But Will figured a way to make it less painful. In the past, we had six 50-foot hoses connected to our frost-free hydrant in the yard, running down to the horse pasture below where our new barn is. That meant six 50-foot hoses to drain every time we ran water to our stock tank — which is every other day; we can’t run a water heater in the tank because we’re off-grid. And, of course, sometimes (often!) one of them would freeze because it wasn’t drained. So we had to haul it to the house to thaw. It took all day to water! Chopping ice is bad enough, but dragging all those snowy hoses was a real pain. This year, we have a new frost-free hydrant in the new barn. But the water line was only run 100 feet toward the well before the dry sand started to cave in as the excavator dug the 8-foot deep trench.

So we stopped till spring. Will rigged up 200 feet of 1-inch black poly water line above ground and inserted round heat tape, meant to be used on roofs to prevent ice dams. (We did that with our house water line, running under the driveway. It froze every winter until the heat tape was inserted. Now it doesn’t!) Now to water the calves, pigs, and horses down below, we turn on the generator, plug in the heat tapes, and wait from ten minutes to half an hour, depending on how cold it is. Then I turn on the pump, go down and pull the handle up on the hydrant, and water! How easy! I do have to drain two hoses, but one is only 25 feet and the other is easy, compared to last year. I’m done watering in half an hour, including chopping ice. Will even figured out how to completely clean the calves’ bathtub water trough. When it gets ice-choked, we chop out what we can, then turn it over. He heats the bottom evenly with a weed-dragon type propane torch and the huge ice cube pops loose. A totally clean tank! How cool is that? He then shoves the ice cube out of the corral with the tractor or throws out the pieces if it breaks…which it often does.

It’s goat-breeding time, so we’ve separated the does and bucks. We have three different bucks this year, all young bucks from this spring: a Boer and two Nubians. So each buck has his own harem. I can’t wait to see the kids born next May. We’ll have quite a bunch by our first seminar. (By the way, there are still several spots available if you’d like to come.)

We work hard all day, but evenings are for relaxing. Check out this picture of Will, Spencer, and Mittens (the new kitten) relaxing by the fire. Notice Spencer’s collection of “babies.” Every time I go to the thrift store, I pick up a small stuffed animal for Spencer. He just LOVES them. He used to de-stuff them, but now he’s content to just play with them. He goes around and finds all his babies and makes a pile before he stretches out to relax after a long day of being a homestead dog. What a life! — Jackie

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Besides arranging for our first homestead seminar in May, we’re taking care of our year’s meat. Last week, we hauled our big, 1,400-pound steer in to the processing plant. To pay for the expense of raising this steer, we sold the front two quarters and we’re giving our son, Bill, a hindquarter. So we’ll still end up with a lot of beef. But we like a variety of meat, not just beef, beef, beef — no matter how good it is! David also did some hunting this year. We didn’t need two deer; one would do. He wanted a buck, but finally, on the last day, he picked a big doe with no fawns. This last week, I’ve been canning venison and making jerky too. Only one hindquarter to go, and I’m done with that. Then we get to butcher our extra roosters from our experimental home-bred Cornish rock crosses. They’re all big and meaty, although not as big-breasted as the commercial Cornish rock broilers. But they can walk, are vigorous, and are plenty nice for us. We also have a pig to butcher in January, so that’ll round out our meat for quite a while.

Seed catalogs are already coming and we spend evenings drooling over tomatoes, peppers, and other great things we just have to try this year…as well as a lot of varieties we’ve grown for years. Planning a spring garden sure makes winter go by faster! — Jackie

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Milkless cow

I have a cow with a 3 week old calf. The poor thing is about to starve as the mama just doesn’t have enough milk to feed it . The calf isn’t going for the supplement milk at all though it is eating some calf feed. Any suggestions on what I can feed the cow to help her produce more milk?

Joni

This isn’t normal; most cows have at least enough to feed their own calf. I’d have your veterinarian check her over. Does she have mastitis? Can you milk her to check, or is she a beef cow with a wild disposition? A veterinarian can give a cow an injection of oxytocin, which will stimulate a cow to let down more milk. But if she is not able to produce or let down more milk, you will have to separate the calf from the cow and bottle feed the baby. Calves that have nursed don’t like the artificial nipple at first and you may have to wrestle him into a corner to force him to accept the nipple. Usually after one or two forced attempts, the calf gets the picture and will do well on the bottle. — Jackie

Mites

My husband butchered our old rooster today and found he was covered with some kind of mites. The insects in question were tiny, gray in color, and concentrated around the vent and lower back. We had noticed that this rooster had been picking or rubbing at his feathers and had virtually no feathers on his lower back.

Based on his level of infestation, I think it’s safe to guess that our hens and other two roosters probably have mites as well. A little research online points to Northern Chicken Mites, but the choice for treatment is less than clear. What’s the best thing to treat our birds with, and what’s the best way to disinfect our coop, roosts, barn and nest boxes? Should we regularly treat our birds? This is the first time in ten years of raising poultry that we’ve notices signs of external parasites. Our birds mostly free range and we often see them dust bathing in patches of dry dirt, so I’ve never provided dust bath areas for them. Do you regularly provide DE for your birds? Have you dealt with mites in your flock before?

I normally like to go completely organic around the homestead, but I don’t want to compromise the health of my flock. I suspected that it was the cold weather and shorter days contributing to my girls no longer laying eggs, but now I’m wondering if these mites are an issue with their egg production. I have one old (4 year) Silver Laced Wyandotte hen, three Buff Orpington pullets (this spring’s chicks), two Silver Laced Wyandotte cockerels (this spring’s chicks), plus two Pekin ducks and one Embden goose. The rooster we culled today was a two year old Freedom Ranger.

Carmen Griggs
Bovey, Minnesota

Mites and lice are quite common in chickens and other poultry. Fortunately, they’re also pretty easy to get rid of. I dust our birds twice a year, in the fall, about two weeks apart to kill hatchlings as the dust does not kill eggs. I use a rotenone dust and use it, holding the bird upside-down by the feet, paying particular attention to the vent area and under the wings. These are favorite places of these pests. I clean out my coop in the fall/early winter, and completely remove shavings from the nest boxes and dust the empty boxes with rotenone, as well. Right after I clean the coop, I dust the birds. By using this method, I’ve never had a bad infestation. Some folks have had good luck with DE, and others, not so much. It would certainly do no harm to use it and see how it works for you. Don’t use swimming pool filter DE, though, as it is not safe for living creatures. — Jackie

Keeping flour in the freezer

How long will flour keep in the freezer?

Paul Phillips
Connell, Washington

Flour will keep in the freezer nearly forever, provided that it is in an airtight, moisture-proof container. Moisture from the freezer will sooner or later cake up flour frozen in its store bag. — Jackie

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No, it isn’t an iPod, home theater, or other electronic gadget. It’s a small kitten named Mittens. This fall, Will and I went to a neighbor’s yard sale and noticed a sign for two free kittens. The lady told us her husband told her she had to get rid of the kittens at the sale or he would shoot them. Will asked to see the male. Out came a tiny bit of a 6-week-old kitten and Will tucked him into his shirt. He’s been home now for a month and a half and is one of the family. Even our Lab, Spencer, loves Mittens and that big dog and tiny kitten romp and play like family. (Our animals are strange: dogs love cats, bulls love doeling goats, and goats sleep with chickens.)

We’re having a ball watching Spencer and Mittens play tag and “fight.” Spencer is so gentle with Mittens, it’s unbelievable. We won’t be bored this winter.

And we always find new projects. David picked up a load of new bricks when his church youth group cleaned out a storeroom at school. I didn’t know what I’d use them for…maybe a small entry area by our front gate? But so far, they’ve just been piled up, waiting. Will and I talked about putting them around the wood stove in the living room, for a heat sink, and last night, he started hauling wheelbarrow-loads of bricks into the house. We cleaned and stacked bricks until 10:30 last night and finally, this morning, it was finished. And not only will the bricks hold the stove’s heat a long time after it burns down, but we also think it looks nice.

Will’s planning on rocking up the walls behind and beside the wood stove, but until he gets working on that, our new stove surround will do famously. — Jackie

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Chickens in the garden

I planted a fall crop of spinach and lettuce. We have free range chickens who roam about the garden, etc. Should I wash/soak the spinach and lettuce in vinegar before eating. I didn’t think about fencing it in. I hate for it to go to waste, but want to be sure it will be safe to eat. I don’t see any visible signs that the chickens have been in those patches, but they do have access and love to forage in the garden.

Bea Ward
St. Paris, Ohio

Personally, I would just rinse these crops extra well before eating. Unless you see signs of chicken poop on and around these leafy greens, you should be just fine. — Jackie

Water blowing out of jars during canning process

I just emptied my batch of carrots. 16 pints, I stacked them with a tray in between. I noticed that the water in the canner is orange. Did I do something wrong to make the jars leak? Are they okay?

Erica Kardelis
Helper, Utah

Probably you either did not all quite enough headspace in your jars or the pressure fluctuated (over the pounds pressure needed for canning, then you noticed it climbing and turned down the heat?) during processing. This causes some of the water in the jars to blow out during processing, resulting in your orange water. As long as the jars sealed and were processed correctly, they’ll be fine. — Jackie

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Pressure canning

Your book says to use 13 pounds on the gauge for my altitude. I have been canning at 15 pounds on the gauge. I also have a weight and it makes the same amount of noise at 13 as at 15 pounds. Which is correct to use, 13 or 15 on the gauge? I did have my gauge tested before using it.

Erica Kardelis
Helper, Utah

If the instructions for your altitude say 13 pounds, this is correct. But if you can at two pounds more pressure, that’s just fine, too. — Jackie

Raising chickens

So far we have our house, garden, berry bushes, and small orchard. I was excited about getting chickens this Spring. I started researching. I am overwhelmed. Everyone thinks their way is the best. Special bedding, separate shoes to wear to prevent disease, the list goes on. Please help me with the following:
1) Our winters are as cold as yours, just not for as long. Last summer we had 3 weeks of over 100 degrees (real temp). Which breed could handle these fluctuations the best? The lists of cold weather chickens are just names to me, sorry, I have no idea what to get.
2) One never sees the insides of coops. There has to be form or function to the insides.
3) How far away from the house should the coop be?
4) What do you use for bedding? And how do you replenish it?
5) What is the best flooring material? Wood or cement?
6) How do you clean out the coop? We do not have any machinery yet. Do you just scoop with a shovel? Is there an easier way? (I’m getting older.)
7) I have seen the idea of a movable coop. What would the downside be of making one of those?
How important is it to spend time with the chickens to tame them?

J from Missouri

The very good news is that it is very easy to successfully raise chickens! For a whole lot of help on the cheap, pick up the BHM’s handbook, Chickens: A Beginners handbook. It answers a lot of your questions, plus a whole lot more that I can’t cover on the blog. But to answer some of your concerns: the inside of the coop is basically a room with roosts on one end (usually away from the door, as they do take up quite a bit of roof). Roosts are simply rounded poles nailed up, ladder fashion, about 18 inches apart, with the “ladder” being tilted toward the wall. This lets all the birds roost, yet not poop on each other. On one side of the coop, there should be nest boxes. I made mine from scrap lumber. They are 12×12 inches. The front is open so the hens can go in to lay. Mine is a bank of nests, five in all. You should have one box for about every 5-7 hens so everyone has a box when they want to lay. Too few boxes and the hens try to crowd in with another hen and then some eggs often break, leading to egg eating. There should be a pole or board along the front so the hens can fly up and walk along it to choose a box. The nests should be just below eye level, so you can easily bend to look in the boxes and remove eggs. A coop should have at least one window for sunlight.

It doesn’t matter where the coop is. They don’t smell and chickens aren’t noisy unless you choose to have a rooster. I use wood shavings for bedding and just add more all summer. I clean the coop each spring and fall and add all fresh bedding, letting it build up in the meantime.

Either wood or cement will work; mine has a dirt floor, which also works. (See, I told you chickens were easy.) I clean the coop with a scoop shovel. The shavings and dry chicken manure is very light and easy to handle.

Movable coops, or chicken tractors, are really meant to be a temporary — usually summer — arrangement. Usually the coops are not warm enough for winter and are often not large enough.

You can spend as much time with the chickens as you want. We’ve had pet chickens we could pick up and enjoyed petting. But most of ours now are not that tame and that’s okay, too. They still are easy to work around, even though we can’t pick them up easily.

Oh, J, your winters are far from as cold as ours! Here in northern Minnesota, we have weather far below zero for weeks on end, usually reaching -35 or -40, and we also get some hot weather in the summer. The good news for you is that you can raise any breed(s) of chickens that appeal to you! Do take into consideration just what you want chickens for (meat, eggs, pets, or a combination). Pick up a couple chicken hatchery catalogs and take a look. Of course, all sound perfect, but it’ll give you something to look at and lots of information.

Chickens are like most other homestead animals and livestock/poultry; give them a warm, ventilated building with good food, water, and reasonable care and they’ll do just fine. No need for special shoes or disinfecting! And remember that I’m here to answer any of your questions as you go along! — Jackie

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A lot of you have been asking if we would consider doing a homesteading seminar here at our place. Before this, we just didn’t have enough time because of all of our ongoing projects. But this year, we are having three different 3-day seminars. The first is May 25th to May 27th and will cover a diverse selection of homesteading skills and, of course, meeting and talking with my husband, Will, and me. Prepare for an intense but very friendly time, including a tour of the place, an evening bonfire, and plenty of time for us to answer all your questions.

For more information and to sign up for this first seminar, you may e-mail me at jackie@backwoodshome.com for a flyer and complete information. We can only accept 20 people at our seminar, in order for us do a good job and have plenty of time for each participant. The price will be $400 per person, or $350 each for a group of 2 or more.

Oh, I just thought I’d let you know our piggies really love their new pen and home. They’ve already got it rooted up well, but show no indications of trying to lift or dig under the pallets, which they didn’t do in their older, crummier, smaller pallet pen. Did you notice our first two pigs are Red Wattles? This is a heritage breed of pig that originally came from Texas. But they do well in other climates, as well, producing very tasty, quick growing pork. Our other gilt is a cross-bred Yorkshire that we bought at the sale barn. All are growing nicely, weighing between 140 and 160 pounds. We think they’re pretty pigs! — Jackie

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Double yolk eggs

We have been getting some wonderful large eggs from our ducks. Several are double yolked. Not only do they taste good they are great in making cakes, etc. If these eggs were fertile would they hatch into twins? I have asked several people and no one has an answer? What are your thoughts on this?

John
Locust Grove, Georgia

No, double yolked eggs do not hatch babies. As the chicks/ducklings grow in the egg, they interfere with each other’s growth and usually both die before hatching. — Jackie

Canning water

This may sound a little crazy, but I saw in a catalog, canned water. Is it possible or safe to home can water for long term storage? Would the glass jars provide a breeding ground for algae or would the air tight seal prevent that? I just wondered as a 24 oz. can sells for $4.50…ouch! Of course, this is the least cost effective way to buy water for storage, but it did make me wonder if home canning it is a possibility.

Jo Riddle
Vienna, West Virginia

Yes, you can home can water. Certainly. A boiling water bath for 20 minutes will be all that is needed. But it really isn’t necessary to go to all that work. Water stays perfectly fine for up to a year, just in a good, sterile, food grade, airtight container. From time to time, just dump out your “old” water, wash and sterilize the container, and refill it. No need to can. If you do half of your water twice a year, you’ll always have plenty of fresh water on hand for emergencies. — Jackie

Away at milking time

I notice from your writing that you have several dairy goats along with your beautiful wedding cow. My question is, are you able to go away overnight with all your milkers at home?

My wife and I have had dairy goats in the past and would love to have a milk cow. But it seems to be so hard to find people to milk if you need to be gone overnight. We are not really travel people, but things do come up now and again.

How do you and your husband handle this? I would love to find a solution. I would really like to have a nice cow like your Lace!

Ralph Armstrong
Marana, Arizona

That is a problem. We have friends who will milk Lace when we get our barn set up and have a Surge milker in place. Not many people want to hand milk anything! Like you, we sometimes must be away at milking time. Our answer to this one is to keep the babies unweaned and nearby to “do the milking” when we can’t. Right now, Lace’s calf, Mac, is five months old, and lives in a pen next to Lace. From time to time, I let him do the milking for me. He likes that and so do we. I do this with kid goats, too. It isn’t the best solution, but it does work for us. — Jackie

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