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Homesteader Depot

Tag: chickens

  • 5 Ways to Use Vinegar for Your Chickens

    5 Ways to Use Vinegar for Your Chickens

    Vinegar has so many uses around the home in general, it should be no surprise to you that there are a lot of ways to use it around your chicken coop! Both distilled white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are wonderful to keep your chicken coop clean, your chickens healthy, and keep you happy!

    Here are a few of the many ways you can use vinegar for your chickens:

    1. Added to water

    Chickens are subject to parasites and digestive issues as much as any other creature, and adding a bit of vinegar to their water can help keep them healthy and happy. If you happen to see your chicken has very runny droppings, it’s time to add some vinegar to their water. I would recommend a tablespoon for each gallon of water.

    2. Chicken baths

    Chickens are pretty good about giving themselves dust baths, so you will want to make sure they have a clean place to do this every day. However, it can also help them, especially with mites and parasites, to give them a simple bath in warm soapy water from time to time, and give them a rinse in water with a bit of vinegar. This will both condition their feathers, kill any unwanted critters or fungal growths, and help to gently cleanse off any dead skin on their feet.

    3. Clean eggs

    While seeing bits of dirt or chicken droppings on your eggs are how you know they’re truly farm fresh, no one really wants to bring chicken poop into their kitchen! Giving your eggs a quick dunk in water with a bit of vinegar will clean them and also brighten the egg shells.

    4. Remove tough grime

    We’ve all experienced that bit of chicken poop in the coop that just doesn’t want to budge. A spray bottle with vinegar will not only remove tough stains, it will also help repel critters and fungal growth in your coop, so use this for regular coop cleanings.

    5. Easy peeling for hard-boiled eggs

    I recently discovered this, and, as a big fan of hard-boiled eggs, it’s made my life much easier! You may have heard that adding a dash of baking soda to the water when you hard boil eggs can make them easier to peel, but I’m not really sure why, since it is vinegar that dissolves calcium. Add a dash of vinegar instead and those pesky egg shells will practically peel themselves off.

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  • The $5 Chicken Tractor (Video)

    The $5 Chicken Tractor (Video)

    Popular homesteading vlogger Justin Rhodes has been on a tour of American homesteads this month, and through his travels, he found this impressive $5 chicken tractor made by his friend, Ryan from Wholesome Roots.

    I love seeing great, innovative, and frugal ideas for homesteading in general, but it seems people seem to get particularly innovative when it comes to housing and accommodating chickens! Just this week we shared our frugal chicken nest ideas, and I’ve actually found a few more since posting it.

    This is a very clever little system for moving chickens around the homestead, which is a great way to ensure they’re doing their part, and also getting fresh ground to scratch and fertilize every day. Chickens like grains, but they really thrive on bugs and grass. There are lots of options for tractors, chicken runs, and mobile coops out there, but if you can’t afford a fancy system, you’ll love this clever and simple tractor.

    Check it out, and be sure to follow Rhode’s homestead tour, it has been really fun and cool to see so many homesteads across the country!

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  • Frugal DIY Nesting Box Ideas

    Frugal DIY Nesting Box Ideas

    If you want your chickens to provide you with lots of wonderful, nutritious, farm-fresh eggs, they’re going to need some cozy nests to get the job done!

    You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to trick your coop out with some nice, comfortable nesting boxes for your lovely egg-laying ladies.

    Here are some frugal nesting box ideas for you that can all be purchased cheaply, recycled, or even scavenged for, if you’re lucky!

    Dishpans

    Dishpans, the kind you can grab at Walmart or the Dollar Tree for very cheap, are great for nesting boxes, if you cut a shallow entry point for the chickens on one end, and stack them where they can easily access them. Simply fill with bedding, find a quiet, private place for them to go, and let your hens enjoy.

    Related Article: 5 Mistakes First-Time Chicken Farmers Make

    Bookshelves

    If you have any old bookshelves lying around, the little nooks would be perfect for some comfortable chicken privacy. Also, if you feel more confident that you could easily make a bookshelf than some fancy laying boxes, just use the same idea! Chickens like to “roost”, fly up into trees, so they’ll like something they can perch on and fly up and down from to lay their eggs.

    Milk crates

    Milk crates are one of the best kind of containers there are, especially for homesteaders! And you can probably find them for free, from friendly restaurants or businesses who discard them after deliveries. These are also great because they have holes all around, so they’re breathable and will dispose of some of the chicken droppings for you, without putting the eggs at risk. Fill with bedding and tuck away (maybe on your bookshelf?).

    Litter boxes

    If you’ve only got a few hens and some old litter boxes lying around or can find them cheaply or for free, they’re perfect for nesting boxes. They enclose the hen and are already designed for easy cleaning and bedding changes.

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  • Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs? (Video)

    Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs? (Video)

    There are definitely reasons to keep chickens other than for producing eggs, but for the most part, eggs are probably why you’re raising chickens!

    So when they stop laying, what do you do?

    Well, Becky from Becky’s Homestead on YouTube has some solutions. There are several different reasons why your chickens might not be laying, and she’s got some suggestions for how to determine what those reasons are, as well as how to help them out get producing again.

    These simple tips will help you determine what kind of environment and nutrients chickens need to lay eggs. They’re not just little egg machines, they’re animals who need a peaceful environment, the right nutrients and habitat, and at least some attention and TLC to produce.

    Get some insight into what’s keeping your hens from producing and learn a whole lot about how they function in this video from a very skilled and knowledgeable homesteader and poultry farmer. I always have to mention about Becky, not only does she have a great YouTube channel covering all kinds of homestead, farming, and gardening related topics, she’s a trustworthy source since she built her house herself and got started homesteading from scratch.

    Enjoy!

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  • Butchering a Year’s Worth of Chickens (Video)

    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 a reminder that while it takes lots of hard work, self-reliance is not entirely outside of the realm of possibility.

    Watch as this family butchers enough Cornish game hens to eat at least one a week for a year! They raised them all themselves and they didn’t take long to mature, so to me it sounds like a really great breed to have to stock up on a long-term supply of meat. Check it out:

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  • Maggot Dispenser=FREE Chicken Feed (Video)

    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 they came up with to feed maggots to chickens is brilliant.
    I think we’ve been programmed to think that chickens only want grains, but in reality, they’re carnivores who love bugs. Maggots are like juicy steaks to them!

    Check out this super cool video of this brilliant plan for free chicken food and see how what we normally view as gross little bugs can be turned ultimately into sustainable food for everyone on the homestead. Enjoy!

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  • 5 Ways for Your Chickens to Earn Their Keep

    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 chickens, and as all these ideas utilize what chickens are born to do, your hens are guaranteed to be more happy as well! And happy hens means more eggs. It’s a win-win for everyone!

    1. Prep garden beds

    You will probably want to keep your chickens away from your vegetable garden most of the time, but when you’re preparing a new bed or digging up an old one, they’ll love to help you out! As they scratch and peck, they will turn the soil and also contribute some valuable manure. The bugs and scraps of roots and leaves they’re sure to find are also wonderfully nutritious for them, which makes for delicious and healthy eggs!

    2. Turning your compost

    So they’re not exactly going to help turning over your whole compost pile, but they’ll definitely still help in the same way they will your garden bed. Let them hang out when you’re turning your compost pile, and they’ll help break it down faster by gobbling up the creepy crawlers and many scraps of organic waste that are still intact.

    3. Fertilizer

    For both 1 and 2, chickens will contribute to your garden and compost pile by producing manure in the process of pecking and scratching through that will add valuable nitrogen to your soil or compost. But you can also collect it right in their pen to add to your compost pile or garden for regular fertilizing or making a quick compost tea.

    4. Grass and weed control 

    Chickens can’t exactly mow lawns, but they can help with seriously fast growing weeds or grass. If you have tough-to-reach parts of your lawn that require more than simple mowing, let your girls at it!

    5. Waste disposal 

    Finally, and probably my personal favorite, is how quickly your chickens can turn kitchen scraps into nutritious eggs and valuable fertilizer for your garden. Fruit and veggie scraps and any leftover grain products are absolutely delightful treats for any self-respecting chicken. Just keep a container with a lid on your counter and bring to your chickens with their evening meals.

     

    Chickens are awesome in so many ways, and with these simple tips, you can really get the most out of your girls (and your rooster too, he’ll love to help!)

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  • Herbs for Hens

    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 typically live in close quarters, to protect them from illness and disease. This of course means there are antibiotics in the eggs, and it’s far from healthy to consume antibiotics you don’t actually need. It messes with your immune system and gut flora, which is something you definitely don’t want to do.

    So, if you’re raising your own chickens, especially if they’re free-range and get to eat lots of healthy, natural foods like grass, bugs, and organic feed, they already have a much better chance against disease! But of course, even free range hens can get sick, and preventative measures are still prudent to take. Feeding your hens powerful, but safe antibiotic herbs is a great alternative to common poultry antibiotics, and won’t effect their eggs, which means it’s safer for you too!

    Here are some wonderful herbs that are great for hens:

    Oregano: 

    Oregano can be fed to your hens in bunches, and they’ll love it fresh! It is a great natural antibiotic, for hens and humans, and you can also incorporate into their feed, or into their bedding to ward off pathogens.

    Lavender: 

    Lavender can be incorporated into your hens’ bedding to keep them clean and smelling fresh. Lavender has wonderful antibacterial properties, so it’s great for hens to eat, as well as keep their nests fresh. It also has calming properties, which can help them relax and potentially produce more eggs.

    Sage:

    Hens will love to eat fresh sage as well, and it will also help ward off pathogens. Some research has been shown sage in particular can reduce salmonella in chickens’ guts.

    Comfrey

    Comefrey is a homestead wonder plant in so many ways, but one of them is as a powerful first aid salve, which you can use on chickens as well. Since chickens can have skin issues on their feet or gloves, it can help a lot with things like this.

     

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