What images come to mind when someone mentions animals on the homestead? Chickens, right? Maybe goats? Not many people consider the benefit that ducks can provide. In fact, they can usually be an easier starter animal for beginners. I've been raising both Pekin and...
Many people don’t consider ducks when they decide to raise backyard poultry. Their experience with them is limited, so they don’t realize how personable and healthy they can be. Ducks can best be described as comical as they waddle around the yard, eating bugs out of...
Eggs at the grocery store have a limited color selection. Your choices are white or brown. All of the eggs are completely uniform, same shade, same size, and same shape. So farm fresh can come as a bit of a surprise to someone who has only had eggs from the grocery...
Pigs tend to be very hardy animals; however, they aren't completely immune to all ailments, especially as babies. Baby pigs, or piglets, are much more susceptible to disease and injury than mature pigs. So how do we prevent illness in piglets and how do we care for...
Ducks are growing in popularity as the latest additions to backyard homesteads; however, there is still some apprehension when it comes to eating duck eggs. For those who have dared to venture outside of their comfort zones, many have found they prefer the rich flavor...
I'll admit, I had my reservations about raising pigs for meat. Being a country girl from rural Ohio, I've grown up around hog farms. My uncle was a hog farmer for most of my life. My brother even raised a couple hogs for 4-H one year. The only things I really cared to...
Well, I guess you could say my weekend started off with a bang. If you're just tuning in, I've been stressing over one of our piglets who has/had a hernia. I was able to tape him up Friday, but the tape had come loose by the time we fed Saturday morning, exposing a...
In life, if you ever find yourself debating between becoming a farmer or a vet, become a vet. Yesterday was certainly one for the record books. One of our piglets was born with an inguinal hernia, which means the ligament that separates the abdominal cavity from the...
Two years ago, we made the decision to start breeding pigs. It started as an effort to be more self-sufficient. It didn't make sense to keep buying piglets from various sources every 6 months. First of all, we were always worried that we wouldn't be able to find...
We started our foray into ducks two years ago. At that time, I was sold four ducklings which I was told were Buff ducks. However, as they grew, I came to realize that they did not match the breed description for Buffs. Instead, they more closely...
When it came time to butcher our two Berkshire-cross pigs recently, we had a lot of decisions to make. Did we want to sell any of the meat? How much of it were we willing to sell? Would we butcher it ourselves? How would we butcher it?...
Welcome to the Homesteading in the Winter blog series. A group of homesteading bloggers is taking time each week to write about different issues associated with the needs and unique challenges of living on a homestead (big or small, urban or rural) during the...