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Animals Farm & Garden Flock Talk Poultry

Bantam Chickens Make Great Broodies

broody bantams bantam chicken chickens
Steve Woron/Adobe Stock

Bantam chickens can make a wonderful small flock. Keeping three or four bantam hens increases self-sufficiency for anyone engaged in small-time poultry-keeping. Bantam hens, notorious for setting and brooding, make excellent surrogate mothers for many species of domestic poultry, including chickens, ducks, pheasants and turkeys. 

They make perfect birds for those living on the grid, as well as anyone wanting to live off the grid. They are nature’s perfect incubator, egg turner and chick brooder, all built into one convenient, dependable unit. Best of all, they require no utilities or power to operate. They are one of the most convenient and trouble-free ways for a homesteader to increase their small production or laying flocks. Fertile eggs, from the best-producing birds in another flock, can be set under bantam broodies as a low-cost and highly successful way to increase the flock. 

These little marvels of nature make capable, ideal mothers and can be used to hatch and incubate eggs from other types of poultry. They even take care of the babies after they hatch. Bantam hens are notorious for going broody, sometimes two or three times in a year.

Choose almost any well-known breed of standard-sized chicken and chances are you’ll find a bantam version that has been developed as its counterpart. Bantam hens are small, usually less than half the size of their full-sized cousins. As miniature versions of much bigger fowl, you can keep them in a smaller coop or run. 

Because they have often been raised as pets, many bantams maintain a generational predisposition for friendliness and curiosity around humans. As such, they’re generally easy to maintain. 

Because of their much smaller size, feed consumption is also much lower than with standard-size fowl. Some breeds, such as Silkies or Cochin bantams, are well-known for wanting to set on eggs and hatch out a family. Other breeds—Old English Game, Japanese and Belgian bantams—often exhibit high tendencies for broodiness and excellent mothering skills as well.

To give an idea of the difference between standard-sized chicken breeds and bantams, look no further than the example found in Cochins. According to the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection, fully mature, standard-size Cochin hens should weigh 8 1⁄2 pounds when fully mature, and a rooster should weigh 11 pounds. On the flip side, a Cochin bantam hen should weigh 26 ounces and a rooster should weigh 30 ounces. Some breeds will be a few ounces heavier or lighter. Even so, most bantam hens can successfully incubate four to six larger eggs while setting.

Besides being curious, personable pets and wonderful mothers, many bantam chickens make decent little layers. While maybe not the egg producers that a Leghorn or Australorp might be, many breeds of bantams will lay three or more eggs per week during the spring and summer months. Some birds will even keep laying into the winter (but in most cases, this is an exception and not the rule.) 

Bantam chicken with three baby bantam chicks
broody bantams chicken

Hens & Roosters

Most breeds, once they start laying, will lay small eggs with high interior quality and strong shells. These eggs are wonderful for home use or selling. Even with their small size, many customers find these eggs to be of desirable quality and will buy them on a repeat basis, if you have them available. 

Bantam roosters are often known for their endearing and often inflated egos and attitudes. What they lack in size, they make up for in personality. Bantam roosters will try to defend their perceived territory against much larger males, without hesitation. They love to crow and strut around, letting the world know that they’re in charge. If you keep a bantam rooster with your hens, you can raise a few new “banties” every year and increase your brooder flock as well.

Bantam chickens tend to be clutch layers, meaning that they lay a clutch of eggs, often 18 to 20, and then go into a broody state and set on the clutch to incubate and hatch the eggs. If a person keeps the eggs gathered and removed daily, this will slow the tendency to set but not for long. 

After laying her eggs, usually over a six- or seven-week period, nature will take over and the bantam hen will go broody. She’ll flatten herself as far as she can and spread her little body out as she sits in the nest, assuming a position to allow her to cover as many eggs as possible and keep them warm. This flattened position also makes her less visible to predators if in the wild—nature’s way of making sure she and her babies are safe. 

She will lay claim to any eggs laid in the same nest by other hens and quickly roll them beneath her, with her beak. Once broody, the bantam leave the nest for only a very few times each day to eat and drink and then return to her duties of keeping the eggs warm. She may become very protective, make soft gurgling warnings or squawks, and peck any individual who should have the audacity to stick their hand into her nest to try to steal her eggs. 

Despite all the theories and folk wisdom about breaking a broody hen from her desire to set, it can be nearly impossible to deter a bantam hen from going through the complete brooding and setting cycle, even if all eggs are removed daily. The process is hardwired into their brains at a cellular and molecular level. If you are keeping these hens as broodies or surrogates to hatch and raise the eggs of your other poultry breeds, this is exactly what you want and need. 

One of the most interesting phenomena of broodiness is how infectious it is in a flock. It doesn’t take long after one bantam hen starts brooding and setting before another hen also becomes broody and joins her, often in the same nest box. This makes for a very good situation when the hens are being kept for the purpose of brooding new stock, as this means more eggs can be set and hatched.

Once the eggs hatch, rarely any squabbling or fighting over the babies occurs. The two hens will work together and use their natural mothering tendencies to nurture and raise the babies as a team.

broody bantams bantam chicken chickens
mmphoto/Adobe Stock

Why Use Bantams Chickens? 

Some breeds of larger fowl also have tendencies toward broodiness. Standard Cochins are one of the most reliable. A larger hen is also able to incubate a larger number of eggs than a bantam. However, for reliability and repeat broodiness, bantam breeds such as Silkies, Cochins, Old English Game and Japanese are hard to beat. 

From the 1920s into the mid-1950s, government-funded poultry-improvement programs recommended that poultry farmers cull hens with a tendency to go broody and set, to increase egg production. A broody hen doesn’t lay eggs once she fully enters her brooding cycle. Consequently, such hens were often removed and met their fate in the stew pot. 

Over the decades, the genetically inherited trait of broodiness was bred out of many standard breeds. Because bantams have traditionally been kept as pets instead of for commercial production, many breeds of bantams never lost this valuable trait. 

Small Housing 

Bantams don’t require much room. A small flock of three to six bantams can live very comfortably in a coop with floor dimensions no bigger than 4-by-4 feet, and a pen or yard no bigger than 4-by-8 feet in size.

Waterers and feeders should be of a design that the babies can have easy access but not fall into water too deep for them and drown. One or two nest boxes just above floor level are ideal. Placement near the floor will ensure that baby chicks can get back in under mama hen to keep warm. 

Make sure the nest box is wide enough for two hens to spread out comfortably. In hot weather, excess body-heat buildup from two hens sharing a very small nest box can cause heat stroke in one or both hens.

If you are keeping a small flock of bantam chickens for raising baby chicks, wire mesh securely fastened around and over the run is best. You don’t want a situation where small chicks can escape through larger holes in chicken wire and be lost to the elements or predators. 

Make sure that your pen is very sturdy and the wire is securely attached so marauding neighbor dogs or wild animals such as raccoons can’t break in. Small holes no bigger than the diameter of a quarter will allow rats and weasels to enter. Both can and will kill baby chicks, as well as adult bantams. Before building the coop and run, pour a slab of concrete 3 to 4 inches deep to prevent these animals from burrowing in through the soil.

Keeping bantam chickens can be a great addition to any backyard. They require less space and feed than large fowl breeds and are known for their friendly personalities. Bantam hens are notorious for going broody, too, which means they make excellent surrogate mothers for other types of poultry. They’re nature’s perfect incubators, egg turners and chick brooders.

Overall, keeping bantam chickens can be a fun and rewarding experience for anyone interested in small-scale poultry-keeping. 

Best Broody Bantam Chickens

Most bantam breeds will exhibit broodiness at some point. However, a few breeds are almost sure bets for going broody. Some hens may not exhibit this desire until their second laying season. This is common. As hens become older, their setting and brooding desires tend to become stronger. Older hens often make the best mothers. Here are a few breeds to consider.

Silkie

These fluffy little chickens, with their soft downy feathering and loving, calm dispositions, come in several colors, including white, black, blue, gray, paint (mottled or speckled) and others. The quintessential example of a broody hen, they’re probably the most reliable setters. They make wonderful mothers, have calm dispositions and are perfect for families with small children.

Cochin

The bantam version of this breed is every bit as reliable for purposes of brooding and setting as Silkies. They have calm dispositions and are inveterate setters and brooders. They are a sure bet for use as surrogate mothers for other fowl. These little fluff balls, with their feather shanks and thick feather coats, come in several colors, are calm and gentle, and are also perfect for families with children.

Old English Game

These small, alert little birds, with standard feathering and noticeably larger tails and drooping wings, come in several colors and patterns and are a showy bird that you will be proud to own. Not quite as docile as a Silkie or Cochin, they are very dependable setters and make excellent mothers. Because they can be a bit flighty and roosters a bit aggressive at times, they may not be suitable for young children.

Japanese

With large tails, shorter shanks and wings that also appear to droop, these birds make excellent mothers, and the hens get along well with other breeds. They come in several colors and are beautiful conversation pieces that you will be proud to show to your friends. 

Belgian d’Uccle

Besides being living showpieces, this personable, gentle, feather-legged breed makes for wonderful setters and mothers. Be aware that many owners of the birds say they tend to not go broody until their second laying year.

This article about bantam chickens originally appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe. 

Categories
Animals Chicken Coops & Housing Farm & Garden Flock Talk Poultry

Do Raccoons Eat Chickens?

do-raccoons-eat-chickens
Anne/Adobe Stock

Do raccoons eat chickens? Of all the wild predators, the raccoon is the most likely to visit your coop and the most likely to do a great deal of damage to your chickens. For most owners of chickens, the raccoon is their birds’ main predator, second only to domestic dogs. 

Raccoons are characterized by a mask of black fur around the face and eyes, a furry brown body and a fluffy tail with alternating black and brown rings. They can grow rather large, topping out between 15 to 40 pounds, depending on how well they’re fed, of course. They have long back legs and short front legs, making them look hunched over when on all fours.

You can find these native North America mammals in nearly every town, city and suburb. Opportunistic foragers and skilled hunters, raccoons prefer to make their homes near a water source, feasting on fish, crawfish, frogs, snails and other aquatic life. But they’re incredibly adaptable.

They’ll turn over garbage cans to dine on trash and scavenge for scraps. If motivated and hungry, they may even enter a home or other human dwelling in search of food.

Do Raccoons Eat Chickens: Calling Card

Raccoons are incredibly destructive hunters of chickens. Do raccoons eat chickens? Yes. These crafty animals will hunt solo or expertly coordinate an attack in a small family group. They’re fabulous climbers, and their front paws are deceptively dexterous. They can open latches, undo locks and open doors. 

Raccoons are also strong. They can (and will) tear apart chicken netting or wire. When all other attempts fail, they’ll thread their arms and hands through small openings and ruthlessly grab at—and tear off—any part of the chicken they can reach. Raccoons are creative and smart and will do anything within their power to get your chickens.

Expect to find quite a scene of carnage following a raccoon attack. Here are a few telltale signs.

  • dismembered adults or chicks
  • dead chickens found where they were killed
  • dead chickens with entrails pulled out.
  • multiple dead birds
  • dead chickens with missing heads (or the heads of dead chickens dispersed throughout the coop)
  • dead adults with only crop and/or breast eaten
  • surviving birds with broken wings or legs (where the raccoon reached through gaps in housing or fencing)
  • surviving birds with head or neck wounds or bites near the vent
  • chicken body parts, such as legs or heads, or other pieces of torn flesh in or around the water fonts
  • broken eggs/shells in or near the water font
  • usually whole flock killed, with majority of the bodies left on site (and not carried away)
  • bags of feed torn open and contents dispersed
  • attack usually occurring at night

Do Raccoons Eat Chickens: Your Flock’s Defenses

Provide your chickens with the best and safest housing you can afford to build and, given that raccoons are skilled climbers, build tall fences. Put roofs on any outdoor runs, and close up gaps in housing. Walk the perimeter of your coop, run and any other enclosure and look closely for any weak points. If they’re there, raccoons will find them.

When choosing mesh for your coop, always purchase heavy-duty hardware cloth over chicken wire (which is flimsy and easily torn by a resolute raccoon). Line windows, doors and roofs on any outdoor enclosures with 1/2-inch hardware cloth. 

Raccoons aren’t great diggers, so they’ll rarely try to dig under fences or coop walls to get to chickens. However, they have an advantage over other predators in one area: the front door. Most importantly, lock up your flock every night. 

Because of their nimble paws, raccoons can open locks and latches that other predators can’t, so firmly fix knobs, locks and bolts on any coop doors or windows. Slide-bolt and hook-and-eye latches are too easily popped open by raccoons and shouldn’t be used in a coop.

Instead, use clip latches or spring-loaded hook-and-eye closures (the ones that require an opposable thumb to pull and release). When it comes to keeping out raccoons, no type of lock is overkill to protect your chickens. It’s better to be safe than sorry. 

A Mustelid Menace

A racoon on the tree
chicken predators mustelids raccoons

Weasels, minks, ferrets, fishers and martens are just a few among the small carnivorous mammals considered part of the mustelid family, commonly called the weasel family. If you’ve never seen the damage they can do to a flock, you would almost think they were cute.

Animals in the mustelid family tend to smell rather pungent as well. Their powerful anal scent glands release a persuasive repellent odor. These little carnivores are nosy by nature, very active and constantly moving around on the hunt for prey.

As with other predators, whether or not your flock is vulnerable to these carnivores depends on your location. Most of the hunters in this animal family are rather small, so chickens aren’t usually their first prey of choice. Because of their svelte frames, these little guys can squeeze themselves through surprisingly small holes (about the size of a quarter) in wire mesh and openings in the coop, and they can dig under enclosure walls or climb fences.

Mustelid hunters are a good incentive to keep your coop clean. They’ll likely be attracted by rodents and decide to stick around to make a second meal of your flock. 

Mustelid Calling Cards

Unlike other predators who kill or take one bird at a time, animals in the weasel family tend to kill or injure several birds during one attack. They also prefer to suck the blood of the prey animal, rather than consume large amounts of flesh. Consider that a mustelid mammal may be the culprit if you see some of the following after an attack:

  • chickens killed and collected in small piles (weasel, mink)
  • bites on the back of head and neck (weasel)
  • only the head or neck eaten or bitten off (weasel, mink)
  • bites around the vent and/or intestines removed or visible (fisher, marten)
  • bodies tucked away to return to later (fisher, marten)
  • small birds, such as chicks and bantams, entirely missing (mink)
  • lingering odor (all mustelids)

Your Flock’s Defenses

Secure small openings and weak points, and keep a tidy coop and storage area. Stop weasels at their point of entry by securing corners and gaps that are larger than a quarter in size. Use hardware cloth with 1/2-inch openings to line windows and as fencing in the run. Store feed in predator-safe containers, and keep the coop clean to reduce or eliminate any rodents, thereby not attracting any mustelids. 

Many of the mustelids are cautious around humans, so they’ll keep their distance where there is noise and light. Lock up your flock nightly. These predators are most likely to attack after dark. 

This article about do raccoons eat chickens originally appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe. 

Categories
Farm & Garden Farm Management

What Do Farmers Do in the Winter: Mild Weather

what-do-farmers-do-in-the-winter
A closeup shot of grass and soil covered in mild snow. By Dalton Overlin/Wirestock

What do farmers do in the winter varies by the severity of the weather. While there are always winter farm chores that have to be done, the list can expand in a mild winter. With more available outdoor time, chores that would normally have to wait until spring can be started early.

Since the grass isn’t growing and it’s far too early to start planting the garden, there’s a window of time during mild winter weather to focus on “would-be-nice” projects that often get passed over for more time-sensitive and mission-critical tasks during busier times of the year.

What Do Farmers Do In the Winter – Mild Weather Projects

Here are some personal examples of projects for mild-weather winters.

Opening Access – I enjoy clearing walking trails through the wooded section of my farm and opening up access to special trees and neat locations that otherwise require a bit of bushwhacking to reach. But of course, just-for-fun projects like these are pretty low on the priority list during spring, summer, and fall.

In a normal winter, reaching the woods is difficult because of snow depth. The snow also prevents me from cutting down brush and sapling trees at ground level. Mild weather is a great opportunity to cut new trails.

what-do-farmers-do-in-the-winter
Grafting trees. Photo by yanadjan.

Grafting Practice – Mild winter weather opens up options for practicing grafting fruit trees. Many wild apple trees are growing in an old livestock pasture on my farm, and I’ve been hoping to use them as a training ground for improving my grafting skills. Accessing the pasture isn’t easy when there are two feet of snow on the ground. It’s similarly difficult to make delicate grafts of scion wood onto branches when it’s 10 degrees outside and you’re wearing thick winter gloves. But with warm temperatures and practically dry ground, I have no excuse not to head outside and conquer all types of grafts during winter downtime.

Pruning Fruit Trees – Pruning non-wild fruit trees in my orchard can be difficult in bad winter weather since accessing the trees at the right time of year (before they leaf out) is always a challenge; most winters, by the time snow melts enough to make pruning feasible, the trees are already waking up for spring. Mild winter allows engaging in corrective pruning.

What is a Mild Winter?

Exactly what constitutes a mild winter will vary from region to region. Maybe it means temperatures are warm enough to prep garden beds a month or two earlier than usual. Perhaps it means diving into “spring cleaning” while it’s still winter. Maybe you can cut up and haul away a tree that fell during a storm. Or maybe you can tackle routine fencing maintenance that would normally wait until spring. The effects of a mild winter, and the ways you can capitalize, will vary widely depending on your specific situation.

Hopefully, these ideas will help farmers make a list of mild winter projects. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that certain projects are only done at certain times of year but if you’re enjoying a mild, quiet winter and cutting a woodland trail beckons… why not take advantage? Favorable weather should never be allowed to slip by unused on a farm.

Just be careful not to sink a hay wagon full of branches and logs in a muddy field. Been there, done that!

This article about what do farmers do in the winter was written by Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Poultry Urban Farming

Raising Chickens: 5 Reasons You’ll Love It

raising-chickens
Photo by Nick Beer

Is raising chickens something you’re considering? If so, here are five reasons you’ll love raising a small flock of hens.

1. Raising Chickens for Farm-Fresh Eggs

Raising chickens in a small urban or suburban backyard is farming on a small scale. If you’ve already been buying eggs from a local farmer, you know backyard eggs are exceptional. The yolks are deep orange from eating greens and they’re higher in omega-3 fatty acids, while lower in omega-6. When you gather fresh eggs from the nest box each morning, they’re still warm. And, while you’re not likely to see a hen laying an egg (a girl likes some privacy), you will hear her egg song every morning.

2. Making New Friends

Chickens are lovely companions, of course, and they can be a gateway to making human friends. Flocks in common are exciting icebreakers, sparking endless questions to ask a stranger or acquaintance.

“Did I hear you say you have chickens? So do I! What breeds do you have?”

“Oh, I have an Australorp, two Wyanodttes (silver and golden), an Easter Egger, a Buff Orpington, a Polish, you know with the big hair … What about you?”

People who’ve always wanted to keep chickens will talk to you, too. For someone who wants chickens, all it takes is getting to know someone who’s taken the leap into chicken keeping to boost their confidence.

“Yes, you really can raise chickens! Let me tell you how.”

We chicken keepers might border on enabling, but we’re the antidotes to naysayers who disapprove of raising chickens.

3. Raising Chickens Equals Having a Maintenance Crew

Your new flock of chickens is a maintenance crew that won’t mind working for its every meal—because when you’re a chicken, everything’s a meal and it’s always lunchtime somewhere.

Backyard chickens will help you clean out the garden by turning soil and pecking away edible scraps. These dedicated foragers will scratch through what you dig up from the ground, spreading soil and cleaning out grubs and other pests. If you bag grass when you mow, they’ll spread and turn it in the compost bin, or they will forage through and eat the trimmings if you leave them on the lawn.

4. Appreciating Our Food

Raising chickens inspires respect for the animals, their intelligence and their actual value as food producers. With the time, feed and water required for their bodies to produce an egg, grow new feathers, bathe and preen, and clean up pests, esteem for their seasonal abundance and off-season time off becomes a natural understanding. These are invaluable lessons of the day-to-day needs of the animals that produce what we eat. Appreciating the origins of our food is a gift often lost on urban dwellers.

5. Joining A Movement

Chicken keeping still isn’t mainstream, but it used to be, and it’s likely to be again. For now, you’ll be the weirdo in the neighborhood or the honorable crazy chicken lady, but that’s part of the fun. People seem to be increasingly reluctant to participate in the abuse of battery hens with their purchases, and they seem to be more aware of the energy it takes to transport our food from one place to another. The average distance our food travels is 1,200 miles from its origins to our grocery stores. Raising chickens, whether for eggs or meat, is activism. Quiet, cooing, clucking activism.

This article about raising chickens was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Beginning Farmers Farm & Garden Food Homesteading Recipes

A Cured Egg Yolk Recipe for Preserving

cured-egg-yolk
p-fotography/stock.adobe.com

A cured egg yolk recipe is perfect if you’re wondering what to do with egg yolks. It’s a great addition to your recipe book when eggs are in season and abundant or to stretch end-of-the-season eggs just a bit longer.

A Cured Egg Yolk Recipe

Some people find that a salted cured egg yolk has an umami-like taste that is similar to Parmesan or mature gruyere cheese and we can certainly see the similarities both in taste and texture. They can be grated over pasta or sliced and added to meals that need more depth and saltiness.

Yield: 6 egg yolks

Ingredients

  • 6 eggs
  • 2 cups salt
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (more, as needed)

Cured Egg Yolk Preparation

Pour salt into a bowl and make a small well for each egg yolk.

Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. (Save the whites to make pasta dough, meringue or drinks.) Gently pour the egg yolks into the wells and carefully cover with salt.

Cover with a loose-fitting lid or beeswax cloth, and leave in the fridge for a few days.

Remove the egg yolks. Gently brush the salt off and wash them in apple cider vinegar. Dry them until they are completely dry. This can be done by hanging the eggs in cheesecloth in the fridge for a week, putting them overnight in the oven at 120°F or in a food dehydrator for an hour.

Store egg yolks in a sterilized airtight jar for up to one month.

Heirloom Skills Book Review

This recipe comes from Heirloom Skills – A Complete Guide to Modern Homesteading, written by Anders Rydell and Alva Herdevall. It was recently translated from Swedish to English and published in America. This is fortunate for us This book, without a doubt, has held my interest more than any book has in a very long time.

I’m partial to the topic of traditional living because I also write about heirloom skills and I find it fascinating to learn about the methodology of other people, especially people from across the globe.

In this book, Rydell and Herdevall write about chicken-keeping, raising bees, growing vegetables, food preservation, flower arranging, DIY beauty products and herbal medicine. They also go on to teach how to make sourdough bread, how to compost and how to keep ducks. There is even a chapter on beer and hops. This book is packed with great how-to instructions, delicious recipes, and plenty of colorful and helpful photos.

This recipe has been shared from Heirloom Skills with permission from Skyhorse Publishing Inc.

This cured egg yolk recipe article was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Farm & Garden Food Recipes

Ripe Limes: How to Preserve Limes for Later

ripe-limes
Africa Studio/stock.adobe.com

Ripe limes are tasty, but you may have an abundance and can’t use them all at once. For those occasions, preserving limes is a lot like preserving lemons. Consider making a jar of these limes to have on hand.

You can preserve ripe limes and use them in a variety of ways, such as in soups, simmer sauces, vinaigrettes and marinades. But even more commonly used, it’s the preserved lime rinds that are put to work, not the juice or pulp.

How to Preserve Ripe Limes

Yield: 1 quart jar

Ingredients

  • 8 to 10 fresh organic limes
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons coarse kosher salt, more as needed

Preparation

Scrub limes clean. Unless you are certain that the limes you are using are free of food-grade wax, it is worth taking the additional step to remove any wax that may be present on the fruit. To do so, put the limes in a colander in the sink and carefully pour boiling water over them.

Trim off the ends of the limes, and cut them into quarters lengthwise.

Generously sprinkle salt in the bottom of a clean quart jar and pack in one layer of sliced limes. Repeat the salting and layering method until the jar is full. Push down on, and gently smash the limes as you fill the jar so that some of the juice releases and there is no space between the slices, leaving 1½ inches of headspace from the final layer of limes and the rim of the jar.

Sprinkle one final layer of salt over the last layer of limes. Through this process, enough juice should be present to submerge the wedges. If not, juice another lime and pour the juice over the jarred slices until they’re completely submerged.

If you have a small fermentation jar weight, add it to the jar to keep the limes completely submerged under the brine.

Wipe the jar rim clean with a dampened paper towel or clean lint-free towel and add the canning jar lid and tighten on the ring.

Store the preserved lemons at room temperature, ideally between 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and keep out of direct sunlight. The limes will keep preserved if they’re kept under the juice-salt brine.

How to Enjoy Preserved Limes

The preserved limes will have a potent citrus flavor but be saltier. You can decide to rinse the limes off before using or use them as-is, depending on what it is you’re using them for. For example, if you’re making a marinade, you could certainly leave the salty lime as they are. But if you are stirring the rind into a salad or rice, I’d recommend rinsing the lime off, removing the pulp and only chopping up the rind portion of the lime. It’s totally up to you!

Preserving Ripe Limes -Notes

To alter the flavor of the preserved limes, consider adding one to two teaspoons of dried hot pepper flakes within the layers, or a pinch of whole black peppercorns. Shove a couple of whole bay leaves within the sides of the jar or while layering limes and salt or incorporate a couple teaspoons of coriander.

If you do not have a glass jar weight, you can improvise by using an easily removable small food-grade glass dish that fits inside the jar to keep the layers submerged under the brine.

You may substitute fine sea salt instead of coarse kosher salt if you prefer. The measurement will remain the same.

This recipe has been adapted from WECK Home Preserving (2020) with permission from Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

This article about preserving ripe limes was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Animals Beginning Farmers Farm & Garden Homesteading Permaculture Waterfowl

How to Take Care of Ducks in Winter

how-to-take-care-of-ducks
Vera Kuttelvaserova

How to take care of ducks in winter may not always be obvious. With their warm, downy feathers and insulating layers of fat, you might feel like you don’t need to help keep ducks warm in winter. Ducks may appear to have everything they need to survive winter’s harshest climates. However, if ducks are to thrive through winter, providing them with some extra care is essential.

Access to fresh swimming water, proper shelter and good nutrition are some necessities ducks need during the cold months. Here’s a list of what ducks need to beat winter’s cold.

Water for Waterfowl

It may sound strange, but access to fresh swimming water is necessary to help keep ducks’ feathers in tip-top condition. The reason for this unusual trait is an insulating layer of air between each layer of feathers. If a duck can’t bathe frequently, the feathers become dirty and compacted, releasing the insulating air from the feathers. Without the added layers of air in their feathers, ducks are prone to catching a chill.

Ducks have another unique trait that allows them to stay warm and dry while swimming, called the oil gland. Frequent swimming enables ducks to keep their oil glands in working condition. The oil gland (located just above the tail) releases a waxy oil that a duck spreads over its feathers while preening. This oil works as a water repellent, ensuring all feathers stay waterproof.

Ducks also need access to a fresh, unfrozen bucket of water for drinking and cleaning out their eyes and nares to prevent eye infections and keep their airways clean.

how-to-take-care-of-ducks
Erin Synder

Avoid the Pond

While allowing ducks to swim in a kiddie pool is safe in winter, giving them access to a pond is not. Floating on a pond increases the chances of a predator attack, and ducks can get trapped under shifting ice while feeding or diving underwater.

duck wading pool showing ducks need some sort of water but it doesn't have to be a pond
Erin Synder

Winter Duck Nutrition

Like all livestock, ducks need proper nutrition to thrive in winter. Providing them with a well-balanced, complete layer feed is the best way to ensure your ducks get the necessary vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients they need to thrive. When acquiring feed for ducks, choose a feed that includes probiotics and prebiotics, is nonmedicated, and is made with grains grown on North American Farms. Avoid feeds with animal by-products, growth hormones, artificial byproducts, and fillers.

ducks enclosure in winter
Erin Synder

Feed Ducks Nutritious Treats

Supplementing a duck’s diet with some healthy treats can help boost their immune system by adding extra nutrients. Feed beneficial treats such as peas, wheat kernels, oatmeal and black soldier fly larvae that contain essential vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Avoid unhealthy options such as corn, pasta, red meat, poultry, bread and mealworms, as these treats have little nutritional value.

Allowing ducks to forage for treats is an excellent boredom buster. Bored ducks are unhappy ducks, and this fun mental stimulation will help keep your ducks happy, busy and thriving until spring.

Providing Shelter

Ducks need fresh air and sunshine to stay healthy, but when the snow starts to fall and temperatures dip below freezing, ducks need a sheltered area in the run to escape winter’s chill. Creating a weather shelter for ducks can be as easy as making a shelter out of pine boughs or constructing a “house” out of plywood. When building a weather-proof shelter, remember that these shelters are for protection from winter weather only and cannot keep out predators.

When housing Muscovy ducks, keep them confined to the coop when the temperature dips below 40 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent the bare skin on their faces from frostbite.

Wind Advisory

Even though ducks love being outdoors, when temperatures or wind chills reach below 15 degrees, it’s time to head to the coop. While ducks are incredibly hardy, extreme temperatures and wind chills can be harmful and could cause sickness or death. Keep your ducks warm, and they’ll be happier.

Before letting your ducks into the run during cold winter mornings, check the local forecast to ensure the temperatures and wind chills are safe for them to be out.

Predator Protection

Protecting ducks from a predator attack is the priority in helping them survive and thrive through winter. While predator attacks happen throughout the year, the cold and snowy conditions make it harder for predators to find a meal and make them more likely to attack backyard ducks.

To keep ducks safe from predators, house them in a predator-proof coop and run. Cover the run’s top and sides with half-inch sixteen-gauge PVC heavy wire, leaving no gaps larger than one-half inch on the sides or roof. Attach predator skirts around the perimeter of the run to deter digging predators.

House ducks in a coop or barn with a wooden or cement floor to prevent digging predators from gaining access to the coop. Cover windows and holes larger than one-half inch with half-inch 16-gauge PVC heavy wire. Secure all door fixtures with padlocks to keep curious raccoons from opening coop doors, pop holes or nesting boxes.

how-to-take-care-of-ducks
Erin Synder

Knowing how to take care of ducks in winter can help backyard ducks survive and thrive through the harshest months. With a little effort, you can keep your ducks warm and soon they’ll be providing you with fresh eggs again in the spring.

This article about how to take care of ducks was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe. 

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Animals Beginning Farmers Chicken Coops & Housing Chickens 101 Health & Nutrition Poultry Urban Farm Urban Farming Waterfowl

Chickens Dust Bath Dos and Don’ts

chicken-dust-bath
Erin Synder

A chicken dust bath is a necessity for chickens to keep their feathers and skin, and ultimately their health, in tip-top shape. Plus, nothing makes a chicken happier than fluffing her feathers and wriggling in sun-warmed dirt. Before you set up your chicken dust bath, check out this list of dos and don’ts to provide a fun and safe time.

Life or Death in the Chicken Dust Bath? – A Personal Story

I decided to construct an indoor dust bath for chickens to use during the winter when the frozen ground prohibited them from frequent dust baths.

I constructed the DIY chicken dust bath by filling a flexible plastic mixing tub with dirt and wood ash. Their new accommodations delighted the hens, and they happily scratched through the soil, looking for tasty morsels.

All was well until one day when a strange sound came from my chickens in the barn. I hurried inside to find one of my Speckled Sussex hens, Kristi, wheezing. I rushed her to the vet, where they put her on oxygen and did emergency radiographs to discover the cause. The vet diagnosed her with dust particles in her lungs (probably due to improper ventilation while dust-bathing) and gave her less than a 50% recovery rate.

My vet treated Kristi with a steroid injection and nebulizer treatment and sent her home with additional medications. After receiving around-the-clock care, Kristi returned to the vet for a follow-up the next day, where she was given a clean bill of health.

After Kristi’s near-death incident, I examined my chicken dust bath setup to ensure the safest experience possible.

chicken-dust-bath
Erin Synder

Why Do Chickens Need to Dust Bathe?

A chicken wriggling around in the dirt may appear dirty, but this behavior is how chickens keep themselves clean and free of external parasites. As a chicken fluffs its feathers while dust bathing, a protective dust coating settles on the skin, creating a dust barrier to prevent insect bites.

Allowing chickens to dust bathe in a natural setting decreases bullying and cannibalistic behaviors amongst flock members in chicks and adults. Chicken dust bathing is a social event that helps build a strong bond between flock members. This natural behavior also reduces stress, allowing your flock to coexist more harmoniously.

Chicken Dust Bath Dos

How to make a chicken dust bath is easy, but before you begin, here are several things all dust-bathing spaces must have to create a safe and fun enrichment for your flock.

Natural is Best: When given the option, chickens always prefer creating their own dust-bathing area. Nothing makes a hen happier than scratching through new grass to the dirt below. So, providing an artificial dust bath during the summer months where hens can access this natural behavior isn’t recommended. However, in winter, when the frozen ground is covered in snow, chickens will happily utilize any dirt you can offer.

Adding Dried Herbs: Many herbs work as natural insect repellents, so it seems only natural to sprinkle some dried herbs in the dirt where your chickens dust bathe. Catnip, dill, fennel, lavender, mint, rosemary, thyme and yarrow are excellent insect repellents and help deter other vermin such as mice and snakes.

Outdoors Only: Only allowing chickens to dustbathe outdoors versus inside the coop is essential for proper airflow to keep chickens’ airways clean from dust particles.

Refresh the Dirt: When using a kiddie pool, flexible mixing tub,or a child’s sandbox, the dirt should be replaced with new, clean dirt. How often the dirt should be replaced will vary depending on the number of chickens in the flock and how frequently chickens are allowed access to the area.

Hens enjoying a dust bath by dust bathing
Erin Synder

Chicken Dust Bath Don’ts

Just like every dust-bathing space has specific needs, there is a list of things to stay clear of when setting up the perfect area for your chickens. Following the suggestions below should ensure the safest experience for your flock.

Indoor Dust Bath: Even in the most ventilated coops, airflow is still more restricted than out in the run. Never put a chicken dust bath in the coop to prevent the risk of dust or dirt entering the airways.

Forget the Wood Ash: Wood ash is often used in chicken dust bath areas. This natural ash has many health benefits but can irritate a chicken’s sensitive airways. To keep hens’ airways clean while providing the health benefits of wood ash and charcoal, feed charcoal free-choice like you would grit or oyster shell.

Stay Clear of Fertilizer: When choosing dirt for a dust bathing area for your flock, avoid soil with fertilizer since many contain harmful substances that can cause illness or death if ingested. (This rule also applies to gardens and lawns.)

Following safe chicken dust bath practices allows your chickens to experience the instinct of dust bathing, stay free of parasites and help to strengthen flock bonds.

This article about chicken dust baths was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

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Animals Poultry

What To Feed Laying Hens

what-to-feed-laying-hens
Karen Jackson/Flickr

What to feed laying hens should be top priority as egg-laying hens must be fed correctly to achieve their potential. When their dietary needs are met, laying chickens supply homegrown eggs that are far tastier and more nutritious than typical store eggs.

What to Feed Laying Hens When They Start To Lay Eggs

As female chicks approach laying age at five to six months of age, depending on the breed, their nutrition and dietary needs change because their bodies focus on laying eggs rather than growing. Proper nutrition is also helpful to make sure hens that are laying don’t stop egg laying They don’t require as much protein, but they need much higher levels of calcium, which is necessary for hens to produce eggshells, along with phosphorus and vitamin D.

Commercially available layer rations are designed to provide optimal nutrition for laying hens, and all feeds sold in the U.S. must have a nutrition label. So when purchasing feed, read the label to make sure it’s specifically a layer ration and that it provides protein levels of 16 to 18 percent. Additionally, the percentage of calcium should be in the 3.5 to 4.5 percent range while the level of phosphorus should be 0.4 percent or higher. Young hens may be started on layer rations at about 18 weeks of age, or when the first egg arrives, whichever comes first.

A basic layer ration that contains appropriate amounts of protein, calcium and phosphorus should provide adequate nutrition for egg-producing hens and be the most economical option. Suppliers also offer more expensive feeds that contain additional vitamins and minerals or are specialized in some way. There are feeds with vitamin or omega-3 enhancing supplements, as well as natural, soy-free, non-GMO, organic and others. Choosing among these higher-priced rations is a personal choice based on your chicken-keeping goals.

Food Budget

Feed costs vary widely depending upon the type of layer feed—basic, organic, and so on—and the region you live in. Pelleted feeds are considered more economical than crumbles (aka broken pellets) because adult birds waste fewer pellets. Where I live in Northeastern Ohio, a 50-pound bag of natural layer pellets is about $15. It’s recommended that laying hens have free-choice access to feed, and on average, you can expect them to consume about 1/4 pound per day.

Given the parameters listed previously, a pound of feed costs 30 cents ($15/50 = .30) and 1/4 pound costs 7.5 cents (.30 x .25 = .075). That means it would cost about 53 cents (.075 x 7 = .525) to feed a hen for a week. If that hen laid six eggs per week, then it would cost $1.06 (.53 x 2 = $1.06) in feed for a dozen eggs. This demonstrates how economical home-produced eggs can be and one reason laying hens have become so popular.

Supplement Selections

In addition to free-choice rations, egg-layers should have constant access to clean water, oyster shells and grit, if they are eating anything other than commercial rations. Eggs are primarily made up of water, so water is critical to a laying hen. Just a few hours without water can result in reduced egg production.

Although layer rations contain extra calcium, it’s a good idea to offer oyster shell or calcium grit. Top-producing hens may need more calcium than what is in the feed and will self-regulate the amount of additional calcium they consume. If you are feeding supplemental foods or hens are foraging, then they need grit, too. The only mechanism chickens have for grinding food into pieces small enough to digest is grit.

It takes just a few basic elements to ensure that laying hens receive an optimal diet. The reward for meeting their nutritional requirements are happy hens that provide homegrown, wholesome and delicious eggs.

This story about what to feed laying hens originally appeared in the July/August issue of Chickens. Click here to subscribe.

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Animals Poultry

5 Key Aspects of Feeding Chickens

feeding-chickens
Shutterstock

Feeding chickens is simple, right? You just put up some fencing and let them do the rest, right? Well, not exactly. Many of our domesticated chicken breeds need a bit more in the way of nutrition than their progenitor, the red jungle fowl. This is because humans have bred farm birds to be high producers of eggs and meat. Abundant, healthy output requires feeding chickens abundant, healthy input.

Chickens do have simple digestive systems, “with few to no microorganisms living in the digestive system to help digest food like in ruminants such as cattle,” writes Phillip Clauer, poultry extension specialist at Penn State University in “Biology of the Fowl.” “Chickens depend on enzymes to aid in breaking down food so it can be absorbed, much like humans.”

Here are a few things to consider as you look at the feeding system for your chickens.

1. Always Offer Age-Appropriate Feed

A rapidly growing day-old chick needs higher protein than an actively laying hen or a bird in molt, for example. Each age and stage of a bird’s development—throughout its life and throughout the calendar year—commands a different ration.

When feeding young chickens, offer starter feed or broiler feed, depending on their purpose, free-choice, meaning, make it available at all times.

Laying hens should be offered a layer feed, designed with the proper amount of protein for hens actively laying eggs. Birds in molt need higher protein in general; feathers consist of more than 85 percent protein, and it takes a lot of energy to grow new feathers. This can often be supplemented in other ways.

2. Feeding Chickens: Keep Treats Seasonal

If you live and tend to a flock in a region with fluctuating seasons, keep the months in mind when providing treats.

  • High-protein treats, such as mealworms, are great in the fall, when many birds are molting.
  • Scratch, as a fatty snack, encourages a bird to bulk up. Reserve for winter.
  • When laying resumes in the spring, support your hens with fresh abundance of their calcium-rich layer feed (preferably organic).
  • In summer, follow the season and offer green treats, particularly allowing ample time to forage.

3. Free-Range Often

A happy chicken is a foraging one. Every bird should know the freedom of ranging, the warmth of the sun and the satisfaction of hunting its own feed. The emotions of your chickens aside, an active bird is a healthier bird, and feeding time plays into this. Adding variety to the diet and keeping the fat stores around its reproductive system to a minimum increases egg laying and fertility.

4. Feeding Chickens: Remember Supplements

For laying hens, calcium supplements are critical. Many chicken keepers offer them in the form of oyster shells, produced and sold for this very purpose.

“Laying hens use the calcium from their bodies to form eggs,” writes Pam Freeman in Backyard Chickens: Beyond the Basics (2017). “Almost half the calcium a hen needs to form an eggshell comes from her bones.” If they aren’t getting enough calcium to replenish their stores, their bones can become weak.

For birds that are lucky enough get kitchen treats and compost access, provide the right-size grit free-choice in a separate feeder in the coop. Grit assists in digestion, as a chicken doesn’t have teeth, but rather a gizzard, an oval organ composed of two pairs of thick red muscles.

“These muscles are extremely strong and are used to grind or crush the food particles,” Clauer writes. “This process is aided by the presence of grit and gravel picked up by the bird.”

Offer oyster shells and grit in their own containers, separate from the feed and full at all times. Flock members will take what they need when they need it.

5. Water Is Essential

Summer or winter, hot or cold, access to fresh clean water is an absolute must. Consider water  the most critical “feed” element—even before feed. Laying hens that go without water for just 24 hours might experience decreased laying abilities for a month or more. Hens that go without water for a longer period might sustain irreparable damage and never fully recover their egg-laying frequency.

“Water helps to remove waste products produced by food and exercise,” writes chicken-keeper Virginia Shirt in The Right Way to Keep Chickens (2007). “As food is eaten, water softens the corn or pellets and aids the extraction of vitamins and minerals from the food. Chickens, being small animals, do not ingest great amounts of water at a time; however, they do make many visits to the water supply throughout the day.” Also, many supplements are administered by being added to water.

It’s true that chickens are easy and don’t ask for much. Anticipating their needs and meeting those needs before anything goes awry keeps them happy and healthy in the long run. Good food, plenty of water, a few extras and access to the outdoors will keep your flock in tiptop shape.

This article about feeding chickens was written for Chickens magazine online and is regularly updated for accuracy. Click here to subscribe.