NEXT PROJECT
Now that Polyface Designs is out, I'm ready to start thinking about the next project. I'm struck by the homestead movement expansion. Covid has certainly expanded it due to food security issues.
I think people know intuitively that in times of cultural upheaval, you want to be in the country and not in the city. Yesterday a fellow told me about buying a chicken coop from an outfit catering to this burgeoning market and like all of them I know about, this coop has serious flaws. As I've looked at the commercial backyard units, it seems clear to me that they're either designed for human perceptions of cuteness without regard to chicken needs, or they are the product of novices themselves who don't have extensive practical experience raising laying hens.
Probably the most common deficiency is the nest boxes. Few things have more bearing on hen laying contentment and clean eggs than location and design of the nest boxes. Hens like privacy when they lay--think of bathroom stalls. The most critical element is to situate the nest boxes so they are above hen eye height. That way other hens can't look in just by standing on the floor.
The next most important element is high enough front boards that the hen can nestle down behind it and feel secluded. These two features inherently create the need for a front perch board because a hen can't jump, flap, and gently enter a nest box above eye height with a 6-7 inch lip on its front (most boxes are 12 inches X 12 inches). That perch board needs to be hinged so it can be tipped up in the evening as an exclusion to keep the hens from sleeping (and pooping) in the boxes.
This is such an elemental and chicken-friendly protocol, but I haven't seen any prefabricated cutesy backyard units with these features. Meanwhile, all these newcomers to homesteading deal with filthy eggs and stressed chickens not knowing there are simple fixes to make life happier and easier. This and a host of other information are desperately needed for the homesteading tsunami.
Because our family started as a homestead before morphing into a commercial farm at larger scale, I can practically and philosophically move seamlessly between these two worlds. But the average person can't.
With that in mind, I'm hoping this winter to write a new book with the working title The Homestead Livestock Handbook. It scales back everything our farm does today to the early days. We crawled before we walked too. Everybody has to. And you can't Google experience, but you can learn from folks who have traveled this way before. I'm hoping to get my thoughts into an outline over the next couple of weeks so I can pound it out around Christmas.
I'm also well aware that many excellent farmers begin as homesteaders. That's a great place to start. The problem is that too many starry-eyed homesteaders get discouraged due to fixable problems. That includes, for example, becoming a nursing home for animals. Be careful what you name. It might sound good emotionally, but it will devastate your money and time. Like my how-to books, I'll shoot straight but it'll all be in the spirit of encouragement and success.
One thing I know speaking to thousands of homesteaders over the years. The most enthusiastic response I get is when I ask for a show of hands: "How many of you, if you could make a living from your small farm, would quit your town job tomorrow?" So I know lots of latent desire exists. I aim to massage it.
I'm hoping my lifetime of mistakes and experience will be helpful either in bringing homesteaders more enjoyment and profit or moving confidently in a commercial direction.
What is the one question or issue you'd like me to wrestle with in this new book? Thank you----I'm listening.