Hobby Farming Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-27-2022

As a chicken flock keeper, you’re concerned about the well-being, safety, and health of your flock. Although you can’t control everything, such as predators, pests, diseases, and injuries, you can take a proactive role to ensure your chickens thrive in your backyard. The following can help you raise healthy chickens so they can provide you with eggs and happiness for years to come.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-08-2022

If you’re thinking about taking up farming as a hobby, educate yourself about the responsibilities. Research hobby farming by using local resources (like the library and neighbors), using the Internet, and volunteering at a farm. When you decide to plant, make sure you know your area’s growing season and to rotate your crops to maintain soil and plant quality. Keep your farm animals healthy by providing basic care and provisions and watching for signs of illness.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-22-2022

Chicken owners are a particularly self-reliant bunch. Chicken-keeping is meant to make you just a little more self-sufficient; why spend gobs of cash to do it? Maybe that helps explain why so many chicken folks build their own coops. To get started, you should familiarize yourself with chicken coop styles, the tools and building materials you need, and the carpentry skills to master.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-01-2022

Chickens are gaining popularity quickly. Not only are chickens fun and educational, but they're also beneficial to you and your garden. When you free-range your flock, you gain helpful gardeners who aerate the soil, rid plants of insects, provide composting, and, best of all, supply food — their eggs! Here's how to gain insight on good and bad plants for a chicken garden, layer your garden for free-ranging chickens, and guard against chicken predators.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

As you plan your new beehive-building adventure, you may want to start by deciding which hive design to go for based on your woodworking skills and beekeeping needs. You will also need to know which tools and fasteners you'll need for that particular build. Plans may differ somewhat depending on the type of hive you choose, but you can follow some basic steps to build most types of beehives.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-24-2022

Raising chickens can be fun and rewarding. Whether you’re raising birds for their eggs or for their cackling companionship, caring for your birds is an everyday project. Raising happy and healthy birds means knowing how to take care of baby chicks and what to feed them as they mature.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-17-2022

What to do during your spring, autumn, and routine beekeeping inspections varies. The spring inspection starts or revives your bee colony, the autumn inspection prepares your beehive for the cold weather (assuming it gets cold in your area), and your routine beekeeping inspections help maintain a healthy and productive hive. Here are our buzzworthy tips.

Article / Updated 02-10-2022

The majority of the bee hive’s population consists of worker bees. Like the queen, worker bees are all female. They are smaller, their abdomens are shorter, and on their hind legs they possess pollen baskets, which are used to tote pollen back from the field. The life span of worker bee is a modest six weeks during the colony’s active season. However, worker bees live longer (four to eight months) during the less active winter months. These winter workers are loaded with protein and are sometimes referred to as “Fat Bees.” Worker bees do a considerable amount of work, day in and day out. They work as a team. The specific jobs and duties they perform during their short lives vary as they age. Understanding their roles will deepen your fascination and appreciation of these remarkable creatures. Initially, a worker’s responsibilities include various tasks within the hive. At this stage of development, worker bees are referred to as house bees. As they get older, their duties involve work outside of the hive as field bees. Worker bee housekeeping (days 1 to 3) One of her first tasks is cleaning out the cell from which she just emerged. This and other empty cells are cleaned and polished and left immaculate to receive new eggs and to store nectar and pollen. Worker bee undertakers (days 3 to 16) During the first couple weeks of her life, the worker bee removes any bees that have died and disposes of the corpses as far from the hive as possible. Similarly, diseased or dead brood are quickly removed before becoming a health threat to the colony. Nursing young worker bees (days 4 to 12) The young worker bees tend to their “baby sisters” by feeding and caring for the developing larvae. On average, nurse bees check a single larva 1,300 times a day. Attending to the queen bee (days 7 to 12) Because her royal highness is unable to tend to her most basic needs by herself, some of the workers do these tasks for her. Collecting nectar for the hive (days 12 to 18) Young worker bees also take nectar from foraging field bees that are returning to the hive. The house bees deposit this nectar into cells earmarked for this purpose. The workers similarly take pollen from returning field bees and pack the pollen into cells. Both the ripened honey and the pollen are food for the colony. Fanning the beehive (days 12 to 18) Worker bees also take a turn at controlling the temperature and humidity of the hive. The workers also perform another kind of fanning, but it isn’t related to climate control. It has more to do with communication. Beekeepers can purchase synthetic queen bee pheromone and use this chemical to lure swarms of bees into a trap. The captured swarm then can be used to populate a new hive. This worker bee fans her wings to release a sweet orientation scent. This helps direct other members of the colony back to the hive. Becoming the bee hive (days 12 to 35) Worker bees that are about 12 days old are mature enough to begin producing beeswax. The wax flakes they produce help with the building of new wax comb and in the capping of ripened honey and cells containing developing pupae. Some new beekeepers are alarmed when they first see these wax flakes on the bee. They wrongly think these white chips are an indication of a problem (disease or mite). Guarding the hive (days 18 to 21) The last task of a house bee before she ventures out is that of guarding the hive. They are poised and alert, checking each bee that returns to the hive for a familiar scent. Only family members are allowed to pass. Bees from other hives are occasionally allowed in when they bribe the guards with nectar. These bees simply steal a little honey or pollen and leave. Becoming field bees (days 22 to 42) With her life half over, the worker bee now ventures outside of the hive and joins the ranks of field bees. You’ll see them taking their first orientation flights. The bees face the hive and dart up, down, and all around the entrance. They’re imprinting the look and location of their home before beginning to circle the hive and progressively widening those circles, learning landmarks that ultimately will guide them back home. Foraging bees visit 5 million flowers to produce a single pint of honey. They forage a two- to three-mile (four- to five-kilometer) radius from the hive in search of food. So don’t think you need to provide everything they need on your property.

Article / Updated 12-13-2021

For many homesteaders, the drive to become increasingly more self-sufficient is strong. Learning how to make soap often becomes a natural "next step" (after gardening, harvesting, and animal husbandry) in homesteading. The technique you use to make your own soaps determines the amount of time you invest in your hobby (or product). This article covers two basic soapmaking techniques: hand milling and melting and pouring. (You can also make soap from scratch by using lye, but the process is more complex and requires care in handling sodium hydroxide, which is a caustic substance.) How to make hand-milled soap If you don’t like the idea of working with chemicals, you may want to try making hand-milled soap. All you do is take an existing bar of commercial soap, grate it, and then remelt it with water. You can then color, scent, and mold it as you please. Many diehard soapmakers scoff at this technique. They say that you’re technically not making the soap because you’re using commercial soap, which may be soap but more than likely is a synthetic detergent bar. (If you have a preference for “real” soap, be sure to read the label and buy soap that has ingredients such as sodium cocoate, sodium palmate, sodium olivate, and so on.) But if you want to exercise a little creativity, you can still do so when you hand-mill soap. You can craft soap that looks and smells the way you want it and is something you can’t always find at the store. If you plan to scent your soap, make sure that you start with an unscented bar of commercial soap. If you think you want to make soap, why not try hand-milling soap that you already have? The only special tool that you really need is a hand grater. Here are the basic steps. Grate your soap, as shown in the figure below. The smaller you grate your pieces, the quicker the melting time. Melt your pieces in water in the top pot of a double boiler or in a microwave. Use approximately 1 cup of water for every 2 cups of soap gratings. If using the microwave, heat the shavings and water in short bursts and check often, stirring as needed. Some people set their microwaves at 50 percent power when melting clear glycerin soap base or shavings. Experiment with what works best for you and your microwave. Stir your soap as it melts. After the soap has melted, stir in your color. Continue stirring until the soap is thick and creamy and then remove it from the heat. Add any other additives, such as essential oils. Pour your soap into the mold. Let the soap cool overnight before removing it from the mold. Your soap isn’t finished just because it’s out of the mold. Allow it to solidify for three to seven days. How to make melt-and-pour soap If making hand-milled soap sounds like cheating to you, then making melt-and-pour soap may be right up your alley. Instead of using commercial soap, you use a melt-and-pour soap base that you purchase in a craft store. The base comes in blocks, chunks, or nuggets, and you simply melt the amount you need and then mold it. Probably more than any other soapmaking technique, melt-and-pour soapmaking resembles the steps involved in making candles. Like candlemaking, you use premade material, melt it, and mold it. If you love to make candles, chances are you’ll enjoy making melt-and-pour soaps. Here’s how melt-and-pour soapmaking works: Melt your soap chunks in a double boiler over medium heat or melt them in a heat-resistant bowl in the microwave (see the following figure). You can also cut 1- or 2-inch chunks off a large 1-pound or 5-pound block of soap if you’re not using precut chunks. If you’re melting your soap in the microwave, melt your soap at 50 percent heat for approximately 1 minute. Stir your soap. Continue melting it at 20-second intervals until the soap is completely melted. Remove your melted soap from the heat and stir in any additives, such as color. Pour your melted soap into the mold. Most melt-and-pour soaps shrink as they set, so you probably don’t need to spray your mold with a releasing agent. Allow your soap to cool for approximately 1 hour. Although melt-and-pour soap is immediately safe for the skin, let it dry out and harden for a few days before use, so that it will last longer. Enhance your soap with additives Additives are generally anything you add to your soap base to enhance its color, scent, texture, skin-care benefits, or overall aesthetic value. You stir in the additives as the last step before pouring your soap into the mold and after the soap has been melted. If you’re adding a solid additive to melt-and-pour soap, be aware that it may separate, or sink to the bottom of your mold. To avoid this problem, let your soap cool more than you usually would, stirring the additive into the soap the entire time. You want the soap mixture to thicken in your bowl before you pour it into the mold, much like thickening gelatin. Waiting longer than usual can help the solid additive stay suspended in the soap. The table describes popular additives. Common Soapmaking Additives Additive Description Almond oil Soothes irritated, itchy skin. Also used as base. Has slight odor. Aloe vera Relieves dry and burned skin. Can use in plant or gel form. Apricot Softens skin. A popular bath additive. To use, place dried apricots in water for several hours and then liquefy. Apricot kernel oil Softens skin. Especially good for sensitive skin. Beeswax Hardens soap and contributes scent. Need to melt before adding to soap. Don’t use more than 1 ounce per pound of soap. Clay Helps dry out oily skin. Choose finely powdered French clay. Cocoa butter Hardens soap and moisturizes. Looks and smells like white chocolate but can be purchased in a deodorized form if you want its qualities without the chocolate smell. Cucumber Acts as astringent. Use grated skin or liquefied. Glycerin Moisturizes skin. Herbs Contribute texture and color. Honey Moisturizes skin and makes soap softer. Lanolin Hardens soap. Moisturizes and softens skin. Can cloud soap. Don’t use if allergic to wool. Lemon Adds texture and speckling, as well as antibacterial qualities. Use grated peel. Oatmeal Softens and exfoliates skin. Adds texture. Use ground rolled oats. Limit to a maximum of 1/2 cup rolled or 1/4 cup ground or pulverized oats per pound of soap. A blender works well for making oat flour. Pumice Removes tough dirt, but can be harsh. Adds texture. Vitamin E oil Use as a preservative when you add fresh fruit or other additive at risk of spoiling. Wheat germ Exfoliates skin, as well as adding bulk and texture. Shows up in soap as light speckling. Use no more than 3 tablespoons per pound of soap. You can add color to your soap by using a melt-and-pour soap base or soap dyes. To add a scent, use your favorite essential oils, manufactured fragrance oils, or even spices and extracts from the kitchen or herbs straight from the garden!

Article / Updated 12-13-2021

One way or another, handmade beehives are designed to provide the bees with shelter from the elements, a space to raise brood, a space to store honey, and adequate ventilation so that the bees can regulate the colony’s temperature. In addition, modern hives provide the beekeeper with the ability to inspect, manipulate, and manage the colony. So exactly what kinds of conditions cater to these necessities? The Langstroth hive is the most widely used hive in the United States, and it’s gaining popularity worldwide. The figure below shows the basic components of a hive and their function. Elevated hive stand A hive stand isn’t necessary, but you may find one useful because it elevates the hive off the wet ground, which improves air circulation and requires less bending over when you’re inspecting your hives. In addition, grass growing in front of the hive’s entrance can slow the bees’ ability to get in and out. The stand alleviates that problem by raising the hive above the grass. Bottom board A bottom board is the floor of the beehive. It consists of several rails that serve as a frame around a solid piece of wood, and it protects the colony from damp ground. These days, more and more beekeepers are using what’s called a screened bottom board in place of the standard bottom board. This improves ventilation and is helpful when controlling and monitoring the colony’s population of varroa mites. Entrance reducer An entrance reducer is a cleat that limits bee access to the hive and controls ventilation and temperature during cooler months. You don’t nail the entrance reducer into place but rather place it loosely at the hive’s entrance so that you can introduce it or remove it as needed. The small notch reduces the entrance of the hive to the width of a finger. The large notch opens the entrance to about four finger widths. Removing the entrance reducer completely opens the entrance to the max. If the hive design you choose doesn’t use an entrance reducer, you can use clumps of grass to close off some of the entrance. Deep hive bodies The deep hive bodies are essentially boxes that contain frames of comb. For a Langstroth hive, you typically build two deep hive bodies to stack on top of each other, like a two-story condo. The bees use the lower deep as the nursery or brood chamber, to raise thousands of baby bees. They use the upper deep as the pantry or food chamber, where they store most of the honey and pollen for their use. If you live in an area where frigid winters just don’t happen (temperatures don’t go below freezing), you may not need more than one deep hive body for your colony (one deep for both the brood and their food). In such situations, you want to monitor the colony’s food stores and feed the bees if their supplies run low. Honey super Beekeepers use honey supers to collect surplus honey. That’s your honey — the honey that you can harvest from your bees. The honey that’s in the deep hive body must be left for the bees. Supers are identical in design to the deep hive bodies, and you build and assemble them in a similar manner. But the depth of the supers is more shallow. Honey supers typically come in two popular sizes: shallow (which usually measure 5 3/4 inches high) and medium (which usually measure 6 5/8 inches high). Medium supers are sometimes referred to as Illinois supers because they were originally developed by Dadant & Sons, Inc., which is located in Illinois. Some prefer medium supers to shallow supers and use mediums exclusively. Why? The mediums hold more honey and yet are still light enough that you can handle them fairly easily when packed with golden goodness (medium supers weigh in at around 50 to 55 pounds when packed full). However, many beekeepers use shallow supers because they’re just that much lighter when filled with honey (they weigh around 35 to 40 pounds when packed full). The choice is yours. You can use medium-size equipment for your entire Langstroth hive (no deeps). Three medium-depth hive bodies is about equivalent to two deep hive bodies. Standardizing on one size means that all your equipment is 100 percent interchangeable. The lighter weight of each medium hive body makes lifting much, much easier than manipulating deep hive equipment (in comparison, deep hive bodies can weigh up to 100 pounds when full). As the bees collect more honey, you can add more honey supers to the hive, stacking them on top of each other like so many stories to a skyscraper. For your first season, build one honey super. In your second year, you’ll likely need to build two or three or more supers. Honey bonanza! Frames Some hives use removable frames (for example, nuc, observation, British National, and Langstroth). The bees build their honeycomb onto the frames. Because the frames are removable from the hive, you can easily inspect, manipulate, and manage the colony. For the nuc, observation, and Langstroth hives, the wooden frames contain a single sheet of beeswax foundation. Frames typically come in three basic sizes: deep, shallow, and medium, corresponding to deep hive bodies and shallow or medium honey supers. You can certainly purchase frames from a beekeeping supply vendor. Or you can find out how to build your own Langstroth-style frames. Inner cover The inner cover of the hive resembles a shallow tray (with a ventilation hole in the center). You might also like to cut a notch in one of the short lengths of the frame. This is an extra ventilation source, positioned to the front of the hive. You place the inner cover on the hive with the tray side facing up. Alternatively, screened inner covers have been gaining popularity in recent years. They provide the colony with terrific ventilation. You do not use the inner cover at the same time you have a hive-top feeder on the hive. You use the hive-top feeder in place of the inner cover. Outer cover The outer cover protects the bees from the elements. Like the roof on your house, you can ensure that it’s waterproof and also extend the life of the wood by covering the top with a weatherproof material (aluminum flashing, asphalt tiles, cedar shingles, and so on).