Tag: chickens
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Butchering a Year’s Worth of Chickens (Video)
A few days ago we shared a video of some new homesteader’s first time butchering chickens, well, this is the opposite extreme! Seasoned homesteader and YouTuber Justin Rhodes shares his experience of butchering a whole year’s worth of chickens in one day. Videos like this are really inspiring and motivating to me, and stand as…
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Maggot Dispenser=FREE Chicken Feed (Video)
Wait! Don’t get grossed out. This is the “circle of life” at it’s very finest, trust me! I really love this YouTube channel, because not only is this family really rocking the homestead life, they’re doing it with all their kids, and posting it on YouTube for all of us to see. And this idea…
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5 Ways for Your Chickens to Earn Their Keep
Chickens are more than just egg producers, if you utilize them correctly, they can be a vital part of a smoothly running homestead! They are excellent additions to any gardening effort, and can even be useful with raising larger poultry as well! Here are some ideas for how to get the most out of your…
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Herbs for Hens
There are so many great medicinal herbs out there, and humans don’t have to be the only ones who benefit. Your hens can greatly benefit from herbs as well! One of the big reasons commercial eggs are so unappealing these days is that the chickens that produce them are usually pumped full of antibiotics, as they…
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The Life Cycle of a Chicken (Infographic)
So I guess it’s a bit of an urban legend that chickens need roosters to lay eggs. Which makes sense, of course, given we humans need a male and a female to “lay” a baby! However, this understandable misconception is due to the fact that eggs are not the exact equivalent of a human baby…
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How to Make Fermented Chicken Feed
Us humans love fermented food. It’s not just kombucha and sauerkraut for hippies, most of us eat fermented food in the form of beer, wine, cheese, yogurt, vinegar, pickles and sourdough and levain-style artisan breads, which are all fermented when traditionally made. I’m a big fan of fermentation because not only are most fermented foods…
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Winterizing the Chicken Coop (Video)
We love our feathered friends, so it’s important that we make sure they have the best care through the winter! This clever Chicago couple kept getting questions as to how they cared for their backyard chickens through the notoriously brutal Chicago winters, so they made a video to show what they did. Their chicken coop…
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Ways to Keep Chickens Happy
I’m not sure that there is any data that quantifies how many more eggs you can get out of a happy chicken, but most people that raise animals could tell you that keeping your animals happy will help you get what you want out of them. Stress can cause chickens to fight with each other,…
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Chickens Do More than Just Produce Eggs
If you are new to homesteading, you will find that many who practice this way of living will tell you that you should get some chickens. What is it about chickens that make them so great? Well, in addition to producing eggs, not to mention meat, they have some other benefits as well, and they…
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The Benefits of Having a Rooster
Roosters have a bad reputation. Many people who want to raise hens for eggs choose not to have a rooster in the flock. Some have heard that roosters are aggressive, or they don’t want to noise, or they just so the reason to have one. But the reality is that hens can be just as…
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3 Easy Ways to Keep Your Chickens Healthy
Chickens are some of the most common animals to see on a homestead or farm. One reason is that they are some of the easiest animals to care for. But even chickens can develop health issues like tape worms, mites, and various intestinal infections. As with everything else, taking care to prevent these issues will…
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Tips to Keep Your Chickens Safe from Predators
Most homesteaders have chickens. The chickens are essential for providing eggs, so you don’t want anything to happen to them. Of course, we all know chickens are delicious. And quite a few predators know the same exact thing. Therefore, you need to take steps to keep your chickens safe from all manner of predators. Here…
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3 Reasons Why Ducks Are Better Than Chickens
When most people think of animals for their back yard they quickly think of chickens. And while there is good reason so many people think to raise chickens, there are also reasons why ducks may be the preferable livestock for your backyard farm. Ducks don’t crow Not everyone starting their homestead has 15 acres in…
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How to Safely Let Chickens in the Garden
One of the most serious drawbacks to having truly free-range chickens is that they can go anywhere they want to and they tend to want to go to your garden. This makes sense since, hopefully, your garden is a healthfully functional natural environment filled with potential prey (many of which you would be happy to see…
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How to Breed More Self-Reliant Chickens
Any parent can tell you that taking care of a baby is a full-time job in and of itself. And anyone experienced in animal husbandry will know that raising baby animals can be nearly as difficult. So with everything you have to do in your daily life, taking care of twelve baby chicks, for example, can…
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Chickens vs. Rabbits
When most people think of small scale backyard animal husbandry, they tend to think exclusively of chickens. And while chickens are not without their own advantages, they are certainly not the only small animal that even a new backyard farmer can raise, one such animal is the rabbit. There are many benefits to having either chicken or rabbit. Both…
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The Ultimate Guide to Chicken Coops (Infograph)
Raising chickens is awesome, but you definitely need to have everything they will need to thrive. In most cases, this will include a properly constructed and well-equipped chicken coop. Even free-range chickens will need somewhere to roost at night. There are many options out there for homemade chicken coops, and this will probably be the…
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Caring for Your Chickens in Hot Weather
Did you know that chickens have a higher body temperature than humans? As a result, they will almost always feel increases in heat faster than we do, which means that they can really suffer on hot summer days. So how can you ensure that your chickens stay healthy and cool all summer long? Follow a…
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The Suburban Chicken Blueprint [eBook]
Click the image below to download your complimentary copy of The Suburban Chicken Blueprint. Inside You’ll Learn: Why raising chickens can be the best and easiest way to reduce your grocery bill and eat healthy How to raise chickens in almost ANY environment How to keep your chickens happy and healthy Countless timesaving tips and…
![The Suburban Chicken Blueprint [eBook]](https://homesteaderdepot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/featured_chicken-848x400-256x144.jpg)