If you want turkeys that hatch their own babies and put flavorful meat on the table, heritage turkey breeds are exactly what you are looking for Unlike the conventional broad-breasted birds you find at the grocery store, heritage breeds can mate naturally, sit on their own eggs, and raise poults without any help from you That makes them a
For several weeks in the late spring and early summer, gnats, flies and other nuisance insects make their arrival known Most of these are simply a nuisance However, buffalo gnats, also called black flies or turkey gnats, are more than just a nuisance They can quickly wipe out livestock, including poultry species
Why are buffalo gnats a problem?
The female buffalo gnat feeds on blood Similar to a mosquito, she will bite an animal, or person, in order to draw out blood She then feasts on the blood Normally, the body would react to this by
Foxes are lethal chicken predators They are fast, cunning and bold One fox can quickly decimate an entire flock of birds if you aren’t careful Here is the second installment of our 4-part series in how to identify chicken predators: foxes
Identifying Fox Attacks
Foxes will attack chickens in all hours of the day They will hunt them during the day and at night They are fast and sneaky, and it can be hard to identify a fox attack Sometimes the chickens will simply disappear without a trace If you’re home when a fox attacks, you
Now that you’ve gotten your chicks, how long should they stay in the brooder? When will they be old enough to be introduced to the coop? It’s a good rule of thumb that chicks need to stay warm until they are fully feathered When you look at your chicks, if you see downy feathers, there’s a good chance that they still need warmth in the brooder You can expect your chickens to have all of their adult feathers somewhere between 5-8 weeks of age This will vary some depending on the breed and the individual chick
When
Ever heard of a spring chicken? This phrase came about because it was common to start meat birds in the spring, along with other livestock on the farm Meat birds were raised in the spring because that was when chicks were typically hatched, creating birds that were available for slaughter Today, we have the tools necessary to make raising meat animals a year-round project
Starting Meat Birds Late in the Year
Don’t avoid starting meat birds just because it’s late in the year You can raise meat birds any time of the year as long as
Mealworms look entirely disgusting to us The crunchy brown worms seem entirely unappetizing To a chicken, mealworms are bites of heaven Chickens will go absolutely crazy over mealworms, and for good reason There are several reasons that you should be feeding your chickens mealworms!
A Little Goes a Long Way
Mealworms are incredibly dense in the amount of protein that they contain For adult chickens, even a few mealworms (as in 1-10) is enough to give them a boost of protein So the bags of mealworms that you see in the store will last you longer than you
