[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Worst advice about chickens:

1. That it’s ok to build open air chicken coops- meaning a predator can just walk in.

If you don’t want your chickens to be eaten by wildlife you need to have a way to protect them.

2. Heat lamps inside chicken coops

Your chickens don’t need heat in the winter and heat lamps are a huge fire hazard.

3. That it’s ok to let aggressive roosters stick around

Especially if you have small kids, I would recommend you butcher the rooster after the first time he attacks you.

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Thank you for the ideas!🐔🐓

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Suggestion: Maybe a forum for entrepreneurship and running small businesses related to homesteading/farming? Great work everyone on making Freesteading such a great community!🌿👍🐓🐷🌱

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Building things and woods work(firewood, moving brush)

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

My Favorite Homesteading/Small Farming Books: The Backyard Homestead, The Backyard Homestead Guide to Raising Farm Animals, The Independent Farmstead, The Encyclopedia of Country Living, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, Keeping a Family Cow, The Small-Scale Poultry Flock, The Foxfire Books, (Joel Salatin’s books: Polyface Micro, You Can Farm, Pastured Poultry Profits), 5 Acres and Independence

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

I found Deep South Homestead when I went to The Great Appalachian Homesteading Conference and got to meet Danny and Wanda in person. They have taught me a lot of info that I use on my New York homestead. I’d love to use the gift card to My Patriots Supply.

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

We picked lots of zucchini, peppers, and tomatoes 🍅

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Everything I grew this year did well except for my sweet corn. I kept the sweet corn well watered and fertilized and the plants grew very well and put on lots of ears but the corn was not sweet at all! I tasted some every day through the milk stage and it never tasted sweet.🌽

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

You can also stack straw bales along the walls of your coop and I hang a small curtain around the small door the chickens use that allows for the chickens to pass through but helps keep out some of the cold wind (picture). Covering the coop windows at night with some type of curtain would also help keep the coop warmer.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by  Susquehanna-Homestead.

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

One of my favorite tools is the Duc plow. It makes weeding between rows in a large garden go much faster than using a hoe and doesn’t use gas like a tiller would. You can find it at this website: https://www.speedupwithduc.com/https://www.speedupwithduc.com/

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

I also make sure I have a few months supply of chicken feed and other supplies I may need because I don’t want to run out when a big snowstorm hits and we are snowed in. Another thing to think about is setting out mouse/rat traps if you need them because rodents can become a bigger issue in the wintertime.

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

We use a heated nipple waterer from premier one supplies and collect eggs at least twice a day. We also use deep bedding of pine shavings or straw and clean out the coop once a year in fall. We use a light on a timer to keep our hens laying throughout the winter. Make sure your coop is draft free( meaning no holes for air to come in the coop at chicken level) but also has adequate ventilation(hardwire cloth covered holes above the highest roost in your coop so air won’t blow directly on your chickens). And we cover windows with plastic. Our coldest temp last winter was -20 Fahrenheit and our chickens stayed healthy and frostbite free🐓🐔❄️

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

Great idea🌲

[Susquehanna-Homestead]

I planted mostly peaches and cream and one row of silver queen.