Category Archives: Hobby Farming

Plan on growing your own fruit, nuts and veg? Or perhaps getting a few chooks and goats? Big Farmer Trev gives you the answers you need to produce some first class tucker!

Hobby Farming

Permaculture – treating mite infestations in chickens

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Some of you may have read in the ‘Ask Trev’ section some tips I gave long-time reader Maddy in regards to caring for her new chickens.  Some of these tips revolved around stopping her chickens getting mites.

Well it shows that one must have constant vigilance as I had not recently enacted some of my own advice and two of my chickens got infested with mites.  This combined with a 45+ degree day lead to the demise of one of our dear chookies.

Since then I have been on the mite-attack!  Getting rid of them and making sure they do not return.  So today’s advice is on how to get rid of mites once you have them and how to do it without resorting to harmful chemicals.  Everything you need you can make at home the permaculture way!

Signs of mites

 

Getting rid of the mites

Step 1: Cleaning the coops

Get rid of all straw and bedding.  Then spray the coops out with White Oil thereby suffocating the mites.  I make this in the following way:

  • 2 cups of vegetable oil
  • Half a cup of dishwashing liquid
Homemade white oil – do NOT mix up with the coconut milk when making a curry

Simply pour these into a sealable jar and give them a good shake!  The resulting liquid should indeed be white.  Now add 10ml of your elixir to one liter of water in a spray bottle, shake again and spray out your coops, killing the mites.  Note, I also use method to get rids of the aphids that occasionally infest my curry tree.  Now replace their bedding with fresh straw and you are set to go!

 

Step 2: Cleaning your chickens

Mites can show up in different ways on your chooks.  On my Frizzles they turn up on their bellies and the backs of their heads.  Only about half my chickens developed these symptoms but after losing a chook I decided to treat my entire flock.   I do this making up some Garlic Juice Spray.  For this you need:

  • 30ml of garlic juice
  • 300ml of water
  • 1 teaspoon of lavender oil

Now garlic juice can be hard to come by and what I found works just as well is to dump a bunch of juicy crushed garlic into your mixture then put it through a strainer before you pour it into your spray bottle.  Mix up the above ingredients, give it a good shake and then spray directly onto your chickens, avoiding their faces as best you can.  Spray your chickens all over, paying special attention to the backs of their head, their bellies and under their wings.  For chickens with no symptoms just a light spray should suffice. For my chook who did survive the hot day but was showing mite symptoms, we sprayed her until she dripped and smelled like an Italian restaurant!

What you can also do is provide an Ash Bath.

A bath where your chooks come out filthier yet healthier

Some people actually recommend rubbing your chickens down with ash but I find this works just as well.  Make a little hollow in the dirt somewhere in your chook yard and fill it with ash from  your fire (if you don’t have a fire, just watch the news for arson reports then do a quick drive by with a bucket and spade).  The chickens will pop themselves in of their own accord and ruffle their feathers, giving themselves a little coating of ash which drives away mites.  Note your chooks probably do this anyway in the dirt and dust, but ash is much more effective at getting rid of the creepy crawlies.  If you keep your ash bath topped up the chooks will use it as needed.

 

Keeping the mites away

Now that you’ve treated your coop and your chickens you want to stop the mites coming back and here is how:

Step One: Your coops

  • Gather up a few fistfuls of fresh wormwood plant and throw them into your coops amongst their bedding and laying boxes. This should drive away any mites that may have survived your white oil purge. If you suspect they may be returning, change their straw and give a white oil spray to the coops.
Wormwood – not just for magic spells anymore

 

Step Two: Your chickens

  • Drop a couple of cloves of garlic into their water and replace when necessary. Live by this saying: A bit of garlic a day keeps the mites away.
Not as refreshing as a twist of lemon but more effective

 

And that’s pretty much it.  But I must stress vigilance.  I had been doing the ‘garlic in the water’ and ‘wormwood in their nests’ thing for the past year and had nary a problem.  Due to being so busy around the farm keeping everything alive in summer I had become lax and as a result I learned my lesson the hard way by losing one of our dear chookies; it’s a lesson I don’t wish to learn a second time.

 

Got any permaculture tips for treating mites in chickens you would like to add?  Would love to read them in the comments section below!

Hobby Farming

Raising Goats as Pets

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Goats.  Sheep with brains.  Reputations for being grumpy, smelly, eating tin cans and destroying any plants they get near.  Why would anyone want a goat as a pet?

Because, if raised correctly, they are intelligent, loving, playful and can become wonderful members of your family, that’s why!

We have two female Boer Goats – Milly and Molly – twin sisters.  And they are the nicest animals you could ever hope to meet!  They follow us around like dogs, eat from our hand, give little kisses and licks and love to climb trees with the kids.  In fact they are wonderful with the children as whenever we go for a walk they tend to pick a child each and shadow them, walking three or four feet behind, just like they are their hairy protectors.

Of course, goats can be a lot of work and you need to have the right space set up for them.  So here  are some excellent tips for keeping goats as pets.

 

What Goats to Pick

The definition of cute!

*Hand-raised goats are a must.  We’ve had friends who had goats as pets which were part of tamed flocks and while mostly docile were not above giving the odd butt or bite if in a bad mood.  You want goats that have been bottle fed and have spent lots of time around children.

*If you have not raised the goats yourself, make sure you take ownership of them at around 6 months of age.  Any later and they will not imprint on you to the extent that you want.

 

Habitat

Lots of space is a must

*Have a tall fence.  We have a 5 foot tall fence running around our little goat paddock.  And even then twice Milly has decided she is going to jump it!  Thankfully she seems to have forgotten she has that ability and has not done it since.  A 6-foot fence is to be preferred but make sure it is at the least not lower than 5.

*Have adequate shelter.  People laughed at me when I built my goats a little house.  But here in the Mallee we get 45 degree days in the middle of summer and during the winter we even get the odd hail storm.  And goats are smart, they are not going to stay out in horrible weather if they don’t have to.  I made my goat house out of wood and painted it with a solar-reflecting paint in order to minimize the heat inside.  Build it with corrugated iron and all you have done is make an oven for them.

 

Food and Drink

Goats are also not camera shy

*Have adequate water.  We have a big dam in our goat paddock so ours are fine but you may want a trough at the least and keep it topped up.

*Goats will not eat just anything.  They will eat most things, and not all those things are good for them.  We feed our goats the following (ration down when still young):

-Lamb pellets.  Calf pellets will work as well.  2 cups per goat every second day.

-Lucerne.  A small butt every second day (alternate with the pellets).

-Weeds.  This is where your goats are useful!  Anything you don’t wanna throw on the compost heap throw to your goats and the majority of the time they will love it!  They love roses and rose trimmings in particular.  They won’t eat all plants and if fed enough will happily shun what their instincts tell them is no good for them.

*Provide a salt lick.  Not a major necessity if they have a good diet but I find having one in there gives me piece of mind, knowing the goats can go have some if anything in their diet is lacking.

 

Exercise

Not what is usually meant by ‘kids playground’

*Have materials for the goats to climb on and to wear their hooves down.  Goats are smart and smart creatures need stuff to do.  I propped up a fallen tree as well as built a tower out of old wooden palettes.  These serve several functions.  One is that goats love to jump and climb and it gives them exercises and lets them indulge their climbing instincts.  The other is that if goats do not have hard surfaces to wear their hooves down on the hooves keep growing.  This means they can in-grow and you need to clip them yourself which can be a real hassle.

*Take your goats for walks.  As mentioned, our goats will follow us around like dogs and taking them for a walk means it breaks up their routine and you get some extra bonding time with them.

 

Other Tips & Troubleshooting

Car theft by Goat: One of the lesser known crimes

*Goats will ruin trees and plants.  I had a few low trees around my dam, they are well and truly gone now. If the goats get into your garden they will try and eat everything.

*These goats will be your pets. This means you need to pat them and talk to them daily just like you would any other pet.

*Do not overfeed your goats.  They will graze and you then supplement that with things like lucerne and pellets. If you give them a ton of pellets every day they will develop stomach issues.

*Be careful with little (human) kids.  Be careful with your own eyes too.  Unless you dehorn your goats it means they have two long big prongs sticking out of their forehead.  If your goats are affectionate they will like to rub up against you.  This means if your kids are small or you are bending over, there is a danger of a horn in the eye – not a pleasant experience.

*Be careful with other animals.  Once goats are a certain size, unless it’s a pack of wild dogs nothing is going to bother them.  Goats are more than capable of seeing off a fox or solitary dog.  Sadly this can mean that your pet dog (we have a Shetland Sheepdog who is very submissive by nature) might end up on the wrong end a butting goat if it gets too close and is perceived as a threat.

*Goats really love to climb.  Combine this with being naturally inquisitive and I’ve had to shoo them off the bonnet of my ute more times than I can count and even had them all over my kids play equipment and our patio table!

 

And that’s pretty much it.  Goats can make beautiful, loving, well-natured pets and can be lots of fun!  Just make sure you have enough space for them and know what you are getting in to before you bring those cute little kids home – they sure do grow!

Love between man and goat – a lot more innocent than it sounds

 

Got any comments or extra tips to add to the above?  Would love to read them in the comments section below!

Ask Trev!, Hobby Farming

Ask Trev – Chicken care questions

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One of the first questions I got for ‘Ask Trev’ was from Maddy who was asking if she should get chickens.  Well, happily she took my advice and now has a little brood of her own.  So now we have some follow up questions about their care which I will address today.

 

Dear Farmer Trev,

Ok, so I got chooks.
19 week old pullets. They are all New Hampshire cross breeds. One Australorp cross (proving to be the noisiest), a white leggorn X and a Rhode Island Red X. The tiniest (white leghorn cross) has already come on the lay but one of the others (or potentially her) is smashing up her eggs before I get to them. How do I stop this behaviour?

Small egg: From our Frizzle Chickens. Large egg: From our Muscovy Ducks.
Small egg: From our Frizzle Chickens.
Large egg: From our Muscovy Ducks.

Though it may not be, chances are she is smashing her own eggs.  The chooks are not after the egg within, but rather the shell itself as their system breaks down egg shells in order to make more egg shells and if their system is not getting enough of what will make the shells of their eggs strong enough, they will destroy their own.

I’d recommend getting a big bag of shell grit.  It’s this grey granules stuff that looks like coarse sand.  Contained within is everything that a chicken needs to make the shells of its eggs stronger (and as a result harder for them or their coop-mates to break) and should stop them feeling they have to break existing eggs to get those nutrients.  If your chooks were bigger or older I’d suggest laying pellets but shell grit for their current state will work best.  You can also throw old egg shells back into the chicken coop for them to peck at and break.

 

Also – hen pecking – tiny has already started hen pecking the red. How do I address hen pecking if it gets really bad? Or is this the natural order of hens and there’s nothing I can do?

It’s the natural order babe – it’s where the term ‘Pecking Order’ comes from.  There is nothing short of having them in completely separate coops that you can do.  Just let them figure it out for themselves and hopefully it should die down.  My chooks have stopped it now they have figured out their hierarchy, though my ducks still engage in it after being together for a year.

 

Finally – Is there anything they really, really should not be fed or any tips for super happy hens?
Thanks Big Farmer T.
-Mads.

Kitchen scraps, wheat and either shell grit or laying pellets should give them all the sustenance they need.  There is not much that can harm a chook as if it’s a food that’s not good for them they won’t eat it (case in point with potato peelings).  And of course don’t feed them any kind of bird meat, though once again they probably wouldn’t touch it anyway.  A small garlic clove dropped into their water once in a blue moon is good for keeping away mites.  Also get yourself a wormwood plant, grow it to a nice size in a pot and stick it in their coop.  They will peck at it now and then and it’s great for keeping away fleas and other insects that will bother your chickens without driving away the bugs they like to eat.

As for super happy hens, just plenty of food, water, shelter, protection from predators and as much space to scratch around as you can manage and they should be happy little hens indeed!

 

Hobby Farming

How to build a Scarecrow that actually scares crows!

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Ah the classic Scarecrow, truly a mainstay of peoples vegetable patches over the years.  Scarer of birds and amuser of children. In the Wizard of Oz it was someone desperately in need of a Higher Education degree, in Worzel Gummidge’s case it was an  inanimate pile of straw turned  sentient being who was constantly trying to get his end away with a store manikin.  The Scarecrow is a bit of fun that adds some colour to your vege patch but as most folks know it is generally highly ineffective at actually scaring birds.  However today I am going to teach you Big Angry Trev’s secret to building a Scarecrow that actually works!  And the good news is, it’s actually easier to make than the classic one!

I'm the slightly skinnier one
I’m the slightly skinnier one

You will need the following materials:

One 1.8m x 15cm x 3cm board

One 1.5m x 15cm x 3cm board

One 40cm x 5cm x 3cm board

One 2 meter metal stake

4 wood screws

One potplant pot, bright for preference

One pile of plastic wrapping

One pair of pants with elastic waistband, synthetic and red for preference

One adult males top, synthetic and red for preference

One pair of gloves

One cap, red for preference

Bailing twine

Tools

One drill

One permanent marker

One sledgehammer

 

Now a lot of these material choices may seem weird to your classic Scarecrow constructor, but I will explain my reasoning for these choices at the end.

 

Step One:

Pop the 1.5m board through the tops sleeves.  So that it sticks out either end evenly.  Put the 1.8m board through the top so that at least 40cm of it pokes out the neck hole.  Screw the two pieces together.

Step Two:

Put the gloves on, going over the cuffs of the sleeves and ends of the wood.  Tie in place with bailing twine.

IMG_4417

Step Three:

Strech the pants over the piece of wood, the wood should be long enough that when you stretch the elastic waist band over it that the band snaps back over it and holds it in place.  Screw the short piece of word about 2 inches above where the clothing top ends, through the pants at the back which will help hold them up.

IMG_4419

Step Four:

Take your pot and draw a face on it (you can go for scary but this really won’t make much difference to the birds and may scare your kids so I go for friendly).  Pop a hat on the top.  Stick on the top of your Scarecrow and take a bunch of plastic wrapping or old plastic bags and stuff inside to help secure in place.

To size your pot, simply use the bonce of any passing child as a measuring guide
To size your pot, simply use the bonce of any passing child as a measuring guide

The term 'Villawood' should scare away both birds and anyone with a sense of morals
The term ‘Villawood’ should scare away both birds and anyone with a sense of morals
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step Five:

Hammer your metal stake in.  Tie your scarecrow in at least two different points to the stake using bailing twine.

Ta-da!  You have yourself a Scarecrow!

 

IMG_4426
Nothing scares birds more than a fat guy wearing fashions from 2002

Why Big Angry Trev’s Scarecrow is more effective than the classic design

*The Clothing is Polyester instead of Cotton:  It will hold moisture less and be more resistant to the elements, therefore less inclined to rot or weigh down you Scarecrow so it falls over due to water logging.

*The head is Plastic: No rot at all compared to a stocking filled with straw

*No Straw – Point 1:  Everyone insists that you stuff the body and limbs with straw in order to fatten your scarecrow.  No matter what people say, straw will eventually rot.  This will cause your scarecrow to literally come apart at the seams quicker.

No Straw – Point 2: By not stuffing your Scarecrow with straw, it means that the clothing will flutter in the wind. This means movement and movement is far more likely to disturb encroaching birds than a completely stationary effigy.

Bright Colours: Some people actually say birds are colour blind.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  In fact humans are practically colour blind compared to birds, in the same way our sense of smell cannot compare to that of a dogs.  Birds have evolved to recognize that the red of certain flowers and fruit is OK, but for the most part they stay away from red because in nature red more often than not means DANGER!  Your traditional Scarecrow is made up of browns and yellows  natural and non-threatening colours.  By making it have a lot of red, it will have a much greater likelyhood of scaring off these feathered fiends from your hand-grown, home grown veggies.

Boards instead of Broomsticks:  Who the frag keeps breaking off the ends of their broomsticks so that they have spares just lying around?  Who sweeps that hard?  By using boards and wood screws rather than broomsticks and twine your Scarecrow will have far better structural integrity.

 

So will this Scarecrow actually keep birds off your veggies and away from your fruit tree’s?  Debatable.  I know my chooks give it a wide berth but then they aren’t terrified of it either.  If birds are a massive problem then netting or, going to the extreme, a timed scare gun will be more effective.  But those options are either loud or expensive or both.  Scarecrow’s add a bit of kitchy charm to your veggie patch and they are great fun to build with your kids so considering the relative inexpensiveness and simplicity of their construction they can be forgiven for not inciting mass terror amongst birds.  However this Scarecrow has a better fighting chance than most, and I’ve not seen a crow after my silverbeet after popping my rotund fellow up.

Have fun with your Scarecrow Construction!

Hobby Farming

How to Transplant a Tree

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Gardens grow (well the good ones anyway), evolve and change over time.  And sometimes what you’ve planted and thought would be a permanent fixture years ago no longer suits the new aesthetic of that area.  Now, the easiest thing is to rip it out so you can replace it with what you want, but if it’s a plant you have nurtured for years, it seems a bit heartbreaking to throw it on the bonfire.  So here is Big Farmer Trev’s tips on how to transplant a tree!

Note: This only works with smaller trees.  With big ones you need an excavator and a crane!

 

I’m going to use the example of the Bay Leaf tree I had planted four years ago.  I did not realize just how slowly they grow so it was being dwarfed by all my natives.  Plus I had a new orchard area set up it would go great in so I wanted to move that sucker – here are the steps I took.

IMG_3414

Step 1: Dig a moat at least a two feet radius from the base of the tree, half a foot or more deep and pop the hose in.  Let it flood and flood and flood!  The main thing that will kill a tree during transplantation is losing all the soil its roots are attached to so you want to be able to pick it up as one big sticky mudball.

 

Big Farm Trev's compost - aged 1 year for flavour!
Big Farm Trev’s compost – aged 1 year for flavour!

Step 2: Prepare your hole where the tree will be going. Unlike a normal tree planting where you want a small radius and really deep, this hole you want only a bit deep but very wide.  Remember, the root system of your tree will have spread out and you will be taking all that soil with you.  Fill the hole half way with compost and then fill that with water so that you will be setting your tree down in a big hole of nutrient rich slush!

 

IMG_3429

Step 3: Dig out your tree.  Keep working in a circular motion around the tree with your shovel, each incision getting deeper and closer to the middle, you are making a cone shape with the point at the bottom.  This will ensure you keep as many roots as possible.  Once you have gotten your cone, lever it out and straight into a wheelbarrow, ready for transport.

 

Happy tree!
Happy tree!

Step 4: Put your tree in its new home, making sure to fill in all gaps with dirt, you don’t want any roots exposed.  Pop some mulch over the top and give the whole thing a great big dose of seaweed juice to feed the tree and lessen the stress it has undergone.  Ta da – your tree is ready to start life in it’s new home!

 

Extra tip: If you can, wait until winter to transplant any tree’s you need to.  Even evergreen’s will be far less active during this time and the more of a dormant state you tree is in, the more likely it is to survive the procedure.  

Ask Trev!, Hobby Farming

Ask Trev – What to plant in Primary School gardens at this time of year.

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This question comes from Morg176 in Shellharbour

“I’d like to see an article on gardening for Primary Schoolers – What to plant, when, what might be interesting, what grows fast?”

Well first off it’s great to see teachers talking about this.  In my opinion every school would benefit from a gardening program.  It teaches so many lessons that take into account so many parts of the curriculum – horticulture, science, environmental studies, English, maths etc etc.  But most importantly, it teaches kids where their food comes from and how it is created, it doesn’t just magically appear on the supermarket shelves.

 

What to plant and when? 

As for when – as soon as you can!  Get started and it will gain a momentum of its own.  In fact I will tailor all my answers around the idea you will start as soon as possible.  At this time of year you can easily plant the following: cabbage, pak choi, lettuce, rocket, spinach, carrots, celery, cauliflower, spring onions, leek, onions, radish, turnips and swedes all should grow quite well.

If you are looking at a new garden for your Primary School and the soil isn’t great, I heartily suggest you plant some legumes which will stick in valuable nitrogen for your soil.  Peas of all kids do this but I have a soft spot for broad beans.

What might be interesting?

If the idea is to make the garden interesting for your students, I recommend putting in a variety of vegetables that all look quite different so the students can see the variety.  Broad beans will grow nearly 6 feet high, pack choi will turn into these lovely green vase shapes, radishes will provide these red bulbs half in the soil for kids to hunt for, leeks become little palm trees, rocket will become little willowy forests and cauliflowers look like big round soccer balls.

IMG_3063

What grows fast?

At this time of year?  Bugger all.  Spring and summer are the seasons where things grow fast.  However a general rule is the smaller the vegetable the faster it will reach its full potential.  Avoid swedes and turnips as they take forever, cauliflowers, leeks and cabbages take a while too.  Perhaps pak choi, celery, spring onions, rocket and broad beans may be your best bet.

 

Good luck with your school gardening program!  Don’t forget to prime that soil with lots of fertilizer, don’t forget to work in some water and weeding programs into your timetable and any more questions feel free to post them – I’’ll tackle them as best I can.

Ask Trev!, Hobby Farming

Ask Trev: Should I get chickens?

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This question was sent in by Mads of Melbourne:

Dear Trev,
Should I get chickens?
I have a small suburban backyard that I am sure would sustain 2 to 3 hens, happily.
People keep telling me horror stories.
The food will attract vermin. The chooks will destroy your garden. They’ll go off the lay in a few years and you’ll just have a few freeloaders in the yard. Foxes will massacre the chickens. Disease will destroy your birds. And so on and so forth.
Please help me refute these ghastly claims.
Yours in good faith,
Small, not really that angry anymore, Mads.

 

Dear Mads,

I will be addressing this issue on a larger scale in the upcoming weeks in the Hobby Farming section of this fine site but in the meantime let me quickly address your concerns.

*First off – these people are fools!  Don’t listen to these naysayers!  You can easily maintain 2 to 3 hens in a small backyard and here is how to deal with the issues people have raised:

 

The food will attract vermin: Depends on the food you give them.  Bread scraps and anything meaty most certainly will.  However a small chook feeder that you fill with scratch mix (you should be able to pick up both at any large pet store) will provide them with the sustenance they need as well as stopping the food spreading everywhere.

The chooks will destroy your garden: Depends on your breed of chicken.  In a small suburban backyard you should be going for a small breed anyway (I recommend Frizzles myself – lovely temperament, soft plumage and friendly) and smaller chooks will do less damage.  However you can either keep your chickens contained away from the gardens by keeping them fenced in or put some decorative wire over the gardens you want them to keep away from.  Bear in mind chooks are great for digging up a vege patch after you have finished with it, they will root out every weed and leave it ready for your next planting!

They’ll go off the lay in a few years and you’ll just have a few freeloaders in the yard:  Once again, depends on the type of chicken you buy.  Some lay for many years, others for a few.  You can always get a rooster who when amorously engaged with your chooks will provide you with new chicks who will one day take over the laying duties.  However I recommend getting your chookies some laying pellets and a feeder.  Not only does it extend the variety of their diet, but will help them lay for longer, more often and have harder egg shells.

Disease will destroy your birds: Drop a couple of fresh garlic cloves in your chickens water container, you will be surprised how many diseases that wards off!  If they don’t have much contact with other birds there should be little reason for them to develop diseases.  If they should develop something such as a mite infestation there are little tubes of drops you can get from any vet that will clear that right up.

Foxes will massacre the chickens: This can happen, even in a big city like Melbourne.  However the trick is to use solid chicken wire to construct their enclosure and make sure the wire is dug at least one foot into the ground the entire way around the pen, even the pen walls.  In Melbourne you do have foxes that climb fences and jump in so you can either make a cube shape with your chicken wire (high enough you don’t have to duck when entering) or else do as I do and have a little hutch within the larger pen (see the photo below) that you can lock them up in of a night.  With multiple redundancies most foxes will bugger off to find easier game.  And of course you can always get a dog to keep the foxes as bay.

Chooks

I heartily recommend getting chooks.  They are great little friends, you know the eggs have been humanely grown and are wonderful when kids drop by.  Good luck Mads!

Hobby Farming

Hobby Farming

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FarmerA (semi) permacultre professional, Big Farmer Trev has been growing his own organic produce for the past 5 years.  From Asparagus to Zucchini, if it comes out of the ground then Trev can grow it (even pumpkins – the most disgusting of vegetables, seriously – why the hell do people eat those friggin things!).  So from the best time to plant a radish to the best livestock to keep your farm a’runnin, Big Farmer Trev has the 411 on farmin!