Homesteading Thread #1, In Honor of Granny

billyjoesfoodfarm ^ | 12/30/2012 | me

[teenyelliott]

So, I'm sure at least one person here on FR has wondered what happened to me, maybe two of you. Before I really really stopped posting, many of us had discussed the possibility, and or the desire, to get out of the city to our own little homesteads and try to grow some food, for security, for peace of mind, for whatever reason.

Well, my family did it.

Two years ago we made the jump. We bought a place in the country, and have spent the past couple of years setting up our little homestead. We have a big garden, many chickens, some ducks, some guineas, some sheep, some goats, and a barn for all of them. A woodstove, a hand pump well, even a solar chicken coop.

Any of my old pals, and any new ones, come check us out! Would be pleased to hear from you, and share what we are learning.

Please ping any of my old buddies that you know of; I seem to have misplaced my old ping list!

[Lancey Howard]

Here in Pennsylvania we have six chickens living in a Taj Mahal coop I spent most of the spring months building. We got three inches or snow yesterday, it’s cold and windy, and we’re still getting eggs! Not the four to six eggs we got daily during the summer, but one or two a day.

Guess what tomorrow’s project is? I’m supposed to supply electricity to the coop for a heat lamp and for the water thing (so the water doesn’t freeze). I asked my wife if the chickens needed a flat screen TV and a microwave, too.

Anyway, chickens are cool.

[Eaker]

Neat!

I already had “liked” your Facebook page sometime back.

[teenyelliott]

Ha! You know, since you are giving them all the amenities, if you put a light on them they will lay more for you. It is the length of day, not temp, that dictates how much they lay. You have to trick their tiny brains.

I'd love to see a photo of your coop if you have one. I really like to see how other people set their places up.

And yeah, chickens are cool. But the ducks are my favorites, hands down.

[teenyelliott]

Ha! You know, since you are giving them all the amenities, if you put a light on them they will lay more for you. It is the length of day, not temp, that dictates how much they lay. You have to trick their tiny brains.

I'd love to see a photo of your coop if you have one. I really like to see how other people set their places up.

And yeah, chickens are cool. But the ducks are my favorites, hands down.

[Eaker]

. I asked my wife if the chickens needed a flat screen TV and a microwave, too.

Spartan!

No Internet service?

[teenyelliott]

Yep, I remember. And then stupid facebook did a stupid thing and made it even more difficult to get all your friends/interests listed consistently in your newsfeed. If you don't comment every now and then on the pages that you like, or click like every now and then on the stuff they post, fb just fades the ones you don't intereact with away.

They are always changing things, so I never know who is actually seeing my stuff anymore. GAH bunchanazis

[combat_boots]

Look what the cat dragged in!

[teenyelliott]

Well apparently I have forgotten how to use FR, what with all my double posts.

[teenyelliott]

Well well well, lookee there! How’s it going, cb??!!

[Eaker]

Very cool and very inspiring.

Best of luck to you and your husband.

[teenyelliott]

Our newest dairy goat, Hazel. She is a Nigerian Dwarf, born this past June.

[Lancey Howard]

It is the length of day, not temp, that dictates how much they lay.

That's what we understood, but two of our chickens apparently didn't get the memo. We got two eggs on December 21st, the shortest day of the year.

Our six chickens are six different breeds, but they are all alleged to be "cold hardy". All I can remember is that one is a "Buff Orpington" and another is a "Polish Tophat". My wife selected and bought them all, so she knows all the breed names. The Buff lays an egg every day.

The Polish Tophat lays eggs that are supermarket white. Another chicken lays blue eggs. The rest lay brown ones. All of them are tasty as can be.

[teenyelliott]

Half of our flock is Buff Orpington, they are a very good egg layer. The other half is Barred Plymouth Rock, another old timey breed known for egg laying. I think BO hens will lay even after they are dead.

I'm pretty sure most of the heritage breeds are cold hardy, you just have to watch the bigger combed breeds for frostbite. Other than that, my birds don't mind the cold. It is the heat that they don't like. We string little water misters all over the chicken yard, and they hunker down under those, panting.

We had 25 hens, and during the warmer months we were getting about two dozen eggs a day. We gave some hens to a friend and a couple got eaten by raccoons, but even with 20 hens we were getting way too many eggs to even give away! Now during the coldest months, we usually get three or four a day. They are so much better than store eggs.

[definitelynotaliberal]

Oh, my goodness, teeny! That is quite something! And might I add, it’s really good to see you back. Perhaps I can attribute even that to the benevolence of B0. We all need to try harder to appreciate him. It sure as heck doesn’t come naturally to me.

Hope your Christmas has been merry, teeny!

[teenyelliott]

Our two other dairy goat babies; Alice is the deer looking one (Nubian), and Black Betty is the, well, the black one (La Mancha). Remember that song, whoa, Black Betty, bamalam...that is where my nine year old got the name.

[teenyelliott]

Yes, it was the benevolence of our government that convinced me and hubby that we needed to get out of the city, before the masses stop getting their checks!

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas too! What was your favorite gift this year?

[teenyelliott]

My awesome old tractor that I found on craigslist...reminds me of somethings off of CARS, with an old hillbilly voice...

[teenyelliott]

Some lettuce that I grew that came back from the seed of the lettuce the year before! Did you know you can just let a couple go to seed, and you will have lettuce year after year.

[Skooz]

Hey teeny! Thanks for the ping. A LOT has happened since we last touched base. Glad you are well.

[vox_freedom]

Beautiful!

Signed,
vinaigrette