Don’t waste your old hay, paper scraps, coffee grinds, uprooted weeds, etc.

COMPOST!!!

You want a healthy garden, with flourishing plants and happy little sprouts???

COMPOST!!!

Sooo… I want to compost… but how??

Building A Compost Bin/Box/Pile Thingie

So the gist of a Compost Container is some container that is at least 1 cubic foot to allow proper composition, that you can put compost in from up top, and take it out from lower down.

Being creative is great!

I’ve seen it done as a circle of bricks stacked up to about 5 foot tall, with ones you can remove at the bottom.

I’ve heard of it as a box with an open top and removable boards down below.

It is important to remember that it needs to have ventilation and drainage.

Some people cover compost piles to retain heat and moisture, but prevent it being water logged. However, good drainage should solve this.

You can also dig a compost trench or hole if you don’t want a bin! You can cover a trench with soil too to speed the process.

You can even compost inside, using a bucket, or a plastic bin!

What Can I Compost?

Pretty much everything can be put in besides:

1. plastic (that includes Styrofoam)
2. Metal, which has an extraordinarily long composting time
3. Protein high excrement (i.e. that of carnivores and non-avian omnivores)
4. fats
5. bone
6. cheeses
7. poisonous stuffs
8. meat, as it is not healthy for plants and can attract diseases.
9. Diseased animal or plant material.

Wax composts rather slowly so you might want to think twice before putting it in and stuff coated in it, but it’s not in any way harmful.

Organisms For the Compost

You can buy Effective Microorganisms (EM) in bottle to put in your compost piles. At any old bait store, you can purchase red wrigglers or night crawlers for composting. Isopods (rolly-pollies) are also easy to buy and good for composting.

What you want to avoid is bugs harmful to gardens as they will flourish in your compost and when it’s moved to the garden they will overtake it!

Of course, all these come naturally or can be found (be sides the microorganisms which are microscopic) in your own yard and brought to the compost bin, so there’s no great need to buy them.

Maintaining The Compost

Shredding compost, watering, and stirring may help, but they may annoy your elephant.

Personally I find it best to just leave it, and come time to use compost, it’s usually ready!

Well I hope this helps! Questions, comments, or concerns are appreciated!

Cranes, Swans, and More

Honestly, one gets tired of ducks and geese eventually, even with the inexhaustible number of breeds.

And if you have a nice access to water and a good way to somehow… make an aviary around that water… you may want to take a look at some of my favorite, albeit expensive, water fowl.

Sacred Ibis

Picture a vulture and a great blue heron getting married and having a very silly baby. This baby bird would probably resemble the Sacred Ibis strongly. Usually about $1,500 a pair the Ibis is mostly quiet, but sometimes croaks.

These guys can fly, so your enclosure will need a roof, unless you choose to pinion. It is probably best to house an ibis in an aviary, surrounded by freshwater running in a kiddie pool or built-in pond.

CLEAN WATER IS VERY NECESSARY FOR THE IBIS!!! THEY WILL OTHERWISE CONTRACT DISEASES

Exotic waterfowl diets are provided, and they should use it, but it can be supplemented with mollusks, shellfish, fish, small mammals, crickets, and crustaceans.

Black Swan

Swans can be fed a supplement of poultry layer feed of pellets or crumbles, and some scratch. They are beautiful and black! Also, I believe this is Chippy in the picture, if you Chippy fans are wondering.

Black Swans are usually $3,000 a pair, or something like that.

3 Different White Swans

If you are a swan fan, there are three main white swans you can get as pets: Trumpeter, Mute, and Whooper, ranging from $3,000 to $5000.

They all do best pinioned and free ranged near a large pond. Free ranging usually goes pretty smoothly with swans because, they can swim away from most predators.

Also, they are much larger than ducks and geese.

Demoiselle Crane

Smallest crane in captivity, the demoiselle still needs at least 150 square feet of aviary space with clean water and heating in winter. They can eat crane diet as well as peanuts, greens, mealworms, fruit, and even small fish! They are about $4500 a pair.

African Crowned Crane

Usually about $5000 for a pair, this beautiful bird is omnivorous, eating everything from grass, nuts, and millet to insects, small vertebrates, invertebrates, and more.

Stanley Blue Cranes

Beautiful, but subtle birds, the Stanley crane is usually at $9,500 a pair. They need heat as well as a lot of room. Feed like you would a demoiselle.

Purple Swamphens

Insanely beautiful and thus expensive, the Swamphen is usually at about $12000 a pair. They are very loud and need a lot of warmth in colder times.

In captivity, Swamphens eat canned cat food, soaked cat food, fruit, shrimp, and other types of meat.

Conclusion

Well, that was short, but I hope you found the ‘alt birds’ cool! If you are actually interested in getting them, they can be found at several well known hatcheries like Murray McMurray and Purely Poultry.

Just wanted to wish all the 2022 fathers on the farm!

Chickens are a general favorite. People have raised chickens for hundreds of years, and there is something to that, but it seems unfair not to look at both sides.

In these days of Khaki Campbell ducks, laying 300+ eggs, they are certainly worth considering as utility birds.

Today we are going to look at some reasons one might take ducks over chickens, and of course vice versa.

Ducks

1. Ducks eat bugs

Ducks are great pest control. They tend to eat more flies than they attract, unlike chickens, and people love them for that!

2. Ducks are healthier

Due to constantly washing themselves in any water they can find, mites and parasites are not as common on ducks as they are on chickens. That is not to say ducks never get sick, but they certainly are healthier in general.

3. Ducks are less demolishing to grass

Chickens uproot grass, ducks just mow it. This is often why they are preferred.

4. Ducks are less aggressive

Drakes are way kinder, on average, to humans and other ducks than roosters are to us and their fellow chickens. Boy ducks happily coexist, in a relaxed society, less harmful to underdogs than chicken society.

5. Duck eggs are healthier and bigger

They are also great for baking because they are fluffy and somewhat sweet.

6. Ducks are quieter on average

When it comes to roosters and laying hens, chickens can raise a ruckus. Ducks tend to be quiet, though their cathemeral leanings, they can be somewhat noisy at night.

7. Ducks are more hardy

They have more fat and can stay warmer, also if they have the proper water, they easily can cool off.

8. They can do more for themselves

Because they eat so much bugs, ducks do not need as much food from you. They are much better free rangers than chickens.

9. They are more predator proof.

Ducks can actually defend themselves, chickens cannot really. Ducks (aside from Rouens) can fly much better than chickens and are bigger and have sharper feet and bigger beaks.

10. They are more self sufficient.

These guys almost always hatch their own ducklings and do well, with 90+ hatch rates being the norm!

Chickens

1. Chickens are less messy

Ducks tend to… get mud and water all over the place, so they aren’t exactly great house keepers.

2. Chickens need less water

Ducks drink a lot of water/ get the water they have dirty quick. Thus, they need more water. Obviously a pond is ideal.

3. Ducks need more room

At this point you can easily tell that ducks are terrible in an urban setting. You would be correct.

To be happy and to not cover their pen in mud ducks need much more room.

4. Chickens tend to be tamer

If you want a cuddly cuddly baby birdie than you may want to stick with chickens, unless you plan to hand raise your birds.

5. Chickens are currently more available

Because of chicken bias, ducks are rarer and more expensive.

Conclusion

Well, again, it is your choice! I chose both!

It really depends what you need in your unique situation! Good luck with your chickens or ducks!

Quail, particularly the coturnix, are slowly increasing in the livestock industry.

Particularly in urban and suburban settings, people are actually choosing quail over chickens to be their utility birds!

In this post, we are gonna see the advantages quail have over chickens, and the advantages chickens have over quail.

Quail

1. Quail need only two square foot of room each!

For coturnix quail to properly enjoy life, they need only a couple of square feet each, as opposed to chickens, who really need at least six to be happy.

2. Quail are Quieter!

If you have only female quail, you have certainly not signed up for much noise. This makes quail great pets if you have picky neighbors.

3. Quail Eat Less Food

Yeah. They are significantly smaller than chickens, and thus eat significantly less food. 8-9 coturnix quail devour about the same amount of food as 1 chicken.

4. People who can’t eat chicken eggs, may be able to eat quail eggs.

Though this is definitely not always the case, if you have someone who is allergic to chicken eggs, you may want to give quail a shot.

5. Coturnix mature faster.

Coturnix start laying at 8 weeks. Chickens take like four months, if you are lucky. If you want to start getting eggs right away, these birds are great for that.

Chickens

1. Chicken eggs are larger.

It is true indeed that even the jumbo coturnix egg is significantly smaller than a chicken egg. This does mean less yum-yums per egg.

2. Chickens live longer.

For those of you who really love your pets, chickens may appeal more because you get more time to cuddle them. 2-6 years is typical for quail, and 6-12 is typical for chickens.

3. Chickens are usually successful when they go broody.

Though they do not always go broody, chickens make much better moms than quail. If you don’t feel like incubating, but you want babies, you may need to stick with chickens.

4. Chickens can free range reasonably.

If you are in to free ranging, do not chose quail. Coturnix quail have lost pretty much any ability the wild ones have to defend themselves. Thus, almost any predatory animal would eat one. They are also bad at fending for themselves.

5. Chickens smell better

Quail can smell worse than chickens. It’s not that bad if you give them a respectful amount of room, but it is worth noting.

Myths

1. Quail lay less eggs

This is simply a lie. Quail do not lay less eggs than chickens, if you have egg laying quail breeds like, say, the jumbo coturnix or Texas A&M.

2. Quail are less tame.

This is not true at all. If you do not tame a coturnix quail then it will be like a chicken if you did not tame it either. If you tame it, it will be just as nice (if not nicer).

This myth may come from the other species of quail (i.e. new world quail like bob whites and valley quail) which are less tame.

3. Quail are less hardy than chickens.

Also… blatantly untrue. Not sure why anyone thinks this. If they have shelter and another quail to huddle with, they are pretty much okay with anything.

4. Chicken eggs are healthier.

When it comes to nutrition, quail and chicken eggs are almost identical, so that’s made up.

Conclusion

Well, like always, the choice is up to you!

For me, I chose BOTH! Because I love birds. But decide for yourself which one suits you better!

Alternatively known as the Production Blue, the Rhode Island Blue is a crossbreed chicken that seems to be becoming more popular. Primarily kept for eggs, this breed is a cross between two of our best egg layers: The Rhode Island Red and the Australorp.

Pros

1. They are Good Layers

Seeing as they are bred for laying, this makes sense that 200-260 brown eggs a year is typical of this blue bird.

2. They are pretty

Coming in two colors, grey and black, this breed is fantastically pretty: the roosters and hens.

They are much like their Australorp parent in color.

3. They are Docile

One of the traits they inherit from their Australorp parents is their kindness. They are very nice birds and are usually tamed without trouble! However, the personality of each bird is different.

4. They are Hardy

The Rhode Island Blue is a good bird for cold and warm climates, much like its RIR ancestors.

5. They are Good With Other Chickens

These birds are relatively unaggressive birds, making them a good choice for mixed flocks.

6. You Can Breed Them Yourself

If you have an RIR rooster and an Australorp hen, you can actually breed these yourself. This is one big difference between them and hybrids like the Amberlink, who are selectively bred for generations.

Cons

1. They Do Not Breed True

It is the colors that get messed up when you do Blue x Blue, but some people prefer the breed standards so…

2. They Can Be Hard To Find

Because only a few hatcheries have caught on to Rhode Island Blues, lots of times they can be difficult to find, but I just got mine at my local feed store! So who knows, if you try to find them, you just might!

3. They are not Great Meat

This chicken is an egg breed and not a meat breed, because it’s meant to lay eggs, not to be eaten!

Conclusion

The Rhode Island Blue is an awesome chicken, and I hope this helped you learn a bit about them!

Once again, here is a chicken review done by yours truly, Hiram Means. The Leghorn chicken is one of the most common chicken, with a good deal of reasons to love it, and a couple of reasons that make it not so great.

Pros

1. White Eggs

While I personally am not a huge fan of white eggs, I prefer green or blue, lots of people love white eggs because they are kind of pretty. These eggs are pure white!

2. They are pretty

While my leghorn is white, they also come in dark brown and game chicken colors.

3. Lots of eggs

They are bred for eggs, and they do a great job! 300 eggs a year is typical in the prime of the life of a leghorn hen.

4. They are good free rangers

What with being rather flighty and feisty, the leghorn can resist many predators, despite their smaller size.

5. They do good in cold and warm

They are a pretty hardy breed in general, much like the RIR.

6. Eat Very Little

The conversion ratio (feed : eggs) is possibly best in this chicken because it eats very little.

7. They are smart.

While many chickens get kind of a reputation for being… bird brains… the leghorn is far from stupid. They are much smarter than the average chicken.

8. Consistent

This chicken lays when no one else does. Well, not really. But it is one of the most consistent layers around.

Cons

1. They are flighty

While they certainly can be tamed if kept as chicks and hand raised, the Leghorn is not precisely nice or cuddly, especially when compared to the kind of breeds I like.

However, many chicken owners may react strongly because they have a very cuddly one. This is certainly possible, it really just depends on the chicken herself and how she was raised.

2. They are skinny and thus do not make good meat.

This breed is almost as small as the Old English Game. They really aren’t huge. This means, like game, they are not good for meat. However, since they lay lots of eggs, they still are great utility birds.

3. Noisy

They are not perhaps as bad as RIRs but they certainly make a ruckus, especially when laying an egg, which happens a lot.

4. They are bossy

These chickens can be very aggressive and are usually up at the top of the pecking order. While they can manage in a mixed flock they are better with no other highly aggressive or super calms as a fight may break out.

Mrs. Cow Jr. (who is named that by my little brother because he was a cow in a Christmas pageant and so he named two chickens Mrs. Cow and Mrs. Cow Jr.) has been called ‘Evil Overlord,’ ‘Avenger’, and ‘Bad Chicken!’ several times due to her aggressive leanings.

5. Non-Sitters

As is common in egg-machines, the Leghorn has been bred out of sitting which can be disappointing for the hobby farmer.

6. Wonderful Escapers.

Mine has also been nicknamed Houdini until we put her in the chicken tractor. Not only are they good at escaping, they like to escape. While many chickens like to come back to roost, this one is very curious and usually wants to get away from confinement.

7. They have big combs

While it is cute and all with the big floppy comb, it is a bit of an invitation for frostbite. Frostbite is very common in this breed compared to most utility chickens.

Conclusion

They are great chickens, but are not necessarily the best. However, a lot depends on the chicken. Some say they make awful pets, others say they are wonderful!

A very fluffy chicken, with cute ear-muffs, the Ameraucana is an all-time favorite chicken, but it’s not the only chicken. Here’s why:

Pros

1. Blue Eggs!

Here is their main appeal! They lay beautiful bluish eggs! The Ameraucana is very beloved due to this factor. Who doesn’t want some variation!

2. They are nice to humans

The Ameraucana, like most chicken breeds I keep (I like a good cuddle-chicken), are relatively nice to humans. Ours, which we raised, are willing to squat so we can pick them up and give them a hug.

3. They are Hardy

These chickens aren’t just for show. The Ameraucana is good for below freezing and up in the 100s with out issues.

4. They come in many colors

Ameraucanas come in eight colors: Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Silver, Buff, Wheaten and White.

Unfortunately I could not find pictures of all these, but here are some of my own:

Unconventional coloring can be common, and pretty too!

5. They are visually appealing

With the Ear-Muffs and Beard, in addition to the colors, this chicken is a beauty!

Cons

1. Can be expensive

These are known to be more expensive, BUT with their rise in popularity in these recent years, they are now about typical in price.

2. Do not usually go broody

Although some view this as a pro, I view it as a con, since they have low egg production anyway (spoiler alert for the next con), it would be nice if they could be self-sufficient.

Our Australorp had to do the job for us:

3. Lay less eggs

Despite their prettiness, the Ameraucana eggs only come at 200 a year, instead of the typical 300 for egg laying breeds.

4. They do not make good meat

That.

5. Mature slower than average

While the normal chicken lays at 4-5 months of age, Ameraucanas are more typically laying at 6-7 months, which can be annoying to people keeping them for quantity of eggs instead of color.

4. Hard to find pure-bred chickens

I have certainly been sold an Ameraucana that lays brown eggs.

That means it was a mix.

So I was ripped off.

But I love Copperhead sooooo much that I keep her around.

They are easy to rip off if you by them young because the staple of their breed is their egg color, which you discover 7 months later.

Conclusion

Again, an amazing breed it may be, but it can’t do everything at that is why I have a mixed flock to get all the pros!

But if anyone wants to try and cross Americauna with a RIR to get the perfect, pretty, blue-egging, prolific chicken breed, please do!

The Old English Game is my favorite breed of chicken. Perhaps its appeal lies in its closeness to the OG chicken, the Red Jungle Fowl. Perhaps I just love the colors. I’m not actually sure why I love this chicken, but the Bantam Version has really delighted me so far!

Here are the pros and cons of this fascinating breed of chicken.

Pros

1. They are independent.

The Old English Game chicken is a forager, and given enough room, you probably won’t even need to feed your flock. They are great free rangers, especially when you throw a game rooster in to protect the hens.

2. They always go broody

It’s pretty rare for one of these hens not to go broody. They reproduce by themselves and it is very easy to create a self-sustaining flock.

3. They are beautiful

The Old English Game is a beautiful breed, especially the rooster. They come in a couple different colors now. They come in Ginger Red, Silver Duckwing, Spangled, White, Blue, Black, Mille Fleur, Crele, Self Blue, Wheaten, Splash, Black Breasted Red, Brown Red, Barred, Brassy Back, Golden Duckwing, and Red Pyle.

To me this is the best pro because these chickens rank among my ornamental pheasants as the prettiest birds I own.

4. They have personality

If any chicken has personality it is this game chicken. Each chicken is distinct, but they are all active playful and a joy to be around. That being said, there is certainly a down side to this.

5. They can be very nice

Though often very mean, my Old English Game was hand raised and is thus kind, will come up and sit on my shoulder or lap. Naturally Game is not shy, but this nature can mean they are more willing to cuddle, or more willing to attack.

6. They are long lived

They live up to 16 years, much longer than utility chickens which range 4-12 years. This makes them a favorite pet of mine because they get to be pets for a while.

Cons

1. They lay very little

30 eggs a year is the norm for this breed. To put that in perspective, a Rhode Island Red will lay 10 eggs per every 1 game egg.

2. They are very little

They also do not make great meat chickens. They were bred for cock-fighting not utility. Cock Fighting is illegal so they are now kept for show. They are too small to reasonably keep to eat.

3. The full size version needs lots of room

The reason I have only the bantam version currently is because with my backyard hobby farm I have only facilities for smaller chickens. The full size is a free ranger, not a confined chicken, especially not confined into small areas. The bantams can live in normal chicken amounts of room.

4. They are often very aggressive

Since they are only kept for beauty, generally people keep the pretty ones, i.e. the roosters. That means you are in for some rooster behavior. Not just any rooster behavior, territorial extreme rooster behavior.

One of my acquaintances has one such rooster, a bantam, who flies up and claws at their eyes.

This is not good.

They are not good in mixed flocks and are not good beginners either. However I have never had problems with them being mean to me.

Having 2 roosters in a confined area is lethal. However if free ranged, they will most likely stay out of each other’s way.

5. Often dubbing is required to show

Many people keep their Old English Games to show at chicken shows (which exist). The problem is often the rules require the breed to be dubbed.

Dubbing is a supposedly painless process involving the chopping comb off a rooster’s head. Not only does it make them less pretty in my opinion, it is not universally decided to be painless.

(Why do they do it? I have no clue.)

6. They can fly!

These guys can fly better than a pheasant so generally roofs are required, or clipped wings, unless you free range them. If they have no good reason to stick around, they won’t. They are almost impossible to catch unless tame.

7. They are escape artists.

Besides being able to escape any non roofed enclosure, the OEG has a reputation for being able to escape anything when they put their mind to it. Because they are much more clever than the average chicken (and human), they are amazing escapers.

Conclusion

So while it is an awful utility chicken, the Old English Game can make a good friend and form of entertainment.

Questions, Comments or Concerns???

Second only to the Old English Game, the Favarolles is the breed I have had the most fun with. They are cuddly and insanely cute. Yes, this post is about the fluffy, fluffy French Favarolles.

Pros

1. They are adorable and fluffy

As shown above the Favarolles are a very cute breed of chicken. Many people keep hamsters for cuteness, so why can’t we keep a chicken for that? This actually is their main appeal to people like me. They are so funny with their fluffy feet and ear muffs.

2. They think they are Teddy Bears

Building on the last one, they not only feel and look like Teddy Bears, they act like Teddy Bears. They are nice and calm, and will let you cuddle them all day!

3. They are easily sexed at an early age

For not being sex-links, Favarolles are pretty sexually dimorphic after a couple weeks of age. They are pretty clearly male or female.

4. They like it cold

The mind flayer and the Favarolles would get along very well, because the Favarolles loves the cold. In fact, they lay more in the winter than in the summer. This is due to being very fluffy. The have a natural winter coat all over!

In fact, they were bred in northern France specifically for the purpose of withstanding the brutal winter.

Their feet also make good snow shoes.

5. They are pretty

They are primarily used for chicken shows, because, as we’ll get to in the cons section, these are not very… useful birds. Yes, like dog shows, there are indeed chicken shows. These fluffy chickens are judged for their beauty (-snicker- sorry I just can’t take it seriously).

6. They are great moms… if they ever go broody

These are not particularly prone to broodiness, but they are great at it when they do end up trying. This makes a specific individual who likes to go broody favorable in your flock as mother for all sorts of chicken breeds!

All that fluff keeps baby chickens warm. I keep mentioning their fluffiness levels. Maybe I should stop.

Cons

1. They are not very practical

They spend much more time eating than laying and have an awful conversion ratio. They are really just show birds. Do not keep Favarolles for the purpose of eggs. This is not what they are meant for and you will find they lay usually only 3-4 eggs a week which works out to ~200 eggs a year maximum.

They aren’t large chickens and they taste bad, so people never keep them for meat.

2. Predators find them easy to catch

Any predator that can out run a turtle can catch a Favarolles. They are slow, cuddly and innocent, hard to scare, and a little dimwitted.

Your Favarolles must be kept safe from predator attacks.

3. They are prone to feather soiling

Unfortunately, fluffy chickens like Favarolles or Silkies collect dirt and mud very easily. This means they must be kept in a dryer environment, and certainly must be sheltered from rain and always have a dry place to go.

Soiling is hazardous not only to your show business but also to their health as mud weighs them down, and holds parasites.

Every once in a while, unless you live in the desert, you will have to give them a trimming, particularly on the foot feathers where the most mud gathers.

4. They often get bullied

Some people like to bully people who don’t fight back.

Favarolles never fight back. They are so docile they would probably let another chicken kill them because “they have to eat too!”

No, but seriously it may be hazardous to introduce young Favarolles to older chickens. Particular breeds to watch out for are Rhode Island Reds, and Game Chickens (American, Old English, etc), both of which I have but keep separate from Griffin.

5. They are prone to heat stroke.

As a cold loving breed, the Favarolles have problems with the heat. They are constantly in a giant fluffy winter coat so shade and water are a must! Generally, the nearer the equator you live the less these chickens are for you.

(Don’t keep them in the artic circle though. They aren’t that cold tolerant).

That being said, I live in South Carolina and have not yet ran into heat problems with mind, who have shade to recline in as well as a constant source of water.

6. Noisy

Though the roosters have a reputation for being quieter than average, the hens are known to be constant in their murmur, and common in their squawks.

7. They may not see very well, if you don’t trim their ear muffs from time to time

It is no laughing matter when your Favarolles begins to bump into walls, other chickens, and nesting boxes. It may seem funny, but it’s really quite bad.

This sort of thing happens in Favarolles, because those ear muffs cover their ear and their eyes so much they can’t see or hear where they’re going.

You seriously need to make sure their ear muff is not hazardously fluffy.

Conclusion

The Favarolles is an interesting bird, but should not be kept when you need utility chickens only. Their eggs are few, and their meat tastes bad.

However this chicken makes a great pet! Ever wondered why you have that stupid fluffy Pomeranian? It serves no practical purpose, but you love it because it’s a good friend.

However, I sincerely believe that Favarolles are better pets than any dog, and I hope you’ll enjoy yours as much as I do Griffin.