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Make vanilla extract - 3 ways.
Learning to Grow Homestead is a Forest & Farm school. Come join the fun!
Operating as usual
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Make vanilla extract - 3 ways.
Yes!!!
Get away from the screens and Get under the SUN!! Start a garden, plant a seed, watch its growth!!
Get outside more and move!!!
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One of the most common questions that I get is why we keep different kinds of chickens - especially layers vs broilers.
I think a picture is worth a thousand words, but let’s chat about it 🙌🏼.
🐓 There are 3 general groups of chickens:
🥚𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀: these are your efficient egg layers! They put most of their energy into producing eggs, so they tend to be lean birds and are generally not prized for eating. We do utilize the extra roosters from hatching (see bird on the right of the photo), but they are best used for soup because of how little they are. They are also a lot more active, which leads to tougher meat, so a slow-cooking soup is a great option!
🍗𝗕𝗿𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀: these are your meat chickens! They put ALL of their energy into growth and some do it super fast. The most popular breed is the Cornish cross, which can reach full size in just 6-8 weeks 😱. This breed freaks me out a little… so we raise red rangers (see bird on the left), which finishes in 13-16 weeks. This may seem slow, but in comparison… the little rooster on the right was actually quite a bit older! Broilers will continue to grow until their body basically gives out (can’t stand, heart attack, etc.) so really their only future is on a plate. It’s rare that they can live a full life, even if given the chance 😕.
🥚🍗𝗗𝘂𝗮𝗹-𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: these chickens are decent at both! They are a meatier chicken that can still live a full normal life while also producing a fair amount of eggs. This is what folks used back in the day - they would raise the hens for eggs (and retire them as “stewing hens”) and utilize the roosters for 🍗. However, dual purpose breeds take quite a bit longer than the broilers to reach their finish weight (22 weeks) and are less economical to raise (at least 2x as expensive).
I think we’ve found a happy medium using the red rangers. They are fairly economical to raise, but don’t grow quite as scary fast as the Cornish cross. Longer time on pasture = higher amounts of antioxidants, vitamin D and omega 3’s!
If you’d like to learn more about raising meat chickens, I'd love to teach you everything that I know! Enroll in my course for 10% off with my code "HOMEGROWN10" -> https://learn.thehomesteadingrd.com/meat-chickens-landing-page/
I love Jack!!!
More babies! Including a flashy doeling that we have decided to keep. Her name is Krystal.
Abby had twin girls, Juliet (B&w) and Krystal (tri colored and moon spotted).
Juliet is available 9/2/24. I also have others available. Tell your friends! 😂
I love this!!!
Babies!! Babies!! Babies!!
May 22, 2024
Bella (black and white spotted Mama) had quadruplets, 2 boys and 2 girls.
Names have been picked and are under pictures 🙂
Please welcome the newest babies!!!
We need names!!
First Boy- f name
First girl- i name
Second girl- j name
Second boy- g name
All 4 are looking for new friends to bunk up with.
More babies and I mean more!!
June, our Mini Nubian had boy (Elliott) and girl (Gabby) twins on April 7th.
The black/white is the boy and brown tri colored the a girl.
And today 5/22/24
Bella, our Nigerian Dwarf had Quadruplets…2 boys and 2 girls.
The 2 littlest ones are not doing great but hopefully will pull through.
I’ll post pics and names of the newest 4 babies soon.
June’s 6 day old twins, Elliott (black and white boy laying in the back) and Gabby (tri-colored brown girl sprawled out in front).
Monday | 9am - 12:30pm |
Tuesday | 9am - 12:30pm |
Wednesday | 9am - 12:30pm |
Thursday | 9am - 12:30pm |
Friday | 9am - 9pm |