If you’re a homesteader, you probably already know that raising chickens for meat is one of the most productive things you can do to ensure that you have plenty of fresh meat for your freezer each year. But, it can take a long time to raise a conventional breed, like a Rhode Island Red or ... Read more Raising Cornish Cross Chickens on the Homestead can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

If you want the pound-for-pound most versatile livestock animals you own, you’ve got to get sheep. Sheep produce wool, of course, and also delicious, rich, smooth milk. But they’re also an important source of meat, and have long been kept and raised around the world for the purpose. Lamb and mutton isn’t that popular here ... Read more 17 Best Meat Sheep Breeds for Your Homestead can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

The most precious, adorable time in a duck’s life is when it is still a fuzzy little baby duckling. I’m telling you, there’s nothing on Earth cuter! But, they really do grow up fast and as much as we might want them to stay small and fuzzy forever, getting their feathers is an important milestone ... Read more When to Expect Your Ducklings to Get Their Feathers can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

Chickens are arguably the humblest birds on Earth. As the most common poultry species, they don’t get much thought as long as they keep the eggs and the meat coming. But if you stop to look at them, most are remarkably beautiful creatures… With countless patterns and every color of the rainbow to be found ... Read more 19 Gray Chicken Breeds… Just FIY can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

No matter what you do in life, if you want to get good at it you’ve got to pick up a new vocabulary. Call it lingo, shop talk, vernacular, whatever. Sometimes it’s complex enough to border on a different language! Surprisingly, or maybe not, it’s the same with ducks. If you’ve ever listened to two ... Read more Deciphering Duck Terminology for Homesteaders can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

Understanding various developmental benchmarks is also crucial for timing when your ducks can go outside and for how long. Speaking of benchmarks, ducklings don’t cheep and peep for very long, either. When exactly do ducklings start to quack? Ducklings will start to quack anywhere from 3 to 8 weeks old. Various breeds develop at different ... Read more So, Exactly When Do Ducklings Start to Quack? can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

Ducks are always in chickens’ shadows when it comes to poultry. Though they’ve been domesticated for ages, the greater productivity of chickens in terms of meat and eggs saw ducks relegated to the specialty market for a long time. That status is slowly changing today since folks are coming to appreciate the richness of duck ... Read more 10 Domestic Duck Breeds for Your Farm can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

Whether you are raising a field full of crops, a bushel of berries and a backyard garden, a plush emerald lawn, or some award-winning decorative plants, you’ve got to know what you’re doing when it comes to fertilization. Giving your plants the right nutrients that they need, and in the right ratios, is imperative if ... Read more 12-4-8 Fertilizer: Benefits and When & How to Use It can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

Ask anyone who’s ever gone duck hunting, or even tried to photograph ducks, and they will tell you: these birds seem to have supreme eyesight. The slightest movement, even a little something out of place, and they will fly away. It’s amazing, but it can also be completely befuddling: how can any bird’s eyesight be ... Read more So Can Ducks See Color? An Assessment of Their Sight can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more

One thing that I think we all take for granted these days is the ubiquity of food preservation technology. Whatever you bring in, whatever is left over, toss it in the fridge or in the freezer, and forget about it until it’s time to eat. But food preservation was a very different thing prior to ... Read more Root Cellar Basics: Temperature, Humidity, Ventilation can be read in full at New Life On A Homestead- Be sure to check it out ..read more