Where to Start?
Where to start? If you feel that way, you are not alone!
The Evolved Farming Team monitors many of the homesteading and livestock groups out on social media for common questions. Although we do provide whatever help can in those forums, we felt it was about time someone created a searchable database of proven, vetted, reliable resources that can help you on your homesteading and farming journey.
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Resource:
ChickShaw – A Mobile Chicken Coop One Person Can Easily Move
Summary:
This is the holy grail of chicken coops for the the permaculture homesteader from Justin Rhodes
Details:
Chances are your chickens are way overdue for a move. Most people keep their chickens in a classic coop and run, but that just so happens to be one of the most labor-intensive and unsanitary methods for housing chickens.
Since the 19th-century people have been moving things with rickshaws. By centering most of the “shaws” weight on the center of gravity of the two wheels and pulling the front, it’s easy to move incredible amounts of weight.
Accommodating a range of flock sizes, it’s now possible to move a lot of birds regularly with an electric poultry net and my famous ChickShaw. Before now, mobile chicken housing was limited to tiny house chicken tractors and mobile-home sized coops.
My DIY ChickShaw plan provides shelter for chickens all year long, and it’s so lightweight that it takes only one person to move it all over your homestead. I’ve built in several additional design features that will make everyone’s life a bit easier.
Benefit:
Doing
Difficulty:
Grizzly Adam (Advanced)
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Resource:
Chicken Tractor Plans: Affordable & Functional
Summary:
This is an overview of chicken tractors with DIY design plans.
Details:
A well-designed chicken tractor is something you can easily build yourself without breaking your budget. It’s attractive, mobile, hard working, and multi-functional, and it tills, fertilizes, disposes of garbage, and builds up the soil. This chicken tractor is perfect for small flocks of twelve or less who need to move around on grass to eat or work to clean up in a small garden. It is one of 5 great chicken coop ideas that really work.
Read on to learn how to build a chicken tractor in just one day. This easy DIY plan will supply shelter and feed for your hens (or baby chicks), and easily move using PVC instead of a wheel.
Benefit:
Doing
Difficulty:
Grizzly Adam (Advanced)
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Resource:
Chickens in Garden Spaces to Till and Fertilize
Summary:
Learning how to put your chickens to work! Give them a job! Chickens can do much more than just give us eggs and meat.
Details:
Chickens can be an amazing workforce when allowed to free range in your vegetable garden. The variety of chores they can accomplish for you in a small amount of time make what they give back invaluable!
Benefit:
Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
How to Raise Baby Turkeys (Brooder Stage)
Summary:
You've mastered chickens; now up your game by adding turkeys. They are more fragile than chickens, but they are worth it.
Details:
Free Range organic turkeys are extremely expensive at over $8 a pound. This game bird can be difficult to find so we decided to try raising turkey poults ourselves. We chose the Bronze Breasted turkey poults, and our results were astounding!
After they hatch from their egg and are small enough to hold in your hand, turkeys have a few differences, but aren’t much different than raising a chicken.
Learn these slight differences in how to raise baby turkeys by knowing what supplies you’ll need, how to create a proper turkey brooder, and food and water requirements.
Benefit:
Learning, Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
How to Raise Turkeys (Pasture Stage)
Summary:
You've mastered chickens; now up your game by adding turkeys. They are more fragile than chickens, but they are worth it.
Details:
Hunting wild turkeys allows you to experience what these birds are really meant to taste like at your next holiday meal, but they don’t provide much meat to cook. Instead, learn how to raise turkeys in a natural environment, and how long it can take before a baby heritage turkey is ready for pasture.
Benefit:
Learning, Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
How to Set Up An Electric Fence on the Homestead
Summary:
Learn how to utilize and set up an electric fence on the homestead to keep your animals in and predators out.
Details:
Keeping animals confined to their designated areas can be challenging. With the permaculture approach to homesteading, I always have my animals working for me and want them to stay where they should for safety and to complete the job assigned.
Electric fencing is the solution! However, not all electric fencing is created equal. The design of this guide is to equip you with the knowledge you need to get started.
Benefit:
Learning
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Local Harvest
Summary:
Direct-to-Consumer Farm Product Advertising (Free)
Details:
LocalHarvest.org is America's leading local food website. We maintain a definitive and reliable nationwide directory of farms and local food sources.
Benefit:
Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Local Harvest (Facebook Page)
Summary:
Direct-to-Consumer Farm Product Advertising (Free)
Details:
LocalHarvest.org is America's leading local food website. We maintain a definitive and reliable nationwide directory of farms and local food sources.
Benefit:
Learning
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Myshire Farm Quality Quail
Summary:
Quail Farming Thought Leaders
Details:
A family run quail farm that focuses on all things coturnix quail. We raise all our birds on all natural feed. We sell and ship hatching eggs, live birds, and much more! We have two main objectives, to raise and sell healthy quality quail, and to ensure all customers are happy with their order.
Benefit:
Learning
Difficulty:
Martha Stewart (Beginner)
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Resource:
Quail For Profit (Facebook Group)
Summary:
Quail Community Group
Details:
This group is created to help educate, encourage and enthuse others to profit from your quail raising. This will be an interactive group to share your success and failures to help others all over the US and beyond.
Benefit:
Get Help / Community
Difficulty:
Martha Stewart (Beginner)
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Resource:
Raising Meat Chickens
Summary:
This is a primer on raising meat chickens from Justin Rhodes
Details:
After years of raising meat chickens and not really getting anywhere, I implemented some critical changes. As a result, I’ve put together an easy way for homesteaders to get hundreds of pounds of chicken into their freezers in a quick and efficient way.
Benefit:
Learning, Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Raising Pigs For Beginners
Summary:
This is a primer on Pigs from Justin Rhodes.
Details:
Pigs are one of the easiest farm animals to manage and can be one of the best sources of organic meat. Anyone can raise pigs if you have the right space and supplies.
Read on to learn about raising pigs for beginners including feed cost, how much pasture you will need, and how long it takes to raise an American Guinea Hog before it’s time to butcher your pigs.
Benefit:
Learning, Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Using Chickens for Garden Pest Control & Disease in Orchards
Summary:
Learning how to put your chickens to work! Give them a job! Chickens can do much more than just give us eggs and meat.
Details:
Are you a chicken keeper and looking for more ways to use your flock of chickens to help you on your homestead? Are bugs and insects a problem in your garden and you want organic ways to keep them from eating your plants?
Benefit:
Doing
Difficulty:
Little House on The Prairie (Intermediate)
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Resource:
Using the Permaculture Approach for Your Chicken Flock
Summary:
Learning how to put your chickens to work! Give them a job! Chickens can do much more than just give us eggs and meat.
Details:
Have you heard the term “permaculture” before and don’t really know what it means? Permaculture is simply defined as using all resources available to encourage the growth of agricultural ecosystems. Nothing goes to waste, and with some innovative thinking, resources compliment each other.