I've read that you need a cream separator (see one HERE) and butter churn for making goat milk butter, but we've come up with a method that doesn't require either of those pieces of equipment. Instead, we manually separate the cream from the goat milk and use a KitchenAid mixer to churn the butter. It takes a few days, but the cream in the goat milk does separate and rise to the top of the jars we use for storing the milk; so we just spoon the cream off and add it to a freezer ... continue reading...
What Causes Double Yolks?
Many folks question what causes chickens to sometimes produce double yolks in their eggs, so here's an attempt at the explanation. To Understand What Causes Double Yolk Eggs You Need To Learn About Hens Reproductive System A hen’s reproductive system (for more in-depth discussion click HERE) consists of an ovary and an oviduct. The ovary contains undeveloped egg yolks. The number of yolks (or ovum) that are contained here are the total number of eggs that the chicken can lay in her ... continue reading...
Monster Zucchini? Chickens Love Zucchini!
Chickens really do love zucchini! The recent rains were very welcome but caused some monster zucchini to grow in our garden – they are really much larger than I want to use for cooking. So, what's one to do with all those monster zucchini? Feed them to the chickens, of course. They'll eat them immediately and the zucchini are good for the chickens too. To feed zucchini to the chickens, simply split the zucchini in half down the middle, that gives the chickens access to ... continue reading...
Chickens Don’t Take Water Baths – They Take Dust Baths!
Watching a chicken take a dust bath is one of the funniest chicken behaviors to observe (but it's often disturbing the first time new chicken-keepers observe it). What Is Dust Bathing? The chickens find some warm, dry, loose material like dirt, sand, or mulch; and proceed to dig themselves in. They’ll dig and dig, throwing dirt all over themselves, and make happy noises while doing it. One place ours like to bath is beneath a window with a bench seat, and we enjoy sitting there ... continue reading...
What Are Polled Goats?
A “polled” goat (of any breed) is one that is naturally born without horns. Almond Joy in the first large picture below is polled while her sister Toffee in the second large picture below is not. You can see a small blackened area on Toffee's head where her horn buds have been burned off (a process called disbudding). In the photo to the right, the goat kid on the left is polled while the one on the right is horned. When they're babies, it's not always easy to tell which are polled and ... continue reading...
Feeding Nigerian Dwarf Goat Bucks, Wethers, and Buck Kids
There are many different ways to approach feeding goat bucks and wethers; however, here are a few recommendations that many goat owners do seem to agree on. How To Feed Goat Bucks, Wethers, & Buck Kids To maintain good condition and avoid issues with urinary calculi (where the urinary tract becomes blocked by stones that have formed), bucks and wethers should be fed a diet low in protein with a specific ratio of calcium to phosphorus. To do this, they should get (free ... continue reading...
Basic Health Care Supplies – Nigerian Dwarf Goats
If you're planning to own Nigerian Dwarf goats, it’s a good idea to gather these basic health care supplies and learn the dosages so you can keep your goats healthy. The list below is not a comprehensive list of health care supplies to have on hand to deal with any health issue, but it’s a start on those that deal with the most common ailments you might encounter. It does not include the basics to have on hand for pregnant does, freshening does, and newborn kids (see Goat Kidding Supplies ... continue reading...
Easy Homemade Glass Cleaner
I wanted to find an easy, non-toxic homemade glass cleaner that would work just as well as the commercial version. And, be so inexpensive that you'd be crazy to go pay $5.50 for it (that's what a bottle of Windex® was going for at the store). What's In Easy, Homemade Glass Cleaner? Homemade glass cleaner recipes generally start with vinegar and water, and then add alcohol and/or cornstarch. I know, cornstarch? But, having tried recipes of vinegar/water, vinegar/water/alcohol, and ... continue reading...