Start Your Own Mini-Farm

Chicken, Duck & Rabbits to Start

We have discussed in other blog posts about growing your own vegetables in your backyard, but taking that one step further you can extend your mini-farm to include chickens, ducks, or rabbits.

Having a mini-farm so you have access to fresh eggs, your own homegrown chicken for eating, duck eggs, duck meat, and rabbits for rabbit meat has you and your family much more self-sufficient. Plus your homegrown eggs and meat are fresh and can be raised without antibiotics and are GMO-free.

Raising Backyard Chickens for Eggs & Meat

Being able to have your own fresh chicken eggs each day is wonderful, especially with what eggs are starting to cost. You can be sure that the eggs your hens produce are antibiotic and GMO-free, plus eggs that come from your backyard have a longer shelf life.

We offer some tips below for raising chickens for eggs and meat, but one of your best local sources for information about backyard chicken raising is your local Farm Bureau or feed store. So here are some thoughts on backyard chickens:

• Start small because if you are a novice you really don’t know if you will have the time or enjoy the experience of backyard chickens.
• Our suggestion is don’t buy a rooster unless you are dead set on fertile eggs and possibly irritating your neighbors at all hours of the day. Remember that roosters don’t just crow at sun up!
• Start with standard breed chickens instead of exotics, they tend to be hardier and lay larger eggs. Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks are hardy and easy for a beginner to raise.
• Remember the lifespan of a chicken is anywhere from 5-10 years, so this is a commitment, much like taking on a pet.
• Buy a coop, they are experts, or use a time-honored coop design and keep your coop weight lighter so that it be moved on wheels if you decide to go for a smaller coop.
• Remember that chickens need a run and not just a coop, and it is best that your coop run is fenced on all sides and has chicken wire or lightweight fencing material across the top.
• Make your chicken coop varmint proof, by putting chicken wire under the coop and then covering the wire with hay, which chickens love to nibble on.
• Make your laying boxes accessible from the outside of the coop, so it’s easy to pick up eggs each day.
• Keep in mind that you need enough space for each chicken so there isn’t overcrowding and disease and fighting. The minimum rule is 2-3 feet per chicken inside the coop and 8-10 square feet for chickens in the outside run.
• Keep in mind that it takes anywhere between 17 to 26 weeks for hens to start laying. Food intake and quality are important, make sure they are whole grain with at least 17% protein.
• Install an automatic waterier or use the time-honored chicken waterier for your chicken’s water source. Also, make sure you have feed on demand, there are many different automatic feeders available.
• Be sure to gather eggs every day.

Once you have experienced eggs from a backyard chicken, there is no going back to store-bought eggs. The yolks are bright yellow and firm. You can keep a fresh basket of eggs on your countertop, but keep in mind once refrigerator, they need to stay that way. The colors of the eggs are beautiful and eating fresh eggs is an amazing culinary experience–everything you cook or bake just tastes better.

Backyard Ducks for Eggs & Meat

Starting with raising ducks in your backyard can be fun and produce both eggs and meat for your family. The easiest way to get started with ducks is to start with a few ducklings that you buy from your local feed store in the springtime. Another option is buying from a local hatchery or a trusted online source for ducklings. Another option is buying full-grown ducks from a breeder and forgoing the duck-raising process. If you want to be part of the whole duckling-to-duck growth process there are a few things that you need:

• A brooder can be as simple as a large box with hay on the bottom or wood shavings.
• You need a heat source and a heat lamp with a red bulb will substitute for their mother’s body warmth at 90 degrees.
• For bedding you can use either pine shavings or hay, it will need to be changed daily because it will get wet.
• Start your duckling on a duckling starter food that includes vegetables, fruits, and protein.
• The best duck breeds for egg production are: Campbell ducks which can produce 340 eggs a year, Runners that produce about 300 chicken-sized eggs a year, Buffs which are also good meat-producing ducks lay about 200 eggs a year, and Welsh Harlequins which can be raised for both meat and eggs produce about 300 white eggs a year.
• Runners are also non-flying ducks, which helps contain them.
• Keep in mind that ducks are foragers and if loose will eat your landscaping and also your vegetable garden in no time flat. I have seen them take out a 50-foot row of lettuce in minutes! So containment is important with a well-fenced run.
• Ducks need access to water since they can’t swallow food without water.
• If you have leftover kale, romaine, or lettuce from your garden mature ducks love to eat their vegetables and they are also good for them.
• At the end of your vegetable garden season, it’s a great idea to give your ducks access to your garden, they will help eat it down in no time flat plus add nutrients to the soil through their droppings.

Keep in mind that duck eggshells are thicker than chicken eggs so they stay fresh longer. Duck eggs tend to be richer tasting and creamier than chicken eggs with higher amounts of Vitamin D if your ducks are free-range. Duck eggs make for rich omelets and very fluffy and delicious cakes.

Raising Rabbits in Your Backyard

Rabbits are a great multi-use addition to your backyard farm. They are a great source of wool, meat, and manure for your garden. Rabbits take minimal time, space, and money and are also lovely pets. Different breeds of rabbits are known for different purposes. Your top pet rabbits are the Mini-Rex followed by the Dutch, Mini-Lop, and Netherland Dwarf rabbit.

Angora rabbits are known for their wonderful wool-producing attributes where you can pluck straight from their bodies and spin into the finest yarn. New Zealand rabbits and the Giant Chinchilla rabbits are bred for their tasty, high-quality meat.

Rabbits of all breeds produce about 50 pounds of manure a year and it isn’t as hot as chicken manure and makes great fertilizer for plants that need heavy feedings, such as roses and azaleas. What do you need to raise rabbits? Here is the shortlist:

• Rabbits need shelter, food, and water with a cozy place to nest.
• Buying a hutch or building a small hutch is a simple project. You want to make sure that your rabbit hutch is off the ground for digging reasons and also predators.
• Make sure your hutch has multiple levels so the rabbits can jump between the different levels.
• Provide additional run space for your rabbits, they will be happier and healthier.
• Rabbits need shade and well-ventilated living space or a shade tree as cover for their hutch and run space. Rabbits can tolerate cold, but heat is a serious issue for rabbits.
• You will need an automatic feeder and water source, nesting box. Remember rabbits love to gnaw so a wood hutch comes with challenges unless it is lined with wire.
• You should provide 10 square feet of roaming space for each rabbit.  Be sure that it is secure because once they have a taste of your vegetable garden they will find a way to get back there.
• Rabbits are highly efficient natural composters; just like backyard chickens. Rabbit manure is a great amendment to any vegetable garden or mulch around landscaping plants.

If you are considering raising backyard rabbits, consult your local Farm Bureau, feed store, or local breeders for information particular to your area. At Shed Windows and More, we have a great supply of windows and doors that can help you construct a great chicken, duck, or rabbit coop or housing area. We have sizes and choices that you won’t find at a big box store with prices and selections that you can’t beat.