of extreme cold or when the weather is changing rapidly.

• When transporting animals a long distance, be sure to provide ample feed and water.

Pig Care

Pigs require protection from extreme cold. Left outdoors, pigs are susceptible to frostbite and can even die if left to fend off the cold without an insulated, warm, and dry place to escape the worst of winter’s wrath. Kept outdoors, pigs drag snow into their sleeping area, creating wet bedding. Indoors, provide fresh, dry bedding on a regular basis. Pigs tend to urinate on their bedding. Cold, wet bedding leads to disease and death. When blizzard warnings are posted, put the pigs in the barn if it isn’t feasible to erect a shelter over your pigs’ sleeping boxes.

• All year long, but especially during times of extreme cold, pigs must have lots of fresh, clean water.

• Pigs have strong snouts that can easily flip and break heavy, full water pails. Automatic watering systems ensure a consistent water supply and reduce maintenance, water waste, and broken water containers.

• Pigs presenting a discharge from their nose or eyes should be immediately checked by your veterinarian. If your pigs are coughing, wheezing, or presenting signs of pneumonia, contact the vet and commence treatment. Pneumonia is highly contagious amongst pigs and can be fatal. Any sick animals should be immediately isolated from the rest of the group.

Clean The Chicken Coop

Chickens huddle together for warmth and, in winter weather, require shelter with good ventilation. Chickens are not the cleanest of farm animals. The ammonia emitted from their manure can kill the birds if well-designed ventilation is not provided.

• Because they are “dirty birds”, chickens foul their water source. To keep your flock healthy, provide fresh, clean water several times daily.

Sheep, Llamas, and Alpacas

Sheep, llamas, and alpacas tolerate winter weather with little discomfort. They do appreciate a bit of shelter out of the wind, but cold is not typically a factor that affects their health or comfort. Make sure they have a continual source of unfrozen water. If snow cover makes grazing impossible, supplement feed as needed.

Happy Goats

Goats are hardy animals that typically do well outdoors in most kinds of weather. However, to keep goats happy and comfortable, provide a snug shed where they can shelter out of the snow and winter winds.

• Most goats refuse to break through even the thinnest of ice coating on water buckets. However, they have to have plenty of water, so when the temps drop below freezing, it’s time to use water heaters.

• When the weather is inclement, goats require supplemental feed for energy to stay warm.

• Providing free-choice baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to your goat herd helps keep their digestive systemsfunctioning smoothly by balancing pH in the rumen.

• Provide shelter with a minimum of 8 to 10 square feet per animal. Goats will crowd together in very cold weather for warmth, which can increase the chances of respiratory problems and injury.

• There is a high mortality rate amongst kids if they are not sheltered in extreme winter weather.

Pay Attention to Details

Although additional management challenges present during extremely cold weather, they are all “part and parcel” of being a responsible animal owner. It is important to pay attention to daily detail to identify and address problems early before they become major issues.

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