Becky's Homestead

How can I tell if my chickens have worms?

• Pale combs

• Weight loss

• Stopped laying eggs

• Poop on the eggs

If your chickens live outside in a coop just assume they have worms, all animals that live outside have worms and need to be wormed on a regular basis.

There are lots of different worms chickens can get. A couple of them are: hair worms, round worms (the easiest ones to see because they look like spaghetti), tape worms (hard to spot because they’re very small), gape worm (looks like a Y).

What is the best treatment for worms?

We want to use a wormer that kills all the worms, and the eggs, and is all natural and chemical free.

What I use is call Diatomaceous Earth. The reason I like it is it’s chemical free, and it kills all the different kinds of worms.

Particular chemical wormers only work on particular worms. That’s the beauty of DE, it kills all the worms.

How much DE should I give and how often?

For babies:

Wait until they’re a month old before you start to worm – because if you de-worm too young it could constipate them – then once a month mix 1/4 cup of DE per 2lbs of non medicated chick starter. Then just feed them as normal.

For adults:

once a month mix 1 cup of DE per 5lbs of whatever you’re feeding them. Then put that in the automatic feeder and once it’s gone fill it back up as normal.

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Becky shows you how to remove lawn mower blade then she shows you how to change a lawn mower blade. When you're a homesteader you can make small repairs like this to save a lot of money and be a little more self sufficient. If you took your lawn mower into the shop and had them do this blade change it would cost a lot of money...money you can save by doing it yourself.

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The tack is the most important part. Well fitted in good condition. Especially if you’re a beginner.

Pick a calm older well trained horse, don’t be getting on the 3 year old bareback.

Ride the horse in an enclosed arena for the first time.

Be happy starting at the walk, learn to walk first. Give yourself 2 or 3 weeks just learning to walk on the horse.

Have the tack adjusted to you, the saddle in the correct position, the stirrups the correct length, the reigns long enough so you can sit in the right position.

Your legs have to hug the horse, not dangle, because if you kick the horse from your dangling legs it scares the horse, that’s why a lot of horses bolt forward, because they feel this kick out of no where.

You can always use a stepping stool to get on you don’t have to get on with the stirrup.

Always hold the reigns, I’ve seen people be cocky and drop the reigns and the horse will go buck wild and throw them off. And they’ll be black and blue.

Don’t sit with your legs way forward and out, like you’re leaning back in a lazy boy, you’re, not, your sitting on a big animal so sit up and pay attention. Keep your feet in the stirrups don’t sit there with your feet dangling like you’re sitting in a porch swing.

If you need someone to help you at first and lead you around there’s nothing wrong with that, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody, baby steps is the best way to learn stuff.

A girl chicken is called a hen.

A boy chicken is called a rooster.

A hen lays an egg every day, but unless there is a rooster the egg will not be fertile and will never hatch into a baby.

The rooster jumps on the hen and breeds her and the egg gets fertilized inside the hen before she lays it. Chickens are not like fish or frogs where the egg is fertilized outside, with chickens the egg is fertilized inside the hen.

It’s important to keep an eye on the rooster and make sure he’s not too aggressive and hurting the hens. A polite rooster will do a little mating dance to trigger the breeding.

If there is a rooster with the hen the eggs she lays will be fertile, and if she sits on the fertile eggs for 21 days they will hatch into baby chickens.

Never ever put new babies in with older hens. The big ones will always beat up the little ones and kill them. When you put chickens together they have to be the same size. Chickens don’t know age they just know size.

In the winter when you’re feeding whole corn, make double triple sure you have plenty of grit available at all times. It takes a lot of grit to grind up the whole corn.

De-worming your chickens is very important. Three times a year put a half cup of diatomaceous earth in the continuous feeder. Or use 1 tablespoon of diatomaceous per chicken in the continuous feeder.

Keep the water clean. If the water isn’t clean the chickens will get sick.

Make sure the coop has sunshine and shade. And they need good privacy in the nest area and sleeping area.

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Becky gives you some girl power inspiration. One woman really can accomplish a lot in life. This inspiring true story shows young woman everywhere that they have endless girl power and that a determined woman can accomplish anything!

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Becky's Guide To Buying Land, get the eBook here.

One way to buy property when you have no money…you're poor and you have no credit. And you feel like it’s a hopeless situation. Well I’m here to tell you it’s not. I know because this is exactly what I did, and now I’m mortgage free.

In this homesteading video Becky explains step by step how to buy land if you're poor and have no money and no credit or bad credit.

Becky shows you how to winterize a chicken coop. She starts by demolishing her old chicken coop and rebuilding it using corral boards. Corral boards are great because they’re pressure treated for the outdoors and they’re pretty affordable.

The whole idea to winterizing your chicken coop is to protect your chicken from the wind, rain, and snow. They’ll grow in thicker downy feathers, so as long as you can keep them dry and safe from the wind they can make it through the winter.

Becky also talks about how if she lived in a colder climate she would put a window in her chicken coop because chickens need sunlight. And she would keep the chickens in the coop all the time during the coldest months.

Becky's Amazon Link: http://goo.gl/Y9Vgmj

Becky’s Easy To Build Chicken Coop Design: http://beckyshomestead.com/portfolio/chicken-coop-designs-how-to-build-the-flip-coop/