Is the rabbit water safe to drink with that dunk in it to kill the mosquitoes? I would probably just set something over to cover the hole to also keep other small animals and birds from falling in and drowning.
I was only 10 when I starting raising chicks. It was in a little town called Anson, TX and there were few jobs. Our family had just enough to eat and sometimes a little less. When we would visit my grandmother across town for Sunday dinner, she had an abundance of good food from her garden and flocks of chickens, ducks and her rabbits. I quickly learned that we could also eat these kinds of meals if I had my own garden and a flock of chickens. Grandma gave me a broody Bantam hen and ten fertilized eggs. When the eggs started to hatch, I found enough soda bottles to sell for enough money to buy 12 baby chicks from the feed store. This little momma raised 22 chicks and from that day forward, we always had chicken to eat. My garden also did well, even with the work provided by a ten year old.
I only raise chicks under broody hens. When a hen gets broody, I have an indoor cage set up with a separate nesting area. I move all of my eggs laid over 2 to 3 days into that nest, place the broody hen in that nest and count down to 21 days. About half of those eggs produce a live chick. Other than daily cage cleaning, watering, and feeding, I leave her alone. Just a small light on with the cage covered. I eventually take the hen and her chicks for daily outdoor stays inside a rabbit tractor, moving them back indoors before dark. When the chicks start to jump and show flight characteristics, I take mom and the chicks out for free range supervised "walks". This is great for foraging instructions, dusting, and danger alarms. Eventually the hen will be done being a mom, and I put her back with the flock. The chicks rotate inside to outdoors until they are big enough to join the adults. The result is smarter, friendlier birds.
Kevin, I think you were drooling standing next to those tomato plants. Can't wait to get a bite of a new tomato using the salt shaker from your pocket!! Can't wait to see it, Melaney from SoCal.
I've been watching the channel for several years now and I've noticed that since Kevin and Sarah have been able to settle into the new property the two of them seem to have found their rhythm and I am such a big fan of the channel they are back to being the amazing farmers that they have long proven themselves to be! Congratulations Kevin and Sarah I'm sure looking forward to seeing some great information and videos from the channel 🎉🎉🎉😊
Love your videos Kevin and Sarah! Wanted to give you a tip I’ve used for a few years now. If you ever accidentally break a tomato plant at the base or the wind broke it, you can still save it. Make a splint using craft style pop cycle sticks and paper tape. The tomato plant will fuse back together and keep growing. So happy with all the good things going on at the homestead!
Congratulations on your silkie hatch! We have a first time chicken mama this year too. She is a seven year old, bantam ameracauna. She has gone broody so much in her seven years, but we never had firtile eggs and the timing was never right. This year I was visiting a friend that has firtile eggs just as the hen was starting to go broody. She hatched three of six barred rock chicks. She has the sweetest disposition even when she's broody. She clucks and puffs herself up, but never attacks. My grandgirls have been so excited to watch the whole process. Happy gardening this week!
Different world. My grandma in Europe had each spring new yellow chicks, ducklings and goslings - natural way!!!! The only ARTIFICIAL was, that she would let her hen to have ducklings and than the hen was running around the pond , desperately trying to protect her “ chicks” from drowning. You two take such an excellent care of your animals and plants. Perfect job. Looks very idyllic, but hard work.
I use those quail waterer cups for one of my chicken waterers. One of my chickens went broody so I put some fertile eggs under her and she hatched about 5 chicks. One died soon after but 4 thrived. Working on my planting of warm weather crops now, just transplanted tomatoes and peppers in the covered raised beds we have.
Our wyandottes hatched some naturally also! 1 hatched 2 the other 1. Great mom's teaching their chicks all they can... We will encourage this going forward!
Thank you for taking us along on your chores, always enjoyable. I remember the days when you would let out the ducks and off they’d run to the little pond.
The Millenial Gardener did a video on companion planting to repel insects from your crops, or attract pests away from your garden. It’s a place to start looking into a more natural solution to protecting your plants! 😉👍🏻
Congratulations on the 2 new calves. Things are looking great on the new place. If I remember companions correctly onions are not antagonistic to peppers. They should drive off some pests. Hope the kids are doing well. Take care and God Bless.
I so enjoy your videos. I have my best broody hen sitting on eggs right now, and I have never let a hen raise her own chicks. I have always taken the chicks when they're about a day old and put them in a brooder. However, I decided a few days ago to give Missy Mae the opportunity to raise her brood. She chose a nesting area that is perfect for hatching the chicks and keeping the other hens at bay. I'm excited to watch her do the "momma" thing, beginning around May 27th!! God bless you both!!
I've been a fan of your channel for a very long time and subscribing was one of the smartest things I have done. I attempt to ensure that my water remains vibrant in the storage container by adding a small amount of Sphagnum moss the same as Christopher Columbus on his long voyages so that the water does not become stale. I also had a little Lactobacillus to the water before giving it to the livestock. I'm really impressed with your work ethics and it is definitely evident. Note: This is my first comment on RU-vid, this might become a trend. Less hope not!
Everything looks great on the homestead!! Congratulations with all of the new animals!! I'm glad that this flock of quail is so far cooperating better than the last one!! I would love to see the new calves in the next video!!
Thanks guys so much for sharing your practical knowledge. Though my zone is 5 and so a bit behind you.. your enthusiasm has spurred me on. Love all that you do.. and glad to see you're streamlining things to make them work for You. It's all about BALLANCE 😊
Good morning 🙏😊. And what a wonderful start to your garden season! I’m anxious for my garden to get to harvest time as well. And the new calves and the little silkie! Wow!! So much to be thankful for ! Thank you guys so much for sharing your life and homestead with us. Have a blessed week 🙏😊
thanks for the video, and the updates on the green house, rabbits, and quail. looking great. hope all goes well and you all have a great harvest. have a great week.
Wow the experiment with the netting over the brasicas, try using on the plants that seem to be eating by pests. Great info on the animals, I love those American Bresse chickens. And they look so healthy,
Ducks are so cute! I wanted to thank you so much for your video about them. It included a lot of great information! Really appreciate that you continue to teach me!! Enjoyed seeing all the chores and animals. Your cabbage experiment looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
I’m so glad that you and Kevin are working on you ! And getting back to what the original plan was.not that I have not love every minute of your journey. But I was like these kids are going to work themselves into a frazzle. Just love the new plan .
You might have asiatic garden beetles attacking your basil. In my experience they just LOVE basil, the only other plant I've had them attack in my tiny garden are the peppers. They look very similar to coffee beans and are nocturnal so you would need to check for them after dark.
Glad to see the homestead coming together. Definitely know what you mean about snakes. I also had crows pick off some new surprise chicks. In 3 hours, I went from 7 new chicks to 3. My winter garden down here in Texas is coming to an end. One of my favorite snacks in the garden is sweet peas. They are winter/early spring here, and now, they are going to seed. Onions are harvested and drying, and red potatoes need to be dug. Carrots and beets are dug. But got my first large batch of green beans this week. I like growing them on the trellis (Blue Lake Pole) to get a larger harvest in a small area. So neat to look up and see green beans hanging down over your head. Trying a long bean variety, but they are evidently a later variety. Just now starting to climb and bloom. I need to come up with a solution to the bugs on my tomatoes and peppers. I call them stink bugs, but I think they are a squash bug with long legs. Ruin most of my tomatoes every year.
Lynnbets please don't write about eating sweet peas. They are garden peas or she'll peas, etc. Sweet peas are totally different and poisonous. Blessings everyone.
@@MissBetsyLu I grow Sugar Snaps, and I have always called them sweet peas. They are sweet, even when raw. To me, garden peas or shelling peas are crowders, black eyes, purple hulls, and I would never snack on them raw. Even cooked, they are not sweet. I was talking about walking through my veggie garden and snacking, not flower garden.
Morning! 😃 Hey Kevin, I think the reason you are not finding the caterpillars, is because it's slugs you are dealing with. One way to find out for sure is to do the beer cup and see if you have some dead slugs in the morning. That is exactly what my plants looked like after the massive slug evasion of 2022! I moved the entire garden because they were so bad. This year, I am blessed with a lot of Wrens keeping watch over my garden, so if there were/are and slugs, I'm not seeing them. Great video, as always.
I have seen a video where somebody gathers a whole bunch of slugs, puts them on some leaves, floating in a bucket full of water, let’s them mingle until they eat all of the leaves and then drown in the water. Then he pours all of that nasty water on his garden. The point of the exercise is, at least one of the slugs will be infected by nematodes that will infect the other slugs, as they mingle, then when they all drown, they will infect the water, which is then poured on the ground. These nematodes in the soil then infect other slugs around the garden, making your garden a slug-free zone in the long term. These nematodes are available to buy in products, but they are expensive and not a solution for large areas of ground. I’m trying to remember the name of the gardening channel. Think the guy was Welsh…
Kevin. THE DAMAGE ON YOUR BASIL IS FROM A SLUG NOT A CATERPILLAR. YOU CAN USE DE OR BT TO GET RID OF THEM. PUT IT AROUND THE BASE OF THE PLANT. THEY HIDE WHEN IT GETS LIGHT OR WARM. Didn't mean to be rude by using all caps but I really wanted you to see my suggestion. Everything else looks amazing. I can't wait to see your giant tomato. Sarah, you can plant peppers and leeks together. The leeks will help deter pests like aphids. I plant them together all the time
I love watching your garden grow and produce, I miss that so much. I live in an apartment bldg with no outside area to grow anything, so I am experiencing it vicariously through you, so exciting! Thanks, Melaney from SoCal.
Hi Sarah and Kevin. I really like receiving your newsletter for all the sneak-peek news, but nothing beats seeing them "in person!" Congrats on all the new babies and new life in the greenhouse is amazing. Have a blessed day.
Good morning Sarah and Kevin. Congratulations on the arrival of your two new calves. Will they need shelter during the coming storm? The ducklings have grown so much since you last showed us. What kind of snakes do you have there? It was great to say good morning to the Ducks. How lovely to see the new chick 🐥 So cute! Rain and sun make for good growth. Thank you for a lovely spring video! 💕💕💕
love ur vids. they give me so much info on how and why to do things. I started with ur recommendations on ground cover and have had such great success that I glean almost everything that applies to my garden and birds.
I also have a silkie hen that hatched 3 eggs! They are really great moms!!! I have 13 Bresse babies also.. not the greatest hatch rate for me but was happy for those!! 6 eggs weren’t fertile. (3 were DOA) All my laying hens went to my daughters farm down the hill from us. I super cleaned their former coop so it will be ready when the Bresse chick are old enough to move!! Excited here!! ❤ Colene
I love everything looking so lush and green! That seedling table between the greenhouse and seedling shed looks like it has been used well lol. The only thing I’d change is wetting the ducks and ducklings food. Ever notice how ducks like to eat from the bottom of ponds? We call it bottoms up because all you see is their bottoms lol. Do they have access to a pond or even a kiddie pool? It would be so cute to see something all planted up for them to swim in and eat. It also helps with some kind of oil in their body. Have a fun day!
Your plants look AMAZING, so happy for you guys ❤️ Those cabbages look perfect. Happy all the animals are doing so well. God Bless you and your channel ❤️
We raise bees on our homestead and breed for temperament also. If a hive is getting aggressive, the Queen has got to go! She sets the tone for the hive. We change the Queen and the hive calms down. It is amazing😊🐝
I always enjoy seeing the updates on your beautiful farm! Everything there looks amazing! The bug pressure, so far, has been horrible this year, hasn't it! This is my 3rd year on my new homestead in the No. Florida Panhandle, Zone 8b, and this is the first year I've ever had aphids, and they were simply horrendous! All over my English peas, too! Like where you are, the lady bugs, however plentiful, cannot keep up, so I had to resort to spraying. Fortunately, there are many organic pesticide alternatives that can get the job done.
