Homesteader Depot

Tag: vinegar

  • 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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  • How to Make Infused Vinegar for Cleaning

    How to Make Infused Vinegar for Cleaning

    If you want to clean using natural, green cleaning products, but miss the fragrant smells of conventional, store-bought cleaners, then this is a great idea for you.

    Scent-infused vinegar is a really great, and cheap way, to make your own fragrant cleaners that actually work. We’re definitely fans of essential oils here, but we understand a lot of people aren’t ready to make the dive into buying them, or aren’t sure how to use them properly.

    This recipe is cheap, easy, involves no essential oils, and cleans amazingly well. You even can most likely make your own custom cleaner with a scent that you love using leftover scraps from your kitchen! Let’s begin.

    How to Make Scent-Infused Cleaners

    The basic formula for these cleaners involves soaking your fruit, herbs, or flowers in in vinegar for a few weeks, then using that vinegar as the base for a simple homemade cleaner. Here are some ideas for infusions you can use:

    • pine needles
    • citrus peels
    • fresh lavender sprigs
    • fresh rosemary sprigs
    • cinnamon sticks
    • eucalyptus leaves
    • rose petals
    • gardenia blossoms

    What you need to get started is one of the above, some other fragrant plant of fruit, (or any creative combo you can come up with!), a jar with a lid, and some regular white distilled vinegar. Keep in mind, the vinegar should be able to fill roughly 1/3 of a spray bottle when you’re done, but it doesn’t have to be perfect.

    For the following cleaner, you will need that spray bottle, some distilled water, and if you want a little extra cleaning oomph, a dash of dish soap. 

     

    Directions: 

    1. Take the scent of your choice, and, if they’re large like sprigs, roughly chop them. You don’t have to worry too much though, you just need to be able to stuff them in a jar.
    2. Put your herbs, leaves, peels, etc. in the jar, and cover with vinegar.
    3. Put the lid on the jar securely.
    4. Place in a cool, dark place, for 2-3 weeks. You can even do 1 if you’re in a hurry, it will still be lightly infused.
    5. When you’re ready to make your cleaner, strain whatever you have been infusing out of the vinegar, and pour your vinegar into your spray bottle.
    6. Fill the rest of the spray bottle with the distilled water (really, you can use tap, but distilled is just more sanitary) and a dash of dish soap if you like.

    And that’s it! Use this as you would your regular cleaner, and you’ll be amazed at how good it cleans and how delightful it smells.

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