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Showing posts from 2015

Keeping Chickens Healthy

I recently had a bout with Fowl Pox in my flock of chickens. I had never had this problem and wasn't sure what was going on with them! Most of them came down with strange black spots on their combs, wattles and even a few of them had it on their legs. They looked droopy and their egg production went down by about 70%. This is very horrible when you depend on the eggs to pay for their feed bills and your egg customers don't get very many eggs! I did a lot of research and didn't want to give them any antibiotics or medicine that would carry through to the eggs so I started putting a little simple medicine called Vet RX in their waterer and on their combs. It smells like Eucalyptus and mint and seemed to give them some relief, especially the ones that were having stuffed up noses and a hard time breathing. I also added Colloquial Silver to their waterer and that seemed to help them as well. There are other natural remedies that could be used but those worked well for me.

Winter Ice in Texas

Now if you've read my blog for any while you will already know that I grew up in the lush tropical jungle where ice was just something you really wanted to have in your glass of water. However, now living in Texas ice is something that falls from the sky about once or twice a year, usually at about the time when all the fruit trees have started to think that it's spring and the blossoms have begun to bloom. At the exact moment, that is exactly what has happened in the area where I live. The schools have all shut down, there are very few cars on the road and everything is frozen. Growing up in a jungle, I never really knew what to expect in a situation like this, but having lived here long enough I have come up with a few tips for keeping animals safe and well cared for even in an ice storm. I consider the most important part keeping them warm, enough food and water they can actually drink (as opposed to a block of ice). The food part is pretty obvious and when it's cold

Valentine's Day Song for you!

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I can listen to this song over and over again so I thought I'd share it here for you to enjoy too!

Milk goats

I have been raising milk goats for a few years now. I started out with mutt goats and have since upgraded to registered Nubian goats. I'm no expert by any means but I've learned a few ways to help keep my milk goats happy and productive. General health. If you want your goats to produce they must be healthy. Some of the ways to keep them healthy are just basic good husbandry including: Provide adequate shelter from cold, sun and rain. Goats do not like to get wet. They think they are made of sugar and will melt. Also, if they have to stand in wet or mud they are prone to foot rot, which is a horrible problem to have. They need a dry and warm (or cool in summer) place to rest and chew their cud. Provide adequate health care. This means make sure they are wormed regularly and properly. Do your research or ask a vet or other goat expert. Do fecal exams. Make sure they aren't carrying internal parasites. That is one of the most frequent and deadly problems in goat herds.

Secrets of the Rich

Just about a mile down the road from me is one of the most beautiful properties I've seen. It's on a quiet country road and has a pristine white board fence, a winding driveway up through the trees and at the top of the hill sits my dream house (sort of). It is white stone with that real rich looking decor and design. The barn is beautiful and it has the largest lake in the local area. I look longingly at it every time I happen to drive past and wonder what those people did to get that much money. The other day I was piddling around looking at real estate for sale, dreaming of a larger farm than the current one, and happened to notice that this particular one I just described was for sale! I clicked on it and sure enough, for 7.2 million dollars you could purchase it. That got me to thinking even more about how in the world people accumulate that much money. I'm sure I don't have all the answers but I might have a few ideas.. Here's what I came up with: 3 ways

Some good homesteading books to check out.

Old Wives Tales

I have never believed in Old Wives Tales.... except maybe one or two. But I have a funny story (I guess it's funny) about an old woman who had a strange old wive's tale. As you know I grew up in Brazil, in the heart of the Amazon jungle. And as you might also know if you've read this blog, I also am a horse crazy person! I've always loved horses from the day I can remember anything. This story takes place when I was around 18 or 19 years old. My third (I think) horse was a gaited Appaloosa stallion. He was really pretty and spotted. I saw him at the yearly fair and had always liked the colorful horses and of course immediately fell in love. Now let me explain before you get all upset that an 18 year old was in love with a stallion. I was already fairly well known in our small town as being the "horse woman" and in Brazil at the time, if you didn't own a stallion you were a nobody in the horse industry. So, back to the story, I had no idea if he was for

3 Ways to Help Chickens Keep Laying in Winter

I've been raising chickens for a while now, first in Brazil where I grew up, now here in Texas where the winters are much colder than where I grew up but certainly not as cold as the more northern states. The first few years I had to adjust to keeping my hens happy in the winter time. I learned a few tricks that I'm going to share with you that have worked for me in my chicken flock. 1. Extra bedding. Chickens won't lay as many eggs in the winter due to cold and less light. First problem we can help solve is the cold. With extra bedding in their coop it will help them stay warm. The manure will heat up and as long as you have plenty of bedding, hay or shavings, it will absorb the moisture caused by the chickens and will heat up and help keep the temperature warmer. If you give them hay or straw, sometimes they like to scratch in that and find seeds or bugs that they can enjoy as a special treat. 2. Extra light. Hens lay more eggs when the days are longer. I've foun