Healthy meat processing is kind to the animals and produces the best tasting meat! Watch, listen, or read for the best way to slaughter and butcher meat — whether you’re sourcing your meat from a local farm or doing the processing yourself! [by Wardee Harmon]
6 Winter Care Tips for Chickens
Chickens are some of the easiest homestead animals to keep… Yet, they may need some extra attention during extreme cold weather conditions. A bit of extra forethought and care will help your birds (and you!) be more prepared as winter settles in. [by Jenny Cazzola]
How to Brood Chicks Outside
Confession: Until recently, we tended to our brooding chicks in our home office. We spend most of our time in this room anyway, and it’s so fun to watch them while we’re working! Then I discovered that it is possible to brood chicks outside, and it’s a win-win for us and the chicks! [by Jenny Cazzola]
5 Lessons from Loss on the Homestead
You hear it again and again in homesteading circles… Loss is inevitable. And that makes caring for any living thing emotionally challenging. Can these hard times teach us anything? Difficult as it is, the answer is yes. [by Jenny Cazzola]
Meat Birds: Heritage vs. Hybrid {What You Need To Know}
I was somewhat idealistic about raising chickens… I envisioned going to the chicken yard in a pretty apron, grabbing a good-sized chicken, swiftly processing it on a chopping block, taking it to the kitchen, and serving a gorgeous roast chicken a few short hours later. Then expectation met reality… [by Jenny Cazzola]
Don’t Throw That Away! 14 Useful Items to Repurpose or Purchase Inexpensively
It’s just a fact of life… Odds and ends, junk piles, dirt piles, you name it. Any homesteader would agree, because gardening, caring for livestock, and living on a shoestring doesn’t always allow for the minimalist approach! Here are 14 inexpensive (or free) items I always keep around… [by Jenny Cazzola]
Our First Natural Hatch
One of the joys of keeping chickens is raising chicks, and not much is more exciting than seeing a mother hen raise her own baby chicks! Hatching fertile eggs was more of a long range goal on our part, but our hens had other plans. Our first natural hatch happened by accident. [by Jenny Cazzola]
Feeding Your Chickens
When we first got chickens, I thought chicken feed was one-size-fits-all. I thought I could just go to the store and purchase “chicken feed”. I soon learned differently. What you feed your birds directly depends on their purpose and how you’re raising them. Feeding your chickens… this is what I’ve learned. [by Jenny Cazzola]
Keeping Your Chickens Cool During the Summer Heat
Not only does weather wreak havoc on the garden and landscape, it takes its toll on pets and homestead critters such as chickens. During the summer, keeping our chickens cool is a very active part of our daily routine. Here are a few things that we have found to be helpful, as well as some additional suggestions I’ve gathered from my fellow chicken-keeping friends. [by Jenny Cazzola]
