Those who visit my farm immediately realize my affection for turkeys. They are, by far, my favorite bird. Extraordinarily social and affectionate, my turkeys outshine all of my other birds with their expressive personalities.Raising heritage breed turkeys for profit can seem unmanageable. ...

Observing your flock will equip you with the necessary insight to determining whether your birds are healthy or if they are ill. What to Watch For:• Decrease appetite or thirst • Abnormal poop (watery and wormy) • Dull feathers and color changes in feathers • Stained feathers around ...

What is it?Bumblefoot is a staph bacterial infection which has penetrated, typically by a puncture wound or other significant injury, on your bird's foot. It causes the foot to swell, typically creates a nasty-looking scab and can lead to paralysis or even death.The Cause?Staph bacteria ...

Heritage breed birds have an immense amount of genetically passed down skills that are a resource for poultry-raisers to utilize. From parenting skills to foraging abilities to predator evasion, a heritage breed bird outshines their industrial breed counterpart.There was quite a hull-a-baa-loo ...

The bird flu is an infection which jumps. The avian flu virus can pass from wild birds such as ducks to say chickens laying eggs on a farm to people like you. As this virus makes its jump, it strengthens, becomes nastier, even deadly. It is very serious and should cause concern.I am a true ...

What really do you know about eggs other than they make a delicious breakfast? Well, Falco's Heritage Farm and Capper's Farmer are here to answer all your egg-related questions!Production of an egg typically takes about 11-1/2 days. Typically, enough hormone is released to develop only one ova ...

1. BorageBorage is an herb which contains phyto-nutrients such as flavonoids, resveratrol, carotenoids and glucosinolates, minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron and is high in vitamin C and A. It also contains a special Omega-6 fatty acid called GLA which plays a vital ...

Laying an egg is triggered by receiving adequate sunlight through a receptor in your bird’s eye which triggers hormone production mainly in the pituitary gland. The average amount of light required to begin egg production is about 14 hours. This is why your hens produce more eggs during the ...

Ducklings & Gosling from HatcheryBaby ducks and geese are a joy to raise; at least for the first three days. Raising ducklings from the hatchery is a messy business indeed from day four through day twenty-eight. In my experience, ducklings and goslings are more fragile than baby chicks. ...

MoltingMolting is the process of shedding and re-growing feathers. Both female and male birds molt. During the molt, egg production and male fertility decrease or cease. The first molt doesn't occur until the birds are going through their second autumn as adolescence is the start of adult ...

After taking a month-long hiatus from the farm in order to see to my parents' move to an assisted living apartment, my husband and I finally returned to celebrate Easter with our son, Farmer Bryan, at the beautiful farm in Wisconsin! One of my favorite moments was when I walked into the barn, ...

When we set out to raise our second batch of broilers last fall, I really wanted to try out another breed. We had previously raised the Cornish Cross that we ordered from a hatchery out of Missouri.That breed is fantastic for marketing a pastured broiler. With the large breasts and great size, ...

How do double yolks happen? My mama’s hen, named Bobby Lou, laid a huge egg recently and set me to wondering how she did that. So, I contacted my blog friend, Lara, who works for Minnesota Poultry. She knows all sorts of cool things about turkeys and chickens. I love getting together with ...

My last blog post left off with the purchase and homecoming of our day-old turkey poults to the brooder that Farmer Bryan had just finished ... in the nick of time! The little birdlets spent seven cozy weeks in their newly crafted brooder, where they learned to eat a little grass and the ...