One of the coolest parts of raising chickens and being a backyard chicken keeper is collecting multi-colored eggs every week! Blue eggs, green eggs, pink eggs, even orange eggs! But maybe there’s a higher demand for white chicken eggs in your neighborhood – or perhaps some of your family members prefer bright, white eggs. So, …
Eggs
There is nothing better than having a consistent supply of fresh eggs from your very own flock of hens – but if your hens produce more eggs than your family can eat daily, you will quickly accumulate eggs. At that point, you may be wondering: How long do farm fresh eggs last, and how should …
Making a profit on the homestead is part of becoming self-sufficient, and we should all be looking for ways of making out homestead work for us. If you’re considering raising pheasants vs. chickens for profit, this guide will help you choose. Chickens are usually more profitable than pheasants since they are higher in demand. Still, …
If you’re new to keeping hens or want to expand your little flock, then the nesting boxes are vital. Here’s why. Hens are fussy (and fickle) creatures. And if they don’t like their nesting boxes or there aren’t enough, they will start to lay elsewhere instead! And, as someone who spent hours last year retrieving …
For many years, I only fed my chickens whole or cracked corn. I hoped they were getting all the nutrients needed from the bugs, seeds, fruit, and the surrounding pasture. After a while, however, I noticed my chickens were hardly producing any eggs. Out of 14 hens, I was lucky if I got an egg …
Most chickens lay their eggs in the first few hours of daylight. But it makes you wonder… Could they lay eggs at any time of the day? Exactly what time of day do most chickens lay eggs? Does the weather impact egg laying? Let’s find out! As the cold winter weather settles in, we’re all …
How can you tell if your duck eggs are fertile? Consider the following advice from our Indian runner ducks! Let me explain. Our Indian runner ducks are laying once again! But, they have a somewhat haphazard approach to egg production. When it comes to mating, their enthusiasm knows no bounds. Given how many sexual shenanigans …
My chickens know more about ancient customs than I do! Every Easter, they promptly stop laying eggs, obviously respecting the medieval tradition that banned the consumption of eggs during Lent. Tradition aside, why do chickens stop laying eggs? And, can we help our hens get back into the swing of things? It’s hardly surprising that chickens stop …
Backyard hens will produce just as many eggs without a rooster as they will with a rooster, but there are more advantages to having one around than just the possibility of getting a baby chick from time to time. Of course, not every chicken owner can have a rooster strutting about within their backyard flock. …
Ducks are some of the most impressive birds, and I love their quirky personalities! But – can you have a duck as a pet? What about domestic ducks? We have a flock of 12 ducks, but I’m not sure I would call them pets. Our Indian Runner Ducks aren’t the friendliest creatures on the farm and …
We all know that keeping chickens free-range provides them with the best living conditions – they can roam freely, pick the best natural food, and display all their natural behaviors. Free-range chickens have other benefits, too. Eggs from free-range operations are potentially more nutritious than the regularly farmed eggs because chickens have access to more food items …
This epic guide contains many DIY incubator ideas and tutorials on how to make an incubator. But first, I need to tell a funny story about my hens! With 12 hens, you’d think at least one of them would be willing to sit on a nest full of eggs from time to time. But – I guess …
For a long time, needing an egg collecting apron was something of a pipe dream. My little flock of hens rarely produced more than one or two eggs a day, so a pair of hands did the job just fine. Now we’ve expanded our poultry project and put our ladies on a new diet, however, …
Diving into the world of poultry is often the first step into keeping livestock for many homesteaders, with chickens coming top of the list every time. But what about other types of birds? Many of us have considered keeping ducks or turkeys, but farming quail is rapidly increasing in popularity! What are the advantages of keeping and farming quail? …
Chickens are fun but noisy, ducks are completely quackers, and geese are, in my humble opinion, the devil incarnate. But what about emus? Are the benefits of raising an emu chick sufficient to offset the expense of keeping these large, flightless birds? Some suggest that keeping emus simply isn’t practical for your average homesteader. They …