Although duck eggs take a week longer to hatch than chicken eggs, a chicken hen can successfully hatch duck eggs. A chicken can cover about 12 eggs of the same size she produces. To hatch duck eggs that are larger than her own, don’t expect her to handle more than about 10. If the duck eggs are smaller than her own (such as those of bantam ducks), she might be able to cover as many as 18.
All the eggs must fit handily beneath her. If any stick out around the edge, chances are she’ll eventually rotate them back under her and let some other eggs take a turn getting chilled, until they all fail to hatch. Because duck eggs take longer to hatch than the 21 days required for chicken eggs, use a proven broody hen to hatch them. A hen that’s brooding for the first time may not stick around long enough to finish the job.
All the eggs in a nest must hatch at approximately the same time so the ducklings can leave the nest together, under the protection of the mother hen. Therefore, once you are assured that the chicken is indeed broody, remove whatever eggs are in her nest and replace them with the number of duck eggs you wish to hatch.
Chickens typically mother ducklings as if they were their own. Some chickens become upset if their newly hatched babies waddle into the water for a swim. Others, however, take it in stride, jumping right in and happily paddling around right along with the ducklings.
Gail Damerow lives on a farm in Tennessee where she and her husband keep poultry and dairy goats, tend a sizable garden, and maintain a small orchard. She has authored more than a dozen books,
including Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens; several Chickens magazine articles; and blogs at www.gaildamerow.com.
This book excerpt previously appeared in the May/June 2023 issue of Chickens magazine.
Bloat in cattle is a different sort of digestive issue than it is in humans. For us, it’s a bit of “tight pant syndrome” or water retention, most of the time due to diet or hormones. Although certainly uncomfortable, it’s typically temporary and not fatal. For cattle, however, bloat can be fatal.
Here’s what you should know about this condition in your animals.
2 Kinds of Bloat in Cattle
To clear up some initial confusion, there are two main types of bloat in cattle: free-gas bloat and frothy bloat.
Free-gas Bloat
Free-gas bloat occurs when there is a physical blockage of the esophagus and the animal can’t burp to relieve the constant buildup of gas in the rumen. This can also occur in certain metabolic conditions when the rumen isn’t churning as it should. This is called rumen stasis.
In both scenarios, a large gas bubble builds up inside the rumen which can’t be released, causing distension, pain and death, as the buildup of gas pressure on the diaphragm causes suffocation.
Frothy Bloat
Frothy bloat is slightly different and is the development of a foam (hence the froth) that sits on top of the ingesta in the rumen. This blocks the escape of gas through the esophagus. Both types of bloat involve the blockage of gas from the rumen, just from different causes.
Frothy bloat is sometimes called pasture bloat. This is because it is commonly seen with cattle on certain types of pasture. Legumes such as clover (red, white and sweet clover) and alfalfa are at the highest risk of causing this froth.
But why? Legumes such as clover and alfalfa are high in soluble protein. This can result in the creation of a sort of “slime” that sits on top of the rumen, trapping gas. These grasses also have a highly digestible cell wall that also contributes to the creation of a foamy cap.
How can you tell if an animal is experiencing frothy bloat? Initially, if you look carefully, you may notice that the left side of the animal’s flank is protruding, like a ball filling with air. This is because the rumen lies mostly on the left side of the abdomen.
From the back, the animal will appear uneven. This animal may act uncomfortable, such as repeatedly getting up and then lying down, kicking or looking at its flank, and it may go off feed. These signs may be difficult to observe when the cattle are out on pasture.
As the condition progresses, the left abdominal distension becomes more obvious to the point where the trapped gas puts pressure on the diaphragm and it becomes difficult for the animal to breathe. At this point, the animal may be reluctant to move and be in respiratory distress. If treatment is not implemented at this point, the animal is likely to die from suffocation.
Treating Bloat
The best way to treat an emergency situation of frothy bloat is to call your veterinarian. She will pass an orogastric (OG) tube—a rubber hose inserted down the throat and into the rumen. This will sometimes allow the release of air from the rumen and offer immediate relief.
However, remember the challenge with frothy bloat is that the froth can block the release of gas via the hose, just as it prevents release naturally through the esophagus. If no gas is released from the OG tube, an anti-foaming agent will be administered. This can be a specific drug like poloxalene, which is a surfactant that breaks down the foam.
It is commonly sold under brand names like Bloat Guard. In a pinch, mineral oil can also be used.
This can all be quite dramatic if an animal is at the point of respiratory distress. So how do you prevent frothy bloat in the first place?
Pasture management is key. Experts recommend avoiding grazing cattle on pastures with more than 50 percent legumes. Dew increases the risk of bloat, so if you are moving cattle to a new pasture that contains legumes, don’t move them until mid-day after the dew has burned off.
Poloxalene is available as a block and feed additive. In high-risk situations, farmers can consider adding this as a daily supplement. Adding hay feeding along with pasture grazing has also been shown to decrease the incidence of bloat.
As with most things, there is not one best method for prevention. Finding a combination of factors that work best for your herd is key.
I’m a first-year beekeeper—or, rather, I will be later this year when my bees arrive. Right now I’m getting things ready for my first hive, and I’ve got the hives set up and ready. But as today’s conditions evidence, things can get rainy and muddy this time of year around these parts, and water stands for a while on my flat farmland. So I’m building a bee hive stand to get my hives off the ground to keep things nice and dry for my bees.
I’ll be using a mixture of recycled and new lumber for this project. Here’s the breakdown of my supplies:
The first step in this build is to cut four legs for the stand. The plans I found call for 4×4 posts, but I have some 4×6 posts on hand, so that’s what I’m using.
I’m building a stand big enough for my two bee boxes. So while my plans call for a stand 8 feet wide, I’m halving that to fit my needs. So I’m cutting my single 2x6x8-foot piece of lumber into two 4-foot pieces.
Next, I’m cutting the leg supports. Again, I’m deviating from the plans here, which call for two 25-inch leg supports. I’m doubling that with four leg supports, which will keep things more secure over time.
Bee Box Assembly
This stand doesn’t require much in the way of construction. Essentially, you’re just building a very basic table that your bee boxes can sit on, protected from ground-level moisture.
I’m not using glue or anything for this construction, but rather I’ll attach everything with some long, all-weather screws. You don’t need any advanced joinery techniques here—just screw everything together using butt joints to build a sturdy box-type table.
Check out the video to see how everything is constructed, as well as my tips for installing the bee stand on your land.
One tried-and-true recipe that has been made for decades and continues to be a crowd-pleaser is my mom’s version of Texas caviar. It can easily be made ahead of a day or two. It’s a perfect addition to pretty much any gathering.
Serve with Fritos Scoops, corn tortilla chips or even use it as a condiment to spoon over tacos. You can also get creative and enjoy it as a filling for a lettuce wrap
Yield: 3 quarts
Ingredients
Main
1 (15oz) can shoe peg corn (sweet corn is a fine substitute)
1 (15oz) can of black-eyed peas (rinsed and strained)
1 (15oz) can of black beans (rinsed and strained)
1 (15oz) can of kidney beans (rinsed and strained)
Start by combining the syrup ingredients in a small-sized saucepan. Boil for 2 minutes, remove from heat and allow to completely cool.
While the syrup cools, in a large bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients. Once the syrup is cooled, pour it over the bean mixture and stir well. Cover and transfer the “caviar” to the refrigerator and allow it to chill for at least two hours, or ideally, overnight.
Enjoy within one week. After a few days, the ingredients do begin to soften so I usually finish ours up by day four or five.
Trick for Simplicity
When my mom was making this recipe once, she didn’t have a bowl large enough to mix up all the ingredients. But she had a plastic gallon-sized zipper storage bag.
This was an aha moment for her because this made making the recipe incredibly simple, not only for mixing together but also for refrigerator storage and transportation. She rinsed all the canned ingredients, strained them, and dumped them into the baggie. She added all her chopped vegetables and poured the cooled syrup over the mixture. She zipped it up tightly and gently mixed things together with her hands, through the baggie, and stored it in the refrigerator until she was ready to serve it.
She’s continued to make it this way since!
Notes
Frozen (thawed before using in the recipe) or fresh corn can be used in place of canned.
My mom never measured this recipe until I asked her for this Hobby Farms contribution. That being said, feel free to be flexible with the ingredients. There is no hard measurement you must stand by. If you want more or less hot peppers or onions, adjust the recipe. If you want to add some fresh herbs or other seasonings, or use different beans, go for it!
Chickens and other poultry members come in all sizes, shapes, colors and personalities. Nearly 400 recognized breeds and varieties of poultry exist, including large fowl and bantam chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and guinea fowl. Using our illustration and a few selected hints, can you guess which mystery breed we have depicted here?
Find out the answer below.
Hints
This striking hen lays dark-brown eggs year-round.
To create them, breeders crossed Asiatic chicken breeds, including the Langshan, Cochin, Brahma and Maleier.
The iridescent appearance of this breed’s plumage comes from the lacing of bronze on the greenish-black feathers of the neck, head and back and the lacing of greenish-black on the bronze feathers of the saddle and breast.
The breed isn’t named after the barn but a region of the Netherlands, an area famous for its poultry.
The mystery breed depicted above is the Barnevelder, which originated in the Barneveld region of the Netherlands. Breeders selected breeds that would lay well year-round, even during the long, damp Northern European winters. They were also looking to increase the production of coppery, dark brown eggs. The breed was accepted into the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfectionin 1991.
Barnevelders have a bright-red single comb that stands straight and upright with five well-defined points. Wattles and earlobes are bright red. Males weigh 7 pounds; hens, 6. Learn more at Hobbyfarms.com/barnevelder.
To purchase other brown-egg layers, please visitMurray McMurray Hatchery. Murray McMurray Hatchery provides the highest quality poultry and auxiliary products to its customers, and has been a trusted, knowledgeable industry resource for more than 100 years. Whether you are an experienced or novice enthusiast, Murray McMurray is sure you will enjoy its wide selection of breeds and supplies to assist you with raising your flock!
This mystery chicken breed feature originally appeared in the May/June 2023 issue of Chickens magazine.
In early 2021, my family was thinking about getting some pet chickens for eggs. Every weekend, we would go to farm-supply stores for supplies. We even had a custom coop built by a local builder. In April, we got our first Rhode Island Red hens: Phoenix, Joe, Eater, Daisy, Big Bird, Karen, Popcorn, Angela, Suni and Jeffrey. The breeder said they were roughly 2 years old, but we believed they were older.
These hens were the sweetest birds I had ever met. They would hear me coming outside and immediately start “talking.” I spent hours hanging out with them, taking care of them in the morning and night and daydreaming about them during school (especially during math!).
However, most passed away within a year or two. We currently only have two left: Big Bird (more on her later) and Daisy.
Chicken Math
My brother, Carson, and I kept researching new chicken breeds and really wanted a rooster and some more hens. We found a lady selling two Black Australorp hens, one Rhode Island Red hen, one Easter Egger hen and an Easter Egger rooster. She was moving and didn’t want to transport them.
By that fall, it was time for more chickens! I purchased some chicks at a farm-supply store with my own money: two Speckled Sussex, which is one of my favorite breeds; four Sapphire Gems; and two brown Easter Eggers. The chicks lived in the back of our horse trailer with a heat lamp in a plastic pool lined with bedding.
Every time I buy chickens, I get more creative with breeds. This round of birds was one of the sweetest but sassiest. This was my first time with chicks, and I really discovered my love for these tiny little creatures. I just loved checking on them, hanging out with them and hearing their little peeps.
Substitute Teachers
Ever since 2018, Carson and I have been involved in 4-H, and we’re just starting to show chickens. One of our club leaders asked us if we would like to add a few baby chicks to their order. I excitedly started researching the best breeds to show and decided on a Golden Laced Wyandotte. (To anybody who wants sweet birds to start your flock, choose these! They’re the nicest birds and my favorites!) and a Plymouth Rock. Carson chose a White Leghorn and a Buff Orpington. (These two breeds are also super sweet, and I totally recommend them as well!)
Well, the hatchery messed up the order and didn’t send a Plymouth Rock but instead sent two Black Stars. Although I was sad and disappointed, I am now thankful that they messed up the order because my two Black Stars are such outgoing birds. Every time I walk into the coop, they run up and greet me.
In early August, Carson and I took our birds to the fair. I showed my Golden Laced Wyandotte, Greta, in the showmanship class and the pullet class. She behaved very well and placed third. I also showed my Speckled Sussex hen, Chika, placing fourth.
My birds stayed the week at the fair. They loved the extra attention, but by the end, they were ready to get back home and see their friends.
In early June, we decided to add some ducks to our flock and settled for four Muscovies. Muscovy ducks are the closest ducks to a chicken and get along great.
They are very odd because they don’t quack. Instead, they hiss and growl, and red bumps grow all over their head. They sometimes frighten the chickens, but they just really want to be friends.
Social Studies
One of my original chickens, Big Bird, kept getting bullied. Her coop mates would even rip her feathers out. I knew I would eventually have to do something.
One day when I got home from school, Big Bird was sitting in the nesting box with her head gushing blood and her flesh showing. My mom and I took her into our basement and put her in a cat carrier. I visited her every day and came to realize there was something special about this small, hopeless, old hen.
We soon moved her into our shed into a dog kennel, where she loves spending time. Her head healed perfectly, which I am very thankful for. She also sometimes hangs out with her bestie, Daisy. Big Bird is the first chicken that I really bonded with. I hope she has a smooth future and an easy rest of her life.
Ilove my chickens more and more every day. This spring, I plan on getting more chicks: a Buff Cochin (this will be my first Cochin and I’m thrilled!), a red laced Blue Wyandotte and a Silver Spangled Hamburg.
For any new chicken owners, my advice is to start with older chickens. They are way less maintenance than chicks, they produce eggs right away, and they’re extremely sweet.
Malia F. lives in Prescott, Wisconsin. She prefers cold-hardy breeds with sweet dispositions.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 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)
Chickens have always held an intricate place in American history. Pioneers settling the Wild West depended on their flocks’ eggs and meat to feed their families. Farmers’ wives sold their hens’ daily efforts for “egg money.” A chicken in every pot was promised as a sign of America’s growing prosperity.
If it weren’t for the humble chicken, America might have developed into a totally different nation than the one we know today.
But it’s not just any chicken that helped our country grow. The humble dual-purpose bird not only helped feed a growing America but also played a pivotal role in the growth of American poultry keeping.
And one of the chief chickens that influenced America is the British Redcap.
The Definition of Dual Purpose
One of the world’s original dual-purpose birds, the Redcap chicken originated in northern England, where this standard fowl became one of the most profitable types of poultry a farmer could raise. A highly proficient forager, the Redcap required very little in the way of feed yet managed to produce between 150 to 200 eggs per year.
In addition to its high rate-of-lay, the Redcap also developed delicate yet delicious flesh, making the breed doubly useful as a layer and as a table bird.
Although it’s unknown when the Redcap arrived in America, its spread throughout the U.S. is well documented. By the mid-1800s, the Redcap chicken was being shown in poultry exhibitions and was serving as the foundation fowl for egg-production flocks.
By the 1890s, immense flocks of Redcaps could be found across the country, kept by both egg farmers and poultry enthusiasts.
Vanishing Act
While the Redcap was taking America by storm, the story back in England was altogether different. Despite its fabulous forage conversion rate and its high egg production, the Redcap fell out of favor with British farmers and fanciers.
By 1900, the Redcap was virtually extinct in its native country. Inexplicably, America followed suit a few years later, and this previously valuable breed all but vanished.
While still extremely rare, the Redcap has slowly begun its journey to recovery thanks to dedicated chicken enthusiasts. The breed is classified as critically endangered by the Livestock Conservancy, meaning that there are less than 500 individual birds in the U.S. and less than 1,000 total worldwide.
In the United Kingdom, the Derbyshire Redcap Club encourages the rearing and protection of the Redcap. In the U.S., commercial hatcheries such as McMurray and My Pet Chicken are working to help in the breed’s recovery.
The Remarkable Redcap
There is much more to the Redcap than its amazing foraging and egg-laying abilities. Its most distinctive feature is actually the one that gives the breed its name: its prominent rose comb.
Another notable Redcap feature is that, even though the chicken lays white eggs, the earlobes are red, a trait typically associated with brown egg layers.
And Redcaps possess another noteworthy characteristic: longevity. If raised in a favorable environment, Redcaps can live up to 10 years or longer. These cold-hardy birds prefer free ranging to confinement, fly well, and are very active (but shy) around people.
There is only one variety, with deep-red to black feathers tipped with spangles. Adult males reach a weight of 7.5 pounds, while adult females reach 6 pounds. Redcap hens do not go broody and, due to their long lifespans, lay longer than other large-fowl hens.
Woohoo! Your new chicks are in the mail! Or maybe you’re about to make a run to the farm-supply store to pick up some peepers. Either way, make sure to set up your brooder about 48 hours before they arrive. This will allow time for bedding and equipment to dry and for the temperature to set.
Times change. Situations shift. What worked one year might not work the next. This applies to many things in life, including things as obscure as watering raised garden beds in an orchard.
When I started planting a new orchard in 2018, I invested in a 35-gallon leg tank to haul water to my trees. The front of the orchard is about 600 feet from the nearest water source. The back of the orchard is nearly 1,100 feet away, so a gravity-fed leg tank filled in the barnyard and hauled by tractor to the orchard seemed like the simplest way to care for the large handful of trees I’d planted.
Where a 35-gallon leg tank once met my orchard’s watering needs, I now find it’s more effective to use a dozen hoses to water my plants. There’s a lesson in that for farmers.
Changes to the Farm
Indeed, it worked fine for several years. But as I expanded the number of trees in the orchard (and added a couple of raised garden beds for growing pumpkins … and a couple more for growing corn … and then four more beyond that for raspberries and sunflowers and more corn) the 35-gallon leg tank grew insufficient for my needs.
In 2022, most of my trees were established to the point where they didn’t require regular watering beyond the rainfall they receive. But with a bevy of garden beds to care for, the 35-gallon leg tank simply didn’t offer enough capacity. I often found myself making multiple trips to provide enough water during the hot peak of summer. Between filling the tank, driving it to the orchard, slowly dispensing the water by gravity, and driving it back to repeat the process, watering my garden beds became a very time-consuming project.
A Different Approach
That’s why I’m changing up my strategy for 2023. Rather than haul water in a leg tank, I’ve purchased enough hoses to stretch across my farm from a yard hydrant to the garden beds. That’s right—I’ve invested in 625 feet of hoses to go along with the 50-foot hose on my leg tank. When I compared prices across suitable hoses, 50-foot versions were the cheapest. So I bought a dozen of those (that’s all the seller had available) and picked up one 25-footer for good measure, adding up to 625 feet.
You might be wondering about water pressure over such a lengthy distance. Well, the elevation of the yard hydrant is about 15 feet higher than the garden beds, so the downhill slope to the garden beds helps keep water pressure suitable. I tested this last fall using a bunch of other hoses from around the farm. The water pressure at the end is better than I get from the gravity-fed leg tank, so that should work out fine.
Purchasing 625 feet of hoses is more expensive than picking up another 35-gallon leg tank, which is another option I considered. But the upsides are considerable.
I’ll save time by not filling leg tanks and by dispensing a higher volume of water faster with the hoses. Just as importantly, I can water my beds thoroughly during the heat of summer, without having to drive leg tanks back for refills. That may lead to increased yields.
I’ll still use my 35-gallon leg tank for watering trees throughout the orchard, since it works very well for that purpose. But for thirsty corn and pumpkin plants, my new hoses are the perfect solution for changing times and shifting situations.
There’s a lesson to be learned here. Just because an approach worked for a while doesn’t mean it’s the perfect approach forever and always. Frequently reevaluating your situations and needs can save you time and lead to better results, as my hoses-versus-leg-tank example illustrations.
When it comes to the list of homestead animals to raise, exotic birds usually aren’t at the top. In fact, for many homesteaders, exotic birds may not even be on the list. As far as usefulness goes, these bird breeds give more in good looks than meat or eggs.
However, Jake, a Missouri homesteader who runs an exotic bird menagerie and the YouTube channel White House on the Hill, has found that colorful birds such as Mandarin Ducks or White Peacocks actually have real profitability that you might want to start considering.
Though Jake now lives and homesteads on his own land, he originally started his homesteading career on a rental farm in Missouri. As a farm renter, he realized he had the chance to raise chickens, so he and his family started with a dozen chicks—10 of which turned out to be roosters.
That batch of chicks didn’t pan out as he’d hoped. But these chicks were the first step in Jake’s homesteading career.
Soon he became aware of other homesteading families who had expanded their homesteading efforts into self-sustainability. “When we started to look up how to take care of chickens, it just kind of opened our eyes to a whole other world,” he says. “There’s growing your own food and raising your family out in the country where you’re doing it all together.”
Working with his landlords, Jake expanded his homestead into gardening. But since he was on a rental property, he had to keep his main focus on birds. Unabashed, he turned an old shed into a chicken coop, built mobile chicken tractors to house his growing chicken flock and started hatching his own birds.
“That’s where we got into some other types of exotic birds,” he says. “We got some Red Golden Pheasants and Mandarin Ducks and peacocks.”
Once he mastered hatching birds, Jake was ready to set off and explore the vast world of exotic birds, ranging from White Peacocks and emus to midnight black Ayam Cemani chickens. And much to his benefit, the exotic bird world held a promising niche market.
An exotic bird may not top everyone’s Christmas list, but Jake has found the market surprisingly vigorous. “There’s a good market for a lot of the birds,” he says. “Emus can get pretty expensive the more mature they get. An egg can be about $50, and a hatched emu chick can be a $150 and then a 6-month-old can be $300.”
Jake’s rainbow-sheened Mandarin Ducks also do well on the market. Their sales offset many expenses on his homestead, making it easier for him to expand or start other homesteading projects.
However, though the exotic bird industry is a promising and growing industry, you need to be aware that the market has scammers lurking in it. Facebook is one of the places Jake recommends beginners look for exotic bird breeds, but he warns that exotic bird scammers also consider this platform prime hunting grounds.
“You have to be kind of cautious when you’re on Facebook,” he says, “because there are a lot of foreign scammers who are scamming people in the U.S. who will pay $200 for a bird. You might try to buy ducks, pay $200 and you never get the ducks.” Jake advises that people buy their exotic birds locally off of Facebook, or preferably, meet up with or have someone vouch for the seller.
Still, scammers online aren’t exactly a new phenomenon. And it shouldn’t be too difficult for homesteaders to pick up the difference and do well in the exotic bird market. Jake has already noticed more exotic bird breeders entering the market, causing the market to blossom with demand. This demand is leading breeders to import and breed more rare fowl, like Jake’s White Peacocks, Red Golden Pheasants and the vast array of other rare birds he raises.
Jake has also noted that postal deliveries have made raising and selling exotic birds much simpler and even provide guarantees for the safety of shipped livestock. The exotic bird market demand and new delivery conveniences make it less of a risk for homesteaders to try exotic birds as an investment, at least enough to get their feet a bit wet before taking the full plunge into raising exotic birds.
photo Courtesy White House on the Hill
Housing & Feeding
For those ready and set to bring exotic birds onto the homestead, the first step is constructing an enclosure. Jake houses his birds in stress-free chicken tractors or 6-by-11-foot coops that are 5 1/2 feet high. Concerning how many birds you can keep in an enclosure like this, he keeps two peafowl in one, six pheasants in another and six ducks in another.
“I also recommend a hallway pen (15-by-15 feet) situation or larger for several birds to breed together,” he says. “For 10-plus birds together, I would go a little larger and build a run and shelter that would be at least 30-by-30-feet with a netted top to give them space to roam, space to get out of the elements and protection from predators.”
And as with any living animal you raise, you’ll have to consider feed for your birds. The feed Jake likes to use includes layer pellets and game-bird feed which is a combination of corn, milo, whole oat groats, sunflower seeds, Canadian peas, maple peas and oyster shells.
However, he does occasionally use pigeon or chicken feed. And in order to add some natural feed to his birds’ diets, he uses movable fencing and chicken coops to rotate his birds on pasture.
You may have already discovered the hazards of jumping into a new project with blinders on. Somehow that picture in your mind’s eye just doesn’t pan out like it should have. Raising exotic birds is no different than any other home-based project, which is why Jake emphasizes: Have. A. Plan.
Exotic birds aren’t like regular barnyard chickens and often have different needs that should be well-researched before they are brought onto a homestead. For instance, while chickens might be happy behind chicken wire, a 6-foot emu will kick right through such flimsy fencing. Jake recommends doing plenty of research to ensure the proper enclosure for an exotic bird.
When he started keeping Red Golden Pheasants, a breed known for flightiness, one of his male pheasants taught him that researching an exotic bird’s needs, like an enclosure, can save a lot of effort later. The bird lived in a structure not built for flighty birds and could easily fly out when someone was entering the coop’s door—which it did.
“We chased him around the property, and he could have very easily flown away,” Jake says. Thankfully, Jake and his family were able to get the bird back where he belonged. But not everyone will be so fortunate. In the long run, well-researching an exotic bird’s needs will keep both the bird and you happy.
The big step, and maybe the most exciting, is the exotic bird’s big arrival on the homestead. At this point, Jake always considers what sort of container his birds will arrive in and how he can safely and securely move them to a quarantined area before adding them to his main flock.
Though many birds come in boxes or are delivered to doorsteps, some birds, such as Jake’s emus, arrive in big trailers and have to be carefully transported to well-prepared pens. Also, since bird diseases aren’t anyone’s cup of tea, Jake aways makes plans to ensure that new birds don’t accidentally contaminate his other birds while they are on their way to their quarantine pens.
So far he hasn’t had any problems. But when it comes to expensive birds, he doesn’t want to take any chances and always prepares when new arrivals come to his homestead. “There’s always that first time that wipes out other birds, and that’s why we spend a few days observing them just to be sure,” he says.
Like most livestock introduced on a homestead for the first time, the preparation for raising exotic birds is the expensive part. You’ll need some sort of plan to make back the money you put into the project. Otherwise, you’re going to end up with a very pretty, but expensive and time-consuming, pet. Jake recommended that, in order to make back the finances put into raising exotic birds, you should make a business plan for selling chicks, adult birds or eggs.
“When you’re on a homestead, everything costs money,” he says. “You’re growing your own food and raising your own animals. Wherever you can offset expenses or make money is a good thing.”
Of course, as with other livestock, homesteaders interested in exotic birds must keep in mind that predators can still be a problem. Jake must contend with the usual suspects: owls, foxes, hawks, raccoons, etc. Fortunately, trial and error have helped him deal with his predator issues.
“Most of our birds are kept in coops and closed up,” he says. “We put fencing in the ground and electric outside the fence so a raccoon can’t climb up the fence. We’re trying to make it as protected as possible. Normally, we use chicken tractors, and those are cheap.”
ccestep8/Adobe Stock
Why Should I Do This?
Naturally, you may wonder why you would raise exotic birds in the first place? Homesteaders are supposed to raise things that give back in some way, right? And Jake would 100 percent agree.
“While exotic birds can’t provide food for us, we can sell them to make money and offset feed costs,” he says. “Having something to provide a product of value is a good thing on your homestead.”
Jake added that homesteading, in addition to creating income and food for the family, should be enjoyable. Though Jake always seeks to make back his money, he picks many of the breeds he raises just because they strike him as interesting or beautiful. And he enjoys his fowls’ beauty each day as he and his family work to care for the birds that help supplement their income.
“We want to have beauty everywhere we look, so we really enjoy having birds that are both fun and for profit,” Jake says.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2023 issue of Chickens magazine.
