by Texas Homesteader ~
I need a way to keep our hens safe during those times when we’re not home before dark to lock them safely inside their coop.
An automatic chicken coop door automatically opens & closes at times I’ve programmed it to operate. Want to see the pros & cons of this automatic chicken coop door? Read on, dear friends.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Did you know you could make a chicken feeder from a repurposed coffee can? Yep, it’s true.
You know what I say: “Use Whatcha Got!”. Check out this Homestead Hack & see how we easily (and with NO out of pocket) repaired our chicken feeder for many more years of service.
by Texas Homesteader ~
RancherMan & I really enjoy raising hens each year. We don’t really have a market for the eggs since I no longer work in an office. Most folks around here are raising their own chickens for their own eggs. And a friend of mine is selling eggs the local Farmer’s Market so I don’t want to move in on her business.
So every year we just buy 3-4 hens. It’s enough to provide us with the eggs we want. And we allow them to free range part of the day so they get much extra protein (and some excitement) from running around the house eating grasshoppers and such.
The garden pests are eliminated by them while providing us with even healthier eggs. That’s really a win/win, no?
We typically sell these girls in the late fall. They’re still prime-age egg layers but we don’t want to have to overwinter them and their value is much higher as productive egg-layers than meat in the freezer.
Then in the spring we’ll buy new pullets and start again. So I’m far from a chicken expert, but I thought I’d share what we do to keep our girls happy & mite free.
by Texas Homesteader ~
Last year RancherMan & I decided that housing our free-range hens in the coop of our 1880’s barn just wasn’t protecting them. Oh they were safe in the coop overnight, but when we let them out to free range each morning, predators were taking the entire flock time & time again. We needed a modified free-range setup.
So we decided we’d amend our garden to include the chickens. But our fenced garden offered some layout challenges.
I recently wrote a piece for Mother Earth News, come see how we were able to successfully incorporate the chickens into our garden area. We have been able to protect the chickens from predators as well as the garden from the chickens.
~TxH~
by Texas Homesteader ~
Chickens waste a LOT of feed! So we made an Inexpensive PVC chicken feeder that’s SUPPOSED to cut down on wasted feed. But did it work as advertised? Check it out & see…
by Texas Homesteader
Have you ever had to deel with a broody hen? That’s when she collects a whole clutch of eggs and sits on them trying to get them to hatch.
During that time she doesn’t eat much, and she doesn’t lay any more eggs. Her main focus is on hatching those eggs into baby chicks. Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes not.
by Texas Homesteader ~
I’ve learned how much healthier free-range eggs are. But I’ve learned so much more about them too. Read all the benefits of raising your own backyard flock of free-ranging chickens.
by Texas Homesteader
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Last year we dipped our toe into the raising-chickens waters. We bought day-old chicks and raised them until fall when we sold them (we didn’t want to attempt to overwinter last year) Oh how much fun they were to raise! We free-ranged them and they made quite a dent in the grasshopper population and an incredible impact on the fly reduction on our cows in the barn pens.
Oh yeah, and they gave us FRESH EGGS! We knew that as spring drew closer we’d consider again if we wanted to raise chickens. The verdict is in: Um, YES PLEASE!
