× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! In the last article, I talked about how we were able to incubate our 25-day-old duck eggs after their mother was killed, using only a heat pad and some elbow grease. In this article, I will lay out the process that happened to transition them to our non working incubator shell and hatch successfully. We incubated them for 10 days, caring for them four times per day, swapping out wet rags to keep the humidity level up. Despite all odds, I heard peeping one night when I was giving them the last wet rag at bedtime. Hallelujah! The next day, there were three pipped eggs. I could hardly contain my excitement. Read More
Tag: frugal homesteading
Incubating Eggs without an Incubator
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! A raccoon killed my favorite duck hen the other day, leaving her 20+ day old eggs without a mother. When we discovered it the next morning, the eggs were cold. There was little hope, but there’s a saying in the farm world, “It’s not dead until it’s warm and dead.” More than once, we’ve warmed up a lifeless body (think rabbits in particular) to find a miraculous recovery. The problem with the eggs is that we have a non working incubator, something to do with a puppy and wires. How could we keep the eggs going without it? I’ve always been told you can’t, which means I needed to set out Read More
Building a Zero Cost, Post-Free Pallet Fence
× Looking for minerals and goat supplies? Head over to our shop at GoatCare.com! Pallets are hands-down one of the most versatile and important no-cost homesteader supplies. Even if you don’t think you’ll ever use them, if you happen upon a stash of them at a store for free, you owe it to all of your soon-to-be jealous fellow homesteaders across the world to bring those pallets home. From instant patches in existing fences to building entire lines with only pallets and elbow grease, pallets make the easiest and quickest fence to put up. My husband lived and worked out of state for a year and a half while I had three (now four) small children and a small farm to take care of alone. I Read More