Search Results for: label/chickens/page/17/2011/04/making-it

469 results

Lego-Robot Chickens

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
3 Comments
In response to our Monday post on clicker training chickens, Root Simple pal and fellow Master Food Preserver Diane Trunk posted a video on our Facebook page. Diane explains, HereR17;s a link to a silly video of our trained chickens. My son trained them to come running in response to a beep. The beep signaled that a lego-robot box (youR17;ll see) was going to open, and the hens would get their favorite treat: string cheese. Alas, these...

Continue reading…

Poultry Outlaws: Chicken Laws Around the U.S.

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
29 Comments
snappy vélocouture). Considering how loud our perfectly legal Doberman is compared to the hens, these laws are ridiculous. YouR17;ve gotta fight the Man if you want this–backyard eggs with homegrown Swiss chard and Italian parsley served on home-baked wild yeast bread:Reviewing the laws, itR17;s obvious that the Man wants us to shop in his crappy supermarkets....

Continue reading…

The Chicken and the Egg

Mr. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
3 Comments
ust pull up a chair in the late afternoon and watch the four chickens that populate our backyard in their ongoing search for seeds, bugs and the need to sort out the pecking order. After many hours of poultry behavior viewing itR17;s no surprise to us that some anthropologists believe that the chicken was first domesticated to provide entertainment (through cock fighting) rather than eggs or meat. But more important than the entertainment valu...

Continue reading…

Deep Bedding for Chickens

Mrs. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens, Composting
42 Comments
WeR17;ve got about 5-6″ of loose stuff on the floor of our chicken run. Underneath that, itR17;s black gold. Around this time of year, folks are getting chickens. Some for the first time. So I figured it was time to talk about deep bedding again. I know weR17;ve written about it before, in our book, or on this blog, but this advice bears repeating: Nature abhors bare ground.  Line your chicken coop and run with a thick l...

Continue reading…

Meet My Chickens: the continuing story of Chickenzilla

Homegrown Neighbor
Animals, Chickens
9 Comments
Homegrown Neighbor here. My chicken Whitey, a.k.a. Chickenzilla, has been laying some wonderful eggs lately. Of course, she is a meat chicken, not a layer. I think of her as a “rescue” chicken. Most meat chickens are harvested between just 7 and 10 weeks of age. At over a year old now, Chickenzilla is likely one of the oldest broiler hens alive.  But she is a surprisingly good layer, with a big, bad-ass personality to match her im...

Continue reading…

The Whip: A Homemade Moisturizer How-To from Making It

Mrs. Homegrown
Calendula series, Domesticus, Herbs
99 Comments
A quick little project: lavender infused moisturizer, two Calendula/plantain salves and a chamomile infused lip balm. Enough unguents to see me through Christmas. Note 3/16/13: When I posted this I never expected this to become one of our most popular posts.  Since so many people are looking at this recipe, I feel like I should let you know a couple of things about it before you try it. 1) The first is that it is not perfect. I love it...

Continue reading…

Looking for the Union Label

Mr. Homegrown
Domesticus
3 Comments
WeR17;ve got a bad case of Ohrwurm, a German expression translated as “earworm” and used to describe a song stuck in your head. Our earworm came after a search for union made socks and underwear on the internets recalled a highly catchy ad jingle from the roller disco era, “Look for the Union Label” (youngsters can watch it on youtube here). We looked for the union label and we were surprised to find it via a company c...

Continue reading…

2011 in Review: Urban Homestead Trademark Dispute

Mr. Homegrown
Thoughtstylings
15 Comments
...and organizations including our publisher Feral House/Process Media, public radio station KCRW, Denver Urban Homesteading, and the Santa Monica Public Library. In addition DI successfully manged to get Facebook to take down a page about our book The Urban Homestead, that our publisher had put up, in addition to Denver Urban HomesteadingR17;s Facebook page. As of this date both of those Facebook pages are still down. The Electronic Frontier Fou...

Continue reading…

How to make a Calendula oil infusion

Mrs. Homegrown
Body Care, Calendula series, Domesticus, Herbal Medicine, Herbs, How-to
25 Comments
Love that golden orange color. ItR17;s prettier in real life. So finally I get around to finishing off this mini series on Calendula (pot marigold). This post will be on infusing oil, and next week weR17;ll have the one on salves. WeR17;ve already covered the growing and drying Calendula: Why not plant some Calendula Harvesting and drying Calendula Oil infusion is as simple as can be.  Oil infusion is soaking. Think of...

Continue reading…

How Long Do Chickens Live?

Mrs. Homegrown
Animals, Chickens
32 Comments
...w days. The other hens seem healthy enough. There was no sign of predation or injury. I suppose weR17;ll find out soon if there is some kind of infection that will take the remaining three. But for now weR17;re chalking it up to age and general frailty. This hen, Jane, was always the smallest and the weakest of the four, and lived a hard life at the  bottom of the pecking order. Poor Jane. SheR17;s the hen IR17;m holding in that pictu...

Continue reading…