Hello to all! I've been perusing your website for a while researching chickens, coops, feed, etc. We're working towards homesteading in our own slow-going way.
The background: We added onto our home ourselves, then sold it, we've just paid off ALL our debt and are now saving money to buy land and build ourselves. We really want to do more of a homestead lifestyle, though obviously can't do it completely for a while yet. We're hoping that we can switch over when I complete my midwifery studies and get a practice up and running. It would meld into that lifestyle quite well. We have 4 kids ages 6 and under, homeschool using the Thomas Jefferson Education model, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, fairly constitutionalist, and we are learning to follow a more "natural" lifestyle in all realms (okay, one at a time, usually!). Homesteading is our next step in that progression.
We decided not to wait till we got our place to start with the chickens and are thinking we'll get ourselves a nice flock of banties. We go through a TON of eggs at present, but I like the small size idea (for various reasons) over the full-sized layers. We have the materials for our coop (aside from chicken wire) and are planning to build something along the lines of Jeanne's Bantam Coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2127-Bantam_Coop
I'd like some banties that would make good pets if handled often, being decent layers is important, and we'd like some that can be brooders/meat chickens if it became necessary...I love the colored egg idea of the americanas/auracanas. Any suggestions on breeds would be welcome! We were thinking we'd get about 15 chicks total (atleast a few roosters for the option of breeding later) and our friends want the other 10 chicks for full-sized layers.
I'm also interested in making my own feed. I've looked over a bunch of recipes and will have to post about that later...my problem is that I would like something very simple (fewest ingredients). Organic is nice but not absolutely necessary. I can buy the corn, oats, and wheat in bulk and have appropriate storage ability, it is all the other stuff that confuses me...how much of it do you really need and which are most important? Too many questions in an intro, I think.
Prepared feed is UBER expensive here. If I could find a place to order decent feed from in Seattle and barge it up, it would likely cost less even after barge costs (most things do), I just haven't found a feed store with a website yet.
Any help on making your own feed easily, bantam breeds, or a place to buy the feed would be much appreciated!
The background: We added onto our home ourselves, then sold it, we've just paid off ALL our debt and are now saving money to buy land and build ourselves. We really want to do more of a homestead lifestyle, though obviously can't do it completely for a while yet. We're hoping that we can switch over when I complete my midwifery studies and get a practice up and running. It would meld into that lifestyle quite well. We have 4 kids ages 6 and under, homeschool using the Thomas Jefferson Education model, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, fairly constitutionalist, and we are learning to follow a more "natural" lifestyle in all realms (okay, one at a time, usually!). Homesteading is our next step in that progression.
We decided not to wait till we got our place to start with the chickens and are thinking we'll get ourselves a nice flock of banties. We go through a TON of eggs at present, but I like the small size idea (for various reasons) over the full-sized layers. We have the materials for our coop (aside from chicken wire) and are planning to build something along the lines of Jeanne's Bantam Coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2127-Bantam_Coop
I'd like some banties that would make good pets if handled often, being decent layers is important, and we'd like some that can be brooders/meat chickens if it became necessary...I love the colored egg idea of the americanas/auracanas. Any suggestions on breeds would be welcome! We were thinking we'd get about 15 chicks total (atleast a few roosters for the option of breeding later) and our friends want the other 10 chicks for full-sized layers.
I'm also interested in making my own feed. I've looked over a bunch of recipes and will have to post about that later...my problem is that I would like something very simple (fewest ingredients). Organic is nice but not absolutely necessary. I can buy the corn, oats, and wheat in bulk and have appropriate storage ability, it is all the other stuff that confuses me...how much of it do you really need and which are most important? Too many questions in an intro, I think.
Any help on making your own feed easily, bantam breeds, or a place to buy the feed would be much appreciated!
