Episode 9 is up! This week is a relaxed fit episode where I talk about three topics that caught my attention recently. Find it over on Podbean!
Homestead updates:
I hope that everyone who celebrates had a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving! My in-laws came from Florida to visit, and I put on a big spread for everyone. I’m lucky to have married into an awesome family so we all get along very well. We had a blast catching up, stuffing ourselves full of holiday food, and playing Uno! Love that game. I napped a fair amount, which felt rather decadent.
My MIL got me a tea advent calendar, which is a lot of fun!
chickens are almost done with their moults and looking a lot better. Cracker is almost back to full plumage and so is happily bossing all the others girls around.
I’ve been hanging a cabbage in the coop to help keep them entertained on these cold days, and it’s added roughage since all the weeds are gone for the year
speaking of chickens, I counted my egg money for the year and was shocked to see I’d made $70 selling cartons to friends and neighbours! I have a very small yield compared to many chicken keepers because of my older and rescued birds so this shocked the hell out of me!! I sell a dozen eggs for $2, although one of my neighbours insists on paying me $3/dozen. Super chuffed about that!
in other bird news, the ladies over at the We Drink and We Farm Things Podcast just had a fascinating discussion about turkey eggs and why we don’t see more people eating them. Check out episode #88 (Membrane Doesn’t Scare Me) for that. They cover things such as the nutritional content of a turkey egg, how often turkey hens lay, and whether keeping turkeys for their eggs could be considered economical. Fascinating stuff!
we’ve had a couple of mild days, which I used to check on the bees. The hives are doing as expected with one weak hive, one strong, and one middle of the road. If the weak hive survives, I’ll be watching that queen (Macha) very closely as I might need to requeen. I considered it in late summer but wanted to give her the chance as she’s a first year queen.
I completed the Fall hiking spree with Chappie the week before Thanksgiving! Need to turn in my form to get my badge this week. Yah!
I mentioned last episode that I had to have some skin samples removed for biopsy. Well, one came back as precancerous so I am having an excision performed on Wednesday. I’m more worried about how long the recovery will be than the actual surgery. I noticed that my biopsy sites have taken a while and been uncomfortable because of their placement; they are on my stomach so the skin gets tugged around a bit. We’ll see. Of course, this means no swimming for a while and I am feeling the loss of my favourite activity! Hey ho. Better this than skin cancer, right?
On to the episode! I wasn’t sure I’d even get this ready in time. What with the holiday and an annoying confluence of events (including accidentally ingesting gluten, which is very bad news for someone with coeliac disease like myself), I ended up smacked in the face with depression on Sunday, and spent most of the day in bed, sleeping, because I felt smothered by it. Thankfully, I rallied somewhat by the evening, and I’ve committed to working on a better sleep and exercise schedule this week, which already seems to be helping.
All this to say that I didn’t have as much time to put into my research as I like to before getting this all typed up and recorded so please consider this an introduction to the topics I’m going to discuss. I hope to come back to them in future with more info when I have the chance to dig a little deeper into the reading! Thanks for bearing with me. <3 I like to think that we’re all learning together here!
The Saskatraz honey bee
We’re already at that time of year when beekeepers are being encouraged to place their package bee orders. One of my local beekeeping supply stores had an advert up for Saskatraz bee packages, and it caught my eye for two reasons: 1/ I’ve heard the name before and always meant to look into it (but forgot!), and 2/ the claim that only a handful of keepers/businesses are approved to sell this race in the US. Colour me intrigued!
So what is the Saskatraz honey bee?
The Saskatraz honey bee is a particular race of bee, bred for honey production, overwintering, and mite resistance. It’s a very interesting example of careful and science-driven breeding to produce a bee with strong genetics and desirable traits.
Many beekeepers are familiar with popular bee races such as the Italian and Carniolan, and might have some familiarity with the Russian bee. There are also human created hybrids such as the Cordovan and Buckfast honey bee. Each race is said to have a specific list of traits or characteristics that make it more (or less) desirable to the average keeper.
There’s also what I affectionately call ‘mutt bees’, which is what I have! These are bees from a mixed lineage, often untrackable, and often a product of local beekeeping to your area. For instance, perhaps the keeper you get your nucleus colonies from started with Carniolans but those hives went on to produce their own queens, which mated with local drones (wild and captive). Over time, this hypothetical keeper will have genetically diverse hives that can no longer be called pure Carniolans. Nothing wrong with that! Mutt bees are often well suited to your local area, especially if they have a proven history of surviving your specific, local weather conditions (i.e. long cold winters, or long dry summers).
As a bee that was created by careful breeding, the Saskatraz bee is property of Meadow Ridge Enterprises in Saskatchewan, Canada. This company has partnered with Olivarez Honey Bees of Orland, California, who now sell Saskatraz hybrids within the US. If I am understanding what I have read correctly, all authentic Saskatraz hybrid bees within the US will come from Olivarez Honey Bees (OHB). An approved seller of these queens will offer the buyer a certificate of authentication to prove the genetics. The OHB bees are considered to be hybrids of the original Saskatraz bees because the virgin Saskatraz queens that OHB obtained are then bred with local drones. This increases genetic diversity and, hopefully, strengthens traits that are deemed desirable in local bee stock.
If you’re interested in reading the full account of how the Saskatraz honey bee was created, you’ll want to check out saskatraz.com, which has the full list of information, including research papers, on the project.
Here’s a brief summary of this bees creation:
In 2004 the Saskatraz project was initiated with the intent to create a race of honey bee that produced large amounts of honey, and was also mite and brood disease resistant. Mite resistance was to be produced by refraining from the use of miticides, and instead using a process of natural selection in an attempt to identify and populate those colonies that showed the most ability to survive varroa and trachea mite infestations.
This project started as a collaboration between Meadow Ridge Enterprises (a queen producer), and the University of Saskatchewan. The principal investigator is Albert J. Roberston, owner and CEO of Meadow Ridge Enterprises.
Early on in the project, these Canadian bees continued to fall to varroa mites, and so it was decided to introduce Russian honey bee genetics. The stock chosen came from a USDA research facility that showed some mite resistant traits in the Russian bees. The Saskatraz project team also reached out to researchers in Germany who were similarly working on varroa mite tolerant/resistant bees, and decided to purchase some German bee semen to use in the Saskatraz project.
From this mix of Canadian, Russian, and German honey bee genetics, the Saskatraz bee was eventually formed. I’d have to do a lot more reading to go into further detail about the project as it gets rather technical but this hopefully gives you an idea of what was achieved.
Simply put: a queen produce and some scientists wanted a strong, healthy bee race that would consistently pass on traits of mite resistance and honey production. They used careful breeding and genetic tracking to accomplish this goal, and now we have the Saskatraz honey bee!
Anyway, all of this has thoroughly piqued my interest and I’m going to be ordering a package with a Saskatraz hybrid queen for the new year. I’ll keep you all up to date on how that goes!
Raising chickens for meat
Speaking of the new year, I’ve been considering a few new projects, one of which is the possibility of raising chickens for meat.
Considering I got into chickens by rescuing a hen I found in a parking lot (see episode 1!), it’s no surprise that I’m a soft touch who sees my current flock as pets who just happen to also produce delicious eggs. I knew from the start that I wanted to focus on laying hens, although raising my own meat birds was something that has always interested me.
The most popular chicken raised for meat is the Cornish cross (aka the Cornish-Rock). This is a hybrid chicken produced by crossing a Cornish with a White Rock chicken. The result is a fast growing, heavy breasted bird that can reach a slaughtering weight of 8-12lbs by a mere 6-8 weeks!! The meat is considered more flavourful than that of a duel-purpose breed; aka a chicken bred to lay eggs and be eaten.
Having seen Cornish Cross chickens, I feel like they’re a pretty safe bet for me in terms of not getting attached. Since they have been bred to grow so large so quickly, they’re ugly things with overly large chests that tend to sit most of the day as it rapidly becomes hard for them to move around. Although docile, they’re not active or interested birds like other breeds of chickens, and I think this would help me not get attached. Keeping them for such a short time before slaughter probably helps too.
Cornish Cross chickens are considered a ‘broiler’ bird, and there are other breeds in this category such as the Jersey Giant and Freedom Ranger (the latter of which was specially bred to be a better forager, meaning less money is put into their feed). However, the Cornish Cross clearly corners the market in fast growth for a big pay off.
Another option would be a dual purpose breed but I have ruled that out for myself. This sounds hugely shallow but most dual purpose breeds are pretty or fluffy chickens with sweet personalities. Take the Orpington. This is a big bodied chicken known for flavourful and tender meat as well as excellent egg production. They’re pleasing to the eye and are known for being sweet and docile.
I know myself. If I have a sweet bird like the above, I won’t be able to eat it. My pragmatism has a limit, and I know I am a sucker for the egg layers. In fact, I’ve always wanted to get a little flock of English Orpingtons for egg production! That’s definitely a future project for when I have more space available for additional coops.
Which leads me to a big part of why raising meat birds appeals to me; space. Since I’ll only be raising the birds for a short period of time, I don’t have to invest in building a permanent coop and run to keep them safe from predators as I would for egg layers. Instead, I could build a predator-proof chicken tractor with appropriate shelter for nighttime, and house my meat birds thusly. Due to their accelerated growth, they would move quickly from the brooder inside into the outdoor enclosure (assuming I’ve timed things for the right season; mild weather preferred as meat birds are prone to heat stress). They’d be out there for a short period of time before I send them to be processed.
So why raise my own meat birds?
I’m definitely interested in the difference of care and physiology between a broiler breed and my egg layers so some of the appeal is sheer curiosity and the joy of trying something new.
But I also find the idea of being directly involved in my food source very appealing. When I started keeping chickens for eggs, I got a crash course in how many production layers are treated, and it’s not pretty. I’d known about battery hens previously but erroneously assumed that the option for truly humanely produced eggs was always an option when shopping. That’s not the case. Just because a carton of eggs has a label that guarantees ‘free range chickens’ doesn’t mean squat. As long as a chicken has access to the outside for a minimum of 5 minutes a day, one can make this free range claim. Does that sound free range to you? Is it what you envisioned? Probably not.
For info on understanding how eggs are labeled, check out the following website: https://certifiedhumane.org/decode-egg-labels/
So raising chickens for eggs quickly went from being a fun and unusual pet keeping activity, to actually feeling pretty damn good about where my eggs come from. I know my ladies are spoiled rotten and treated exceptionally well, and so I feel proud of the eggs they produce.
I’ve known for a while that factory farming is a real concern when it comes to environmental issues and the ethics of how we raise our meat animals. I buy local when I can (side note: another reason I love the grocery store, ALDI, as they source locally as part of their plan to keep prices low), and ultimately I want to buy only from small, local farmers who raise their animals humanely. Like many, my only impediment so far has been the expense. But the beauty of homesteading is that we can take back control of how we grow and raise our food, AND we can network with locals who provide something we can’t. For instance, I’m hoping on connecting with a local homesteader who raises their own pigs and turkeys in 2020. If you know someone, send them my way, please and thank you!!
So by raising meat chickens, I will know that those birds had a good life before they get to my freezer. I’ll know they had access to the outside, got to scratch in the grass, ate a balanced and complete diet, and were treated kindly right up until the end. I’d sure feel better about eating that chicken than one I get from the supermarket.
Also, I’ve been trying to reduce my single use plastic consumption. This has been something I’ve tackled for years, and have long been using my material grocery bags, mesh produce bags, and choosing paper or glass over plastic. Recently, I’ve also tried out deodorant that comes in a paper tube, and toothpaste powder to avoid the plastic tubes. I also found mouthwash tablets, which interestingly enough have thymol in them, which you might recognise as the primary ingredient of Apiguard! So at least I can say my mouth is varroa mite free, I guess?
Some things to keep in mind if you’re also considering raising chickens for meat:
they need a high protein feed
they’re especially vulnerable to predators as they’re so inactive and slow so making a secure enclosure is especially important
they’re not known for being the best free rangers/foragers (Freedom Ranger breed aside) so access to the outside is more to supplement their diet and ensure healthy conditions (fresh air, encouraging them to move around, etc)
they are prone to breast blisters as they spend so much time sitting so it’s recommended you clean their bedding daily and keep things as clean as possible
their sudden and rapid growth is hard on their hearts and this makes them prone to ‘sudden death syndrome’, meaning you might lose a few birds before it’s time to butcher them. It’s not recommended to eat chickens you find deceased so just count them as a loss. This means you might want to buy slightly more chickens than you plan to butcher, just to be safe.
if you catch a case of the marshmallow heart, you should be aware that it is very hard to keep broiler chickens alive past 14 weeks or so. Due to their rapid growth and large size, their hearts are put under great strain. I have seen people who have kept broilers alive up to a year or so by controlling their diet and encouraging the birds to range more but this is rare. If you don’t want to kill them because it hurts your heart, you should ask yourself if you’re also inadvertently hurting your chicken by keeping them alive. Some might argue that dying of a heart attack in a loving home is better than going off to be slaughtered. However you look at things, please remember that we likely all want the same thing; what is best for our birds. We might just have different ideas about what that ultimately means.
The biggest issue for me, as to whether meat birds make their way to this homestead, is whether I am able to get their housing sorted by the Spring. My priority over the cold months is to build a chicken tractor for my current hens; a smaller one for the special needs girls, and a large one for the main flock. I also want to get my reptile basking enclosure sorted. These projects are my current priority as I have wanted to get them done for a while.
If I get those done in time, I’ll get my meat bird tractor set up and we shall go from there!
Muscovy Ducks
Finally, we get to the ‘ducks, oh my!’ section of this rambling post.
I was listening to another homesteading podcast, either We Drink and Farm or NEWhere; I can’t remember but both are great so check them out!
Anyway, one of the hosts mentioned this duck species and it caught my attention because they mentioned that they aren’t a part of the mallard genus, unlike most duck species.
To clarify a bit: the mallard is a type of dabbling duck (family: Anatidae) in the genus ‘Anes’, which literally means ‘duck’ in Latin. You’re likely very familiar with this species; they’re the classic ducks you see at most ponds and lakes. The females are brown, and the males are white, brown, and have glossy green heads. Mallard is also used to refer to the males of certain duck species, just to confuse you!
The mallard breeds readily with other duck species in the genus ‘anes’, and is sometimes considered the ‘father’ of all domesticated ducks so most of the ducks that you might have come across as a homesteader are likely related to the Mallard. In fact, Mallards breed so readily with other duck species that they’re considered invasive in some places due to their genetic introduction into wild duck populations (aka making a bunch of fertile hybrids that threaten to out compete the original wild duck species).
And then we have the Muscovy. The Muscovy duck is a dabbling duck so still part of the family Anatidae but part of the genus Cairina.
These are large, unique looking ducks, easily identified by the red fleshy growths (called caruncles) above their beaks and around their eyes. Their feathers are a mixture of black and white, and their beaks can be pink, yellow, black, or a mixture of those. The males are noticeably larger than the females and can reach a whopping 15lbs; much larger than the Mallard duck that tends to top out around 3.5lbs. Female Muscovy ducks are said to weigh no more than 6.6lbs on average.
The large size of this duck is likely part of their appeal as they’re most often kept as a meat bird. Sometimes called the ‘Barbary duck’ when discussing them in a culinary sense, Muscovy ducks are said to have a stronger tasting flesh than mallard species of domestic duck. The taste has sometimes been compared to roast beef (which as a Brit sounds delicious!), and the flesh is much leaner and less fatty than other ducks. This makes the Muscovy a great meat duck as it yields a larger amount of delicious, lean flesh. Yum! That said, Muscovy ducks grow slowly compared to other ducks raised for the table. It can take around 20 weeks for a Muscovy to reach peak slaughtering weight, and this species is known for its voracious appetite so that’s a lot of feed going into one bird. In comparison, the popular Pekin duck can reach slaughter weight by 7 weeks, although it is dramatically smaller at 7lbs to a Muscovy’s 15lbs.
But Muscovy ducks seem to be gaining a popularity among people looking for a pet or interesting face around the homestead. I’ve seen them mentioned in growing numbers on local livestock groups and on homesteading blogs. Some of this interest is likely due to how quiet Muscovy are compared to other duck species. They don’t quack or make as much as a racket as you’d expect; instead, their vocalizations appear limited to hisses and other soft sounds.
Another appeal for this species is the fact that they are excellent mothers, adept at raising their cute little offspring. They’re also excellent foragers, will even eat any pesky mice that come onto your property, and they’re extremely hardy. Despite originally hailing from warm climates (they are native to Mexico as well as Central and South America), they do very well in cold weather, making them an excellent choice for those of us with very cold winters. They also roost up high; in trees or the roost bars of your coop. This makes them less vulnerable to predators at night, and also means they use vertical space when resting, which saves you ground space, something that you certainly need with many other duck species.
Muscovy males (aka drakes) can be bred to Mallard hens. About 40-60% of eggs produced from such a pairing will be viable, although all offspring are sterile. These hybrid offspring are called ‘Mulards’, and are supposed to be a good meat bird that is often use for ‘foie gras’ (the controversial delicacy of duck liver produced by force feeding the bird grain during its short life). Interestingly, the Wikipedia article on Muscovy ducks indicates that Muscovy hens can be bred successfully to Mallard drakes but that the offspring are not desirable for meat or egg production. It fails to say why, however. Do they taste bad? Are they too small and therefore not worth the hassle of hybridizing the two species? It would be nice to know!
While looking into this bird, I found a great blog post from ‘growingwildroots.com’ on some benefits to keeping Muscovy ducks.
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So there you have it! Bees, and chickens, and ducks, oh my!
I am hoping to get my next episode up before Christmas. I haven’t fully settled on a topic yet but I’m leaning towards quail since they’re also a bird that has been on my mind as of late. As always, I’ll have updates from the homestead to share!
If during the race towards Christmas, I am unable to get an episode up, I’ll let everyone know via my various social media.
Speaking of! You can find me at homesteadhensandhoney on Instagram and Facebook; HomesteadHens on Twitter and Tumblr; and homesteadhensandhoney@gmail.com
Leave me a comment or drop me a line anytime!
I’m delighted to say that I am FINALLY over on iTunes and Google Play after much kerfuffle. Hurrah! If you would be so kind as to leave me a review over there, or wherever you listen, I would greatly appreciate it. Apparently it helps me get seen by others, which would be lovely, as I want to discuss bees and chickens and ducks (oh my!) with everyone.
Best wishes as you head into the home stretch of the holiday season. I hope it’s not too stressful!
And, as always, hug your hens, and then wash your hands. Ta ta!