Backyard homesteading

[WhoTom]

<Shameless plug alert>

 

My wife has been a gardener her whole life. Ten years ago we moved to a place that's zoned residential/agricultural so she could raise chickens. It's only one acre, including the house, but she has a nice garden and a couple dozen chickens. Shortly after we moved, she started blogging about homesteading.

 

In February, a publisher found her blog and asked her to author a book on backyard homesteading. It's now in print. If you're interested, here's her landing page, including a description and a link to preorder the book, which comes out on September 1st. (Those who preorder will also get a free copy of her latest ebook by filling out the form on the landing page.)

 

https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/the-beginners-guide-to-backyard-homesteading

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by WhoTom

[teef]

that's pretty badass.  by any chance, do you have problems with your neighbors and the chickens?

[WhoTom]

11 minutes ago, teef said:

that's pretty badass.  by any chance, do you have problems with your neighbors and the chickens?

 

Nope. We're on a country road, but there's a subdivision across the road. Our side is zoned res/ag, so the chickens are legal. One next-door neighbor has about 2 acres of land between their house and ours (and they have horses); the neighbor on the other side is closer, but he's cool with the chickens. (We give him a half-dozen eggs for free every week as a goodwill gesture, but it's probably not necessary.) The flock is pretty quiet except when the rooster crows, which isn't all that often. I suppose the folks across the road can hear them, but not to the level where they're obnoxious. We sleep with the windows open and it's the songbirds, not the rooster, that wake me up in the morning.

[Seasons1992]

Sending this to my best friend and his brother. Thanks!

[Saxum]

I have told my wife when I retire I want a small place with a pond and fowl but not chickens - ducks, quail, pigeons, etc.  If it any chickens they would be exotic.

[BullBuchanan]

My folks took up raising chickens a few years back. They're pretty messy, and you have to be careful of predators, but otherwise seem low maintenance. I got used to good quality eggs, and even the high end stuff at the supermarket doesn't come close.

Edited August 5, 2020 by BullBuchanan

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

My sister in law raises a bunch of chickens. They love it. The one issue is the predators, as someone else mentioned. But their eggs are great. They actually have a kid who has some sort of egg allergy, but is not allergic to the homegrown chicken eggs (probably an allergy to the chemicals they put in our store bought eggs!).

 

i have another family member that opted for raising ducks instead. They eat their duck eggs— which weirded me out a little, but are not much different than chicken eggs. 

[apuszczalowski]

4 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

Nope. We're on a country road, but there's a subdivision across the road. Our side is zoned res/ag, so the chickens are legal. One next-door neighbor has about 2 acres of land between their house and ours (and they have horses); the neighbor on the other side is closer, but he's cool with the chickens. (We give him a half-dozen eggs for free every week as a goodwill gesture, but it's probably not necessary.) The flock is pretty quiet except when the rooster crows, which isn't all that often. I suppose the folks across the road can hear them, but not to the level where they're obnoxious. We sleep with the windows open and it's the songbirds, not the rooster, that wake me up in the morning.

Years ago I worked in a different town and had to deal with a complaint about someone having chickens on their property. The one owner complained because an owner of a neighboring property set up a chicken coup that they werent allowed to have. The owner complaining had a massive property with. Huge house that he lived at for only a few weeks a year. Along the edge of his property there were a few small lots owned by others. The one owner decided he would use the property for some chickens because the property was too small to build on right now. If the property was a couple streets over zoning would allow it, but they were just on the edge do the urban boundary and they weren't allowing chickens in the urban areas. Find out later on a neighbor across the street had them too but the coup was hidden behind trees and bushes. I remember it being much bigger a few years ago, not so much now.

[WhoTom]

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

My folks took up raising chickens a few years back. They're pretty messy, and you have to be careful of predators, but otherwise seem low maintenance. I got used to good quality eggs, and even the high end stuff at the supermarket doesn't come close.

 

Yeah, store-bought eggs don't compare. Eggs from chickens that can forage are tastier and healthier.

 

We've had a few issues with predators - a possum and a couple of foxes have had chicken dinners on us, and we saw a coyote trolling around one day, but we were able to scare it away.

 

 

[WhoTom]

2 hours ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

My sister in law raises a bunch of chickens. They love it. The one issue is the predators, as someone else mentioned. But their eggs are great. They actually have a kid who has some sort of egg allergy, but is not allergic to the homegrown chicken eggs (probably an allergy to the chemicals they put in our store bought eggs!).

 

i have another family member that opted for raising ducks instead. They eat their duck eggs— which weirded me out a little, but are not much different than chicken eggs. 

 

We've had ducks and turkeys too. Duck eggs are higher in fat - they're great for baking or French toast, but just fried or scrambled, they have a somewhat off flavor. Not bad, but not as good as chicken eggs. I don't remember the turkey eggs. It was a short experiment, because they didn't produce as well compared to the food they ate. Now, if she raises turkeys, she'll do a small flock of meat birds - eight weeks from the hatchery to the freezer.

 

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

26 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

We've had ducks and turkeys too. Duck eggs are higher in fat - they're great for baking or French toast, but just fried or scrambled, they have a somewhat off flavor. Not bad, but not as good as chicken eggs. I don't remember the turkey eggs. It was a short experiment, because they didn't produce as well compared to the food they ate. Now, if she raises turkeys, she'll do a small flock of meat birds - eight weeks from the hatchery to the freezer.

 

 

 

whoa— turkeys!!?? I didn’t even realize raising turkeys was a thing. I am so used to seeing them run around in the wild out my way. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 hours ago, WhoTom said:

<Shameless plug alert>

 

My wife has been a gardener her whole life. Ten years ago we moved to a place that's zoned residential/agricultural so she could raise chickens. It's only one acre, including the house, but she has a nice garden and a couple dozen chickens. Shortly after we moved, she started blogging about homesteading.

 

In February, a publisher found her blog and asked her to author a book on backyard homesteading. It's now in print. If you're interested, here's her landing page, including a description and a link to preorder the book, which comes out on September 1st. (Those who preorder will also get a free copy of her latest ebook by filling out the form on the landing page.)

 

https://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/the-beginners-guide-to-backyard-homesteading

 

 

5 hours ago, Limeaid said:

I have told my wife when I retire I want a small place with a pond and fowl but not chickens - ducks, quail, pigeons, etc.  If it any chickens they would be exotic.

 

2 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

My folks took up raising chickens a few years back. They're pretty messy, and you have to be careful of predators, but otherwise seem low maintenance. I got used to good quality eggs, and even the high end stuff at the supermarket doesn't come close.

 

2 hours ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

My sister in law raises a bunch of chickens. They love it. The one issue is the predators, as someone else mentioned. But their eggs are great. They actually have a kid who has some sort of egg allergy, but is not allergic to the homegrown chicken eggs (probably an allergy to the chemicals they put in our store bought eggs!).

 

i have another family member that opted for raising ducks instead. They eat their duck eggs— which weirded me out a little, but are not much different than chicken eggs. 

 

So here's a question for you, @WhoTom and for the relatives: how do you handle chicken care when you need to go out of town for a few days or go on vacation?

 

[WhoTom]

10 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

whoa— turkeys!!?? I didn’t even realize raising turkeys was a thing. I am so used to seeing them run around in the wild out my way. 

 

Turkeys can be pretty mean - especially the males. My wife doesn't take pleasure in the butchering process, but she feels "less bad" about taking out a tom that's attacked her.

[WhoTom]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

So here's a question for you, @WhoTom and for the relatives: how do you handle chicken care when you need to go out of town for a few days or go on vacation?

 

Our son lives here, so he usually watches the livestock and the pets when my wife and I travel. If we're going back to WNY to visit family and he comes with, then we have nearby friends who run a CSA (community supported agriculture) who also have livestock. My wife will take care of their animals when they go away and they reciprocate for us. We actually met them because my wife had an abundance of chickens and decided to sell some a few years ago. They had just bought a farm and moved to the area, and saw her ad on Craig's List.

 

 

[Augie]

3 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

Turkeys can be pretty mean - especially the males. My wife doesn't take pleasure in the butchering process, but she feels "less bad" about taking out a tom that's attacked her.

 

Ohh, we visited my sister’s ski house in Vermont one time and got ATTACKED by turkeys! Fortunately, we were in a van, but it still freaked me out! I didn’t want to run them over, but they were AGGRESSIVE!  That was an awkward few minutes. Nobody died..........until Thanksgiving. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

14 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

Turkeys can be pretty mean - especially the males. My wife doesn't take pleasure in the butchering process, but she feels "less bad" about taking out a tom that's attacked her.

I run into turkeys a fair amount on the golf course. I have had to leave my ball behind for fear of getting too close to those suckers. Your wife is brave!! 

[WhoTom]

1 minute ago, Augie said:

 

Ohh, we visited my sister’s ski house in Vermont one time and got ATTACKED by turkeys! Fortunately, we were in a van, but it still freaked me out! I didn’t want to run them over, but they were AGGRESSIVE!  That was an awkward few minutes. Nobody died..........until Thanksgiving. 

 

Before my wife raised turkeys and when we were living in a different house, she was taking a walk in our neighborhood. She came home scared and breathing heavily, I asked what was wrong, and she told me she got chased by a turkey. I thought that was hilarious, but now that we've raised them, I see how dangerous they can be. Mating season is the worst - other times they're not quite as aggressive.

 

 

 

[Saxum]

Turkeys are not as aggressive as geese but I also found geese can become friendly when they think you are a member of the flock.  I had a geese who recognized me as feeder and would constantly rub his body on my leg.  It was a bit weird and he would not allow other geese to get to close.

[Sherlock Holmes]

40 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

Turkeys are not as aggressive as geese but I also found geese can become friendly when they think you are a member of the flock.  I had a geese who recognized me as feeder and would constantly rub his body on my leg.  It was a bit weird and he would not allow other geese to get to close.

He made you his biznitch....

[T&C]

1 hour ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

I run into turkeys a fair amount on the golf course. I have had to leave my ball behind for fear of getting too close to those suckers. Your wife is brave!! 

With a club in your hand? What the... I have had to herd Sandhill cranes off of the tee box though... just grab a few clubs and herd them back.

Edited August 5, 2020 by T&C