Can chickens eat sunflower seeds is a common question. A proper diet is vital to your chickens’ health and development. Providing your birds the right scientifically formulated feed for their stage of life ensures that they receive all the essential nutrients and minerals they need to grow and thrive. While treats and kitchen scraps given regularly can undermine a flock’s absorption of necessary nutrients, an occasional snack offered in moderation will not only not derail your chickens’ diet but can also help develop a better bond between you and your birds.
Feed Sunflower Seeds for Added Energy
A favorite tidbit—and one easily found at feed shops, farm-supply stores and even supermarkets—is black oil sunflower seeds. Commonly used in wild-bird feeders, black oil sunflower seeds contain approximately 50 percent fat and 20 percent protein, making them a great source of energy.
These seeds also feature thin shells, making them easy for chickens (and other birds) to eat. Because of their fat and protein content, black oil sunflower seeds should be fed in very small amounts, approximately a tablespoon for a flock of three to six birds.
To offer the seeds, scatter them around your chicken run or yard to not only treat your hens but also provide them with exercise. If your birds are docile, you can also offer black oil sunflower seeds from your palm. Be sure to hold your palm open and flat rather than cupped to prevent beaks from accidentally grabbing your skin instead of seeds.
Sunflower seeds sold in the snack section of supermarkets should never be offered to chickens. Processed for human consumption, these types of sunflower seeds typically contain sodium, flavorings and preservatives, which are unhealthy for birds to consume.
Farm-supply and wild-bird stores usually sell sunflower hearts, which are the shelled sunflower kernel. You can offer sunflower hearts to your flock if you are averse to sunflower shells strewed throughout your yard or run. Sunflower hearts run a bit more expensive than unshelled seed, but they are better for your garden, as sunflower seed shells contain allelopathic toxins , which prevent other seeds—including grass seed—from germinating.
Another option your chickens and you may both enjoy would be to plant a black oil sunflower garden. Black oil sunflowers grow to a height of 8 to 10 feet and feature golden yellow petals around a large brown center. These tall plants will provide shade for your flock and beautiful blooms for you to admire.
The flowers’ centers will be chock full of seeds at harvest time, provided wild birds don’t get to them first. Wild birds adore black oil sunflower seeds, so be aware that offering these seeds to your chickens may mean you’ll have some freeloaders hanging about.
This article about can chickens eat sunflower seeds was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
A chicken tractor can provide your chickens with the benefits of free-ranging while keeping them safe from predators. Here’s our guide to an enclosed and movable run to get your flock up and out of the coop.
Chicken Tractor Musts
Faux free-ranging uses a chicken tractor or another moveable run to give chickens and other poultry daily access to fresh greens and bugs while keeping them safe from predators. You can purchase a chicken tractor from a manufacturer or go online to find some neat plans and build your own.
Whether you construct your own or buy an already-assembled chicken tractor, there are several things you should include.
10 to 15 square feet of room for each chicken (if you can allow it, more space is better)
Nesting boxes for laying hens
Protection from aerial predators, ground-dwelling predators and digging predators
Easily moveable (Preferably, your chicken tractor should have wheels and a handle to push or pull your run to the next pasture.)
An attached predator-proof coop if you are housing chickens in a chicken tractor overnight.
Now that you know what your chicken tractor should include, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of predator-proofing.
faux free-ranging free-range chickens
Safety First
There is no point in faux free-ranging if predators can still gain access to your flock. If a predator enters the chicken tractor, there is no way for your trapped chickens to escape their deadly fate. Take all necessary precautions to protect your flock from all predator attacks to ensure your and your flock’s peace of mind.
There are several ways to prevent predators from attacking your flock. Overhead protection, heavy-gauge wire and predator skirts are some of the best ways to protect your chickens.
Aerial Protection
A 16-gauge half-inch hardware cloth is one of the best ways to deter climbing and aerial predators from accessing your chicken tractor through the roof.
Securing the top of the run with a weatherproof, heavy-duty tarp provides an out-of-sight, out-of-mind barrier so aerial predators can’t see the chickens. It will also offer protection from the hot summer sun.
Heavy Gauge Wiring
Even though chicken wire is known as the all-purpose wire to keep chickens in and predators out, the truth is chicken wire does little to protect your flock. Chicken wire is so flimsy that foxes and raccoons have no problems chewing right through it.
To completely keep predators out, use a PVC-coated 16-gauge half-inch hardware cloth.
Predator Skirts
Attaching predator skirts to the bottom outside the perimeter of your chicken tractor will prevent digging predators from accessing your run. To do this, you will need three tools.
PVC-coated 16-gauge 3/4-inch hardware cloth
Heavy-duty zip ties
Metal stakes
Attach 18 inches of hardware cloth to the bottom outside the perimeter of the run. Secure in place by driving the stakes through the hardware cloth into the ground.
Healthy Flock
Daily access to pasture is crucial to keeping your flock healthy by providing chickens access to the fresh greens and bugs they need.
Faux-free-ranging reduces stress and anxiety while lessening your flock’s chances of contracting coccidiosis, internal parasites and other poultry-related diseases.
A Chicken Tractor = Better Eggs
Have you ever checked out the comparison between pasture-raised or free-range eggs and meat versus non-free-range? Free-range eggs contain a quarter less saturated fat, three times more vitamin E, twice the amount of omega-3 fatty acids, a quarter less cholesterol, seven times more beta carotene, and two-thirds more vitamin A.
Free-ranging chickens also produce higher-quality meat containing more iron, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants than non-pastured chickens. To learn more about the benefits of consuming pastured-raised chickens, click here.
Throw in how much better your eggs and meat will taste, and it’s a win-win.
So yes, with faux-free-ranging, it is possible to keep your chickens safe from predators and provide your flock with the health benefits of a free-range diet while providing you with healthier eggs and meat.
This article about using a chicken tractor to free-range a flock was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
Can chickens and goats live together? It’s a common question as many hobby farmers are looking for increased self-sufficiency and decreased reliance on traditional food sources like grocery stores. One popular method of achieving this is to add productive livestock such as goats and chickens for their milk, eggs and meat.
Space limitations, however, sometimes restrict the types of animals that can be supported on a farm.
Fortunately, goats and chickens are two species that can successfully pasture together to conserve space, so long as you take the proper precautions. Things to consider when planning to jointly pasture goats and chickens include the benefits, disease transmission, pasture size and plants, housing and fencing.
Pasturing Together Benefits
Can chickens and goats live together in a single pasture does take some additional planning, work and effort. So, you need to decide whether the benefits are worthwhile.
The potential advantages of pasturing chickens and goats jointly include the following.
It’s generally less costly to fence one pasture area as opposed to two.
Pasture access should reduce the amount of hay and grain concentrate needed for feeding.
The exercise that livestock get foraging is good for them and helps keep them healthy.
Pasturing chickens improves the flavor and nutritional content of chicken meat and eggs.
Pastured chickens help control flies, ticks and goat parasites on the farm.
Goldilock Project/Adobe Stock
Disease Transmission
A common concern about can chickens and goats live together is disease transmission. But, in reality, it’s seldom an issue.
Goats and chickens are susceptible to coccidiosis, a disease of the intestinal tract caused by the parasite coccidia. But coccidia are species-specific and aren’t transmitted between goats and chickens.
However, Melissa Holahan, a veterinarian as well as the creator of Goat Melk Soap Co. and owner of Chubb E. Acres Farm, does caution that chickens may shed the bacteria salmonella in their droppings.
“Although rare, they could transfer to the goats—mostly from the goats laying in soiled bedding,” she says. “This could have the potential to get on the udder, causing transfer to the goat kids or milk for human consumption.”
Adult goats or chickens usually have sufficiently robust immune systems to resist serious sickness from coccidia or salmonella. But young or sick chickens and goats are susceptible to developing parasite or bacteria overload and disease. The main indicator is diarrhea, which is followed by dehydration, weakness and death in serious cases.
To avoid these diseases, prevent overcrowding and keep your livestock areas clean. If your chickens or goats show signs of diarrhea or illness, immediately quarantine them and call a veterinarian.
The faster they get treatment, the more likely they are to survive.
Pasture Size
The number of chickens and goats that can successfully pasture together in a given area depends primarily on the breed sizes that you intend to keep. If larger breeds are kept, then fewer livestock can be accommodated.
Also, you should always plan on at least two goats because they are herd creatures and need a goat companion to be happy. The examples below assume 5-pound hens, 75-pound Nigerian Dwarf does and 135-pound Nubian does.
Stocking Rates
The general rule of thumb for pasturing chickens is no more than 50 to 80 chickens per acre. At any higher stocking densities, the chickens eventually completely denude the pasture and add too much manure for the pasture to regrow.
This stocking density assumes that the chickens have continuous access to a nutritionally complete chicken feed. That’s because you can’t rely on the pasture to supply balanced levels of nutrients for that many chickens year-round.
When you add goats, the number of chickens per acre needs to be reduced. For example, if two Nigerian Dwarf does were added, then about 30 fewer chickens could be accommodated.
Each goat would replace about 15 chickens (75 pounds/5 pounds = 15). So, using the more conservative 50 chickens per acre rule-of-thumb, a 1-acre pasture could sustainably accommodate about two Nigerian Dwarf goats and 20 chickens:
75/5 = 15; 15 x 2 = 30; 50-30 = 20
Alternately, using 80 chickens per acre as the starting point, four Nigerian Dwarf does and 20 chickens could be accommodated:
75/5 = 15; 15×4 = 60; 80-60 = 20
Or, if adding larger Nubian does, it would drop to two does and 26 chickens:
135/5 = 27; 27×2 = 54; 80-54 = 26
Again, this stocking density assumes that the goats have access to a nutritionally balanced diet in addition to pasture forage.
Conditions vary significantly from farm to farm. So does the optimum stocking density, but the previous examples provide a starting range. In general, it’s better to plan on lower densities because overcrowding increases the risk for disease and parasites.
On our farm, we found that around 12 to 15 Nigerian Dwarf goats and 20 to 25 chickens co-exist well on about 4 fenced acres.
Carola Schubbel/Adobe Stock
Pasture Plants
Chickens aren’t picky about pasture conditions. Even with continuous access to chicken feed, chickens do a lot of foraging. They’ll scratch and eat the nutritious vegetation down at ground level while avoiding questionable or poisonous plants. If you’re concerned about predators, a chicken tractor can be a good option to make sure your chickens have access to foraging.
Goats, however, prefer to reach up to browse rather than down to graze like sheep or cattle. That means areas with woody underbrush make excellent goat pastures.
Making goats reach down to graze on a grassy pasture isn’t ideal. This forces the goats to eat where intestinal parasites (spread via manure) thrive and increases the likelihood of internal parasite problems.
Goats are happy to eat things that we consider weeds such as poison ivy and multiflora rose. There are, however, plants that are extremely toxic to goats. These plants should be eradicated from pastures before allowing goats to browse.
Azalea, hemlock, mountain laurel, rhododendron, rhubarb and wild cherry are all plants that are highly poisonous to goats and should be removed from their pastures.
Cornell University maintains a reference list of plants toxic to goats. It would, however, be impractical to remove every plant on its list. Fortunately, if goats have access to sufficient quantities of nonpoisonous plants, they’ll usually avoid or only nibble those that are mildly toxic to them.
Can Chickens and Goats Live Together – Housing
Although it’s feasible to jointly pasture chickens and goats, it’s not a good idea to house them together. That’s because goats are finicky and chickens put droppings everywhere.
If a chicken puts droppings in a goat hay feeder, then the goats won’t eat it. You’ll have wasted hay. Or if the chicken puts droppings in the water bucket, the goats won’t drink it.
Because goats need plenty of water to produce milk, housing chickens with goats means frequently cleaning and refreshing water buckets.
In addition to the dropping problems, access to chicken feed is an issue for goats. Goats love chicken feed and will go to great lengths to get it. But once they start eating, they don’t know when to quit and will gorge on it. This leads to bloat, which can easily be fatal.
Finally, even if the chickens have nice, safe nest boxes, for some reason, they love to lay eggs in the goats’ hay.
Keep ‘Em Separated
To prevent these problems, it’s best to house, feed and water chickens in a separate coop and goats in the barn. It’s generally easy to keep goats out of a coop simply by making the chicken access door too small for the goats. Then you can provide the chickens with free-choice feed and water inside the coop without worrying about goats getting in.
Keeping goat kids out may be a bigger problem.
“It amazes me that goat kids can squeeze through literally the smallest doors!” Holahan says. “The only chicken door design that seemed to defy the goat kids was making a pop hole just wide enough for one chicken at a time and elevating it.”
It can also be difficult to keep chickens out of the goats’ pens. Unless you turn your goats out to pasture and shut the barn doors, the chickens are likely to eventually get in. We minimized this problem by placing livestock access to the chicken coop and goat pens on opposite sides of the barn. That way, most of the chickens never found the goat pen entrance doors.
But, there’s always a rogue bird that figures it out and starts teaching other chickens. In that case, we isolated that bird for a few days and it would forget how to get to the goat pens. If a few birds do get into the goats’ quarters and eat a bit of hay or grain, it’s generally not detrimental to the birds. It’s just the issues with chicken droppings and eggs.
Pasture Fencing
Fencing a pasture is a long-term investment. It pays to make sure it’s done correctly.
Many predators think pastured animals look particularly tasty. So consider livestock fencing to keep predators out, as well as keeping in livestock. Several different materials can be used for fencing, but for goats and chickens, the fence should be at least four feet high.
Woven wire fencing and cattle panels are two popular options.
Cattle panels are 16 feet long and can be configured in many ways. They can also be cut into smaller sections.
Woven wire fencing is a common choice, but it should be supported with sturdy posts set relatively close together (10 feet or less) for stability and to prevent sagging. If using cattle panels or woven wire to create pastures intended for chickens or dwarf goats, it’s important to use a smaller 2-by-4-inch mesh size (at least near the bottom) rather than the standard 4-by-4-inch mesh to keep the chickens and goat kids from slipping out.
Electric fencing can also be used to contain goats and chickens, but the strands need to be spaced fairly close together to keep them in. Alternatively, electric fencing can be used in conjunction with other fencing types to prevent predators from getting in and discourage any goats or chickens from getting out.
This is generally accomplished by installing electric fencing along the top and near the bottom on the outside of cattle panel or woven wire fencing. Welded wire fencing is not recommended for goats because they rub and stand on the fence. This will break the welds and eventually destroy the fence. Some keepers use chain-link fencing, but it’s expensive—especially when fencing large areas.
Farmers have pastured livestock species together for centuries. With a proper setup, it’s fairly easy to successfully pasture chickens and goats together. As long as you prepare for a few special needs, they happily co-exist and provide delicious eggs, milk and meat for your farm.
This article about can chickens and goats live together originally appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.
What not to feed chickens is as important as knowing what to feed chickens. When it comes to kitchen scraps, nothing beats chickens! These voracious omnivores will devour any leftovers coming from your fridge, table or prep counter. I keep a covered crock on my kitchen counter, which quickly fills with vegetable peels, corn cobs, unwanted rice and other tidbits destined for the chicken run.
Just because chickens can eat everything, however, doesn’t mean they should. These four foods are toxic and potentially deadly for chickens.
What Not to Feed Chickens – Spinach
Fresh spinach salads are a summer-meal staple, tossed with everything from sliced eggs and chopped walnuts to crunchy pepitas and juicy strawberries. While these toppings are totally safe for chickens, the spinach itself is not.
Spinach leaves contain oxalic acid, which binds with calcium, blocking its absorption into the body. This can be catastrophic for laying hens, leading to soft-shelled or no-shelled eggs, egg binding and skeletal issues. Also known as oxalates, oxalic acid can also cause kidney stones and renal failure.
How much spinach is too much? The answer varies, since no two birds are alike and flock owners define “in moderation” differently. Proponents of feeding chickens spinach point out that small amounts are beneficial to birds, due to all the nutritional positives provided by this leafy green … nutrients and vitamins that are already fully provided by chicken feed.
The safest option for your flock is to not offer spinach at all and, instead, provide safer greens such as dandelion leaves and beet greens, both of which are abundant during the summer. For me, toxic foods are best kept away from chickens altogether!
What Not to Feed Chickens – Potatoes
Whole potatoes, wrapped in aluminum foil and cooked amidst charcoal briquettes, were part of every family cookout during my childhood. My sons, for some reason, dislike baked potatoes but adore potato salad and hand-cut fries, both of which are essential parts of our summer dining menus.
The sheer number of potatoes I peel to feed our family of six would floor you … and possibly earn me honorary citizenship in Idaho.
During prep, I make sure to carefully gather all my potato peels and carefully dispose of them in the trash. As much as I dislike adding biomass to the local landfill, I also understand that potato peels are laden with the alkaloid solanine, a toxin common to plants in the nightshade family.
Effects of solanine ingestion by chickens include diarrhea, dizziness, arrhythmia, paralysis and death. Even buts of green potato flesh contain enough solanine to endanger your chickens. Because my birds free range—and to avoid potentially poisoning wildlife—my raw potato peels never get composted. However, fully cooked potatoes—and their peels—can be safely ingested by chickens.
So remember: cooked potatoes are fine, but raw potatoes are one of the toxic food you must not give chickens.
What Not to Feed Chickens – Avocado
Avocados and summer go hand in hand. I fondly recall plucking ripe avocados from my grandmother’s trees when I was a child. My Uncle George and I would sit on the low wall surrounding the garden, eagerly diving into these delicious home-grown treats with our spoons.
Every now and then, the avocados I picked were nowhere near ripe. My uncle would amuse himself by hurling these into the garbage bin. Every now and then, my grandmother would scold him, telling him we could always just set the unripe fruit on the wall to ripen for a few days. My uncle’s expression would grow serious and he’d reply, “You know we can’t.”
I never understood his mysterious words and solemn expression until years later, when I learned that not even a half ounce of avocado flesh was enough to fatally poison a parakeet. It’s not just the avocado flesh: the skin, the pit, even the leaves all contain the toxin persin, which can cause labored breathing, myocardial necrosis (heart-tissue death) and death within hours of ingestion.
Enjoy adding avocados to your summer salads and tacos but toss all leftovers, skins, pits and leaves in the trash. As far as foods toxic to chickens go, this is one of the really big ones!
What Not to Feed Chickens – Stone Fruit
Peaches, nectarines and cherries abound during the summer months. My husband Jae and I love going to our local farmers’ market to stock up on these fresh summer fruits, which we eat as snacks, as dessert and as ingredients in light, healthful entrees.
Our birds adore these fresh fruits as well and, when our enthusiasm causes us to buy more fruit than we can actually eat, we share them with our chickens … but not before we remove the pits.
All members of the Prunus genus—which includes chokecherries, almonds, apricots, cherries, nectarines and peaches—contain pits high in amygdalin. Amygdalin converts into the toxin cyanide when digested. Chickens poisoned by cyanide typically die with 15 to 30 minutes of ingesting the poison, which prevents cells from absorbing and using oxygen, causing irreversible cellular damage and death.
Share your summer fruits with your flock, as long as you first put the pits in their place: safely in the garbage can.
This article about what not to feed chickens was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
The chicken perch is a vital part of a chicken coop. Learn from one chicken keeper’s experience why having the right chicken perch can make a big difference to your flock’s health and happiness.
Meet Joseph…
Joseph recently reached out to me about an issue with his flock. He lives a few miles north of us, in a rural-zoned area in the next county. As such, he can keep an unlimited number of chickens on his property. He specifically chose to keep just laying hens and has about two dozen Orpingtons, Easter Eggers and Welsummers for a variety of egg colors.
He’d kept them in a small garden shed, allowing them to roost overnight wherever they pleased. But he invested in an actual coop earlier this spring.
That’s when the problem started. He noticed that his hens were acting jumpy and stressed out in the morning, as though they’d stayed up all night or had drunk a lot of strong coffee. Egg production then decreased.
Finally, injuries started cropping up on many of his girls. He spied bloodied combs, bleeding heads, missing back feathers and injured toes.
Joseph was stumped. “These look like rooster-mating injuries,” he told me. But there are no roosters in his flock.
No Obvious Reason
He inspected the entire coop to see if there was any way that a small predator had gotten in and was gnawing at, scratching up and stressing out his hens. Nothing. Everything was securely covered in fine hardware mesh and well-caulked.
He checked the fence around his yard to see if anything had dug under or broken through. It was also completely intact.
Joseph even spent an entire day working on his laptop from a vantage point where he could observe the coop and his flock and still pick up his home’s WiFi signal. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than the anxious, injured hens.
At a complete loss, he asked for my advice. I was just as perplexed by what he had described. I didn’t know how much I could really help him, but I figured I’d at least try.
The Chicken Coop
Joseph took me back to see his new coop. It is a real stunner that matches his colonial-style home. Lidded nest boxes were located on the south side of the structure, with a storage area on the north side and a pop door and ramp leading from the front of the coop down to his yard. The coop is elevated, allowing the girls to retreat beneath it for some cool shade on hot, sunny days.
There were even window boxes on the front windows. (Joseph hadn’t decided what to plant there yet.)
Everything looked perfect. Frankly, I was green with envy. But then I opened up the back access doors and discovered the cause of the problem.
The Chicken Perch
Inside the main section of the coop was a feeding and watering alcove large enough to allow multiple birds to drink and eat simultaneously. Both the feeder and waterer were easily accessible for quick refilling. No problem there.
The other part of the coop featured three perches, still relatively new and clean, extending from the alcove wall to the south wall, just above the entrances to the nest boxes. The perches were approximately 10 or so inches away from each other—a little close, but the chickens could still squeeze up between the roosts to perch.
The problem, from what I could tell, was the chicken perch. He didn’t have a laddered perch for his chickens. The chicken perch was all on the same level.
Chickens are extremely social animals, with a well-developed hierarchy within a flock. There is an alpha female (and male, if roosters are kept). That alpha female rules the chicken perch.
She will usually have a few trusted hen friends who serve as her lieutenants. Together, this oligarchy sets the pecking order within the flock.
The younger hens and pullets are usually amongst the lowest ranks, along with any new additions to the flock. Every bird knows her place and understands that the queen bee and her court of chickens get the prime perch, the best nesting box, the choicest dustbathing area and first dibs at the feeder.
This is the way of the chicken. A happy, well-adjusted flock tends to have a well-maintained pecking order.
Chicken Perch Position
By having the three chicken perches in his coop on the same plane, Joseph inadvertently interfered with his flock’s social hierarchy. All of his hens were now sleeping at the same level. The alpha hen and her court were now on par with every other girl in the coop.
Regardless of which roost the flock leaders chose for themselves, there would always be other birds at their level. This undoubtedly caused confusion for the flock when they first moved in and caused the birds to feel stressed.
As the hens adapted to their new home, the perch positions continued to cause trouble. Lower-rank chickens could inadvertently roost on the alpha hen’s chosen perch. Hens wishing to rise in rank or challenge the alpha could purposely position themselves on her roost.
The alpha hen and her lieutenants not only had to defend their pole position but also had to continually remind the rest of the flock about who was in charge. And with the perches being so close to each other, the leaders could easily reach other girls to deliver a peck or other physical blow.
All this occurred in the name of maintaining social hierarchy.
2. Countering Cannibalism
Aside from the pecking order issue, crowding on the chicken perches may also have caused problems for Joseph’s birds. While chickens do snuggle together at night while they sleep, they start moving about and spreading out in the pre-dawn hours. Because of this, each bird must have about six to 10 inches of perch space they can call their own.
Each of Joseph’s perches was 48 inches in length, which would accommodate eight birds per roost … if all of Joseph’s girls were small birds. With large-sized Orpingtons, however—and his flock leaders were indeed Buff Orpingtons—more room per bird was needed.
While eight Easter Eggers could fit on one perch comfortably, only four Orpington chickens could do the same. Joseph’s two dozen girls were overcrowded. Overcrowding is one of the main causes of cannibalism in chickens.
The stress and injuries his flock suffered not only matched a pecking-order issue but were also signs of chicken cannibalism.
While Joseph’s flock was only a couple of years old and not yet at this point, eventually his chickens will reach an age where jumping up to a high perch will no longer be possible. This will also be true should he decide to add breeds that become very large, such as Jersey Giants and Brahmas.
A lower perch will allow larger girls and older chickens to still roost off the ground without the risk of injuring themselves hopping up or down from a higher chicken perch.
Joseph seemed surprised by my conclusions. He’d watched videos online of coops that had a similar arrangement for their roosts. Still, he was willing to try anything to bring some peace to his flock.
He removed the front two perches and reinstalled them with new wall supports at one and two feet down from the third perch … and at 16 inches apart. When he checked on his girls that very first night, he was once again surprised.
His alpha hen and her buddies were on the high perch, all by themselves. The rest of the flock cozied up on the bottom two rungs, his younger hens on the bottom.
The next morning, he reported back that his chickens emerged from his coop looking content and well-rested for the first time since they moved in. I’m sure that, should I drive up to visit, I’d find a happy group of girls, injuries healed, and one relieved flock owner.
This article about chicken perches was written for Chickens magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
Presidents were also the nation’s founding farmers as the young nation’s political and thought leaders knew the importance of agriculture and—more importantly, sustainable agriculture—to America’s success. They wrote about how to grow enough food to feed a booming population and how to boost soil health. Our presidents also learned how to farm in a way that prevents soil erosion.
From Mount Vernon to Monticello, many of the key conservation practices that USDA recommends producers use on their farms have roots with our founding farmers. These presidents include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, as well as innovators such as Ben Franklin.
A Farmer First
“Farming technique was Washington’s principal intellectual discipline, his favorite topic of conversation and the focus of his private correspondence,” says historian Garry Wills.
When British troops closed in on New York City in 1776, then-Gen. Washington temporarily put aside his battle plans to pen a letter to the steward of Mount Vernon about his farm.
Mount Vernon (Wang Sing/Shutterstock
Presidents Had the “First” Crop Experiment Stations
Washington studied and implemented ways to improve his farming methods at Mount Vernon, his 8,000-acre homestead and network of farms in Virginia near what would later become Washington, D.C.
Washington took meticulous notes, and he experimented quite often. The same is true of Jefferson, the nation’s third president, known for hundreds of varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs grown at Monticello near Charlottesville, Virginia.
With everything so unstudied—soils, weather, crops, pests, weeds and farming methods—the founding farmers ran unofficial demonstration farms.
Franklin, although known for his inventions, bought a New Jersey farm where he retired. He managed the land like a “miniature experiment station, carrying on projects in drainage, in crop rotation and especially in the utilization of the newer grasses and liming and fertilization,” wrote historian Earle D. Ross.
And of Washington, historian Albert Bushnell Hart wrote: “He established what I believe to have been the first agricultural experiment station in American history.”
Unknowingly, our early presidents were among the earliest proponents of soil health in America. They used crop rotations and organic fertilizers to boost soil health and production. Many of the farming methods implemented on their farms align with conservation practices that USDA recommends to farmers today.
Ten years after the republic was born, Washington began to reconfigure fields on his farms. He changed from a one-crop tobacco system to a seven-crop system growing wheat, corn and legumes. Wheat was the principal cash crop and corn fed his livestock. Legumes,in turn, fed the soil.
America’s fifth president, James Monroe, was also a farmer. He left tobacco for a multi-crop system of grains. Historian Harlow Giles Unger wrote: “To keep his fields fertile, he rotated his crops, setting some fields aside for a season of clover … to revitalize the soil.”
Montpelier Station (Andriy Blokhin/Shutterstock)
Not Going out of Style
Conservation crop rotation is among more than 100 conservation practices the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service helps farmers plan and implement because of its many benefits to soil and production. Similarly, contour farming and cover crops, which were found on farms on the early days of our republic, are still used today.
While visiting France, Jefferson saw farmers planting to the contour of the land rather than in straight lines. He wrote: “Our country is hilly, and we have been in the habit of ploughing in straight rows … and our soil was rapidly running into rivers.”
He also used contour farming at Monticello, putting him ahead of his contemporaries.
Washington’s cropping systems included cover crops to prevent erosion and improve soil. Mount Vernon researcher Jinny Fox wrote: “He rotates crops; first he tries buckwheat and later switches to clover.”
Lincoln was raised on farms in Indiana and Illinois. Who would know better than a farmer-turned-president about the importance of the government supporting agriculture? He advocated for the creation of the USDA and signed the law that created it.
More than 150 years later, the USDA offers a variety of risk management, disaster, loan and conservation programs to help agricultural producers build resiliency and endure the ups and downs of the market.
For more information on conservation practices—including conservation crop rotation, contour farming and cover crops—as well as other USDA programs and services, contact your nearest USDA service center.
This article about presidents that were farmers originally appeared in the May/June 2019 issue of Hobby Farmsmagazine. Click here to subscribe.
Presidential pets include the normal cats and dogs and also chickens. Here’s the scoop on six presidents who notably reared chickens…or kept them as pets.
Our first president made certain that his estate, Mount Vernon, functioned as a farm in addition to a manor house. At this 18th-century mansion, located just outside Alexandria, Virginia, George Washington raised hogs and chickens … but not always.
Back in the 1700s, it was the lady of the house who oversaw the plantation’s poultry. Thanks to a letter written by Washington to his servant, John Alton, one can assume that Washington did not keep any type of flock prior to his marriage to Martha.
Written just months after the marriage and just before the new family’s arrival at Mount Vernon, the letter instructs Alton to get the manor ready for its new mistress, including “get some Egg’s [sic] and Chickens.” The Washingtons eventually raised chickens and turkeys for their eggs and their meat.
2. Thomas Jefferson
The archives at Monticello feature many references to poultry made by our third president over more than 30 years. These historical documents seem to indicate that Thomas Jefferson has a fondness for fancier fowl.
“Thin the trees …. Keep in it deer, rabbits, Peacocks, Guinea poultry, pidgeons &c. Let it be an asylum for hares, squirrels, pheasants, partridges …. court them to it by laying food for them in proper places….” 1771
“how go on the Bantams? I rely on you for their care, as I do on Anne for the Algerine fowls, & on our arrangements at Monticello for the East Indians. these varieties are pleasant for the table & furnish an agreeable diversification in our domestic occupations.” June 29, 1807
“I expect a pair of wildgeese of a family which have been natives for several generations, but they will hardly be here in time for Davy. they are entirely domesticated, beautiful, have a very musical note, & are much superior to the tame for the table.” November 1, 1807
Most of Monticello’s everyday chickens were not raised by Jefferson but by his slaves. The archives note that, on September 29, 1805, the kitchen staff purchased 117 chickens and 564 eggs from Monticello’s slaves.
Jefferson, like many 1800s upper-class Americans, could not be bothered to breed your run-of-the-mill chicken. His pastime of choice was keeping ornamental birds and bantams, such as the critically endangered Pyncheon bantam that historians believe Jefferson bred.
3. Abraham Lincoln
Honest Abe was a softie when it came to his sons, Tad and Willie. He allowed the boys to keep as many presidential pets as they wished, undoubtedly to the horror of the White House housekeeping staff.
In addition to the children’s pet rabbits and goats, Jack the turkey held a special place in Tad Lincoln’s heart. Jack was originally destined for the Lincoln family’s dinner table, but Tad came across the bird and begged his father to spare his life. The indulgent papa agreed, and Jack became a household fixture. Jack could often be seen strutting outside on the White House grounds, even amongst Union soldiers who’d come to vote during the Civil War.
According to the Clinton White House archives, Lincoln and his personal secretary, Noah Brooks, once observed Jack promenading around the voting booth. “Why is your turkey at the polls?” Lincoln asked his son. “Does he vote?” Tad replied, “No, he’s not of age yet.”
4. Theodore Roosevelt
Ol’ Rough Rider Teddy was renowned for his hunting prowess, but he was also known for keeping quite a menagerie of living animals on the White House grounds. Among the Roosevelt presidential pets were a bear, a lizard, guinea pigs, a badger, a hyena, a barn owl and a pony.
The family animals also included a one-legged rooster (pictured above) that could frequently been seen hopping around the White House. There was a hen named Baron Sprackle who so befriended Roosevelt’s parrots, Loretta and Eli Yale, that Roosevelt once complained Baron Sprackle was starting to act more parrot than chicken.
5. Harry Truman
Give ‘Em Hell, Harry apparently gave a lot of poultry-care advice to his childhood friend Bess Wallace, whom he would eventually marry in 1919. Apparently Bess’ flock of chickens, which the young girl raised in her backyard, were infected with poultry lice. Harry promptly offered Bess his Mamma’s remedy for treating these parasites, which he informed Bess was “a dinger.”
“She takes twist tobacco and steeps it in hot water as if you were making tea. Put in cold water enough to cover the hen and make it the right temperature. Then she puts in a tablespoonful of melted grease. She says she puts her hand over the Chicken’s bill and eyes and then souses him good.”
Courtesy the National Park Service
Whether or not the future Mrs. Truman followed poultry-keeping advice from her future mother-in-law has never been noted. Mamma Truman’s chicken coop, however, can still be seen at the Harry S. Truman National Historic Site in Grandview, Missouri.
6. Jimmy Carter
Everybody around the country—and quite possibly the world—knows that Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer. This Georgia farm boy turned U.S. President did more than just grow peanuts, however.
In his 1975 autobiography, Why Not the Best?, Carter detailed spending his childhood running around his family farm’s yard, dodging the many chickens, guinea fowl and geese kept by his parents, Mr. Earl and Miss Lillian.
The chickens and the Carters may be gone now, but visitors to the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park can walk around the very same yard and envision little Jimmy dashing around the squawking hens and honking geese.
This story about presidential pets was written for Chickens magazine online and is regularly updated for accuracy. Click here to subscribe.
Vegetable garden design basics help you take your garden from a dream to reality by taking a realistic look at what you love eating fresh, coupled with how much time you have. Some crops such as tomatoes and beans require regular attention and harvesting, while potatoes and winter squash are more hands-off and can “hold” in the garden for weeks.
Other vegetable garden design considerations include sun and your space. Most vegetables require eight to 10 hours of sunlight for best production and health. To determine where in your yard you get the best sun, try sun mapping by placing an object where your garden will be located and check on it every hour to see how much sun it’s getting. Quick Tip: Set your phone alarm for easy remembering. Also, remember to make access to water a priority. If water is far away, how will you get it to your garden?
CAUTION: Call before you dig: #811 or #1-800-252-1166 to avoid digging into buried utilities.
Start with the Soil
Soil is the foundation for a healthy garden, so it helps to know where you’re starting. Getting a soil test from your local extension service is a fast, easy and inexpensive (around $20) way to get your basic nutrient numbers. These tests will give you a base level for nitrogen (n) phosphorus(p) and potassium/potash (K) along with a pH level.
Design Considerations
Decide which style of garden you want early on as well. From quick and inexpensive in-ground gardens to raised beds, hügelkultur beds, container gardens, straw bale gardens or even incorporating vegetables into your existing landscape with edible gardens. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, such as controlling soil content and better drainage but it is more cost and effort to install with raised beds.
Consider which orientation suits you best. A north/south orientation will leave the shorter end at the north side for growing vertically without blocking the sun, while an east/west orientation will allow for easily adding a cold frame top for season extension.
Keep your garden goals in mind, how much food do you want to grow and how much time can you give to the garden?
Vegetable Garden Design Basics
Limit beds to four feet wide.
Paths should be a minimum of two feet wide.
Create a space that you can easily fence and easily expand.
Step-by-Step Design Process
Sketch the shape and dimensions of the garden onto graph paper. It is easiest to convert one square foot to one square on a piece of paper or use a computer-aided drawing or planning application.
Add any hardscapes that won’t move, such as benches and stone pathways.
Diagram garden beds keeping to the orientation and widths recommended.
Make copies of your base plan so you can play with adding different plants and placements.
List the plants you most want to grow and refer to the plant spacing guides on seed packets.
Make space in your garden for the sun-loving plants in the sunniest spots and add from there.
Fill in spaces with companion flowers and consider succession planting options.
Know that your garden plan is for you, so make it as detailed or general as you want. There are no vegetable garden design police! You’ll likely revise your garden plan many times before you dig. Remember, if you’re creating a new garden bed from scratch, the soil will take time to settle. The soil life will take a while to gather and start working so you may need to fertilize early on.
Don’t be afraid to change your garden plan the following year if plant placement wasn’t right or as trees grow and available sunlight changes. Gardening is always first and foremost working with nature, so the only constant is change. Be ready to roll with those changes as they come.
If you’re looking for more information and tips in a video format, check out this Vegetable Garden Design Video by the author as well.
This article about vegetable garden design was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
Craft brewery popularity keeps growing and recently involved the Caius Farm Brewery in Connecticut bringing abandoned farmland to life. When Caius Mergy was an undergrad at Middlebury College, he didn’t consider himself to be much of a beer drinker—but a weekend spent visiting Vermont’s craft breweries wound up inspiring an interest in home-brewing.
“Over the next couple of years, we would like to have small batches of fruit,” says Mergy, outlining future development plans for the brewery. “I would love to see some apricots or pears on the property.”
Taking a minute out from home brewery duties, we spoke to Mergy about Connecticut flaked corn and the importance of seasonal flavors. We also got into using bees in the brewing process.
“The one moment in particular was at Hill Farmstead in Vermont,” says Mergy, as he looks back over his journey into craft beer. “I remember sharing a bottle of Flora: Peaches & Pears with my friend and it was love at first sip: I couldn’t believe you could achieve those flavors in a beer and also was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the beer was sour!”
Mergy’s next steps involved reading up on brewing history and tinkering with home-brewing, before eventually taking the plunge to found Caius Farm Brewery.
After coming across some abandoned farmland, Mergy decided to transform the property into a farm brewery. It’s a process that involved clearing structures that were in a state of near collapse and prepping the ground for new buildings.
“We had to remove 18 inches of topsoil from the whole property and replace it with soil which was suitable for construction,” explains Mergy, who adds that being located next to some wetlands also meant considering drainage issues.
When it comes to incorporating local and seasonal flavor profiles into beer, Mergy says that to do it properly is inevitably a long process.
“My passion in brewing is mixed fermentation oak-aged ales, which take at least a year to two years before they are ready for consumption,” he explains. “Since those beers require a lot of time and patience, I really want to highlight the local ingredients with them and also show the respect to the local ingredients that they deserve.”
As an example, Mergy pinpoints an upcoming ancient Etruscan-style beer called pevakh which uses Connecticut spelt and rye, Connecticut honey and Connecticut-grown hops. “I wanted to bring this ancient style of beer to life with ingredients which are closest to the brewery,” he says.
Going deeper into the science of spotlighting local ingredients, Mergy says the craft brewery is particularly proud of “our one hundred percent wheat malt mixed fermentation ale, Caligula, which uses Connecticut grown hops and wheat malt all originating across New England.”
Additionally, Mergy says a mixed fermentation ale is currently being earmarked to incorporate Connecticut fruit from other nearby farms—”what fruit remains to be seen and the beer will tell us what it wants”—and later this summer the brewery will debut an American light lager that uses Connecticut flaked corn and hops. “I really wanted to showcase the Connecticut flaked corn since I hadn’t tried any other like that before, so I am really excited to brew that!”
“We are excited to have local bees to both help with future crops used in our beer but also to use in select beers, especially our mixed fermentations,” adds Mergy. “We already have a beer with all Connecticut ingredients which uses Connecticut honey and I would love to use our own honey in future batches of it.”
This article about a craft brewery on abandoned farmland was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
A good maple sugar recipe is a treat. Granulated maple sugar is just like white sugar, but it’s a bit softer and has a maple flavor.
We love maple syrup and even more so when it’s homemade. Because the length of the season is determined by the weather, some years there is a bigger yield than others. When production is high and we can make a lot, I feel a little freer with it and make things such as maple candies and granulated maple sugar.
We love to bake with maple sugar and use it as a crumble topping for muffins and strudel. It adds a maple twist when stirred into coffee and tea and is fantastic when used with other spices to make a dry rub for proteins.
Early March is the normal time of year to tap. The temperatures must be below freezing overnight and above freezing during the day. The cycle of freezing and thawing is what gets the trees flowing. During that time, collecting sap and boiling down are done daily.
Maple Sugar Recipe
Yield: 2 cups finished maple sugar
Supplies & Ingredients
2 cups 100% pure maple syrup, grade A or B
stainless steel pot with tall sides (I use a 5-quart pot)
wooden long-handled spoon
candy thermometer
parchment paper-lined cookie sheet
Directions
To make the sugar, you’re essentially overcooking the syrup without burning it.
Pour syrup into the pot and bring it to a boil; don’t stir at this point. You will boil it for 10 or more minutes.
Watch the boiling syrup to make sure it doesn’t boil over.
Use a candy thermometer to test the temperature of the syrup. Once it reaches 45 to 50°F above the boiling point of water where you are located (this varies depending on your elevation), remove the syrup from the heat and begin stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon.
I usually have help on hand for the stirring portion of the recipe, as it does get tiring. Stirring takes multiple minutes and will become more difficult as the syrup cools and hardens.
Spread the sugar out on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and allow it to cool completely before storing it in an airtight container.
Side Notes
When using finished maple sugar, substitute maple sugar at a 1:1 ratio for white granulated sugar.
Be sure to test the candy thermometer for accuracy before beginning this recipe.
Be mindful not to splatter any hot syrup on yourself; it hurts!
Don’t take your eyes off the boiling syrup. It quickly boils over and burns.
If you have a stand mixer with a paddle, you can use it for the stirring portion of the recipe. Set the mixer to low and mix for about two minutes, until the sugar is granulated.
This maple syrup recipe article was written for Hobby Farms magazine online. Click here to subscribe.
