Chickens as Livestock? Or Chickens as Pets? Earlier this week I discussed my chickens as livestock. You can read about it in “Butchering an Injured Chicken.” Keeping chickens for pets is a relatively new pastime. With the switch from an agrarian culture to a predominantly urban and suburban culture, most…
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The Chicken Chronicles – Butchering an Injured Chicken
Butchering An Injured Hen One afternoon I went out to the chicken coop to lock up the hens, give them fresh water and feed, and collect the eggs. I noticed one of my older White Leghorns had blood on her feathers. I inspected her carefully for signs of vent picking.…
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The Chicken Chronicles – Marek’s Disease
Marek’s Disease We moved to this homestead in 2010 and I jumped headfirst into the chicken raising project. We had chickens when I was a kid and they free ranged around our yard and garden…no big deal, right? So how much trouble can chickens really be? I started out…
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The Chicken Chronicles – Chronic Respiratory Disease
Chronic Respiratory Disease In December of 2010 I purchased 12 chickens from a lady on Craigslist. She was a teacher and hatched the eggs for her classroom. When the chicks were no longer cute, she brought them home and kept them in a drafty little coop behind her rented farmhouse.…
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How to Clean Out the Root Cellar
How to Clean Your Root Cellar In March and April, it’s time to clean out the root cellar and finish up the last of your cold storage veggies. Many root cellar crops have long passed their ‘keeping’ limits by this time of the year. Beets, squash, pumpkins, carrots, cabbages, and…
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Seeds for Self Sufficiency
Heirloom Seeds Most gardeners purchase fresh packets of seeds each year to plant their garden. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course. However, if you would like to ‘save a little green’ and become more self sufficient, heirloom seeds are just the ticket! Heirloom seeds allow you to save seed…
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Possum in the Hen House
Possums are Predators Every chicken enthusiast dreads the potential predator attack. Hawks and owls can pick off a chicken before you know it. Foxes, coyotes, neighborhood dogs, racoons, skunks, and even cats can be a threat to your poultry. I also knew that possums would steal eggs and eat young…
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Double Red Amaryllis
Growing Amaryllis I haven’t had the best of luck with Amaryllis over the years. There was one pretty white and pink Amaryllis that flowered and survived for a few years as one of my houseplants. But I never really got the hang of putting it into dormancy and then inducing…
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Dried Beans in a Jar
Perhaps this post would more aptly be named ‘My Dad is full of Beans.’ Keep reading to find out why! Look at this gorgeous jar of beans my parents brought when they came to visit for Thanksgiving! Don’t you just love the colors?! There is a little bit of a…
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How to Butcher a Chicken on the Cheap
How to Butcher a Chicken Do you want to know how to butcher a chicken? I butcher my home-raised chickens so that my family has access to clean meat that was raised and slaughtered humanely. I’ve been doing this for years because my family is opposed to the inhumane treatment…
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Culling Old Hens from the Flock
Culling the Flock and Butchering Old Hens Monday morning I butchered some of my old hens. The oldest hen in my flock was one of the unlucky ones. She was an Ameraucana from my very first flock of 10 purchased the summer we moved here (2010). She was about 3…
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How to Get Free Chickens for Your Homestead
How to Find Free Chickens Are you interested in getting some free chickens? In addition to hatching out your own chicks from fertile eggs, you might be able to find unwanted chickens in your area. ‘Used’, or ‘pre-owned’ chickens, might not be as hard to find as you might think.…
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How to Buy Locally Raised Meat
Buy Locally Raised Meat Are you interested in purchasing locally raised meat? Do you have concerns about the availability and safety of meat prepared by large processing plants? My family orders locally raised meat through small butcher shops for a variety of reasons. We know that the animals were raised…
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Raw Milk
See also How to Make Raw Butter, Raw Honey Butter, and an antique Butter Mold. Locally Raised Raw Milk I’ve made some new farmer friends recently. They keep Jersey cows for milk and I’m so excited to be able to purchase unprocessed milk from them. I brought home 2 gallons…
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Butchering Features - Butchery - It's Almost Winter On The Homestead - Poultry - Raise Your Own Turkeys!
How To Butcher a Turkey
Learn how to butcher a turkey from start to finish. Complete instructions with photos of each step to guide you through the butchering process!