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We are a group of micro farmers who welcome anyone who keeps animals or grows vegetables and fruit, or loves cooking! Who would like to come along to our meetings or events and share their experiences with others. You don't need to have lots of animals to be a "smallholder." Many people who grow vegetables, have some bees or maybe a couple of backyard chickens come along and enjoy the meetings and events as well.
Showing posts with label the smallholder series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the smallholder series. Show all posts
Thursday, 9 January 2014
The Smallholder Series
Friday, 15 February 2013
Lambing Equipment List - The Smallholder Series
Lambing Equipment List - The Smallholder Series
With lambing due to start, i'm sure we all want to be prepared, here is a very good list of equipment.
Source: www.thesmallholderseries.co.uk
With lambing due to start, i'm sure we all want to be prepared, here is a very good list of equipment.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Chickens - Things to do this Month - January
Each week I am checking up on what i should be doing with The Smallholder Series:
www.smallholderseries.co.uk
Yet another fantastic article from them:
CHICKENS (Laying Hens): Continue to do regular health checks on all your birds:
- full, round and bright eyes, not sunken or cloudy
- dry nostrils
- good, smooth feathering with a shiny appearance
- clean, fluffy feathers around the vent
- neither thin or over-fat
- steady respiration, no panting or wheezing
- active, moving freely
- laying well and producing regular, perfect eggs
Over the past few months, in addition to our regular ‘Chicken Health and Care’ section, we’ve briefly looked at “Caring for the Broody Hen”, “The Hatching Process”, and “Raising Healthy Chicks” – whether hatched by a broody hen or in an incubator, “Integrating New Pullets into the Flock”, “Whether to keep a Cockerel”, and “The Annual Moult”. We’ve now put these items, together with general advice on year-round care of your flock, into an article, “Basic Principles of Rearing and Management of Chickens”, which you can find here.
Source: http://www.smallholderseries.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=466&Itemid=183
www.smallholderseries.co.uk
Yet another fantastic article from them:
Chickens - Things to do this Month - January
CHICKENS (Laying Hens): Continue to do regular health checks on all your birds:Signs of Good Health:
- full, bright and velvety ‘headgear’ (comb & wattles)- full, round and bright eyes, not sunken or cloudy
- dry nostrils
- good, smooth feathering with a shiny appearance
- clean, fluffy feathers around the vent
- neither thin or over-fat
- steady respiration, no panting or wheezing
- active, moving freely
- laying well and producing regular, perfect eggs
Winter Routine & Care
Although winter so far has been unseasonably mild, the daylight hours are much shorter and yet the chickens still need to be properly looked after – but there are ways to save time on your routine tasks:- Consider ‘deep littering’ the hen house instead of fully cleaning out every day: start by putting down a deep layer of shavings (we’ve been using Easi-Bed woodchip and find that it makes a good firm, dry surface). Start with a depth of an inch or so, quickly poo-pick each morning, then top it up every few days with another thin layer. Once a week, sprinkle a powder disinfectant (we use Stalosan) over the litter followed by more woodchip. We deep-littered our hens in this way throughout last year’s cold, wet winter and the bed kept clean looking, dry and fresh smelling.
- Chickens with prominent combs and wattles can suffer from frostbite in really cold weather, Vaseline smeared over these areas will protect them
- WINTER FEEDING – chickens will appreciate a little more carbohydrate in their diet as the weather gets colder, but don’t overdo this – monitor their weight regularly by picking them up, and feed accordingly
- Suitable winter foodstuffs (which are best give in the afternoon after they have had the chance to eat their regular protein ration of pellets or mash) include: wheat, corn, rice and pasta – and they will still appreciate plenty of greens, ours particularly love windfall apples!
- Clear away all feedstuffs every evening so there’s nothing to attract rodents.
- Check WATER regularly to make sure it hasn’t frozen. A small ball floating in the hen’s water will help prevent it freezing, but in really cold weather you’ll need to de-ice during the day.
- DRAUGHT PROOFING – don’t be tempted to block off ventilation – stale air will increase the risk of respiratory disease, but do make sure there aren’t any howling winds blowing through the house. If we have a repeat of last year’s arctic conditions you could stack some straw bales against the hen house for added insulation – place these on the side against the prevailing winds, usually North or East at this time of year.
- Already the daylight hours are increasing, so if your hens haven’t been laying they should start again soon, so don’t stop checking the nest boxes!
- Many people use artificial LIGHTING for a couple of hours in the late evening and early morning to extend ‘daylight’ hours and encourage the hens to continue laying throughout winter. This is a good idea if your hens are run on a semi-commercial basis, and culled at 2-3 years. But remember, a hen is born with a finite number of eggs, so you will only encourage her to lay these sooner – it will not increase her lifetime output!
- Continue to be vigilant for RATS AND MICE, when laying traps or poison – take great care that you don’t unwittingly harm other wildlife. If you’ve been laying traps but not caught any vermin, try wearing rubber gloves when you set the traps – the smell of humans can linger on the trap and deter rats and mice.
- And finally, winter is a good time to ‘rest’ part of your chicken’s run or paddock; the cold will help kill off any worm larvae and pests, and if you also lime this area (use gardener’s lime) it will ‘sweeten’ the ground by neutralising the inevitable acidity that accumulates on ground used continuously by poultry.
Over the past few months, in addition to our regular ‘Chicken Health and Care’ section, we’ve briefly looked at “Caring for the Broody Hen”, “The Hatching Process”, and “Raising Healthy Chicks” – whether hatched by a broody hen or in an incubator, “Integrating New Pullets into the Flock”, “Whether to keep a Cockerel”, and “The Annual Moult”. We’ve now put these items, together with general advice on year-round care of your flock, into an article, “Basic Principles of Rearing and Management of Chickens”, which you can find here.
Source: http://www.smallholderseries.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=466&Itemid=183
Thursday, 22 November 2012
The Smallholder Series - Please take time to look at this excellent website!
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'Sheep Butchery' is a guide to selecting
animals 'on the hoof' and 'on the hook', with a step-by-step
guide to cutting by Jim Sharrock. This DVD builds on the
information given in 'Sheep for Business, Enterprise &
Profit', and provides further tools to enable the smallholder
to establish a successful enterprise.
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