Categories
Animals Poultry Urban Farming

8 Tips to Prepare for Baby Chickens

baby-chickens
WONG SZE FEI/stock.adobe.com

Baby chickens are a rite of passage in spring, but the preparation starts long before that. Here are some tips to help you start planning and keep your growing flock healthy and happy.

1. Order Early From Hatcheries Near You

Most of us want specific breeds for particular reasons, whether it’s for ornamental reasons, egg-laying capabilities or meat of a certain flavor. To ensure you get the chicken breeds you want, order as early as possible. As chicken keeping continues to grow in popularity, breed favorites disappear from availability quickly.

For the sake of the little birds that will be shipped to your post office, seek out a hatchery in your region of the country. U.S. Postal Service shipping of live animals is always an expedited service, as is reflected by the shipping price that’s higher than the cost of the spring chicks. However, the longer the day-old chicks remain in transport, the more stress they will endure. Weak chicks that might struggle to survive under the best of conditions aren’t likely to survive a stressful trip. The shorter the trip, the more likely your chicks are to be thriving upon arrival. Sourcing chicks locally is also an option.

2. Construct the Brooder Before Hatch Day

Whether you build your own brooder or purchase a brooder kit, a brooder is essentially a nursery for baby chickens, and it must be ready the moment chicks arrive.

  • Be sure the brooder protects your chicks from other animals in the house, garage, shed or barn, and be sure that chicks cannot escape.
  • Warm an area of the brooder with a heat lamp or a safer, ambient heat source made for chicks. Cooler areas should also be available in case chicks feel too warm.
  • Provide soft, warm bedding, like straw or poplar shavings. Avoid slippery material, like newspaper, to prevent splayed leg.
  • Keep chick feed and water clean and plentiful at all times.

3. Educate Young Children

Kids tend to squeeze chicks. Practice holding baby chickens with your kids—a hard-boiled egg, a nectarine, or something else small and chick-sized will do the trick. Chicks should be held firmly but gently. Kids should also know that the chick should escape their hands than it is to prevent their escape with a squeeze.

4. Open the Box of Baby Chickens Alone

Chirping boxes are irresistible, especially for kids, but when your baby chickens arrive, insist on opening the box alone. In the rare event that a weak chick didn’t survive the trip, you need to know first so you can break the news gently to young children.

5. Move Baby Chickens to the Brooder Immediately

It’s tempting to play with baby chickens when they arrive, but they need to be moved to their brooder immediately once they’re in your care. Be mindful of how long the chicks have been in transport. From the time they hatch, they need food and water within the first 72 hours of life. While transport through the mail is safe, shipping can be stressful for some chicks. Getting them to food and water, and assessing any health concerns has to be the first priority.

6. Monitor Baby Chicks for Pasty Butt

When chicks’ droppings dry to the outside of the vent, it creates a plug. We call this pasty butt, and it’s deadly if the plug isn’t removed. Check for pasty butt when you move each chick from the shipping box to the brooder. If you find a pasty butt, hold the chick firmly, and soak its bottom in warm water. The poop will dissolve quickly, and it will dissolve right off. Do not rub the area as the skin a fragile and you can hurt the baby chick by ripping its skin. Instead, pat her dry and then place her under the brooder’s heat source so she doesn’t get cold. Chicks that get pasty butt are prone to develop it again, so be sure to check it often. Continue checking the entire flock for at least the first week of life.

7. Have the Coop Ready

Chicks grow astoundingly fast. Soon, they’ll outgrow their brooder and will need to move to the coop. If you’re building a coop, complete it before your chicks arrive, even if it will be several weeks before they move in, to avoid setbacks or predator vulnerabilities caused by rushing the job. If you’re ordering a coop, make sure it arrives before your chicks do, not on the same day.

8. Understand That Chickens Are a Commitment

If your chickens will be egg-laying pets, and if you care for them well, some can live up to 10 years or more. Bringing home backyard chickens isn’t very different than bringing home a new puppy or kitten, except that chickens are harder to re-home. Visit a farm and learn how to care for chickens, or get nitty-gritty chicken-keeping tips from other chicken keepers before you place your hatchery order.

This story about preparing for baby chickens was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Animals Poultry Waterfowl

Raising Ducklings: 4 Reasons to Raise Chicks Separately

raising-ducklings
Jim Pennucci/Flickr

Raising ducklings is fun, cute and endearing. Backyard ducks can make a good flock along with chickens. They’re often seen together on farms, but chicks and ducklings do not make the best brooder companions. It might be tempting to house the two types of babies together. Yet multiple reasons exist why this pastoral pairing should be avoided, at least until the birds are fully feathered juveniles or adults. Read on for four of them.

1. Relationships to Water

Even when they’re just a day old, ducklings are drawn to water. They might not swim yet, but they can definitely splash. Not only can they thoroughly soak the shavings, but they might also douse any chicks wandering by the waterer. Getting drenched or nestling down on wet bedding can chill a baby chick and lead to hypothermia, as the bird is too young to regulate its body temperature.

Also Read: 9 Tips for Raising Ducklings

2. Temperature Needs

During their first week of life outside the shell, baby chicks require a constant brooder temperature of 95 degrees. This temperature should be dropped by five degrees each week until room temperature (approximately 70 degrees) has been reached. When raising ducklings, however, they require less heat; their brooder temperature starts at 90 degrees, then reduces by 10 degrees each week until 70 degrees is reached. Housing both types of infant poultry together would mean that either the ducklings would overheat or the chicks would become chilled. Fluctuating temperatures during this crucial stage of life can result in poor growth, respiratory issues and increased susceptibility to disease.

Also Read: 5 Common Brooder House Mistakes

3. Growth Rates

chicken and baby chicks walking
chick duckling

While baby chicks do seem to grow up right before our eyes, a duckling’s rate of growth exceeds that of a chick’s. Ducklings at three weeks of age dwarf standard-size chicks, with ducklings from meat breeds such as Pekín and Rouen easily three times the size of a chick. Because of the size difference, ducklings can accidentally step or sit on their smaller brooder mates, causing them injury. When raising ducklings, their quick growth rate also means that a brooder can change from spacious to overcrowded within a week.

4. Natural Defenses

Ducks have few natural defenses; their main way of escaping predators is to swim out into bodies of water where land-based carnivores can’t reach them. While baby ducks can nuzzle and nip with their rounded bills, that’s about the extent of the damage they can do. Chicks, however, have sharp beaks that, during the first few days of life, feature the hornlike egg tooth used to break out of the shell. Armed with these pointy natural weapons, chicks can peck eyes, puncture webbed feet and cause other unintentional injury to defenseless ducklings.

This story about raising ducklings was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Crops & Gardening Equipment

Pollination By Hand for a Bigger Harvest

pollination
Pears on tree in fruit garden. Adobe Stock by Africa Studio

Pollination by hand is not uncommon. It is often used for better crops like squash and melons. This year, I’m going to be using a paintbrush to hand-pollinate my pear trees. The goal isn’t to create paintings of my farm (though that would be delightful). The goal is to improve the pollination of my pear trees and generate a better pear harvest. My humble paintbrush is going to become a creative addition to my arsenal of farm tools.

Pollinate Plants

A few years back, I planted two types of pear trees in my young orchard: Early Gold and Ure. I’ve read varying reports on the fertility of the Early Gold; some say it’s self-fertile, others say it does better with a pollinator and some say it definitely needs a pollinator. I was told at the nursery that Early Gold would benefit from having Ure as a pollinator, hence their pairing in my orchard.

I enjoyed a few pears off the Early Gold in the year of planting, for the trees were already of decent size and the Early Gold had been pollinated at the nursery. The Early Gold has blossomed beautifully every year since, but the Ure pear has been slower to mature, contributing anywhere from zero to a handful of blossoms per year.

The lackluster flower show from my Ure pear has left my Early Gold pear without pollination for its numerous blossoms, and it hasn’t produced any pears since that first year. I’m hopeful my Ure pear will burst into glorious full bloom this spring and solve the problem on its own, but whether it does or not, I’m going to take matters into my own hands and pollinate plants with a paintbrush.

Pollinating squash flowers with a paintbrush.
Pollinating squash flowers with a paintbrush.

Pollination Power

Last year, my mother was having trouble in her garden with the pollination of squash plants. There were honey bees around, but they were focusing on other plants and neglecting the squash flowers. So my mother took an ordinary paintbrush and used it to transfer pollen from the male flowers to the female flowers. The resulting squash harvest was abundant.

I plan to replicate my mother’s success by using a small watercolor paintbrush to pollinate my pear trees. Pear trees have bisexual flowers with both male and female parts, so the key will be transferring pollen from one tree to the other, rather than from male flowers to female flowers. Assuming I get at least a few blossoms on the Ure pear, I’ll gather pollen from those blossoms and deposit them in the blossoms on my Early Gold pear. And I’ll repeat the process in reverse, transferring pollen from my Early Gold blossoms to the Ure blossoms.

It may take a little bit of time and effort, as the two trees are planted 90 feet apart, and it’s my understanding that pollen must be transferred multiple times to each flower to ensure pollination. When you pollinate plants with a paintbrush, you might not get a masterpiece the first try. But if I can get even a dozen Early Gold and Ure pears to grow, I’ll be happy.

And if my Ure pear doesn’t blossom this year? Well, I won’t be deterred. There’s a very old, very large pear tree growing on a different part of my farm, and it blossoms abundantly every year. If I have to take a handful of paintbrushes, gather a bunch of pollen from the old pear tree, and transfer it to my Early Gold blossoms… so be it! Inspired by my mother and her miracle-working squash blossom paintbrush, I’m definitely going to enjoy a pear harvest this year.

This story about hand pollination was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Food Recipes

German Sauerkraut Recipe: Unlock the Taste of Tradition

Bowl of sauerkraut in close up on wooden table
German sauerkraut in a bowl

German sauerkraut recipe—utter these words and your mind is filled with images of cozy kitchens and yummy food. Sauerkraut has a culinary heritage with recipes from plain cabbage-fermented sauerkraut to gingery beet kraut and Hawaiian kraut, that have been passed down for generations. It’s a dish celebrated for its tangy flavor and health benefits.

German Sauerkraut Recipe

Yields: one to two quart jars of sauerkraut

Ingredients

  • 1 head of green cabbage (about 2 to 2½ pounds)
  • 1 to 1½ tablespoon kosher salt
  • 6 bay leaves
  • 20 whole black peppercorns

Preparation

Remove the outer leaves from the cabbage and discard. Wash the cabbage with cold water. Cut in half lengthwise, and remove the core from each half. Shred the cabbage into thinly sliced shreds, about 1/8-inch thick. You can also use a mandolin or cabbage shredder for this step. Try to keep the shreds uniform in size so that they ferment evenly.

Collect shreds in a nonreactive bowl, such as glass, plastic or solid stainless steel. Add salt and mix well. Use clean hands (remove nail polish and jewelry or wear food-safe gloves) to mix the salt with the shredded produce, squeezing and mashing with your fists to tenderize the cabbage. You can also use a wooden tamping tool for this process, but be intentional about not over-mashing the produce or it will turn into a mushy ferment.

Massage the cabbage mixture until you can pick up a fistful and squeeze liquid from your fist. Once the liquid drains out, you’re ready to transfer the cabbage shreds into a clean quart jar. At this point, mix in the peppercorns so that they’re evenly spread throughout the kraut.

Jarring Sauerkraut

Transfer the kraut into a clean quart jar, and gently stick the bay leaves within the kraut and the side of the jar, careful not to break the leaves. Leave one to two inches of headspace (room from the cabbage mixture to the rim of the jar). Use your fist or cabbage tamper to tightly fill the jar. Pour any excess liquid from the bowl into the jar(s) as well. This liquid is the brine that the sauerkraut will ferment in.

Once filled, there should be enough brine to cover the kraut shreds. If there is not enough liquid, check again in the morning, and often, enough will be produced overnight. You’ll need some weight to keep the cabbage pushed under the brine. Keeping the shreds submerged under the brine is the key to a successful ferment. There are weights specifically made to fit jars, but you can also get creative – see the “tips section” below for alternative options. Wipe off the rim of the jar, add the mason jar canning lid, and tightly screw on the ring.

German Sauerkraut Fermentation

In this traditional German sauerkraut recipe, fermentation will happen for two to three weeks and can go up to six. The temperature of the space where you are fermenting will determine how long it takes. The warmer a room, the faster it will ferment. Ideally, you should ferment between 60 to 75°F. Keep out of direct sunlight.

Burp the jar daily, especially at first when the ferment is very active; unscrew the lid briefly and tighten it back on to allow any built-up gas to release. At least once per day, you’ll have to use a clean utensil to push down the weight and submerge the cabbage again. Scoop away any pieces of food floating on top of the brine to avoid mold.

Taste test the ferment after the second week. If it still tastes of raw cabbage, allow it to ferment another week and taste again. Some people prefer a very sour and soft sauerkraut and therefore will ferment closer to the six-week range. Once fermentation in this German sauerkraut recipe is complete to your liking, transfer the jar into the refrigerator, with the brine and all.

Fermentation does not stop once the ferment is transferred to the refrigerator, however, it does slow the process down. The taste and texture will continue to change; therefore, it’s best enjoyed within six months.

We enjoy this German sauerkraut recipe with many meals in our household and view it as a finished veggie side dish that can be added to a variety of meals; it’s not just for bratwursts and pork chops.

Sauerkraut Tips & Tricks

  • If you don’t have a glass jar weight, you can improvise by using an easily removable small food-grade glass dish that fits inside the jar. If you have a smaller glass canning jar that can fit into the mouth of the jar you are fermenting with, you can use that to keep the produce pushed under the brine.
  • You may substitute fine sea salt instead of coarse kosher salt. Consult a salt conversion chart.
  • Expect foam-like bubbling, at least in the first week of this ferment. It’s completely normal.

This German sauerkraut recipe has been adapted from Can It & Ferment It (expanded 2020 edition) with permission from Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. For more sauerkraut recipes, check out WECK Small-Batch Preserving, and WECK Home Preserving by Stephanie Thurow.

This German sauerkraut recipe story was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Animals Poultry

Baby Chicks: 5 Tips to Get the Chicks You Want

baby-chicks

Baby chicks are a springtime staple at feed stores and farm supply stores. A visit to the store is usually accompanied by the unmistakable peeping of baby chicks. Here’s a look at what you may find and how to get what you want.

Baby Chicks in the Store

In the center of the store, under a sea of heat lamps, there are usually stock tanks with assorted levels of peeping. Common varieties like amberlinks, golden comets, black sex links and red stars, are all hybrids with an excellent track record as backyard birds. These fluffy babies bring smiles to shoppers.

Unfortunately, though, just because a store sells something, that does not mean its employees are experts on the inventory. Most staffers are simply trying to earn a living wage, with little or no knowledge of everyday animal husbandry. Ask about the different breeds of baby chicks, and, well, caveat emptor: Let the buyer beware.

Here are some mistakes I have witnessed…

  • A tank of chocolate khaki campbell ducklings mislabeled as Pekin ducklings (which are sunshine yellow).
  • A tank of easter eggers mislabeled (and misspelled) as “Americanas, a common barnyard bird.” (True ameraucanas are not common barnyard birds.)
  • A tank of golden baby chicks misidentified as barred rocks (barred rock chicks are black with creamy underbellies and a creamy white spot on their heads).
  • A tank of sandy-beige chicks misidentified as Plymouth blues (the breed/variety is blue Plymouth rocks; the chicks are very similar in appearance to barred [Plymouth] rocks).

Mislabeling like this is sadly common. Not a single Chick Days event has gone by without my encountering at least one incorrectly identified set of baby birds at a local feed store or farm supply center. While I’m well versed enough in poultry breeds not to be misled by erroneous signs, not everybody is. Avoid coming home with cornish crosses when you were planning on buff orpingtons by following these suggestions.

chicks chicken breeds
Shutterstock

1. Know Your Baby Chicken Varieties

Determine which chicken varieties you want before you head to the store. Having a specific variety of bird in mind keeps you from being overwhelmed by the assortment of chicks your store might stock. Going in knowing you are looking for silver-laced wyandotte chicks, for example, keeps you on track instead of melting over every bit of baby fluff you see.

2. Know What Different Chicken Breeds Look Like

Familiarize yourself with the appearance of your desired breed’s chicks. If you want Rhode Island reds, recognize that these chicks are auburn with pale-yellow chests. Looking for white-crested black polish babies? Those pale-yellow chicks look like they are wearing little black vests and cream-colored pompom hats. If you can, save a photo of the chicks you want on your smartphone as a reference to use for comparison while you are at the store.

3. Know What Baby Chicks Your Store Carries

Call the store to confirm which breeds they have in stock. Ask whoever answers to check the inventory list provided to the store by its supplying hatchery. This master list is frequently set aside and forgotten when it comes time to unbox the new arrivals, which is why tanks are often mislabeled or just marked as “assorted pullets.”

4. Know Your Chicken Breed’s Desired Traits

If you haven’t decided on a specific breed or variety of bird, make a list of the traits you want in your backyard flock. Bring your list and a chicken reference book, such as Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry, with you to the store. This way, you can narrow down your in-store selections according to the characteristics you desire, such as which breeds are cold hardy, which are active foragers, which are docile, which go broody and so on.

5. Know Your Store’s Shortcomings

Assume that the staff members at your farm store could just as easily be stocking cereal at a supermarket as they are stocking chick and duck grower feed. If you’re lucky, your sales associate will readily admit to having limited knowledge when it comes to poultry. If you’re not so lucky, be polite as you thank your salesperson for inaccurate (or flagrantly incorrect) information, make your intended purchases, and then let the store management know what transpired.

This feedback is crucial because it might help your fellow flock-keepers down the road. You don’t want to discover six months after your purchase that your assorted bantam chicks are bobwhite quail. Why wish this on anyone else? Keeping a store informed and responsible for its poultry stock can prevent future mixups on the floor and in the barnyard.

This story about buying baby chicks was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Beginning Farmers Equipment Farm & Garden Farm Management Homesteading

Tractor Belts: Spares are Good to Have on Standby

tractor-belts
Daniel Johnson

Tractor belts are the unsung heroes of farm equipment maintenance, often overlooked until a breakdown occurs. Having spare tractor belts on standby can be a game-changer when this happens.

Routine Farm Maintenance

I take good care of my garden tractors. I stay on top of oil changes. I regularly clean and/or replace oil and air filters. I top off other fluids (such as hydraulic fluid and coolant) when needed. I change the mower blades, and I clean leaves and grass clippings out of the mower deck regularly.

This care extends to the snow blower attachment I use with one of my garden tractors. I make sure the gearbox stays filled with gearbox oil. I’m careful not to scrape up gravel from my driveway when clearing snow. And I keep spare shear pins on hand so I won’t be out of luck if something causes the snow blower to break a shear pin, disconnecting the blades from the power of the engine.

Tractor Belts & Snow Removal

Even the most diligent farmer can occasionally overlook an area of maintenance that requires attention, such as the tractor belt that transfers power from my garden tractor to the snow blower.

My garden tractor with its snow blower, had been hooked up to the snow blower the previous year, and at the start of winter, I’d gone through a maintenance checklist and concluded everything was in order.

I hooked it up and cleared a couple of passes up and down my driveway when the snow blower abruptly stopped working. A quick visual survey revealed the problem: the tractor belt had snapped.

I’d never thought to check the condition of the belt because, in all my years of mowing with garden tractors, I don’t believe I’ve ever had a belt wear out. A little lawn tractor wore out a belt once, but that was a long time ago. Mower belts, in my experience, go for years and years without issue, and I wasn’t expecting anything different from the snow blower belt.

Then again, I’d purchased the snow blower used, so I can’t say for sure how many hours had been put on that belt. It didn’t strike me as worn the first time I installed it on my tractor, and the belt went through one winter without issue. But the strain of its first job back in action proved too much to handle.

Fortunately, there wasn’t so much snow as to be unmanageable, so I was able to get by with a smaller self-powered snowblower while I ordered a new belt and waited for it to arrive.

Tractor Belts: Lessons Learned

Suffice it to say, I’ve learned a lesson. It can be easy to forget about belt maintenance since they often go for years without issue and there isn’t a regular schedule for replacing them. But from now on, I’ll visually inspect the condition of my snow blower belt before winter each year, and I’ll always make sure to have a spare on hand. Who knows, next time, it might snap when there are 18 inches of snow in the driveway and I need to get it cleared right away. And I don’t want to be stuck without a replacement at a time like that.

This story about hand pollination was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Animals Beginning Farmers Farm & Garden Large Animals

Herdwick Sheep: Raising This British Hill Breed

herdwick-sheet

Herdwick sheep are domestic sheep from the mountainous Lake District of England, raised for carpet wool and meat. Lambs are born all black and then mature into their distinctive white face and legs. Their name comes from Old Norse “herdvyck” which means “sheep pasture.” Here’s a close-up look at a flock of Herdwicks and their owner…

Moving to the Countryside

Nestled in the Dutch countryside, Dagmar tends to a flock of Herdwick sheep on the hobby farm she oversees alongside her husband. “My dream of having my own small farm has always been significant,” Dagmar says. “After living in Hong Kong for five-and-a-half years, me and my husband were fortunate to fulfill our dream and buy a house with a little land in The Netherlands.”

Having secured the land, Dagmar has been building up the farm to branch out from Herdwick sheep to include chickens, ducks, rabbits and a couple of miniature donkeys.

Taking a moment from caring for her flock, we spoke to Dagmar about researching breeds of sheep and her early farming influences. We also got to know an adorable sheep called Sear.

Sewing The Seeds For A Farming Life

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @herdy_herdwick

Growing up, Dagmar’s parents didn’t live on a farm, but they did find a way to keep some cows and sheep.

“We had land near our house where the animals grazed in the summer,” she says. “In winter, they were kept in stables. As a young girl, I loved accompanying my father, especially during lambing season.”

Furthermore, when lambs were rejected by their mother, Dagmar would help to bring them into the homestead. “I enjoyed taking care of them and walking them on the street,” she says.

Focusing On Herdwick Sheep

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @herdy_herdwick

When Dagmar and her husband began to plan their hobby farm, they started out searching for miniature donkeys alongside a “robust and strong” breed of sheep that also “looked sweet and cute.”

While browsing Pinterest one day, Dagmar came across Herdwick sheep in the Lake District of the United Kingdom. She instantly fell in love.

“I searched for a breeder in The Netherlands,” she says, “and in September 2018, I got my first three Herdwick lambs: Saar, Julie and Noor. Sheep are just fantastic animals; they are really important to me and I enjoy spending time with them every day!”

Spotlight On Sear

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @herdy_herdwick

Sear is one of the stars at Dagmar’s hobby farm. “She’s a very sweet, calm and amusing little sheep,” she explains. “When I have a treat for my sheep, she’s always the last to arrive. She also has this way of looking around as if she’s seeing something extraordinary; she’s just a very relaxed sheep. It’s just hard not to fall in love with Saar’s adorable little face.”

Gaining The Trust Of Herdwick Sheep

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @herdy_herdwick

Looking back at 2023, Dagmar says that she noticed many of her sheep seemed to be shy. “They wouldn’t let themselves be petted or even let me come close to them,” she says.

However, by investing a lot of time in them and demonstrating a large amount of patience, Dagmar managed to gain their trust. “This makes me very happy!” she says.

Herdwick Sheep Bring Joy

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by @herdy_herdwick

Reflecting on her hobby farming journey so far, Dagmar says that she takes joy from knowing that she can provide her animals “with a beautiful happy life.” She adds that whenever she feels like she’s having a grumpy day, her animals “always bring a smile” back to her face.

“Life on a farm allows you to spend a lot of time outdoors and enjoy the nature around you,” continues Dagmar. “We try to do everything as organically as possible to further increase our biodiversity. That’s why we hope to buy more land in the future, so we can give the animals more space and give the land back to nature.”

This story about Herdwick sheep was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Beginning Farmers Crops & Gardening Farm & Garden Homesteading Uncategorized

How to Overwinter and Store Dahlias

Decorative Image
Danita Delimont/stock.adobe.com

Dahlias are perhaps one of the most popular cut flowers in the garden for many small cut-flower farmers and gardeners alike, and knowing how to overwinter and store dahlias is something you should know. Dahlias are stunning, giant blooms that put on a beautiful display from mid-summer to late into the fall, and they come in a range of colors, shapes and sizes.

Why Grow Dahlias?

Dahlias have quickly grown to be a staple “crop” in the cut-flower and garden industry for a few key reasons. The first of which is simply that their delicate petal structure means that they don’t ship very well, leaving an opportunity for small farmers to supply dahlias as cut flowers to local florists and floral designers.

If that alone wasn’t enough, dahlias have a unique ability to easily replicate, via tubers. Each plant creates large fingerlike tubers that can be split, divided and used to create clones of the mother plant. This allows gardens and cut flower farmers alike to purchase just a few dahlias and rapidly increase their stock year after year. Meaning you can keep the same dahlia root stock every single year with proper care, but how do you overwinter and store dahlias’ tubers?

Should I Dig Up Dahlias?

One of the biggest questions folks ask is “do I have to dig up my dahlias?” Well, the answer is yes and no. In gardening zones 7 and colder, dahlias should be dug up every fall to protect them from potentially freezing and rotting in the field over winter.

In warmer zones, they can be left over winter. With that said, many gardens and growers in zone 7 and 6, have found success with deep mulching methods or winter row covers to help insulate the tender tubers, and successfully overwinter outside.

One of the biggest dangers of overwintering dahlias in the ground is their chance of rotting. Ensure the soil is free draining and free of standing water to give them the best chance.

Digging and Storing Dahlias Tubers

a person is digging and and storing dahlias
Dahlias storing

If you’re in a colder zone, you’ll need to dig your dahlia tubers in late fall, and that means you will need to store them as well.

To dig and store dahlia tubers:

Cut back the dahlia foliage leaving only a few inches of stem. Use a shovel or pitchfork to carefully loosen the soil around the dahlia avoiding cutting any tubers by accident. Shake off the excess dirt and soil.

Once dug, many growers have differing opinions. Many believe you should rinse your dahlias of all additional soil prior to storage, while other growers believe that leaving a thin layer of soil is beneficial. Regardless, you should trim away any rotten bits, to ensure the tubers don’t rot in storage.

The biggest key to successful tuber storage is ensuring your tubers stay in a cool, dark and dry space. Use vermiculite, wood shavings or peat moss. Store in milk crates, mesh bags, bulb crates, basically anything that allows for ample air circulation.

You can choose to divide tubers prior to storage, after storage, or not at all. I have had the best success storing tubers in full clumps dividing in spring a bit before planting, but feel free to experiment and see what works best in your home. Regardless, it’s critical to check in, and examine tubers for rot or mold throughout winter to avoid spoiling all your tubers.

And just like that, you’ve overwintered your dahlia tubers like a pro, and you’re ready to get planting!

Categories
Farm & Garden News Uncategorized

Consumer Electronic Show 2024 Farming Awards

John Deere Consumer Electronic Show 2024 Award-winning Tractor
Courtesy John Deere

The Consumer Electronic Show 2024 has wrapped up, and quite a few unique announcements occurred in the food and agricultural category. This category is always dominated by John Deere’s showcases, and in past years, they’ve won Innovation Awards for the John Deere autonomous tractor, a self-driving tractor with GPS, and the See & Spray, a crop sprayer. Both are arm implements with artificial intelligence built in.

This year John Deere theme was ‘From Dirt to Shirt,” and they showcased different business models including the possibility of pay as you go so all farmers can spread out payments and access John Deere smart technology for use on their farm. There are also solutions as service, a concept that lets farmers pay for only the tech they plan on using.

Beyond John Deere, the Consumer Electronic Show’s farm and agricultural category had a few smaller brands who also won Innovation Awards this year. Could they eventually be as dominant as John Deere in the category? You never know. Here’s a look at a few of the biggest announcements at the Consumer Electronic Show 2024.

AirFarm 

Some hobby farms are 10, 20 or more acres, so the idea of farming in a small, contained space might seem a bit odd. But there are a lot of uses for a small farm space in urban areas, and it’s even better if that farm is inflatable.

AirFarm, the world’s first inflatable farm, is made up of air-inflated seed beds, and it only takes half a day to set it up. One of the reasons the company won an innovation award is because of how the system can slash water use by 99% over traditional farm use. It uses a reciprocal system that converts moisture in the air into water and then recirculates that moisture back to the roots of the plants. The AirFarm is also a lightweight, easily movable system you can set up virtually anywhere.

Minefarm

Not everyone may want an AirFarm, but a MineFarm is something most hobby farmers could make use of. The MineFarm Showcase looks like a small refrigerator, but it’s an indoor growing system with artificial intelligence. It can manage water, light, and the growth cycle, and it will use the data it collects to learn how to best grow your specific plant. There are a lot of different seeds you can grow in Minefarm, and setting up your plants is as easy as scanning a QR code on one of Minefarm’s Seedkits.

Minefarm could be a helpful addition to a hobby farm because you could use it to start seedlings indoors. Not all seedlings thrive, and Minefarm may be able to analyze why some seeds do better than others on your farm.

Rise Roma

Most indoor hydroponic gardens grow small plants like microgreens. Rise Roma, a winner of the CES Innovation award, can think bigger. It’s able to grow large plants including tomatoes, egg plants, or small dwarf trees. It can grow plants or trees up to 38 inches in height, has a modular design so you can put a few together, and you can also grow small plants like spinach or lettuce.

Rise Roma is app controlled and monitored, so anytime you want to check and see how healthy your plants are, all you have to do is open the app. With a circular water system and a large water tank, you can save on water too.

 

Categories
Chickens 101 Farm & Garden Flock Talk Health & Nutrition Homesteading Poultry

Can Chickens Eat Wild Bird Food?

three chickens are eating bird food from a person's hand
wild-bird feed seed chickens

Can chickens eat wild bird food? In the past decade, there have been a handful of times that I’ve looked out my kitchen window, expecting to see nuthatches and chickadees at the wild-bird feeders hanging on my deck, only to find one of my hens precariously perched on the deck rail, happily gobbling up bird seed. I was amused at first. But the hilarity curtailed quickly when I realized how much birdseed my Orpington oinkers cost me.

I eventually switched to squirrel-proof—and poultry-proof—feeders, which solved that situation. Still, whenever I haul out the sacks of feed to refill the wild-bird feeders, my chickens suddenly dash towards the deck, hoping to get some seeds scattered their way.

I shared this story with an old friend not too long ago. Karen doesn’t keep chickens, but all colors, shapes and sizes of wild-bird feeders literally bedazzle her deck. She smiled as she visualized my Buff Orpington hens gorging themselves at my tube feeder. She then asked me, “Well, why not?”

Why Not?!

Why not? I schooled my expression and changed the subject. But once I was home I practically ranted at my husband, Jae, about this exchange.

Feeding chickens bird seed, I remarked. Can you imagine? Jae just looked at me and replied, “Well, why not? They’re already eating it.”

When he saw my bewildered expression, he continued that surely it would be easier to just buy more sunflower and safflower seed than to also buy starter, grower and layer rations.

Two thoughts sprang to my mind.

One, my husband obviously was not reading all of my articles. Two, if Jae thought feeding our chickens a diet of bird seed was acceptable, then there surely must be other flock owners who might harbor the same mistaken notion.

Can chickens eat wild bird food? In addition to not having the right nutrients, wild bird feed is also high in fat and calories, neither of which are good for domestic chickens. A handful of sunflower seeds tossed to a flock every now and then as a treat is fine. Feeding chickens nothing but wild bird feed can start them down a dangerous path of bad health … or worse.

Read more: Provide winter shelter for wild birds!

1. Cost Effectiveness

Depending on the manufacturer and the type of feed — starter, grower, or layer rations — a 50-pound sack of chicken feed costs approximately $17 (at least it does here in Michigan). A 40-pound bag of black-oil sunflower seed, however, costs $27. That may not seem like a huge difference, but it adds up. A 200-pound poultry feed purchase comes out to $68, while a 200-pound sunflower seed purchase totals $135. The wild-bird feed prices out at twice the cost of the poultry feed.

2. Biosecurity Issues

Migratory birds can carry and transmit such infectious bird diseases as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and exotic Newcastle disease (END) to backyard flocks. Research conducted by a team including Sonia Hernandez (professor of wildlife disease at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine) detected 14 wild bird species—all considered at high risk for pathogen transmission—regularly entering backyard chicken coops to share the food and water meant for the flocks and a total of 72 species intermingling with chickens.

One can only assume that the contamination rate would only increase if backyard flocks were fed a diet intended for wild birds.

Read more: Make sure you provide feed for the age and stage of your chickens!

3. Nutritional Deficiency

Poultry feed is scientifically formulated to provide chickens with the nutrition they need for proper growth and development at each stage of their life. If you’re wondering can chickens eat wild bird food, without the right balance of vitamins, minerals and nutrients, poultry can fail to thrive, suffer from deficiency-related conditions, and become incapacitated if affected severely enough.

It is crucial to provide chickens with the right diet to keep them healthy. It is for this same reason that our flocks cannot be fed scratch grains or any other supplement as their main nutritional source.

This story about can chickens eat wild bird food appeared at Hobby Farms online and is regularly updated for accuracy. Click here to subscribe.