Check out all that Stromberg's has to offer here: bit.ly/strombergschickens Murray McMurray Hatchery: bit.ly/3ccjrQa Make sure you sign up for our email list! Sign up here: mailchi.mp/ca246209027f/thefitfarmer
Having your own plucker is the best investment you can make for raising meat birds. What a time saver. Used to rent one from our local county ag office for $30 a day which isn’t bad. Felt like Christmas watching you open that box.
Wow! You have a chicken plucker now! You are all ready for poultry processing. May the processing go a bit easier for you. Love to see your interactions with the kids.
Our chicken plucker we just bought came in a box just like that. That box can also be reused as a good storage box if the kids don’t take it over like mine did (treasure chest hide and seek). We have the same plucker lol! Take care guys 🙏
My husband and I made a chicken coop that is the size of my raised beds, 4x8 ft. It can be lifted from one bed to the next. The idea was to put quail in it hopefully they will eat bugs, fertilise the soil and lay eggs but not destroy the veg like chickens would. Unfortunately once it was finished we couldn’t find quail for sale near by. We had some broilers in it till they were big enough to free range with our laying flock and at the moment it is empty till the quail become available again.
I really liked seeing how gently you and your kids handled the chicks. It's nice to see kids being taught that. I was wondering how tall is the chicken tractor?
Mike, we use cattle panels with chicken wire covering the sides. We cut the cattle panels to make u-shaped domes, not to high, just enough for the chickens to walk upright in them. Hold them in the ground with the large u -shaped nails that hold down fabric mulch, and just overlap each one over the the next dome to create a large run covering the length of your planting area. It will look like a high tunnel when you are done. We do shade in certain places on the high tunnel for hot days. Cover your ends with chicken wire to keep them in. My son connects one opening at either end to start them on the next row, lol! He made a soft u- shaped tunnel to draw them out into the next row. We have enough for two rows, so when ready to move the chickens and/or turkeys, the next tunnel is already in place. We have used this method for 30 years now. They still go into the chicken coop at night to roost. We have one high tunnel to the coop and they are ready and waiting at the end of day to go into the coop. Once they are in, we close the door to the coop and gently move the high tunnel opening away from the coop door. My grand kids love to make extra domes to add to the original tunnel and lead the chickens to other gardens for bug control. Have fun!!!!
All right!! That plucker is so nice to have! It’s amazing how automation helps us out so much! Working smarter not harder! Bless his heart mica is a little unsure about those birds.. That’s ok though he will conquer that I’m positive just give him a little more time and he will be a pro! 👍🏻 Well looks like y’all got it going on now! 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻 growing the meat as well as the veg ... y’all moving on up too not just the chickens 😂😂 Great video ... Keep on keeping on and see y’all next time...
The Jefferson's. Let's not show our age shall we?? How's everything been? You guys look busy as usual. Thanks for allowing me to visit. May HE bless y'all mightily. ❤
Yeah, but I don't think Mike is old enough to remember Jeffersons, except for reruns. I'm pretty sure he's younger than me and I'm 45 and I'm only old enough to remember reruns of Jeffersons and All in the Family.
@@AnalyticalChick I don't know. The song he sings does however resemble the theme song t the beginning of the show......The Jefferson's. Have a super day!!
Lol, loved the Jeffersons lyrics, gotta be old to know that tune. Used to sing that to our broilers too. Its always nice when they move outside. Lil stinkers. So glad yall are raising your own meat now! God bless!
Mike and Lacie, just a “heads up” that I’ve mailed some seeds to you for Algonquian squash (C. Pepo). It is a flavorful and prolific variety. Hope you enjoy Algonquian squash as much as I do! Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA - 11/19/2020.
@@Wildflower1880 Hi, Adele. Algonquian squash is in the Pepo species. The flavor is sweet - along the lines of Butternut or Delicata. It makes great soup and pie. It has SOME resistance to SVB. The fruits look a bit like zucchini in the beginning, but eventually turn completely orange in storage. I sent seeds to 3 different seed companies. Greg Key of HOSS TOOLS, immediately jumped on it and grew it in 2020. On their ROW BY ROW garden show of July 19, Greg announced that he really liked the flavor and was blown away by the productivity! It passed their trials and was definitely being added to the 2021 seed offerings. Supplies are limited, but you can still get seeds from HOSS TOOLS. Mike and Lacie work hard to grow food for others, so when this variety proved to be such a winner... I wanted to make sure they got seeds. Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA.
Thanks for all the great content. Thanks from the UK. My kids love your channel way more than any of the the other similar channels and like watching your kids helping out. I was wondering: do you still workout (aside from farm chores)? If so, have you ever done any videos that discuss how to integrate training/working out into having a very active farm life? Thanks again.
Neat to see the chicken tractor come together, those babies are growing fast as expected! That box was something else, I've never seen anything like that.
Have you ever looked at Freedom Rangers in Reinholds PA. They have some pretty popular Meat Breeds. I have bought egg layers off of them the last 2 years. Are you still running your CSA, haven't seen you harvesting lately?
I would think you would go with a 4x8 instead of a 5x8 because that's the common size of plywood is 4X 8... I don't know nothing about chicken tractors cuz I never built one and probably never will... But I have built a lot of trailers and sheds and other things but not chicken tractors. 😄 Much love and prayers y'all be blessedJesus name... BBE 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗❤️♥️❤️❤️❤️
Cornish Crosses don't normally get all feathered out by harvest time. If you keep them longer (you'll have to feed them less to keep them longer or you'll lose a lot to dropping dead from heart failure), but if you _do_ keep them longer they eventually feather out and don't look so strange. I always think about the ethics of using a breed that will eat itself to death or to hip dislocation or to leg breaking (as we get sometimes at the grocery store) so we get a nice big breast at a lower price. Do y'all ever think about it? I feel a little easier about using something like a red ranger, where you'll get almost as big a bird but it takes longer. I guess it's an easy question for a large commercial farm. For smaller homesteads too, an extra couple of weeks of feed makes each bird more expensive. Do y'all know anywhere I can go look where they talk about the economies _and_ the ethics?
I really appreciate the way U explain all the Equipment that U use around the homestead since we don't live on a farm I don't know a lot of the Homestead lingo. It won't be too much longer until we will be looking for a plot of land then starting off slow. W/Chickens to start off W/I'm guessing. Not sure if we'll expand into much else. we're both disabled so tending to a lot of chores would not be a good idea for us... How many chickens is a good starting fig. for a family of 2 when 1 of the 2 doesn't eat eggs? 1 Chicken & 1 Rooster? or will I need 2 chickens? & 1 rooster?...... HELP!!!!!
One chicken CAN lay one egg each day, but doesn’t always do that. If you’ll have neighbors and/or family that would appreciate any extra eggs you get, I would suggest starting with about 6 hens. You only need a rooster if you want your eggs to be fertilized to hatch out more chickens. The hens will lay eggs whether they have a rooster or not. We currently have 21 hens in one of our coops and collect anywhere from 6-9 eggs a day from them (keep in mind it’s Nov and only daylight about 10-11 hours a day. egg production slows considerably in winter)
My folks bought in to a batch of chicken's years ago but they had to help process and it turned them off of chicken after that ,I don't think I could do it just love the critters I think I would be a strict vegetarian if I had to be a part of it .
Haha so funny when we date ourselves singing tv theme songs and the kids have no clue. Well, I have no clue about the wax. I have not seen anyone use wax for the fethers. Could you p,ease talk about that on your next vlog. Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving .
Before. It makes the feathers fall out better. I'm a city girl and I knew that..... But that's because I keep kosher. We get feathers in our birds at the store because they can't scold them to loosen the feathers.
I'm not so sure I like this one it just seemed like you guys were trying to put a smile on something that wasn't so happy and honestly I would rather you say s*** if you feel like saying s*** sometimes you know but God bless you all and thank you for sharing that is so cool I love your your f*** are you guys got
I haven't seen anyone use wax before. How do you use the wax on the ducks? Our turkeys have sometimes had the real fine down and plucking that was a hassle. Is the wax what you use to take off the really tiny down feathers? We had to wear masks because the tiny down would float in the air and we didn't want to breathe in those tiny feathers. We were plucking a turkey we raised for Christmas dinner so it had put on a winter layer of down feathers at the skin level. We won't let that happen again.
Mike could you not build something like a firepit just big enough to put your pot on. This way you could use down trees that are on the property instead of buying something.
Does anyone have a recipe for marinated cauliflower. When i do a search i keep getting pickled. I have a recipe but it only has salt and water. No vinegar? Sorry Mike. I hope you do not mind me asking. If so just get rid of this post.
Assisto todos os seus vídeos aqui no Brasil, porém sua homestead está cheia de coisas espalhadas, coisas que voces deveriam jogar fora, fazer uma limpeza, principalmente no celeiro, está todo desorganizado, cheio de lixo.
Check out all that Stromberg's has to offer here: bit.ly/strombergschickens
Murray McMurray Hatchery: bit.ly/3ccjrQa
Make sure you sign up for our email list!
Sign up here: mailchi.mp/ca246209027f/thefitfarmer
Good job with all Family working together 🙏🙏💕The plucker 🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓
You are all so sweet. Just love you! God bless you!
Hi.....Mike Dickson Thank you for sharing your video homestead chicken farmer garden 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 👕🐔🐓🐥🌱🎥👍👍👍
Nice to see you are slowly getting your own equipment rather than having to borrow it xx
Excited to see the smaller build of the chicken tractor!!
Theme song to "The Jeffersons"...I'm so showing my age 🤣🤣🤣... it was sung by Ja'Net DuBois of "Good Times" ...she co-wrote it as well 🎶🎤
I love how much your kids work with you.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Great idea about making custom garden size chicken tractors. 👍
Welcome back!!! I enjoy seeing the children help, they are learning a lot. God bless yall, Thanks for sharing.
Good to see ya back at your own farmstead. Thanks for sharing! We're all in winter prepp mode it seems ;) -Josh
Moving on up... classic!!!
i love his answer i don't like the loud ones ..love it
YAHOO chicken plucker!!! Ready set go!!
Mother Pluckrz! Very handy.
Ty,great video ❤️🐥🐓
Have been sharing your videos. They relax me.
Having your own plucker is the best investment you can make for raising meat birds. What a time saver. Used to rent one from our local county ag office for $30 a day which isn’t bad. Felt like Christmas watching you open that box.
Wow! You have a chicken plucker now! You are all ready for poultry processing. May the processing go a bit easier for you. Love to see your interactions with the kids.
So awesome. You can't beat those time saving investments! I love all my Kitchen appliances.
Good Show!
You could use turkey fryer burners maybe for the scalding and the hot wax.
Our chicken plucker we just bought came in a box just like that. That box can also be reused as a good storage box if the kids don’t take it over like mine did (treasure chest hide and seek). We have the same plucker lol! Take care guys 🙏
My husband and I made a chicken coop that is the size of my raised beds, 4x8 ft. It can be lifted from one bed to the next. The idea was to put quail in it hopefully they will eat bugs, fertilise the soil and lay eggs but not destroy the veg like chickens would. Unfortunately once it was finished we couldn’t find quail for sale near by. We had some broilers in it till they were big enough to free range with our laying flock and at the moment it is empty till the quail become available again.
I really liked seeing how gently you and your kids handled the chicks. It's nice to see kids being taught that. I was wondering how tall is the chicken tractor?
Mike, we use cattle panels with chicken wire covering the sides. We cut the cattle panels to make u-shaped domes, not to high, just enough for the chickens to walk upright in them. Hold them in the ground with the large u -shaped nails that hold down fabric mulch, and just overlap each one over the the next dome to create a large run covering the length of your planting area. It will look like a high tunnel when you are done. We do shade in certain places on the high tunnel for hot days. Cover your ends with chicken wire to keep them in. My son connects one opening at either end to start them on the next row, lol! He made a soft u- shaped tunnel to draw them out into the next row. We have enough for two rows, so when ready to move the chickens and/or turkeys, the next tunnel is already in place. We have used this method for 30 years now. They still go into the chicken coop at night to roost. We have one high tunnel to the coop and they are ready and waiting at the end of day to go into the coop. Once they are in, we close the door to the coop and gently move the high tunnel opening away from the coop door. My grand kids love to make extra domes to add to the original tunnel and lead the chickens to other gardens for bug control. Have fun!!!!
Greetings from Riverview Fl. I enjoy your video and watching your children help you. We have a fruit orchard and a vegetable garden on our lot.
I’m in impressed that you didn’t have to put the pucker together!! That’s a total plus!!
Thx for sharing your great ideas with us.
All right!! That plucker is so nice to have! It’s amazing how automation helps us out so much! Working smarter not harder!
Bless his heart mica is a little unsure about those birds.. That’s ok though he will conquer that I’m positive just give him a little more time and he will be a pro! 👍🏻
Well looks like y’all got it going on now! 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻
growing the meat as well as the veg ... y’all moving on up too not just the chickens 😂😂
Great video ... Keep on keeping on and see y’all next time...
We are waiting perfect raised bed chicken tractor
Ahh, there is always that darn cleanup, but it is so much less stressful once things are neat again!
What a beautiful new arrival to the homestead. And Thanks for the song. I haven't heard it in so long. I sang it all the way through on the first try.
I see Mike ur getting better at those building skills... Good job..oh Micah u will get the hang of picking up those chickens n no time.
Hello Mike and Lacey. That was the Jeffersons Mike. You got good children. Thank for sharing.
You guys are getting all set 4 winter...Fabulous!!!...thank you 4 sharing...
I love you excellent family France 😘
Gr8 going family, wishing you all nothing but the very best! Keep making it happen. May your lives continue to blessed.
We were so weirded out by how Cornish x feel when you pick them up lol
Everyone's helping out!
God Bless be safe and Happy Thanksgiving
Good to see your family again. God bless you
The Jefferson's. Let's not show our age shall we?? How's everything been? You guys look busy as usual. Thanks for allowing me to visit. May HE bless y'all mightily. ❤
Yeah, but I don't think Mike is old enough to remember Jeffersons, except for reruns. I'm pretty sure he's younger than me and I'm 45 and I'm only old enough to remember reruns of Jeffersons and All in the Family.
@@AnalyticalChick I don't know. The song he sings does however resemble the theme song t the beginning of the show......The Jefferson's. Have a super day!!
Lol, loved the Jeffersons lyrics, gotta be old to know that tune. Used to sing that to our broilers too. Its always nice when they move outside. Lil stinkers. So glad yall are raising your own meat now! God bless!
Ps your link won't recognize my email address?
Mike and Lacie, just a “heads up” that I’ve mailed some seeds to you for Algonquian squash (C. Pepo). It is a flavorful and prolific variety.
Hope you enjoy Algonquian squash as much as I do! Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA - 11/19/2020.
Thank you so much Kate!
Kate, I've never heard of the Algonquian Squash, I'll ask Google about them, but what do they taste like? How do U prepare them? Thank U
@@Wildflower1880 Hi, Adele. Algonquian squash is in the Pepo species. The flavor is sweet - along the lines of Butternut or Delicata. It makes great soup and pie. It has SOME resistance to SVB. The fruits look a bit like zucchini in the beginning, but eventually turn completely orange in storage.
I sent seeds to 3 different seed companies. Greg Key of HOSS TOOLS, immediately jumped on it and grew it in 2020. On their ROW BY ROW garden show of July 19, Greg announced that he really liked the flavor and was blown away by the productivity! It passed their trials and was definitely being added to the 2021 seed offerings. Supplies are limited, but you can still get seeds from HOSS TOOLS.
Mike and Lacie work hard to grow food for others, so when this variety proved to be such a winner... I wanted to make sure they got seeds. Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA.
@@TalkingThreadsMedia Thank U so much for getting back to me.
Great video. Thank you for the upload. I pray my family lives and acts the way you guys do. God bless you and your family!
good to see your family again. Keep the good work
Wow! Yall hooked up now with all the equipment! Congratz!!
Nice seeing y'all. Have a great evening
I just opened my crate box this past week. So ready to use our plucker
After watching the video of you and the Black farmer I changed my mind about U. God bless you and your family
Thanks for all the great content. Thanks from the UK. My kids love your channel way more than any of the the other similar channels and like watching your kids helping out. I was wondering: do you still workout (aside from farm chores)? If so, have you ever done any videos that discuss how to integrate training/working out into having a very active farm life? Thanks again.
Your little man is still squeamish with the chickens he's so adorable 💕
You didnt realize they donated one of the. Best pluckers made looks like a commercial one
Neat to see the chicken tractor come together, those babies are growing fast as expected! That box was something else, I've never seen anything like that.
Hey George!
Wow yall have a plunker..alright!
How ‘bout adding old used skis under the chicken tractor? Sure would slide easier.
That's the "Jeffersons" theme song😂😂😂😃. Great memories 😊😁😁😁👍.
I thought them chickens was moving on up 2 the east side of the grass
Just found out about this channel, love the content. Keep it up, you’ve earned a subscriber in me! ✊🏾
that's the part of FARM LIFE.
its going to freeze the next few night ...stay warm
Lacie!
Do I see toes?
Protect your toes.
Hi!! Great to see you’re getting all of your supplies !!!! And how are the goats? I haven’t seen them in any of your videos in a while?
Have you ever looked at Freedom Rangers in Reinholds PA. They have some pretty popular Meat Breeds. I have bought egg layers off of them the last 2 years.
Are you still running your CSA, haven't seen you harvesting lately?
That thing loos huge. Where will you store it?
Cardboard becomes a bird blocker inside a brooder. Trapem on one side making it easier to catch. 🦅🇺🇸
The theme song for The Jefferson’s I loved to watch that show, but I am telling how ancient I am.
I would think you would go with a 4x8 instead of a 5x8 because that's the common size of plywood is 4X 8...
I don't know nothing about chicken tractors cuz I never built one and probably never will...
But I have built a lot of trailers and sheds and other things but not chicken tractors. 😄
Much love and prayers y'all be blessedJesus name... BBE 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗❤️♥️❤️❤️❤️
Cornish Crosses don't normally get all feathered out by harvest time. If you keep them longer (you'll have to feed them less to keep them longer or you'll lose a lot to dropping dead from heart failure), but if you _do_ keep them longer they eventually feather out and don't look so strange. I always think about the ethics of using a breed that will eat itself to death or to hip dislocation or to leg breaking (as we get sometimes at the grocery store) so we get a nice big breast at a lower price. Do y'all ever think about it? I feel a little easier about using something like a red ranger, where you'll get almost as big a bird but it takes longer. I guess it's an easy question for a large commercial farm. For smaller homesteads too, an extra couple of weeks of feed makes each bird more expensive. Do y'all know anywhere I can go look where they talk about the economies _and_ the ethics?
I really appreciate the way U explain all the Equipment that U use around the homestead since we don't live on a farm I don't know a lot of the Homestead lingo.
It won't be too much longer until we will be looking for a plot of land then starting off slow. W/Chickens to start off W/I'm guessing. Not sure if we'll expand into much else. we're both disabled so tending to a lot of chores would not be a good idea for us...
How many chickens is a good starting fig. for a family of 2 when 1 of the 2 doesn't eat eggs? 1 Chicken & 1 Rooster? or will I need 2 chickens? & 1 rooster?...... HELP!!!!!
One chicken CAN lay one egg each day, but doesn’t always do that. If you’ll have neighbors and/or family that would appreciate any extra eggs you get, I would suggest starting with about 6 hens. You only need a rooster if you want your eggs to be fertilized to hatch out more chickens. The hens will lay eggs whether they have a rooster or not. We currently have 21 hens in one of our coops and collect anywhere from 6-9 eggs a day from them (keep in mind it’s Nov and only daylight about 10-11 hours a day. egg production slows considerably in winter)
How big is your chicken brooder box
Dad needs a leather apron for Christmas.
Are they moving up to the East side? I posted this before you attempted to sing the song. :)
Mike lol
My folks bought in to a batch of chicken's years ago but they had to help process and it turned them off of chicken after that ,I don't think I could do it just love the critters I think I would be a strict vegetarian if I had to be a part of it .
So what's been going on with your garden? we haven't seen it in awhile?
Sheldon Lawrence
i have not seen anything about your goats lately do you not have them anymore
What is the wax for?
Hey Mike why don't you do a video on goat's
What about the joining property. Have yall bought it yet.
It was sold to someone else.
Should you be putting them out when they do not have all there feathers
✨✨✨✨
Haha so funny when we date ourselves singing tv theme songs and the kids have no clue. Well, I have no clue about the wax. I have not seen anyone use wax for the fethers. Could you p,ease talk about that on your next vlog. Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving .
How do you deal with issue of chicken hawks or predatory birds an animal3in general
What kind of wax do you need? Is it your basic paraffin? If so, I have some that can be sent your way. Kate
We found a supplier that has wax that is specific for ducks.
😯👍👍👍👌❤❤❤
Oh geez! 😳Hi! City girl here again! Do you scold the birds before they’re plucked or after?
Before. It makes the feathers fall out better. I'm a city girl and I knew that..... But that's because I keep kosher. We get feathers in our birds at the store because they can't scold them to loosen the feathers.
@@AnalyticalChick
Oh gotcha. The scolding hot water is what kills them?
Will the wax be reusable?
Yes you can a few times. Really good if you filter/strain the wax between uses.
Thankyou I was hoping so
I'm not so sure I like this one it just seemed like you guys were trying to put a smile on something that wasn't so happy and honestly I would rather you say s*** if you feel like saying s*** sometimes you know but God bless you all and thank you for sharing that is so cool I love your your f*** are you guys got
Hi Mr Mike. I offered to buy my cousin a bird plucker. He wants to know if it can pluck 30 birds as fast as the 2 ladies he employs. 🐔🐔
It can pluck a bird in less than 30 seconds.
@@MikeTheFitFarmer Wow,that's fast.
Do you let your ducks lay eggs?
We do have ducks that are layers but we also have some ducks that are specifically for meat.
I haven't seen anyone use wax before. How do you use the wax on the ducks? Our turkeys have sometimes had the real fine down and plucking that was a hassle. Is the wax what you use to take off the really tiny down feathers? We had to wear masks because the tiny down would float in the air and we didn't want to breathe in those tiny feathers. We were plucking a turkey we raised for Christmas dinner so it had put on a winter layer of down feathers at the skin level. We won't let that happen again.
Mike could you not build something like a firepit just big enough to put your pot on. This way you could use down trees that are on the property instead of buying something.
How old is Micah? He looks 4 to me.
Yep 4
Does anyone have a recipe for marinated cauliflower. When i do a search i keep getting pickled. I have a recipe but it only has salt and water. No vinegar? Sorry Mike. I hope you do not mind me asking. If so just get rid of this post.
Assisto todos os seus vídeos aqui no Brasil, porém sua homestead está cheia de coisas espalhadas, coisas que voces deveriam jogar fora, fazer uma limpeza, principalmente no celeiro, está todo desorganizado, cheio de lixo.