the Imperfectly Happy home

Backyard Livestock

Fresh Eggs Everything You Need to Know

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Fresh Eggs - Everything You Need to Know! How to clean, store and the determine freshness of the eggs from your homestead or backyard hens.

Fresh eggs, is there anything better? Not in my book! But when you first start raising hens for some backyard fresh eggs there can be some confusion over cleaning, storing and determining the freshness of those delicious eggs. Today I hope to share just about everything you need to know about your farm fresh eggs!

Fresh Eggs – Everything You Need to Know!

First lets talk about poop…cleaning those fresh eggs:

One thing you never really had to deal with, when buying your eggs in a store, is chicken poo. But as I always say, chickens are indiscriminate poopers; and that means they poop anywhere and everywhere. So with that knowledge you can be sure that they will poop in their nesting boxes….

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How To Get Your Backyard Homestead Spring Ready

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30 Things You Can Do to Get Your Homestead Spring Ready - Right Now!It is time to get your backyard homestead spring ready! As winter is rolling away and we are getting prepared to welcome spring there are a few chores you can do around your homestead to get it ready for spring. Get these accomplished and you’ll be ahead of the game when spring comes instead of racing to get everything done.

I’m going to cover your garden, compost, livestock, tools and even inside the homestead. So let’s get to it!

Get Your Backyard Homestead Spring Ready – The Garden

  1. Finish harvesting anything left from your winter garden
  2. Make Your Seed Order – Give Seeds Now a Try (use code Save10Now for 10% off)
  3. Start Some Indoor Seeds for Transplanting (See What to Plant in March)
  4. Amend Your Soil – give your tired soil a boost with some soil amendments
  5. Check your watering system for leaks, clogs and additions needed (See Conserving Water)
  6. If you use raised beds, it is a good time to check them for any damage (See Benefits of Raised Bed Gardening)

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Secret Backyard Chickens How to Keep a Stealth Coop

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Secret Backyard Chickens - tips to keeping a stealth flock that your neighbors won't hate. For backyard homesteaders, farmers, hoa chicken keepers and urban homesteading.

Secret backyard chickens have been a hot topic the last few years. Are you interested in keeping secret backyard chickens, but not sure where to start? Whether you live in a HOA, or just a city that restricts backyard chickens, I have a few tips to help you keeping those stealth hens on the down low.

First, the cover my butt statement:

Let me start by saying I am a law abiding citizen… but I believe that chicken laws are not in the general populations best interest. I suppose I can understand a limit or ban on roosters because their noise is obtrusive; but hens make very little noise compared to a yappy dog. So having said that, you need to research your local laws on chickens and do your best to comply with them. If you choose to keep chickens under the radar you accept full responsibility of the consequences should you be found out.

Now let’s talk about how you’re going to keep those secret backyard chickens!

Secret Backyard Chickens

Tip #1 – Your Coop should be lower than your backyard fence or wall. Typically backyard fences are about 6 feet tall;Secret Backyard Chickens - tips to keeping a stealth flock that your neighbors won't hate. For backyard homesteaders, farmers, hoa chicken keepers and urban homesteading. I suggest your coop be no taller than 5 feet. Yes, for many of us, that mean bending over to get in there and clean things out; but it also means you’re keeping a low profile.

Tip #2 – Keep your coop and yard clean! Not only for the health and happiness of your lovely hens, but if you don’t you’re going to have flies. Your neighbors will not appreciate the extra flies in their backyard, at their bbq, in their house…etc. Even if their dog’s poo is all over their backyard, they’ll blame your chickens first!

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Flies in the Coop How to Get Rid of Them Naturally

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Flies in the coop is something that everyone with chickens deals with. What most of us want is a natural way to keep flies in the coop to a minimum. And I am here to tell you that not all natural fly control works…but some do! Here in the Phoenix summers flies in the coop become quickly out of hand if we don’t take measures to stop them. Something about the heat of summer brings those nasty boogers out in droves!

The first thing you need to know about your chicken coop and your homestead…you’re never going to get rid of all the flies. But we CAN fight the good fight and reduce them significantly.

Chicken Coop - Flies in the Coop How to Get Rid of Them Naturally

 

Flies in the Coop How to Get Rid of Them Naturally

I have 7 natural ways for you to fight the good fight against those flies in the coop and still keep hens happy, healthy and chemical free. You’ll find that there are free measures that EVERYONE should be doing. The other fly control methods will be up to you to test and find what works for you….

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Dirty Little Homestead Secrets the Crap You Don’t Hear

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Homestead secrets…the dirty truth and crap you don’t read on most homesteading blogs. Let’s call these homestead secrets…inconvenient truth. I’m not gossiping about some person’s secrets, just uncovering some of the truth you may not see in pretty Pinterest pictures and gorgeous blogs. But if you’re going to have any real success as a homesteader you need to uncover these homestead secrets. We need to talk about them, help each other spread the truth and know that the crap we face.

Dirty Little Homestead Secrets the Crap You Don’t HearDirty Little Homestead Secrets. The crap you don't hear about being a homesteader.

I don’t want you to be discouraged by this article; rather I just want you to realize other people face the same frustrations you have or may in this homesteading adventure. Ok, with that in mind, let’s talk about dirty little homesteading secrets.

Homestead Secrets – You’re going to feel alone sometimes.

Unless you live in a rural area or come from a family of homesteaders; you’re going to feel alone in your new lifestyle from time to time. The cure it getting connected, and quick, with others that have chosen to homestead whether in their backyards or on acres of land. You can mind them in local gardening groups, on Facebook and other online forums….

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