Dogbane (Plectranthus caninus) is a semi-succulent perennial herb from the mint family which is native to South Africa. Despite not being edible, dogbane has numerous uses in a home food garden and is considered a valuable pioneer support plant by permaculturists. Tough, low-maintenance, fast-growing yet not invasive, dogbane might just be your newest garden go-to!
Keeping a flock of chickens in your backyard is a great step towards self-sufficiency. A supply of fresh, organically-produced, free-range eggs is a big plus…but what if you get too many at once? Sure, you can boil, poach, fry, and scramble- but what else can you do to make the most of your eggs? Here’s
The rapidly rising price of food, especially fresh produce, isn’t news to any of us these days. Basic living is getting tougher everywhere: inflation is up, interest rates are higher, and supply chains are stretched to breaking point. Being scared won’t help, because it doesn’t lead us to safety or rational thought. But there are
In this podcast, I go for a walk around our electric fence to inspect the perimeter and ensure our poultry are safe from predator attack. We’ve had our electric fence for over 12 months now and it has proven to be a valuable and impenetrable barrier between the nasty outside world and our chickens. I
In this episode of the Self Sufficient Me Show we go for a walk around the property and I chat about the importance of eating a variety of healthy, fresh food as much as possible from the home garden. In the "what's growing now" segment, I describe some of the plants we have growing now
Chicken tractors and static chicken coops or runs/pens are both good ways to house a backyard flock of hens; but, there are key differences besides the obvious (of one being mobile and the other not) that people should take into account before they make their final decision to buy. The main thing you will want
One of the biggest infrastructure mistakes some people make when they first start keeping chickens is not building a holding or isolation pen at the same time as they build the coop and run. Holding/isolation pens are not often discussed in the mainstream when talking about keeping chickens or other types of poultry – I
If you're looking to get chickens and wondering what type of feeder is best to buy than before spending a lot of money perhaps try making a chicken feeder yourself – it's easy and could cost you absolutely nothing! In this short article, I'll show you step by step how I made my chicken feeder.
Introduction Article updated on 17th October 2018. Over the years as a backyard chicken keeper and breeder, I’ve heard lots of claims and remedies for how to safely treat mites or lice on chickens and other poultry; such as products like ivermectin, Maldison 50, Permethrin (synthetic pyrethrum), Carbaryl (Sevin), pest powders, dipping solutions. Or, more
I started growing sorghum by accident after it self-seeded in my vegetable garden. I’m positive the seed hitched a ride in the garden mulch I used recycled from our chicken pen. There’s nothing better on the garden and around plants than used mulch from the chicken pen mixed with manure! Anyway, I decided to let a considerable
Article revised on 10 April 2015. This article is a very basic outline but we have plenty of other articles also about chicken keeping in our poultry section. When I initially decided to investigate getting chickens the very first question that came into my mind was how easy are chickens to keep? At the time I
I have a black hen who loves to come and visit me. She's a smart girl and definitely the smartest chicken out of all my hens and I say this because she's the only one (out of 15) that deliberately finds a way under my temporary fencing only to navigate 60 metres up to the
Introduction This article was revised on 11 Mar 2015 Keeping poultry, like chickens, ducks, and quail etc is great fun but sometimes we need to control where these animals go for the safety of the animals and for our peace of mind. That's where a good quail/chicken run can become a handy semi or fully
Is feeding chickens as simple as feeding a pet cat or dog? Well, yes, and no. When people first start researching about what to feed their chooks they soon realise there are many answers. And, most of what I have read (and heard) is completely fine; however, there are some areas worth exploring more when
Introduction This post on chicken feed test is a short supplementary article to complement my YouTube video “Chicken Feed Test”. I wanted to further explain the test and results for the benefit of anyone who is just visiting and hasn't yet seen the video and for those who are just interested in the reasoning
Introduction Article updated 30 Sep 2019 Provide a spot or box with some straw and your hens will happily lay eggs it's that simple, jobs done – sad to say it isn't quite that simple. After much trial and error, open-eyed surprises, shaking head disappointments, wasted money, wasted eggs, and lost time, I have evolved
Introduction When you think about great moments in time, human achievement, or an event which changed the world, most people would consider the wheel, electricity, war, medicine, moon landing, internet, Jesus, or Michael Jackson, but very few people give any credit to the domesticated fowl. Therefore, in this article I would like to be the
Article updated April 2015 Some people struggle with the thought of owning a rooster and wonder if they should keep one with their flock. Others, wish they hadn’t got a rooster and now want to get rid of him. I can’t make the decision to get, keep, or remove a rooster for anyone; however, I
(This article was reviewed on 30 Mar 2013) I recently wrote about keeping roostersand what they taste like if a person decides to get rid of their rooster and eat him. However, I didn’t elaborate on the slaughtering process and just what steps actually need to be taken to get the chicken from the
This article was updated on 28 Nov 2015 I‘ve known people who have given up and given away their chickens simply because they felt chickens were too much trouble to look after. In fact, we’ve even benefited from people asking us if we could take their birds off their hands for free because they were
Self Sufficient Me is a blog about self-sustainment by growing our own produce (plant/animal), and self-fulfilment by looking after our health (physical/mental) through exercise and slowing life down a little.
