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Category: Chickens

Doing Mid-Summer Morning Chores

  • By - DiyGarden
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I thought you all might like to go along with Ron and do the morning chores on this hot summer day. We have chores down to pretty good system. Ron still works a full-time job so systems are needed here on the homestead. Right now our animals are easy to care for and we are very careful to make sure that we don’t bring in any high maintenance animals for now. I’ll bring you along with pictures but if you want to get a real behind the scenes view check out the video here.

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Feeding the Laying Hens

Right now the only chickens on the homestead are our laying hens. There are 14 of them and we have them free ranging in a part of our pasture where they get their fill of grasshoppers and other delicious bugs. To help make sure they continue laying, they are fed a laying crumble which gives them the protein that they need to keep laying big beautiful eggs. Our hens lay eggs in the colors of green, blue and brown.

The system we have for feeding the laying hens are gravity fed tubes. Here is an article that explains how to make your own gravity fed tubes. Ron fills them on the week-end and there is enough laying crumble to last through the week for our hens. He does have to go out every morning and clean the water troughs out and give them fresh water every morning. Right now he also puts a freezie bottle in each waterer during these hot summer months.

Feeding the Honey Bees

Bee and blossoms

Our honey bees are pretty self-sustainable, however, in this heat just about every plant has died and any blossoms that the bees could fed off of have withered away. So, Ron does give them sugar water during this time. This helps feed and hydrate the bees until fall. He feeds both hives every other week or so.

He never knows what kind of mood the bees will be in, laid back and easy to get along with or… in the mood to sting! After a couple of stings he has decided to suit up in a bee suit and to use his smoker. The smoker helps to relax the bees and make them easier to work with. Here is a look at when he first brought the bees home.

Hope you enjoyed doing chores with Ron. Let me know what kind of chores y’all have to do out here in the heat.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Easy to Make DIY Chicken/Poultry Feeder

We are going to be checking out this DIY chicken/poultry feeder that Ron made. He referenced it in an earlier video and just wanted to elaborate a little bit more and wanted of tear one apart and show you how it was made.

Parts of the Feeder

Lets will go through all the parts of the feeder. We start with a 10 ft piece of 3 inch PVC that we cut in half. This will create two 5 feet tall feeders. For each feeder you will also need a 90 degree 3 inch street elbow and a 45 degree regular elbow and then a 3 inch cap to go on the top of the feeder.

To Glue or Not to Glue


Ron didn’t glue any of the pieces together because he wants to be able to pull it apart and clean it. He really wants to keep it clean for the hens making it healthier for them.

Taking the 5 foot PVC pipe and then he has the street elbow, and a street elbow is where one pipe on one side will  fit inside of the elbow and the other side will fit on the outside so it it’s kind of easy to put together. Then add the regular 45 degree elbow which will go on the end of the street elbow. Then put on the 3 inch cap that will go on the top to keep the water 
from coming in from the top side.

Mounting and Filling the Chicken Feeder

We mount our feeders to the front of our coop using plumber’s tape. After it is secure, fill it up and it is ready for your chickens to use. Ron will show you how to do this project from start to finish.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

egg mobile

The First OG Egg Mobile

  • By - DiyGarden
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We have a group of hens that lay beautiful colored eggs, from green, blue, and different colors of brown. Lately, our girls are laying more eggs then what we can eat. I’ve done a lot to store eggs such as water glassing them, I make hard boiled eggs, make egg sandwiches, the list goes on but we still have more eggs then what we can handle.

So Ron has put together our first OG Egg Mobile. We thought it would be a great way to offer eggs to the neighbors. It’s a cute, short video that I thought you would enjoy.

The Colored Egg Society

We also created the Colored Egg Society which is a membership where we sell homestead eggs, and homestead butchered poultry. Also, if you would just like to keep updated on our hens and their antics, you can join the membership (it’s free).

At this time we are only offering eggs to the Dallas, Ft. Worth Texas (Tarrant or Parker county) area. Our members will have to come to the homestead bi-weekly or once a month to pick up the eggs. Members have first come, first serve opportunities. We told you how our poultry are cared for, how they are raised. Believe me everything is very tasty!

We offer a guarantee of satisfaction. And no price gouging. Prices are set for a year.

Here is the information about the Colored Egg Society..

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Learning About the Chicken Chores

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

Learning about the chicken chores, it’s funny how 14 cute little chickens can take up so much time and attention. That is exactly what our hens are doing with Ron and I. They are close to the house, maybe to close but I can enjoy them from the living room window so I’m ok with where they are. Plus, I love to hear them cackle after they lay an egg and squawk as they eat bugs out in their run. However, I’m not very involved in their day-to-day care so I found the video Ron did this week very informative.

Scraping It Together

My husband can build just about anything and he built the original run and their coop. He used mostly scrap wood to complete the project. One thing to keep in mind is that the run and especially their coop needs to offer them protection from the weather and from predators. You can see what he did here. If you have access to a pallet it is easy enough to put up the walls and a roof for a nice, inexpensive shelter for your chickens. He added the side wing to the main chicken run and the roof after we got the main coop finished.

Chicken Chores

Probably the most important chicken chore to learn about is watering the chickens. It’s always important but if it is in the middle of a Texas drought chickens need to be watered at least once a day if not more. Something we didn’t know is how much they like to play in water. Ron is always scrubbing out the water buckets because of dirty feet splashing in the water.

Of course, feeding them is also important. Ron made their feed tubes to help keep their feed clean and dry. He explains it really well in the video which you can watch here. He says that the tubes hold about 15 pounds of feed and last our 14 hens a week to a week and a half.

Worth It?

So after hearing about the shelter chickens need and the feeding and watering chores you might ask yourself if it’s worth having chickens. Ron and I think so, it’s not unheard of to go sit in the back and watch the girls (hens). But really, only you can answer that question.

2 gates and chickens

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Adding Aloe Vera to the Chicken Yard

  • By - DiyGarden
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I have a project that we are working toward setting up in the Spring. Setting up a food forest for our chickens. Planting grains and seeds in their yard. We also have some of our orchard in the yard, it will offer shade to the other plants plus the chickens. I want other greens such as herbs and comfrey. After doing some research we decided to add aloe vera as well.

Different Aloe Vera Types

I don’t know much about aloe vera plants and wasn’t aware that there are different types of aloe vera. I picked up climbing aloe vera. It turns out that it was a great choice, climbing aloe vera does well outside and can get very large. Sounds great for the chicken food forest, the chickens can snack on healthy treats.

Is Aloe Really Healthy for Chickens

Yes, chickens can eat aloe, it can be very healthy. Aloe vera has many healing properties, anti-inflammatory properties, and antiviral properties for your chickens. It’s also been known to help with bumblefoot, and other ailments they may suffer from.

Please check out the video that we did for you, like it and hit the subscribe button so you can follow along as we work on our chicken yard food forest.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

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The Tale of Two Gates Leading to the Chickens

  • By - DiyGarden
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In the beginning we didn’t realize what two gates would do for us or our chickens. Like I mentioned in an earlier blog, you can check it out here. We really wanted to free range our chickens however, not all of our property is fenced and every neighbor has dogs and they don’t always stay on their property and I worry about our girls becoming victims of wandering dogs. So, I talked Ron into building me a very large chicken run.

Two Gates

And this is where the two gates come into our plan. Inside of this chicken run is the beginning of our orchard. Right now, it’s six apple trees with comfrey at the bottom of a couple of the trees. (We all have to start somewhere) One gate is at the front of the orchard and the other gate is at the side of it. This allows us to drive through with a vehicle if we need to.

Happiness Is…

The chickens that are in the run are our laying hens. They are the only hens that live on the place full-time. It is important to us that they are happy and content because we don’t want to disrupt their laying eggs. And as you can see by the picture they look very happy.

If you live in the DFW area and are looking for some colorful chicken eggs you can email us or comment below for information about our egg subscription.

Behind the Scenes

Ron shot a video for us explaining the whys and hows of building the chicken yard so I hope you watch it and then thank him. It’s a lot of work trying to do the job you are working on and also shooting the video. Here’s the link.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Water glassing eggs

Learning How To Water Glass Eggs

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

Chickens and Eggs

You might be wondering why I’m talking about water glassing eggs right now. It’s late fall and most chickens are in the molting stage; where they are losing old feathers and growing new. The sun is going down and there isn’t as much daylight as what we had during the spring and summer. Both are reasons that chickens slow down or stop laying eggs.

What’s A Girl To Do?

Well, at our house the eggs are coming in faster then I can use them. So we have set up a business selling eggs. I also decided to start learning new ways to preserve the eggs.

If you live in the DFW area and are looking for some colorful chicken eggs you can email us or comment below for information about our egg subscription.

Lime and Water

I knew we needed to do something and I had heard about using lime to preserve eggs but hadn’t looked into it very deeply. Then Ron came home one day telling me he had heard about water glassing eggs and how that was suppose to preserve the eggs for up to a couple of years.

So here is a YouTube video showing you how I water glassed some of our over abundance of eggs. Please, take a look and like the video. We would really appreciate it if you would subscribe to our channel as well.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

P.S. By the way here is a video for you if you need some ideas on what to do with your egg shells.

Every One Needs A Job

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

Every one needs a job, what a great philosophy! It is especially true for the small scale homesteader which is exactly what we are. Ron and I work hard and we decided that anything that came to Our DIY Homestead had to do that as well. We moved here about a year ago, here is a look at the place in the beginning. A lot was done inside and now we are turning our eyes to the outside and getting ready to move some animals on the homestead. We have had a couple batches of meat chickens and have laying hens now. I really want an emu! I just can’t find a job for him so we all know that we won’t be getting one…

The Beginnings

Ron has set up a beginning composting pen. Nothing like what we had at the other house but it will get build up. We bought a dog kennel and that is where the chickens are now. Ron built a nice coop for them as well. The hens started laying a couple of months ago. It’s so much fun. I ordered a batch of colorful egg layers So, we get green eggs, blue eggs and brown.

Chicken Yard

The chicken yard we have is nice just small and doesn’t give the chickens much room to roam. We are leery about letting them free range outside of the yard they have now because we haven’t fenced in the entire property yet and every neighbor has a dog or two. We have decided to build a large chicken yard that we can split in two when needed one side for the laying hens.

PS If you live in the DFW area and are looking for some colorful chicken eggs you can email us or comment below for information about our egg subscription.

The rest of the new yard will be for our market chickens. They come and go through the year and while they are here they need space, lots and lots of space. We will put up a temporary fence between the market chickens and the laying hens. While we have both this is a great fix!

Market Chickens

PS If you are interested in learning more about how to get on our list to receive Spring market chickens email us or comment below.

Take A Look

We invite you to take a look at our YouTube page. Ron shot a quick video talking about and showing you the back acre and how the yard will be set up. Please like the videos and subscribe so you can watch as we go forward with our homestead work.

Here is to your homesteading dreams,

Shawn

Joys of Our Backyard Chickens

  • By - DiyGarden
  • Posted on

Today I’d like to talk to ya’ll about our backyard chickens. We have been asked “Why do you have chickens?” One of the reasons of course is getting fresh eggs every day. Also, we really enjoy sitting on the back deck and watching them in their yard. They are a blast because they are so curious about everything.

Inside their yard we have 2 bee hives and a few fruit trees. You’ll look out there one time and they are on top of the hives. The next time they will be on top of some cinder blocks that are in the yard. We also have a run that we attach to the coop, that we use to keep the young chicks safe while they grow and fully feather out. It is also out in their yard that they like to jump on and walk around on. They also like to roost on there when the weather is nice enough.

Feeding & Watering

When we first got the girls, yes they are all hens. We use to go out to the yard everyday with fresh water and feed. That got to be very time consuming so we changed the waterer and feeder. We have the bottom of a plastic barrel that we use for their water. It is kept it in a shaded part of their yard so it stays as cool as possible in the summer heat. We also make sure the we drain it and scrub it clean once a month. A hose is ran from the house so we don’t have to carry buckets of water out there every day. 

Another thing that we have done is build a feeder that holds enough feed for the week. It is made out of PVC and holds enough feed for a week. I will go into how we made it in another blog. Now that we have the bigger waterer and feeder, we can spend more time on other things like watching the hens play.

Keeping the Chickens Home

After all that work, we thought we could just sit back and enjoy the chickens. Then some of them decided that they wanted to be on the outside of their yard and started flying over the 6 foot fence that we have around them. We knew we could keep them safe on the inside of their yard but not so much on the outside. Now we periodically have to clip their wings back to keep them from flying over the fence. This doesn’t hurt them at all and they actually grow back.

At the End of the Day…

We highly recommend that you get chickens. Check your local codes to see if it is legal for you to have them, put in some elbow grease and enjoy. They are a great stress reliever after a long day.