A living laboratory is an important tool for edible ecological education. Not only can it demonstrate good food-plant design, possibilities for diversified landscape management and site-suitable plants for your region, a living laboratory can also provide unique education opportunities to suit the sites where they are installed.
What Is an Edible Living Laboratory?
Edible living laboratories are basically well-organized plantings using a diversity of edible plants arranged into guilds and focusing on education of key topics. They could be planted using native edible plants or orchard-type varieties, like pears. They should employ anecosystem design with multiple layers of plants (herbs, bushes, trees, etc.). And they should be linear or in plots and fit into the landscape around them seamlessly to make mowing and other larger landscape maintenance possible.
The topics for education can include important Why? information like, “Why is edible biodiversity important?” and What? information such as, “What is an edible ecosystem?” But of upmost importance should be Interactive information like “How to plant your own edible landscape!”
They often include specialized designs that suit the goals of the stewardship group (those responsible for its maintenance). Examples include “Management of Diversity on Campus for Climate Change Mitigation” or “Native Prairie Restoration for Pollinator Habitat and Medicinal Tea Plants.”
No matter how you slice it, the Edible Living Laboratories that I develop have one overarching goal: catalyzing people in communities to plant more landscape by showcasing great plants, designed for success, that work well in an area!
Who Should Include These in the Landscaping?
Many sites are suited for these types of landscapes and many groups (or stewards) would benefit from their installation in landscapes.
This can include businesses that want to create a beautiful entrance with an ethical solution to land management and schools that want to create education opportunities and custom outdoor education curriculum. They also work great for government buildings that need climate-friendly landscaping and homes that feature low-work, high-yielding landscaping.
Key Ingredients for a Great Edible Living Laboratory
The details of a great living laboratory may require a more fine-tuned design. But the basic ingredients (as I see them) are as follows.
A piece of land, 5 feet by 5 feet, 5 feet by 5 feet or larger linear areas (like 15 feet by 75 feet) or large full plots (like 50 feet by 100 feet)
Proper soil improvement with raising of the land to improve soil structure in a raised bed (about 6 to 12 inches), loosening of soil, adding compost and improving with micronutrients
An arrangement of edible and useful plants to form multiple guilds (three or more plants) that fulfill the layers of native ecosystems as mimicry (herbs, ground covers, bushes, trees).
All plants are site-suitable to the environment: climate, soil, sun exposure, etc.
At least three to six varieties for every 25 to 75 square foot
Metal plant name tags for each plant showing name, Latin nomenclature, what part of the plant is edible or useful and when it is ready
ID tags with a number linked to a spreadsheet for identification, notes and record keeping.
Information signage teaching key topics—it’s best to have quality signs that will last a long time.
Proper support for trees and rodent guards for trees
Proper planting
Mulch (weed-free)
Selective weeding in first two years
Watering in first two years when needed
Core steward or stewardship group to take care of site
Interaction with community through workshops, studies, casual bypassing and enjoyment
Long-term conservation of genetic diversity for education, use for more sites and posterity
If you are interested in the development of a Living Laboratory, feel free to reach out to me at www.zachloeks.com.
Over the decades, my husband Jae and I have raised approximately two dozen breeds and varieties of chickens. We’ve raised bantams and large fowl, show birds and layers, heritage birds and hybrids. Most of the breeds we raised were carefully chosen after a great deal of research: online, in reference books, and by speaking to other poultry farmers. Sometimes, however, acquiring a new breed was an instantaneous event. We either saw a breed at a show and just had to have it or we were called by our local farm-supply store to rescue chicks who were faring poorly.
This final quartet of breeds explores unexpected additions that made their way into our flocks.
Rhode Island Red
supergroovie74/Adobe Stock
A trio of two-week-old Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicks joined our farm after I received a call from our farm-supply store. The three babies were the last peeps from that particular hatchery shipment, and the newer arrivals were physically attacking these older hatchlings.
The poor little things were Blu Koted and miserable when I picked them up. They spent the first day huddled together in the corner of their brooder, not even approaching the feeder or waterer. It took a lot of TLC to get them to finally feel safe enough to start exploring their new home.
By the end of their second week with us, you’d never have known they’d been bullied. Aside from our Orpingtons, I’ve never seen such a genuinely happy breed of birds. The RIRs were cheerfully chatty and actively played with each other. We had to give them little boxes in which they played hide and seek and napped together.
As they grew older, the RIRs retained their good-natured dispositions. They were almost doglike with their affection. The trio eventually proclaimed themselves to be two pullets and a cockerel, which led to a little heartache for me because we did not have room for another rooster.
Fortunately I found a nearby 4-H family seeking a showmanship bird for their daughter. Red Boy (not a very original name, I know) took to the young girl very quickly when she and her parents came to see him. Within minutes, she was cuddling and cooing to him, and Red Boy never really looked back.
As for Lynn and Vanessa, the two RIR pullets, they eagerly merged with our Orpington flock, where they became the “popular girls”—our Orps all wanted to be their friends. Helen and Vanessa became prolific layers, producing four to five light-brown eggs per week. Neither had any health or weather issues, and they both lived to be 7 years old.
A little joy went out of the Orpington flock when these cheerful chickens passed on. I’m not sure why we never got more RIRs, given our very positive experience with them.
Golden Comet
Laura/Adobe Stock
Also known as a Cinnamon Queen or a Red Star, the Golden Comet is a stunning cinnamon-gold chicken and one of the most popular hybrid backyard birds in America. When we first met Goldie, however, she was anything but beautiful.
I had once again gotten a call from our farm-supply store that one of their older chicks needed rescuing. Jae and I grabbed a cardboard box and headed out, only to find this poor baby cowering on top of the stock tank’s waterer, most of her down plucked out by the younger chicks.
Once home, we carefully treated Goldie’s injuries, then set her inside a cozy brooder with a plush bunny for company. After a few days, Goldie made the move from the top of the waterer to the bunny. I experienced a moment of panic when I came across an empty brooder, only to find Goldie snuggled safely under the bunny’s arm.
Goldie’s relationship with her bunny lasted her entire life.
As an older pullet, she also joined our Orpington flock and, while she was sweet and got along with the other birds, there was always some hesitancy, as if she remembered the abuse she sustained in her earliest days. Goldie ended up making two close Orpington friends, with whom she spent her days. At night, she slept in one of the nest boxes, snuggled up with her bunny.
Goldie was one of the best layers we ever had, producing between five and six large brown eggs per week. She never exhibited any tendency towards broodiness and, interestingly, she never laid in the nestbox where her bunny lived. She was always sweet with us, even with my boys when they were preschoolers. If we had not defined ourselves as a heritage farm, I would not have minded having more Golden Comets … as long as the chicks had plenty of room so as not to pick on each other.
Barred Plymouth Rock
Dalton Overlin/Wirestock/Adobe Stock
Like the RIRs and Goldie the Golden Comet, our Barred Plymouth Rocks were rescued from a local feed store, where they were the last Barred Rocks amidst a sea of Wyandotte chicks. Knowing they were with Wyandottes probably spurred us to retrieve this chick quartet swiftly, as we had just sold off our Wyandotte flock the previous year.
The Barred Rock babies were not victimized in the way our other rescues had been. They were not injured or missing any down. Instead, the Wyandotte crowd was preventing the Barred Rocks from accessing the feeder and waterer, and the store only had so many brooders. Home they came!
From the start, the Barred Rocks settled in happily, sleeping chick-carpet style and curiously investigating their brooder. They were very inquisitive birds from the get go, even as adults. If we placed anything—a suet cake, a wedge of cabbage, a block of seeds—in their brooder or coop, the Barred Rocks would be the first ones to approach, even before our rooster. The Orpington hens would always wait for the all-clear from the Barred Rocks before inching closer to whatever the mystery treat might be.
Although they were never bossy, they also weren’t overly social with the other birds, preferring to keep to themselves or hang out with us if we were outside. They laid an average of three to four large brown eggs per week and occasionally went broody, though nowhere to the extent that the Orpingtons, Cochins and Silkies did.
They were adorable chicks, with their creamy head dots and smoky black fluff, and even more lovely as adults, with their trademark black barring. They didn’t live past 4 years old, which might be a reflection on their being hatchery birds versus breeder birds. I’d call them your basic backyard chickens, good for eggs and with a decent disposition.
Serama
Athok Fadhlin/stock.adobe.com
I fell in love with the Serama chicken breed (pictured above) the instant I set eyes on them. It was at a small poultry exhibition in Northern Michigan. I’d made sure my show birds were settled in, then went to explore the rest of the show floor.
The Serama exhibitor—she was the only one—had a table off to one side of the hall, with cages more suited to canaries in size than to chickens. Inside each cage were the tiniest chickens I’d ever seen, each pure perfection.
The Serama roosters had a proud, puffed chest; upright carriage; downward wings; and tiny single combs. The hens displayed glossy eyes, teeny wattles and tidy tails.
When the weekend was done, I went home with a beautiful black and white pair. Orion and Oreo were the first of many Serama chickens lovingly raised and hatched by us.
Purely ornamental, the Serama is the smallest known chicken breed, with adult males typically weighing in at less than a pound and adult females even less.
Because of their size, they are not cold hardy. We built heated brooders in our pole barn, where they cozily passed the cold months. Seramas love being outside, however, so we also built them a chicken tractor within which they could safely enjoy the sunshine, grass and fresh air.
While ideal as exhibition birds, Seramas also make wonderful household pets. They truly love interacting with their humans, will happily spend hours perched on their owner’s shoulder or on the back of a chair or couch, and can be contentedly housed in a parrot cage.
Our Serama chickens always paired up as juveniles and remained mated for life. The hens laid well, averaging approximately four eggs per week—but bear in mind that four Serama eggs equal one large standard chicken egg.
Serama hens will go broody, and it is a delight to watch them set eggs and raise their young, because Seramas are without a doubt the chattiest breed in existence. Hens tend to keep a continual monologue going with their eggs and chicks.
Chicks hatch at about 16 days, five days earlier than other chicken breeds. The juveniles similarly become fully feathered and reach maturity ahead of other breeds. I adored our Serama flock, despite the special allowances necessary because of their size and physique. And although my husband, Jae, deems them “impractical,” Seramas rank in my top six chicken breeds along with Orpingtons, Silkies, Cochins, Ameraucanas and Polish.
“Spending time with my chickens is not only the highlight of my day but one of the best ways to relax,” says Sarah Hock, who broadcasts her chicken-centric adventures through the Cats And Cluckers Instagram account. “I love coming home from work to spend the evening sipping some wine and watching the flock.”
Based in Thurston County in the state of Washington, Hock’s interest in raising birds was partly sparked when she was 10 years old and her family welcomed a pair of African geese into the household. That formative experience has now bloomed into a homestead that features an array of chickens flanked by a clowder of kitties.
Taking a moment away from tending to her chicks, we spoke to Hock about training chickens and how to socialize kittens to be friendly to chicks. We also got to know a Crested Cream Legbar named Celeste.
“Since I was a child, I have been fascinated by all animals,” recalls Hock. “I grew up in a rural community, and farm animals—including chickens—were a common part of life.”
Having always vowed to “bring in some poultry” as soon as she had a large enough living space of her own, Hock plumped for chickens as they seemed like a promising starter choice. “After that, I was hooked,” she says. “It took me back to how attached I became to my little flock and their daily antics. It’s better than a soap opera and my favorite part of the day.”
Running through some of the most fascinating examples of chicken behavior that she’s discovered, Hock says her flock have proved able to “learn their names and come when called.”
So when Hock can’t find a particular chicken, she says, “All I have to do is call their name a few times and the next thing I know they come running from whatever mischief they were in to come see if I have treats.”
Hock adds that she’s found chickens to be highly trainable because they are food-motivated: “I hardly ever have any issues getting them locked in the coop in the evenings—I just have to shake the treat bag and they go running in knowing they won’t get their grubs until they are inside.”
Hock says that she also managed to train a batch of pullets to “walk right into a large pet carrier so I could transport them wherever I needed to with little effort on my part.”
When it comes to the star of the flock, Hock anoints Celeste, a Crested Cream Legbar. “She loves to follow me around or sit on my shoulder while I’m doing chores out in the run,” explains Hock. “She’s always up for a good snuggle once I’m done.”
“That chicken gives me a heart attack on a regular basis because she likes to lie down in random places with her face down in the dirt to nap or sunbathe,” she continues. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it. But the thing that cracks me up the most about her is that, like clockwork, she puts herself to bed an hour before sunset—every single day!”
At the Hock homestead, the poultry is matched by a number of felines. Luckily, Hock describes her clowder as like “lazy house panthers who would rather sleep than hunt.”
Hock adds that it’s usually easiest to socialize kittens to play and live safely around chickens, rather than more senior kitties. “My oldest cat, Rufus, has been around a plethora of animals since he was a kitten—from dogs to rabbits to guinea pigs and parrots,” says Hock. “So he’s pretty animal savvy and loved watching the baby chicks when they were in the brooder.”
My journey with chickens began when my husband and I moved out of suburbia and onto 6 tree-filled acres in rural Tennessee, mid-2021. After repurposing an old doghouse into a very nice chicken coop, we headed to the local farm-supply store and came home with six Easter Egger pullets. My granddaughter carefully named member of the new chicken flock: Brownie, Cherrybit, Elfaba, Graybeard, Littlefoot and Penelope.
After eight weeks in the garage, we introduced the flock into our beautiful condominium of a chicken coop and anxiously waited for eggs! After carefully guarding and coddling them, we slowly let them free-range.
On the first day, two mysteriously disappeared, and we realized we weren’t the best chicken parents. We didn’t let them out for another three weeks until we felt that letting them out for short periods during the day was safer.
Rookie Mistakes
I still remember our surprise when we got our first eggs in December of that year. We were told they wouldn’t lay eggs in the dead of winter, so imagine our excitement when we discovered our first beautiful blue and brown eggs around Christmas at the age of 26 weeks.
The following spring, I headed back to the local store and picked up four more pullets. I also couldn’t resist the baby ducklings in a tub nearby. That was certainly a mistake! The two Peking ducks were adorable but quickly grew fat and really didn’t fit into the chicken coop world.
They were huge and also made a huge mess in the coop. They waddled, honked and really weren’t very nice, although they seemed to think they were part of the chicken family!
Our egg production plummeted, and after two months, I was ready to relocate the ducks to a nearby farm with a pond. They immediately took to the water, and I realized they were in a much better place. Afterwards, some normalcy returned to our coop!
Meanwhile, we needed more chickens, and the egg production was not going well. I found someone selling 12-week-old pullets at a nearby farm and came home with seven young hens and a rooster for our chicken flock! Our coop was flourishing.We were really feeling like irresponsible chicken owners by now, but we were determined to make a happy and safe place for our chickens. We lined the coop with a second layer of wire which we hoped would raccoon-proof the outside. During this time, we also trapped and relocated two raccoons that were stalking the place every night (caught on our trail cam). They would open the food-can lids and pretty much terrorized our chickens at night. I felt like this really contributed to the poor egg production, plus we kept finding shell-less eggs.
After relocating the food, we set about trying to solve the rubber egg problem. We always provided crushed oyster shell, but our chickens weren’t too interested. This is when we decided to introduce the shells of the few eggs we were getting into their diet. We would dry the shells overnight, pulverize them in a mortar and pestle, and then sprinkle this in their food every day. It seemed to do the trick, as over the next couple of weeks, the shell-less egg phenomenon subsided!
Time for More
We have lost many chickens over the last two years due to encounters with foxes, raccoons, unknown predators and illness, but our chickens are happiest when they can free-range. Hopefully our rooster, dogs and cats will keep them safe and happy enough to keep giving us eggs.
What a fun and egg-citing adventure keeping chickens has been. We can’t wait to see where this takes us. Having a rooster has gotten us into the business of hatching our own eggs. Out of six incubated, five eggs have hatched. We already have plans underway to enlarge our coop and improve our run for our expanded family of chickens to safely free-range.
Life with chickens has lots of ups and downs, but overall, we recommend it to anyone who has patience and time. While it has been a learning curve, we know we have so much more to learn!
Alison Davis is a retired medical technologist, mother
of four and “Nana” to three grandchildren. She and her husband recently moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to 6 acres nestled on a ridge in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, where they enjoy tending their garden, orchard, chickens and dogs.
This article originally appeared in the September/Ocober 2023 issue of Chickens magazine. Have a great story about your flock? Email the story of your birds in ~750 words to chickens@chickensmagazine.com (subject line: Chicken Chat). Be sure to include high-resolution images of yourself, your chickens and/or your coop. The author of each issue’s published essay receives a prize from one of our ad partners. (See print magazine for rules. Sponsor: EG Media Investments LLC)
In springtime or shortly after bringing new pullets to the flock, the gravity of the number of eggs a small flock of hens can produce settles in. Couple a laying flush with chicken math—the equation that proves a few more chickens won’t hurt a thing—and you can end up with many dozens of eggs per week. This is what happened to Missy Singer DuMars, of Crown Hill Farm in Eden, New York. Also a business coach, she thought about the enterprising advice she might offers to someone with excess product, and she launched an egg CSA. Since 2018, she delivers a dozen eggs—accompanying shares of vegetables and more—to CSA shareholders in Buffalo every two weeks in the spring, summer and fall.
CSA is community supported agriculture, a partnership between farmer and consumer. Consumers—called shareholders or members—pay upfront for a share of the season’s farm products. The intention is for members to share in the risks and the rewards of farming. If the farmer has a great year, shareholders get an abundance. If the farmer has a less-great year, shareholders might receive less. In either case, the members’ upfront commitment helps to fund the work of the farmer for the year to come.
If CSA makes sense for vegetable producers, why not chicken keepers, too? In this article, learn the basics of egg CSAs and decide whether this could help your hens pay for themselves.
First, The Chickens
While the existential chicken-or-egg question remains, in the case of running an egg CSA, it starts with the chickens.
“I personally prefer the heritage breeds, so my eggs are a little smaller than the standard egg sizes. My customers love getting rainbow boxes,” Singer DuMars says. “I want a different range of color of eggs, and I pay attention to the average number of eggs per year. I aim for the higher layers where I can. And I also pay attention to which ones are cold hardy and are better foragers because they’ll be pasture raised.”
Three heritage breeds she especially appreciates are Salmon Faverolles because of their good looks, Brahmas for their large eggs and foraging abilities, and Welsummers for their dark, speckled eggs.
The ideal breed for your egg CSA will be one that thrives in your climate, lays consistently and is a pleasure to care for.
courtesy Andrea Wenglowskyj
Designing an Egg CSA
Just as there’s no one best chicken breed for an egg CSA, there’s no one best CSA design for every chicken keeper. Thoughtful planning is the key.
The Number of Shares
Singer DuMars kept chickens for about a year before offering an egg CSA. From the beginning, she recorded the number of eggs she collected each day on a paper calendar. This enabled her to look back over the year and see the ebb and flow of egg production. Since then, Singer DuMars started using the Mother Hen app to record her egg inventory, sales and expenses. Your recordkeeping can be as simple or complex as you’d like. The important part is that the system works in a way that makes sense to you.
Knowing what your chickens are capable of is an essential first step. These numbers hold the answer to the question you’re likely already asking: How many egg shares could I offer?
Consider the eggs that will inevitably be cracked or too gross to share. Expect about 4 percent of your eggs to have cracks, according to Manitoba Agriculture. Consider whether you have eggs committed to other markets. Singer DuMars used to offer 20 to 22 egg CSA shares and then scaled back to 15 to 16 because she supplies eggs to chefs, as well.
Also consider how happy you are with the size of your current flock and what adding or taking away a few hens would do to egg production and expenses.
Let’s say you have 20 hens that lay an average of five eggs each per week over the course of 20 weeks. Subtract 4 percent of those eggs as seconds, and you have 160 dozen eggs, or eight dozen each week throughout the season.
The Frequency of Shares
Weekly shares are probably the most common CSA pickup offer. The consistency of knowing how many eggs are going out the door each week is nice. Biweekly shares are another option, and this is the way Singer DuMars runs Crown Hill Farm’s CSA program.
“I did that for a few reasons,” Singer DuMars says. “No. 1, two weeks was enough time between deliveries to build up enough egg supply when I had a really small flock. Also, as a single person myself, I always felt like when I participated in CSAs, it was too much too quickly, and I would waste food. So I formulated my CSA with a combination of not trusting my consistency of weekly delivery and wanting to serve the single person or the smaller household.”
The Season
Peak egg production happens at a different time of year than peak vegetable production, which inhibits some vegetable CSAs from also offering egg CSAs. In much of the Northern Hemisphere, chickens are laying best in early spring. In New York state, that’s March through May, while outdoor vegetable production gets rolling in June.
Singer DuMars offers a 12- to 14-week spring egg CSA from March through May and another season from June to the first week of November.
“I try to get chicks in mid-February so that way they’re starting to lay a little bit in August, September to augment as the older ones are slowing down for the winter,” she says. “Their first eggs are little, but I’ll mix and match them in a carton.”
She welcomes 16 to 20 new chicks to the flock each year, and hens live out their lives on her farm, so she has hens of all ages laying all the time.
She also undersells her flock’s egg-laying capacity. “That way I kind of extend my inventory by a couple weeks at the end when things slow down,” she says. “Even though in the spring I have a lot of extra eggs beyond what I need for my CSA, I try not to sell out completely of those.”
Using first-in, first-out egg stacking, Singer DuMars always offers the freshest eggs, regardless of the time of year.
Cavan/Adobe Stock
The Other Options
It seems to be that eggs are an afterthought to a CSA. This wan’t the case for Singer DuMars, who started the egg CSA before starting the vegetable CSA.
Her reasoning was that she was more confident in her chickens’ ability to produce eggs than she was in her own ability to produce vegetables as a beginning farmer. Now she offers her own eggs and vegetables, as well as meats, baked goods, mushrooms and cheese from other producers. Let’s not forget duck eggs, as well, which Singer DuMars sells out of each year.
There are all kinds of ways to have a CSA.
Your Customers
Skyrocketing grocery-store egg costs in 2022 put a dent in consumers’ argument that farm-fresh eggs are too expensive. Singer DuMars’s soy-free, pasture-raised eggs are $7 per dozen. For her customers in Buffalo, the convenience of biweekly availability and the understanding that the eggs were produced by local hens living in humane conditions factor into their willingness to pay.
“Know your customers, or decide who your customers are, and be in service to them,” Singer DuMars says. She values transparency with her customers. Especially because our society has gotten away from cooperative agreements, navigating a CSA for the first season can be confusing for some shareholders.
A newsletter with each share and a slip of paper in the carton explaining how to wash and cook the eggs help with this.
Singer DuMars has found that with consistent communication, her shareholders are forgiving when she owns up to making a mistake. “I ran out of eggs once, so I replaced them with some vegetables, and [shareholders] were grateful and happy,” she says. “If you set expectations with your customers, then they’re not surprised, and they won’t be upset. On my signup page for my CSA, I explain what a CSA is and that it’s not a subscription, it’s not a guarantee, that a CSA takes both the reward and the risk.”
Egg Sales Rules
Setting up a CSA doesn’t exempt you from egg-sales laws. Each state has them, and you can learn yours from your state department of agriculture. Egg laws may govern things like egg washing, refrigeration, use of cartons, label requirements and more.
Most laws are based on the number of eggs you sell or the value of the eggs you sell. It’s possible that your operation falls below the threshold of egg-sales laws—however, this doesn’t mean you should ignore the laws altogether. Purposefully ignoring food-safety rules will lead to trouble if a shareholder were to become ill in connection to your eggs.
By putting your hens to work with an egg CSA, you can bring in funds for their feed bill, provide good food for your neighbors and educate more people about the reality of how their food is produced. It might even be just the excuse you need to add a new breed or two to your flock.
More Information
Egg CSA for Hire
Keeping chickens isn’t for everyone, and you could be the chicken keeper others look to for collaboration.
Jen and Jeff Miller, at Prairie Wind Family Farm in Grayslake, Illinois, raised their own chickens for years and transitioned to sourcing eggs from Joe’s Farm in Three Rivers, Michigan, in the past few years.
“He raises hens that produce eggs that we believe in,” Jen Miller says. “We prefer pasture-raised using regenerative farming methods to add nutrients to the soil and provide for animal health, as well.”
Collaborating allows the Millers to focus on providing a great CSA for their shareholders and to support other farmers. In addition to their fruit and vegetable CSA offerings, the farm has the option of a range of egg CSA seasons: spring, early summer, late summer, fall and winter, and a full-season package. They typically sell out.
“We begin taking orders in October, as that’s the premise behind CSA,” Miller says. “Members make an upfront commitment so we have the time and resources to prepare for our farming season.”
She thinks the egg CSA has allowed more people to take part in their CSA program, as eggs are delivered even in seasons they’re not growing produce.
“We love building community, and egg CSAs are a great way to build a shared appreciation for all that goes into raising hens, especially into the winter season, which is no joke for Midwest farmers,” Miller says.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2023 issue of Chickens magazine.
Muck’s the Edgewater (above) offers an all-terrain outsole for protection, grip and stability; a self-cleaning outsole for mud, snow and dirt; and a reinforced, protective rubber shell, focusing on the heel and toe. The upper is composed of neoprene and rubber, making it 100 percenr waterproof.
Keen’s Women’s Ridge Flex Waterproof Boot
Keen’s Ridge Flex is designed to reduce the energy each step takes and offer traction, grip and support with a quick-dry lining for those muggy summer days.
Twisted X Women’s 9-inch All Around Work Boot
These farm boots from Twisted X have a removable, moisture-wicking, antibacterial and machine-washable molded footbed, stitch reinforced toe and heel, and integrated spur ridge.
Brunt Workwear’s Marin Soft ToeBoot
This Brunt boot offers triple-layer waterproofing and a oil- and slip-resistant, rubber-skinned sole. A removable insert allows the boot to go from regular to wide fit.
Hawx Men’s Radian Waterproof Western Work Boot
These pull-on farm boots with composite toe from Hawx are engineered to reduce ankle pressure and shaft tension while protecting you from electrical hazards. The full-grain leather boot has a slip-resistant rubber outsole.
Georgia Boot’s Eagle One
This steel-toed waterproof work boot from Georgia Boot is quipped with full-grain SPR leather; a wide platform shovel shank; and an oil, chemical-, abrasion-, heat- and slip-resistant rubber outsole. Each boot has an AMP memory foam footbed.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Hobby Farms magazine.
You’d be surprised how easy it is to lose small bits of metal on a farm. Nuts, bolts, nails, screws, wires, drill bits … the list goes on and on. Finding them is the tricky part. Losing small pieces of metal can range from annoying (you lose a washer in the grass) to problematic (when the nut works loose from a hitch ball and it falls off somewhere in a 5-acre field) to dangerous (when the demolition of an old barn leaves nails scattered around your farmyard).
You might say, “I won’t be careless enough to lose pieces of metal like that,” but it happens to everyone and is part of farm life. You might be minding your own business one day, adjusting the height of a hay rake, when piiiiiiiiing!!! You remove a nut and a compressed spring sends an important washer careening who-knows-how-far across the yard. Been there, done that.
Fortunately, farmers have options for recovering lost metal items. Depending on the specifics, you can try a metal detector, a magnetic sweeper, or both.
A metal detector uses coils of wire to, well, detect metal. When sweeping it back and forth across the ground, the machine will give an alert when it passes over metal.
A magnetic sweeper is much simpler, using a strong magnet to attract and pick up pieces of metal. Often the magnetic sweeper will be installed on wheels so it’s easy to roll back and forth across the ground.
Both tools have their uses. Let’s explore their pros and cons.
Magnetic Sweeper
A magnetic sweeper is a quick and easy way to pick up pieces of metal scattered across the ground. Spill a jar of screws? The sweeper will pick them right up, saving you from crawling around on your hands and knees, and making sure you’ve plucked every one out of the grass.
But a magnetic sweeper isn’t flawless. Not all types of metal are attracted to magnets. You’ll be good to go picking up iron and steel, but copper and aluminum will be disappointing. And if the lost pieces of metal have become trapped in yard thatch or tall grass, the magnet might not be strong enough to pull them out.
Metal Detector
A metal detector is an awesome way to find lost pieces of metal. I can attest, I’ve gone on just-for-fun “treasure hunts” around my farm with a relatively inexpensive metal detector, and it has turned up all sorts of relics inadvertently left around by my family and by past farm occupants: fencing staples, nails, pieces of welded wire and barbed wire, hunks of metal evidently broken off old farm machines and more.
A metal detector will locate a wider variety of metals than a magnetic sweeper, and it will find the metal even in tall grass or when the metal is buried in the ground. But unlike a magnetic sweeper, it won’t pick up the metal for you, so once you’ve nailed down the right vicinity (“It’s beeping over this spot!”), you’ll have to get down on your hands and knees to find and pick up the metal yourself.
The good news is, both magnetic sweepers and metal detectors save time and effort when you’ve lost small pieces of metal on your farm. They’ve come to the rescue countless times for me, so why not add both to your toolbox? There will likely be many occasions when you’ll be thankful to have them.
They say necessity is the mother of invention, right? Well, if you’ve run out of ideas to make the most of your cucumber harvests in the kitchen, why not harness the power of these prolific fruits for your face!I’ve always been cucumber curious and love growing lots of different varieties. This means there comes a time when I have too many cucumbers and even my friends and neighbors refuse any more.
So, at the end of the season, once I’ve canned, fermented, relished and made every variety of cucumber salad imaginable, I start juicing and freezing them! You can use overgrown cucumbers for this project too, which I love. As hobby farmers we hate to see anything we grew go to waste, right?
Note: I can also say that using cucumber juice in a margarita or mocktails is really refreshing too!
Cucumber Health Benefits
Cucumbers have many benefits for your overall health. Because they’re 95 percent water and contain electrolytes, they’re known for being one of the most hydrating foods, a great option after working in the garden.
Plus, a single cucumber holds around 40 percent of your daily recommended vitamin K, plus around 15 percent of A and C. Cucumbers also contain many antioxidants including flavonoids and lignans—but be sure to eat the cucumber skin for maximum vitamin benefits.
But you can still benefit from all these nutrients via your body’s largest organ—your skin!
You’ve probably all heard of placing slices of cucumbers on your eyes to reduce puffiness. Well, there’s some serious science behind that. Cucumbers contain caffeic acid, which can reduce water retention in skin, especially the thinner skin around your eyes.
Cucumbers also deeply cleanse while brightening the skin. Because of the cucumbers’ high amounts of vitamins C and A, they can help regain elasticity and build collagen, too.
DIY Cucumber Cubes
I find that two medium large cucumbers blended to a puree fit nicely into an old school ice cube tray. You’ll need twice the cucumbers if straining out for juice. I don’t mind using the pulp, too, but be aware that, even though blended, there will be some “solids” left as you use the ice cubes.
I often use these on my face while taking a hot bath!
Deseed any large and tough seeds. Remove any blemishes or bruises, but leave as much skin on as possible.
Use a blender to puree. You can either use as is or strain out the cucumber juice.
I really like the simple single ingredient cucumber cubes, but I have made and enjoyed these other combinations as well.
Cucumber + Green Tea
Mix 1 to 1 with prepared green tea and cucumber juice or pulp. Freeze in cubes and rub over face to really reduce puffiness.
Cucumber + Aloe Vera
Mix 1 to 1 with aloe vera gel and cucumber juice or pulp. Freeze in cubes and rub over face to soothe and hydrate.
To Use
Wash your face prior to using the cucumber cubes. Rub the cubes in circular motions over your face for three to four minutes, making sure not to stay in one spot too long. Rinse and moisturize as normal.
Fall is a welcome break for sheep and goats. Cooler weather and shorter days are a relief for animals as much as people. Fall also ushers in breeding season and is a great time to perform seasonal maintenance for each animal on your farm. Delaying flock maintenance can cause a multitude of issues including careless breeding and anemia.
Take time now to follow these steps for the health of your sheep this fall.
Evaluate
Check Eyelids
Check each animal’s eyelids for signs of anemia (usually from parasites).
Trim Hooves
Hooves should be trimmed at least once a year. Especially muddy seasons require trimming more often. Check for hoof rot and overgrown nails.
Examine Mouth for Sores
Common viruses cause mouth sores in sheep and can spread among the flock. Make sure they don’t show any signs of blisters or infection in their mouths and in their teeth.
Check Wool
Check wool for any wool break, often a sign of stress or lice. Malnutrition also causes wool break. If you notice patches of wool missing, determine the cause and, if necessary, treat the problem.
Medicate
Make sure and gather all the medication you might need before catching the animals and be prepared to give right away. Having all medicines within your reach will save you time and frustration if you notice any of them actually need to be administered. Consult your veterinarian for dosage.
Here are a few medications we keep on hand for fall flock maintenance.
Antibiotics for any infection on mouth, hooves or anywhere else
Vitamin B12 could be used if they show signs of weight loss and need a boost.
Sort
Separate the males and females. This will allow you the time and ability to flush feed the females before turning them back to the males for breeding. Flush feeding gives the females’ bodies the best chance for a viable and healthy pregnancy. Flush feeding also creates the optimal chance for multiple pregnancies.
Know Your Timeline
A sheep’s gestation period is 152 days. It is not advised to have lambs in the harshest period of winter. Keeping your males and females sorted will help inform your timeline. The end of February is the earliest we plan to start lambing season.
Once you are ready to turn your females back to the males, sort them according to breed to ensure the lambs you hope to produce.
One decade ago, Jenny and Will Ledlow bought 6 acres in central Oklahoma, where Jenny dove into hobby farming. Raising a vegetable garden, pigs, guineas, rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and quail, Jenny provides most of the family meals and a lot of fun. Plus, through social media and farmer’s markets, she sells what the family doesn’t use.
“I’m not a quail expert,” Jenny says. “But I’ve had poultry since I was a kid. I learned quail care online, reading books and through years of experience. After reading about quail, I decided to try raising them. In 2014, I hatched around 20 quail eggs that I bought online. I chose coturnix quail because they are fast growing, very productive and fairly easy to care for.
“Quail are not a big investment, and they can provide eggs and meat for people without land. Plus they are quiet and small.”
Quail-Raising Basics
During the first four weeks, Jenny feeds her quail game bird starter. Then she switches to game bird feed, kale, herbs, lettuce, cucumbers, corn on the cob, mealworms, berries and insects.
For living quarters, Jenny says, “Housing needs to be safe and easy to clean. Most people who raise quail for eggs use stacked cages with roll-out spots for eggs. Metal, wood and wire are common materials used. I move my housing according to the weather. I like movable pens that are about 4 by 5 feet because it is easy to move them outdoors when it’s nice and onto a clean area so I can clean the previous place where they were. It also lets me add things for them to do such as sand boxes, clumps of grass and dirt, and places to hide.
black coturnix quails
“I protect my quail from predators using small wire on the pens or hardware cloth. Or I move them indoors. I never allow them to free range because coturnix quail are not native to Oklahoma. Also, they would be eaten by cats or other predators. I’ve seen them raised with chickens, but I haven’t tried it. I house them separately from other birds.”
In winter, Jenny’s quail are in sheds, chicken coops and Will’s shop. In summer, Jenny keeps the quail in the shade and monitors for fresh water. One summer she kept them in the garage with a window air conditioning unit.
The Value of Quail Eggs
Coturnix begin laying tiny, spotted eggs at 6 weeks of age. Jenny says they lay any time during the day and during all seasons, including winter (depending on the quails’ ages and housing).
“The chicks hatch in 18 days but can hatch earlier or later,” Jenny says. “They are similar to baby chickens, but they need food, water and bedding changes a lot more often. There are special food and water containers for quail chicks. Plus, they need a heat lamp until fully feathered.
“The eggs start developing at around 99 degrees in an incubator, or underneath their mothers. I have only had a couple of quail try to hatch their chicks, and it never worked.”
coturnix quails
Jenny spends 10 to 20 minutes daily gathering eggs, replenishing food, water and sand, and inspecting for injuries. She fills the feeders and the water containers, and spends an hour weekly cleaning the cage/pen and providing new bedding.
“The eggs taste similar to chicken eggs,” Jenny says. “I’ve read that quail eggs have about 15 calories each, and more protein, iron, riboflavin and Vitamin B than chicken eggs. Many sources say they are a super food, and that they can help with health issues such as diabetes.”
For incubation purposes, Jenny stores eggs on the counter. But she cleans the other eggs and stores them in the refrigerator. Although soaking eggs in white vinegar makes the shells come off more easily, removing the shells is still tedious work. She pickles eggs for salads and snacks. As well, she fries and boils eggs, and uses them in recipes.
She says they are great in Asian soup recipes. For recipes, keep in mind that three quail eggs equal one chicken egg.
As for challenges, Jenny says, “The males start fighting around 5 weeks old. If you aren’t fast about separating them, they will pull the skin off the heads of other males. There are different colors of coturnix quail, but only a couple are color sexable, including Pharaoh and Italian. Females have spotted breasts but males don’t.
“Starting with one of those colors makes it much easier to separate the extra males early.”
Quail are great for meat, eggs and pets. By June 2023, Jenny owned 150 quail, but she says to start small, with five females to every male. Don’t mix different ages because older birds will hurt younger additions. If there are bird wounds or food buildup, change the setup.
