Tag: Homestead

5 Ingredient Coop Refresher Spray for Smells, Lice & Mite Prevention

Posted on March 3, 2019March 3, 2019 by House & Homestead

There is a lot to be said for essential oils and how they can keep your coop fresh smelling and keep the bugs away. Many air fresheners have harsh chemicals that can irritate your chickens or ducks, so DIY is definitely the way to go.

Especially in a place like Florida where the summers can be both sweltering hot and soaking wet, a good coop spray is totally necessary.

Though using neem oil is probably my favorite natural way to treat for nasty bugs (on both plants and elsewhere), neem oil can be hard to find and I don’t use it regularly, so this has become my go to recipe for those in-between moments for freshening up of the hen house.

I’ve narrowed down my mix to only the basics and without further adieu, the recipe is as follows.

5 Ingredient Coop Refresher Spray for Smells, Lice & Mite Prevention

• 1 cup of white vinegar

• 1 cup of water

• 1 generous squirt dr bronners soap

• Approx 15 drops peppermint essential oil

• Approx 20 drops tea tree essential oil

If you’re interested in why this is my “go-to”, peppermint essential oil helps to repel bugs. Plain and simple. When it gets humid and hot, the fruit flies have a field day on any spilled water, or anything else. For some reason, flies hate peppermint!

The tea tree essential oil is good for warding off both lice and mites. This can be sprayed in the coop, on roosting bars and in nesting boxes.

Vinegar is a natural cleaner and a good bleach alternative for some applications. I try to use it as much as I can in place of any harsh cleaners. Vinegar is biodegradable, but isn’t a registered disinfectant and isn’t strong enough to kill germs like staph, so though it’s good for this freshener, this spray is not appropriate for treating any major bacterial or biosecurity issues.

Easy Cast Iron Skillet BBQ Meatballs

Posted on March 1, 2019 by House & Homestead

Quick, easy, hearty and delicious, these skillet cooked BBQ meatballs are sure to be a family favorite.

Ingredients:

1lb ground beef

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg

2 cloves minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste.

1 cup BBQ sauce

1/4 cup orange juice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients (except bbq and orange juice) and shape into 1 inch balls.

2. Cook at 375 for 30 minutes in a well seasoned and oiled cast iron skillet.

3. Douse in (about 1 cup) of your favorite BBQ sauce mixed with 1/4 cup orange juice and allow to simmer for a few minutes until sauce is warm.

4. Serve hot!

Easily Replace Glass With Chicken Wire

Posted on February 25, 2019 by House & Homestead

First, let me show you how it all turned out then we can get to the good part.

I replaced the knobs with round copper ones and we took out the bottom drawer and two copper baskets fit in the spot perfectly.

I fill them with blankets. The most important part of this project I would say was replacing the glass with chicken wire.

It was actually very easy.

The glass was held in with rubber edges so after pulling them off, the glass came right out.

After that, a roll of chicken wire and a stapler goes a long way.

Please take our advice and make sure you have the chicken wire going the right direction the first time. Haha!

DIY Orange, Lemon & Mint Sea Salt Scrub

Posted on February 17, 2019February 25, 2019 by House & Homestead

Who doesn’t love a good body scrub recipe? Even better when you can get most of your ingredients from the garden.

This recipe combines sea salt and coconut oil with lemon, orange and mint. It’s very refreshing, smells invigorating, and is very easy to whip together. The best part is that it will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Don’t worry about amounts as much as you can make as little or as much of this scrub as you like. Simply keep the ratio at one part oil to two parts salt.

Use the leftovers to make a cocktail ☺️

In a bowl, put in a 1/2 cup of sea salt.
Mix in 1/4 cup of coconut oil. If it’s not in liquid form, run hot water over the glass bottle first or microwave it for 10 seconds.
Place five to 10 mint leaves in a food processor and add the zest of one lemon and zest of one orange.
Mix the mint and zest together.
Stir mint and zest mixture into the oil and sea salt.
Combine and pour into mason jar with lid

Now it’s time to relax and enjoy.

What’s The Best Duck Breed For New Duck Owners?

Posted on February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 by House & Homestead

The answer for us is simple.

Khaki Campbells all the way.

Lots of people ask us “what’s the best duck breed to start with?” Well, there’s no right answer, but I do have to admit these little Khaki Campbells are quiet, cuddly and very sweet.

Good egg layers too, and don’t take up much space!

Is The Wild Coffee Bush Edible?

Posted on February 8, 2019February 8, 2019 by House & Homestead

First, yes it’s edible, sort of. This is the Wild Coffee bush, or Psychotria nervosa.

You can eat the pulp off the seeds and even use the seeds to make a “brew” of sorts, but that’s where the word coffee ends for this plant.

It contains no caffeine and the brew is musty and can give you a headache. This is a native Florida plant, a favorite to birds like cardinals, mockingbirds and even swallowtail butterflies.It’s a pretty plant, though edible, I wouldn’t eat it, and doesn’t have much to do with coffee at all.

Some of its relatives have medicinal value, others are hallucinogenic, this one is stick to leaving as an ornamental.

Chicken-Proofing Your Garden

Posted on January 8, 2019February 17, 2019 by House & Homestead

A quick $20 and 5 minutes, I turned the garden boxes into an actual space. I didn’t just use straw, I used a straw blanket with small netting and stakes to keep it in place.

Why you ask? CHICKEN PROOF.

They don’t want to dig through mesh so area around our garden can be protected and not washed away into the creek behind us. Also, my husband made chicken wire lids for the boxes to keep the chickens from eating everything.

Personal Space, Please!

Posted on December 21, 2018February 25, 2019 by House & Homestead

Let’s discuss personal space, Jolene.

You’re a little too close to my breakfast. Don’t even think about drinking my Coca Cola.

But really though, having chickens has been such a fun and rewarding adventure! They even pay their fair share for living on the homestead. ☺️

Certified Wildlife Habitat

Posted on November 12, 2018January 10, 2019 by House & Homestead

Our homestead has been recognized by the National Wildlife Federation along with the Florida Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. We achieved certification by creating gardens that offer food, water, cover and places to raise young for wildlife and maintaining them in a natural, sustainable way.

We were able to achieve this largely in part due to my husband’s hard work on our natural pond, our herb & vegetable garden, amble fruit trees, converting our shed into a coop and also raising free-ranging chickens and ducks organically which provide food for friends and family.

Quickly Create Your Own Luscious Green Garden (perfect chicken forage mix)

Posted on September 25, 2018December 2, 2018 by House & Homestead

I used to hate the dirt and lack of grass that was once our backyard. Once we got chickens, I knew I needed to come up with creative ways to keep things green, seriously.

I went on Amazon and bought my trusted seeds to mix together for the perfect foraging ground cover that starts to germinate within hours.

This is what I purchased:

Chicken Forage Feed Seed Blend, Non-GMO, 5 lbs.

Outsidepride Red Clover Seed: Nitro-Coated, Inoculated – 5 LBS

Certified Organic Non-GMO Wheatgrass Seeds – 5 Pounds Wheat Seed – Guaranteed to Grow

Outsidepride White Dutch Clover Seed: Nitro-Coated, Inoculated – 5 LBS

Once the seeds arrived, I mixed them together and threw them EVERYWHERE. By that evening, the ground looked like this:

Next morning:

Within 24 hours of taking the left photo, you can see how much things have sprouted:

I swear by this stuff and there’s no denying that it works.

4 Things We’ve Learned So Far

Posted on September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 by House & Homestead

1. Chopped straw vs pine shavings in the coop has proven to be a great experiment. I didn’t know what to expect but I’m super excited to report that the chopped straw seems to stay cleaner longer and has been much easier to spread around..

2. Peppermint is a wonderful thing to grow in the garden, especially when you have chickens. Certain plants (like peppermint) will spread and take over. I use it daily in the coop, for the chickens to snack on and also, to freshen up the coop. Planting a small above ground garden in a tub, box, etc.. with herbs like Rosemary, Thyme, Peppermint, Lavender will be your coop cleaning friend.

3. If you decide on chickens, go big or go home. Within 3 months, we had moved the chickens from the small coop we had, into our shed (more about shed coop on the blog). It doesn’t matter how fancy it is, you’ll soon realize that you’ll want more space. There are so many options, it might even be worth it to build your own.

4. Chia, flax, clover and wheatgrass are great to grow around your yard, especially when you have chickens. They will forage and get extra nutrients from these things but they’re also super easy to get going, they sprout within a few days and provide awesome ground cover.

So there you go… thanks for following us 🙂

Growing Herbs To Benefit Your Chickens & The Coop

Posted on September 24, 2018December 2, 2018 by House & Homestead

You may wonder why I collect herbs daily for the chickens… so let me take a second to explain the benefits of each:

rosemary – assists with pain relief and enhancing respiratory health, it’s also a great natural insecticide.

basil – great antibacterial, mucous membrane health, smells lovely.

lavender – helps relieve stress, can also increase blood circulation, great coop cleaner, insecticide

marigolds – great stress reliever, increases blood circulation, aromatic, insecticide, helps produce colorful yolks

mint – insecticide and rodent repellent, antioxidant, aids in respiratory health, wonderful digestive aid, lowers body temperature naturally which can keep the chickens cooler, smells amazing in the coop.

oregano – combats coccidia, salmonella, infectious bronchitis, avian flu, blackhead and e-Coli, strengthens immune system

sage – antioxidant, antiparasitic, general health promoter, wonderful smell.

Throw in some other herbs you have around your garden and you’re good to go.

DIY Natural Duck Pond (no chemicals, pumps) with progress photos

Posted on September 21, 2018December 2, 2018 by House & Homestead

First we got chickens, and the chickens needed a coop. So we turned our shed into a coop. When we got ducks though, what they really needed was a nice and natural pond.

After doing a little research, I learned there are many types of ponds that you can build yourself, much easier than I had imagined also. Somewhere in the search for inspiration, I decided that making the pond as natural as possible would fit our homestead lifestyle much better than installing pumps and waterfalls and using artificial chemicals to keep the water clean.

A natural pond not only spoke to our lifestyle but also kept in line with our low maintenance creed.

If you’re thinking about a pond, it’s as simple as starting to dig, and that’s exactly what I did. I picked out the spot, roughed in the shape and started to dig. I took out some rocks, and a few roots but mainly just started to dig. I wanted to go down a little bit further than the maximum depth I wanted to make up for the liner and under-liner material, and I wanted some areas deeper than others, so keep that all in mind as you dig.

Once I got the shape and depth, I dropped in some old carpet pieces to protect the liner from any roots that might try to puncture it, then followed that with the liner. I tried the best I could to make the liner smooth to the kidney shape we dug. The liner overlapped some on the soil and I kept it in place with some rocks around the border.

After this, I filled it up with water, and that was the last time other than topping off here and there I’ve had to add water. It’s mostly now filled by rainwater.

As far as a “natural pond” goes, plants are your filter so choose them carefully. There are plenty of plants that help, but I think looking at actual natural ponds helps to give you an idea what plants grow in your area and which ones help sustain a natural aquatic biome. If you’re lucky you can forage some for yourself and cut the costs.

Another concern was mosquitos, this easily was addressed by adding guppies, mosquito fish, and goldfish. They kept the water moving a bit and actually eat the mosquito larvae.

Simple additions like little solar fountains or sprinklers can help keep the water moving to discourage mosquitos also and help oxygenate the water some.

Lastly, make it your own! Plant around the edges, add solar lights, enjoy larger fish like koi, or just enjoy the natural aquatic pondscape you’ve made and the local plants you’ve foraged.

Here are some progression photos:

It can be as simple or as difficult as you like, but with my creed of simple being better, a natural pond is a fun, creative way to make the most out of your backyard or property and yes, the ducks love it!

Ducks & Chickens Happy in Same Coop

Posted on September 12, 2018September 12, 2018 by House & Homestead

The ducks and chickens are cohabiting greatly. We put them all in the coop at night. The chickens go to sleep and the ducks party.

At night, the ducks snuggle in a corner opposite the older gals. I have shown the ducks the ways of the hanging feeders too and they are loving life.

We originally bought separate food but the ducks love to eat what the chickens eat so we ended up with a feed for both.

10 Hip Hop Names For Chickens (Watch out, Chicki Minaj!)

Posted on September 9, 2018November 12, 2018 by House & Homestead

A completely off the wall post but here are 10 hip hop names for chickens. Yes, super informative post here.

1. CHICKI MINAJ

2. DR. LAY

3. EGGENIM

4. LIL WING

5. 2FLOCK

6. EGGS EGGS EGGS TENTACION

7. KANYE NEST

8. MASTER PEEP

9. EGGY EGGZALEA

10. BIRDMAN

So welcome.

DIY: From Old Shed to Chicken Coop

Posted on August 7, 2018December 11, 2019 by House & Homestead

The decision to turn our shed into a coop came on a whim. We had a small coop we were using but wanted to update the space. We started talking about the idea of using our shed as a coop when we decided to clean it out and it was nearly empty. The shed was purchased years ago and the local company came and delivered it, leveled it and made sure it was placed properly on our land.

I feel any shed can be turned into a coop when you have the basics already in place. The best thing about using what you have is you can really splurge on essentials without feeling bad. If you have a shed that’s not being used, this is definitely a fun project to do. Here are some photos for you to get an idea for your next project:

We use pine shavings from Tractor Supply for the bedding and flooring. It’s only approximately $6 a bag.

We used old wooden crates for nesting boxes. We bought cedar trellises from Lowe’s for their ladders. We used old crib slats for something for them to play on.

My husband took out the window on the door and added some chicken wire for better airflow.

I keep their food and bedding in metal trash cans. I use fresh herbs to keep the coop smelling nice. I planted mint by the front door.

The best part about this project is being able to use what you have. It’s fun to improve upon and create something that fits the needs of your chickens. So be creative and have fun.