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Survival Food

Soda Bottle Fishing – A Survival Skill?

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

Have you heard of “soda bottle fishing?” I talked to a couple folks, today, and nobody had heard of this fishing method. I never saw it until 2001, when I was living in a campground on the bank of the Shenandoah River.

First, I’m NOT talking about using bottles to float trot lines, which, at least here, is illegal.

I did a lot of fishing that particular summer, using pretty normal tackle, because I was unemployed. I ate some fish, but it was a ‘luck’ (actually skill) thing.

Many of my weekend neighbors, mostly folks from the state of Sonora in Mexico, fed their families (and sometimes me, too) and brought home bass, perch, catfish and carp for the week. They weren’t using fiberglass rods and nice reels. They fished the way they did at home, where everybody was dirt-poor, and resources were in very short supply. Up here, we’d call it “hillbilly ingenuity”. The difference in our styles was, I was ‘fishing’, they were actually ‘catching’. :)

You may not need or want to fish this way every day, but it could be a way to harvest a meal or two, if you need to, using mostly discarded found materials.

You’ll need:

  • Crappy shorts and sneakers you don’t mind getting wet.
  • An empty 2-liter plastic soda bottle (remove the label)
  • 50-60 feet of fishing line. This can often be found in the bushes near the shore. If you look around in the submerged rocks/logs, you can often find good fishing lures, as well.
  • ½ oz. or so weight/sinker. (maybe a float/bobber, too)
  • A hook
  • Bait

Creating Your Rod and Reel

  1. Tie the end of your line to the neck of the bottle.
  2. If you have the cap, tie a knot in the line, put it inside, and screw on the cap to hold it.
  3. Wrap all the line around the bottle “reel style”. This is the annoying part. Try and be as neat as possible.
  4. Tie on a hook at the end. Add your weight to the line about 8-10 inches in from the hook.
  5. Add a float (a stick or a piece of a foam cooler works) if you want to fish off the bottom, or see when you have a bite.

To use Your Soda Bottle Fishing Setup

  1. Bait your hook.
  2. Walk out into the water about waist deep.
  3. Hold the bottle by the neck in your ‘weak’ hand.
  4. In your strong hand, let out about 2 feet of line, and swing it around above your head (like a “David” type sling). (DO be careful and don’t hook yourself). Let it go in the direction you want to cast.
  5. Point the bottle in the direction of your cast, and just let the line peel off, just like it would off an open-faced spinning reel. Once your cast hits the water, play “spin the bottle” to take up any slack.
  6. Yank and pull to retrieve your line and/or your fish. Repeat as needed. :)

A pair of old work gloves are also not a bad idea. That fishing line can slice you like a razor if you’re not careful.

Soda Bottle Fishing

I don’t have a 2-liter bottle (which would probably work better), but here is a picture of a packable fishing kit, based on an acrylic cigar-tube, that I have been playing around with, recently. I’ll cover the braided line with duck tape for protection. (The other tape bundle is about 50 ft of nylon bankline)

This could also be a handy ‘hack’ if a bunch o’ grandkids show up, and there is not enough “real” fishing gear to go around. In general, where there are kids, there are soda bottles :)

Filed Under: Survival Food

Survival Soup with Rice and Beans [Recipe]

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

Survival Soup

Soups have long been the mainstay of any cook who is trying to stretch the larder to feed more people, or the budget to save money. Soup is the basic survival food. And for that reason (among many others), it should always have a place on your survival food list.

This is the first in a series of Survival Soup recipes that you can make from commonly stored foods, your garden in season, foraging wild edibles, or what is seasonally plentiful on the homestead.

This recipe comes from a post written by MsKYprepper “Feed a Family of Four for 1 Year for Less Than $300” and can be seen here: https://seasonedcitizenprepper.com//feed-a-family-of-4-for-1-year-for-less-than-300/

Don’t have time to prepare and cook soup? There are some really great dry soup mixes available. Oregon Lakes has 15 different recipes, and is all natural. See all their flavors here.

Recipe #1 Rice & Beans Soup

Measure out:

  • 8 oz (1 cup) of rice
  • 2 oz (1/4 cup) of red kidney beans
  • 2 oz (1/4 cup) of pearl barley
  • 2 oz (1/4 cup of lentils
  • 1 oz (1/8 cup) of split green beans
  • 1 oz (1/8 cup) of chick peas/garbanzo’s

(The chicken bouillon and salt are optional, but highly recommended!)

Put the ingredients into 6 quarts of water, bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. When I cooked this it didn’t thicken up for me in two hours, but once I turned the burner off and let it sit for a while it did thicken up into a very hearty soup!https://survivalusb.com/products/survival-recipe-vault

If you decide to make this soup, I would suggest going to 1/4 to 1/2 of the recipe and adding liberal amounts of salt and chicken bouillon. Think of it as a very hearty chicken and rice soup with beans, etc. adding protein. This is a very basic recipe that you can add nearly any meat, including jerky, too. It will fill your belly and stick to your ribs. MsKYprepper said it is especially good with cornbread.

I bought all of the ingredients (3 lb. bag of rice and 1 lb. bags of the rest) for less than $10 at Walmart. If I purchased it in larger quantities, it would cost far less for the same amount, but I wanted to try it before I committed myself to larger quantities, and I’m glad I did! If necessary, I’m pretty sure it would feed us (2 adults) for at least a week, maybe two! No, it may not have all the calories you need, but it is meant to be a base for your foraging other foodstuffs from your garden or wherever.

I decided to vacuum seal this, with the recipe, as a gift for one of the kids, to start them on emergency food storage.

packaged food

Then, to keep it all together in a package they could stash almost anywhere, I put it in a clear baggy that I got with some sheets I just bought – I love to repurpose things!

packed done

How To Feed a family of 4 for 1 year, for less than $300

This plan is the fastest, cheapest and easiest way to start a food storage program. It has become semi “internet famous”, and is appropriately referred to as “survival soup.”

Think about this:

  • You are done in a weekend.
  • There are no hassles with rotating.  Pack it and forget.
  • It’s space efficient – everything is consolidated into a few 5-gallon buckets.
  • You’ll sleep content, knowing that you have a one-year food supply on hand for your family should you ever need it.

With the exception of dairy and Vitamin B12, this bean soup recipe will fulfill your basic nutritional needs.  It won’t fill all of your wants, but using this as your starting point, you can add the stuff that you want.

All of the food and storing supplies listed below plus 2 55-gallon recycled barrels to be used for rain catchment cost me $296, including taxes.  I purchased rice, bouillon and salt from Sam’s Club.  You can buy small bags of barley at the grocery store, but if you don’t mind waiting a few days, special ordering a bulk bag from Whole Foods was cheaper.

All of the beans I purchased from Kroger’s in 1-lb bags.  Supplies can be purchased online, although it is usually possible to find more opportunistic deals “on the ground.”

Survival Soup

Supplies you need for Survival Soup:

  • 8 – 5-gallon buckets with Gamma lids
  • 8 – large Mylar bags with 2,000 cc oxygen absorbers
  • A handful of bay leaves
  • 90 lbs. of white rice
  • 22 lbs. of kidney beans
  • 22 lbs. of barley
  • 22 lbs. of yellow lentils
  • 5.5 lbs. of split green peas
  • 5.5 lbs. of garbanzo beans
  • 1 lb. of salt
  • A big box of beef bullion and chicken bouillon.
  • A measuring cup

How To Store It

Install the gamma lids on the bucket and insert mylar bags.  Place 2 or 3 bay leaves in the bottom and fill the buckets, adding more bay leaves after each 1/3 to full.  Place an oxygen absorber in the top.  Label buckets with the contents and date. Fill:

  • 3 buckets with rice (shake it down good. Get it all in there!)
  • 1 bucket of kidney beans
  • 1 bucket of barley
  • 1 yellow lentils
  • In 1 bucket, store the split green peas, garbanzo beans, salt, measuring cup and bouillon (I removed the bouillon from the box and vacuum sealed it as bouillon contains a small amount of oil.).
  • Yep, that’s a total of 7 buckets, so far.

I place a broom handle across the bucket and wrap the ends of the mylar bag over the broom handle to give me some support. Then, slowly and smoothly, run a hot iron over the mylar bag to seal all except the last 2 inches. I press out as much air as possible before sealing the remaining 2 inches.

Make sure your mylar is completely sealed from end to end. Now, stuff the bag into the bucket and rotate the gamma lid into place. This will protect your food for roughly 25 years. You’ll have excess mylar bag at the top. Don’t cut it off, that way if you have to cut it open to get into it, you have enough bag remaining to reseal.

Where To Store Your Soup Supplies

It’s pretty easy to find a place for 7 to 8 5-gallon buckets, even in the smallest of apartments. You could:

  • Discard a set of box springs and lay a kid’s mattress on top of the buckets
  • Line the back of a large closet with the buckets
  • Make a couch table by stacking buckets two high between the couch and the wall.  The buckets are about 6” taller than the back of the couch.  Add a shelf and drape and it looks fine; a convenient place for a lamp and books.

Get creative!

Cooking Your Survival Bean Soup

Measure out

  • 8 oz of rice
  • 2 oz of red kidney beans
  • 2 oz of pearl barley
  • 2 oz of lintels
  • 1 oz of split green peas
  • 1 oz of chick peas/garbanzo’s

Add 6-7 quarts of water.  Add bouillon or salt to taste.  Then add any other meats, vegetables, potatoes or seasonings you have on hand. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for two hours.  You should have enough to feed 4 people for two days.  This is thick and hearty.  You will be warm on the inside and full with one large bowl.  Kids usually eat half a bowl.

After The Emergency Is Over

This system allows you to open the Mylar bags, retrieve as much of the ingredients as is needed and then reseal everything after the emergency has passed.  Just be sure to replace the ingredients used so that you always have a one-year supply.

Other Survival Food Items I Would Want (Keep These in The 8th bucket)

This list isn’t included in the $300.  This falls into the “what I want” category.  As money and resources became available, I’d just go crazy adding all of my indulgences, starting with coffee!  You can add what you want, but I’d fill it with:

  • Dry onion.  Let’s face it, what’s bean soup without onion! Sprinkle on the onions just before serving.
  • “Just add water” cornbread mix packets.  I just can’t eat bean soup without cornbread.
  • Beef jerky and Vienna sausages.  Add protein and zest to the bean soup
  • Instant oatmeal.  Do you really want bean soup for breakfast?  Freeze the oatmeal for 3 days before packing to kill any bugs.
  • 10 lbs of jellybeans.  Now, don’t laugh – it’s a bean.  Jellybeans don’t melt like chocolate might.  The high sugar content is quick energy, and a morale booster – with just enough of a high to help you over the really bad days. Easter is about here – stock up!

Before Filling Your Final Bucket

Buy small bags of the ingredients and fix a big pot of bean soup for dinner.  Eat the leftovers the second night, and 3rd night, until it’s all gone.  Find out now – rather than later – what your family might like to add to it.  Anything tastes great the first meal, but quickly becomes boring after the 3rd or 4th repeat.

Don’t wait until the emergency happens to discover what you SHOULD have stored in your 8th bucket. … Maybe some Beano!

Filed Under: Recipes

DIY Chicken Doctor Wound Care Tips

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

DIY Chicken Doctor Wound Care

Trust me, a chicken and any other poultry are not worth a vet bill. But whether you are raising chicks or have a a sick hen, there are some basic things you can do that may save their lives. Although I’m writing this for chickens, most of this is also applicable to turkeys, ducks and geese.

Chicken Breeds And Different Types of Birds

So, what kind of chickens do you have (or will you be getting)? Maybe we should have a word here about breeds of chickens and personalities. The breed of birds that you keep has a lot to do with their requirements, as well as the care and potential health issues involved.

Chicken Fryers and Meat Birds

From hatch to the table in 6 weeks as a fryer. Personally, I take them to 8 to 12 weeks and go for roasting as I have made the investment of almost $4 a chick and the more meat I can get, the better.

These birds go under a variety of names, the last ones I purchased were something like Hy5s. White, ugly and all they do is eat, drink and poop (a little animal husbandry tip here, put the food on one side of the pen and the water on the other side, so they at least have to get up and move to do one or the other). It also helps if you order in a few other breed chicks at the same time to keep these creatures moving.

The problem with these birds is their legs. They are absolutely notorious for their legs going on them and now you have just lost not only your investment in the chick, but also everything they have eaten to date – did I say they EAT! These are the birds you are eating at KFC and from almost all grocery stores.

Not suited to organic raising as they need those antibiotics and medicated feed. However, you can raise a winter’s worth of chicken over just two months in the summer. They are suited to warm weather.

Leghorn Egg Laying Chicken

The Egg Layers

Leghorns are the factory farm white egg laying chicken – they can have them! They start laying early at 4 to 6 months and usually killed at their first molt when they stop laying. Very aggressive hens and roosters – as a breed; individuals can be just fine. This is the reason that every hen is kept in her own cage and the roosters are just butchered.

The brown egg layers, like say the Red Stars, are usually a bit more docile personality wise, but still quite aggressive. Aggressive – what does that mean? They are prone to attacking their flock mates and even you!

Usually minimum chick orders are 25 birds. Many people, me included, don’t want 25 birds of just one breed, so we order a mix. The egg layers will be the dominants in that mix. They will kill more docile (almost everyone else) chickens by pecking them to death.

Egg layer breeds are suited to different climates as they are meant to live 1 to 3 years. FYI, the average chicken can live up to 30 years.

The Heavies and More Versatile Breeds

I see these as the homestead breeds as you will find one or more that you will fall in love with. These birds are bred by caring breeders for the most part who cull the mean ones. This is not to say that you won’t still have problems – they are small dinosaurs after all – but far fewer problems.

Breeds of Chickens

Lots and lots of breeds from the heritage breeds like the Dominikers that traveled with the settlers across the plains in Conestoga wagons (Barred Rocks are descendants of these hardy chickens.) to the heavies that are suited to cold climates and laying eggs for several years and being an excellent roasting or stewing hen after that like the Austolorp and Cochin *feathered legs, anything, to the half-naked hot weather breeds (read about them but I’m in Minnesota) to the Easter Eggers that lay blue and green eggs sometimes termed Americunas.

The Fancies

Oh, are there fancy breeds of chickens! Any color or look you can imagine including the Polish Top Hats! These birds are usually gentle but flighty. DON’T expect meat or eggs from them.

Banties

Banties are basically miniature chickens of every breed. What banties are really noted for are being very good mothers. Put your fertile eggs under your banties! FYI, of all the chickens banties are noted for doing very well on their own and often roost in the trees. Excellent to have under horses to keep them (the horses) from being flighty when a grouse or turkey flies up in front of them. Super for picking out worms from the manure. A few banties running wild around the farm is what every homestead needs – IMHO.  :)

So, the bottom line is that the breed of chicken you choose will often determine how many problems you will have with your flock.

Care for Baby Chicks

So, you order in or buy some baby chicks and one or more start looking sickly.

Here is your basic checklist:

  • sick baby chickAre they warm enough? Huddled together and they are too cold. When the light is on and they are at the outside of their box or pen, it is too hot. Baby chicks should be kept draft free as much as possible. A cardboard box in the house, a child’s pool in the basement or even a spot in the greenhouse could be good places to put chicks. DEFINITELY go for a child’s pool or plastic liner for ducks and geese.
  • These need plenty of water and will literally spurt water out of the back of their beaks as they drink. DO NOT however, put a little pool in with them when young as they need mother’s wing oil for babies to be waterproof and will drown if in “deep” water without it.
  • Have an isolation cage/container handy. That could be a single cardboard box off to the side, perhaps a cat carrier, etc. Preferably it should be able to be safely rigged with a clip on light (incandescent so that it throws off heat) or some source of heat. A simple heating pad can often do wonders. Why an isolation cage? Because chickens are notorious for being cannibalistic and just plain running over the weaker one(s) until it does die.
  • Sugar water or corn syrup added to warm water can be the instant boost of energy that will save a chick’s life. You may have to gently hold the chick and dip its beak into the water a few times and very gently stroke its throat to get it to swallow – BE GENTLE. I always give sugar water to chicks I have just ordered in for the first day or so because of the stress of the trip.
  • A hard boiled egg chopped finely is the most compatible high protein food you can give an ailing chick. I just make a practice of boiling up some eggs and feeding them to the chicks for the first day or so when ordered in.

Chickens That Have Poopy Butts

Yes, between day 3 and 10 you will likely have some chicks with a poopy butt – manure stuck to its anus blocking any more excretions. This is certain death for a chick.

Grab a shallow pan and fill it with warm slightly soapy water – think of water suitable for bathing a baby. Gently hold the afflicted chick in the pan for several minutes, sometimes that is all that is needed to GENTLY pry off the manure.

Sometimes you need to add a little drop of liquid soap to your finger and massage it into the manure and attempt to pick pieces of it off. Sometimes you need a long soak and baby oil.

Wet a wash cloth in warm water, rub baby oil over the afflicted area and either sit with the chick for 20 minutes or so or figure out a way to keep it from moving out of the wash cloth, perhaps wrap another cloth around it with the head exposed or even prop it between stuffed animals or give it to a child to hold. I have never seen this NOT work.

Sore butt? Gently massage it with baby oil. You can also use your favorite diaper rash lotion if you have some around. Preparation H on a raw butt can really help. ISOLATE any chick that doesn’t seem perky after this treatment (or group of chicks). Be sure not to allow them to catch a chill after being wet.

Chickens With Mom

Remember, Keep Baby Chicks With Their Mom

If your chicks, ducklings or goslings are running with their mother outside, remember that she can’t count. A chick that isn’t keeping up is left behind and will die before morning without her protection. Usually you will be walking along and hear the “distress call” and go over and investigate.

Sometimes the baby is trapped, sometimes cold or sick, or sometimes it is wet. If it looks healthy and fine put it back with mama and hope for the best. However, I have saved many a wet duckling or cold chick just by putting it in my bra – head sticking out forward – and carried it around while I am doing chores until it dried off and/or warmed up and then put it back with mom. Or carried it home to an isolation cage and kept it warm and dry overnight.

Note: Never feed medicated chick feed to baby ducks or goslings, it will often kill them.

Tips on Raising Adolescent Chickens and Pullets

Chicks are sooo fun! I just love watching them. And once you’ve kept them alive and well for the first 5 days you generally have a break for two weeks to just enjoy them.

The chicks strike me as adolescents once the true feathers start appearing. Depending upon the breed you have purchased they will “mature” in anywhere from 6 weeks to a year – meaning that they are ready to eat or the hens will start laying as pullets defined by the breed you have chosen and then there are the versatile breeds raised for eggs and meat, and the fancy’s are a whole ‘nother game.

Pullet and Adolescent Chickens

Within a few days however, give or take depending on the breed, of two weeks they start feathering out. That simply means they start to get their “real” feathers and go into adolescent behavior.

Three things I should give you a heads up on at this point:

  1. Provide a place for them to roost – get up off the ground.
  2. Chickens can’t swim! Okay, you may think, “Duh, why is this important?” Because I have lost a lot of chicks (and chickens) to drowning.  There is a reason chicken/chick waterers are made the way they are. If you just put down a bowl or a pan, for sure the chicks will fall in and get wet and drown. FYI, a water trough for horses, cows, sheep or goats is also a death trap for adult chickens. Trying to provide a family group with a fresh water pond is a mistake – the babies will fall in and drown. Raising them with ducklings and geese who need a lot of water is also a mistake. Just let them get a little larger or provide a beach that they can climb out on.
  3. Provide them with a way to start dusting themselves. Sand works, but if you heat with wood, try wood ashes as they prevent lice.

Pecking Order Is a Serious Thing – Manage It Carefully

What defines adolescence? Personalities begin to emerge and bullying. Just what you expect from teenagers – they are bullying and picking/pecking (literally) on one another. In chickens, this is called “pecking order”.

Here is a hen they are pecking at, but just a glob of grease on the head should keep off the insects and stop them from continuing to peck her – note that I said glob and not dab. You want enough on there so that when the first 2 or 3 hens go after her they get a good beak full of the grease. Just watch then, they didn’t expect that and will work at trying to get that nasty grease out of their beaks. A couple of days of grease on her head (or whatever you have chosen to put on it) and she should be doing okay.

Pecking is an exercise in dominance. One or more chicks will begin pecking each other and especially the weaker/less dominant chicks. They will literally peck them to death. They are even cannibalistic and will eat the dead ones – and yes they can have plenty of food and water and a balanced diet and do this.

Pecking often comes on suddenly. Morning chores and everything is fine; evening chores and you have a bloody chick. Put it in the isolation cage now!

What if you experience an all-out pecking epidemic? It happens! Six out of 25 are being pecked in various areas of the body. Can’t isolate them all. They will just start pecking each other!

I strongly recommend any kind of mechanical grease – some even have antibiotic properties if you read the labels. Petroleum jelly will work. It kind of depends on how bad it has gotten and how much time you have. Yes, you can lose 6 chicks in 24 hours to pecking if you are not watching closely.

Husbandry is critical here. You can stop most problems quickly just by observation and intervention. But hey, if you are doing chores once a day, working full time and have a family too boot, It can get away from you in 24 hours and then you are playing catchup – much less if you actually go camping for a weekend.

All through adolescence into the pullets (young hens ready to lay) your biggest problem with confined chickens will be pecking.

What can you do to help/mitigate the pecking?

  • How To Help a Chicken with a Pecked Vent
    A pecked vent is the worst, because it is so hard to keep clean. You may want to soak this hen in the sink in warm water with just a dab of soap in it. Antibiotic ointment. ISOLATON! Don’t use pine tar on this wound, just grease on top of the antibiotic ointment.

    Raise your chicks with their moms: Pecking is normal behavior for confined chickens, but chicks raised with their mothers (hens) normally do not go through this (and they don’t have poopy butts either!).

  • Keep your flock to birds of the same breed: Mixed breed flocks have more problems with pecking than single breed flocks. Single breed chicks all raised together will peck less. That said, I dislike single breed flocks and I like to drag home hens of different breeds that I run into at poultry swaps and rummage sales. Hence, I have had a lot of pecking problems.
  • Free range or tractor your chickens: Free ranging them will help decrease the pecking, and a chicken tractor will too.
  • Make sure they don’t have worms: Wormy chickens are more likely to peck and be agitated and mean. Chicken worming medication is usually put into the water. If you have a flock of mixed ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens you will need to isolate the chickens as the wormer will often kill the other poultry.
  • Provide a brushy “getaway” area: Providing some open brush area in the corner of the pen is a good idea in that it allows a place for the pecks hens to go get away from the flock. Depending upon how you have your pen set up, roosts both inside and outside of the house are a good idea too.
  • Limit the number of new birds you introduce to the flock: Introducing new birds into the flock almost always means more pecking, especially of the new birds. Again, have an area where they can get away from the rest of the flock if needed – that is not to say that an especially aggressive hen or rooster will not chase them even with brush provided, but it is a slight deterrent.
  • You can try nipping the beaks: You can nip the end of the top beak on an aggressive hen with a wire nippers back about an eighth to a quarter of an inch (depends on age and breed) to help with the pecking. Does it work? Sometimes, sometimes not.
  • Isolation: For chickens with bad enough wounds, separate them from the rest of the flock and let them recover
  • Peroxide/antibiotic ointment: You can use almost anything that you would use on a human, for wounds that are bad enough. This will help with infection and insects.
  • Apply pine tar or a blob of mechanical grease to pecked areas: The traditional solution is PINE TAR. Dab a bit of pine tar on any pecked spots. Antibiotic properties and the other chickens don’t like the taste. As mentioned above, mechanical grease and lubricant works awesome too.

While there are certainly better and worse ways to handle pecking, nothing seems to stop it until the flock grows up and settles into their “pecking order”.

Roosters Chickens Doctoring

Cautions With Roosters

I will relate a little of what I have seen. A good rooster will protect the hens and stop a lot of the pecking. The hens will be happier. A happy hen “sings” a beautiful little cooing tune.

Bad roosters (and these are the majority) will rape and kill young chicks – I had one that would rape day old chicks, snap their necks and throw them to the side and go onto another, there was nothing the hen could do to stop him. His head got chopped off real quick! They will focus on one hen and do her to death. They will join in with the other hens and peck another chicken to death and then proceed to eat it. Too many roosters and you will have “cock fights” and they will kill one another, and you will have gang rapes.

How To Manage Chickens Pecking Each Other
You will see this both from other hens pecking but also from a rooster/roosters riding a hen. Roosters seem to pick out their favorite hens and too much attention can actually kill a hen. Glob the grease or pine tar or whatever on her and if it is roosters, butcher a couple of them.

An older rooster usually has more “sense” than a younger one and is not as “sexed up”. Chickens can live to be 30 years old and the best rooster I ever had was over the age of 10 and lived to 18 when he died due to an ‘possum raid on the hen house where the ‘possum just wantonly killed all the chickens – so much for wild things only killing what they need! Ask around, someone will probably give you an older rooster they respect who needs a good home – no one wants inbreeding.

Adult Chickens

Now let’s talk about the adult bird, one plus years old, and some of the issues and ailments to watch out for.

Here is a picture of a sick hen with all of the things that you should look for:

  • Tail droopy
  • Messy bottom
  • Droopy wings
  • Lethargic
  • “Sleepy” sick, in pain, eyes
  • Sometimes their combs and/or wattle will pale.
  • First, are you practicing good chicken husbandry?
  • Clean, fresh water
  • Clean, dry feed (not moldy)
  • Free choice oyster shells and grit
  • Clean housing facilities
  • Wormed (garlic and diatemacious earth will do that organically)
  • De-loused (ashes will do that organically)

What To Do If a Chicken is “Egg Bound”

Most of the time with a hen that is sick out of the blue, it is caused by being egg bound. This is especially common in prolific egg layers like Red Stars and/or the fancy breeds.

Try to get some liquid calcium down her. No liquid calcium? Ladies, do you have a calcium tablet in the medicine cabinet? Pulverize it, make it into a liquid, take a syringe without the needle and gently get it into her mouth and stroke her neck so that she swallows.

Next, give her a relaxing bath in your sink. Water should be akin to bathing a baby. Add soap and if you have them, Epsom Salts. Gently hold her, massage her belly and rear. Perhaps you can feel the egg and by relaxing her in this bath it will work its way out. We are talking a relaxing spa for the hen, 20 to 30 minutes of warmth, water and massage. FYI, to show a chicken in 4-H you must bathe it. Show chickens get baths.

Now dry her in a towel. Yes, you can blow dry her, but an nice warm air dry is better. Soothing music and dim lights are all good. Lavender scented candles may help – you want her to relax. And you might as well too. :-) If you care about your hen, this is stressful for both of you.

Do not attempt to break the egg. Some people will tell you that if you can see the egg (it is crowning) you can take a needle and syringe and try to extract the yolk to make it more manageable to pass. I’ve never had an egg bound hen crown an egg without passing it, so I don’t know. Massaging the vent with baby oil may help.

She will die within 24 to 72 hours if she does not pass the egg and it is usually a 50% death rate. Some things just happen, but you will have no guilt if you do everything you can to help her.

Chickens Can Still Die of Old Age

Sometimes a hen just gets sick and slowly dies – my Red Star hen just did that, which is what got this whole Chicken Doctorin’ series going. She stopped laying two weeks before but looked okay. One day she didn’t come when called and looked very poorly. I did everything I could. After 3 days of isolation she seemed to be getting better and was fine in the flock. Then, one morning, she was just dead. Who knows…

To heal most cuts on animals, and people, and stop pecking – Gun (as in lube grease often comes for a gun – not a shooting type gun) Grease. Keeps the insects off and has antibiotic properties and tastes bad to other chickens. This one tip can save you hundreds even thousands of dollars on vet and medical bills – it works.

Isolate Chickens in Cage If They're Wounded

Separation/Isolation

Roosts are sufficiently above the ground. FYI a rat can eat a chicken’s feet right off while it is on a roost in the dark and the chicken will not move. There is no way to totally prevent rats and mice around chickens, but a high roost sure helps.

Is she the only one in the flock that is sick? Isolate her immediately. The isolation is for her benefit, so that she doesn’t have to fend off the rest of the flock and can rest and recover in peace.

I have an old fox cage for isolation. Fresh water, fresh food and a nest box or pail.

Other Issues

Broken legs you can set with popsicle sticks and vet wrap and isolate the bird and/or put it in a sling. They actually heal very fast.

Any attack that the bird lives through (Dog, cat, hawk, ‘possum, ‘coon, whatever – she got away alive.) can usually be dealt with by cleaning the wound, some antibiotic salve and isolation. If it is really bad, don’t let her suffer – just butcher her and eat her, preferably without announcing to the family that they are eating “Goldie” tonight. :-) DO NOT eat a bird that is obviously sick from an unknown source!

So, You Want To Be a Chicken Farmer?

There are obviously thousands of other issues and ailments out there, but these are the more common ones that I have dealt with in my 50 years of experience.

Please keep this in mind, what you are raising are small descendants of the dinosaurs. It ain’t always pretty, but it is real, animal behavior. If you only keep a few chickens, there is a good chance that you won’t deal with a lot of this, but if you do, it’s nice to have a reference point to come back to for ideas.

Remember, that whether on a large scale or small, part of raising chickens is about getting your hands dirty. There aren’t always perfect solutions to every situation, but you will begin to at least get familiar with birds that seem healthy, birds that don’t, and a handful of things that you can try. If you grew up in the city, a lot of this will seem foreign at first, but soon enough, you will be wrangling your birds without a second thought.

And remember, if you are dependent on your own resources for survival, chicken eggs provide so much protein that losing a bird can be threatening to your family’s survival.

Filed Under: Survival Food

How to Build a Walipini Greenhouse

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

To prepare for a natural or man-made disaster, many survivalists are busy stocking up on shelf-stable food and water. While this is definitely a good idea, one can only eat so much beef jerky and canned peaches before getting a hankering for some fresh produce.

Part of what should be on your survival food list is produce, and a great way to provide your family with fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables is to construct a safe and secure underground greenhouse. As a bonus, a survival garden is usable year-round and is fairly easy on the budget.

Here is some advice as well as tips on how to construct your own underground Walipini greenhouse:

Walipinis Came From the South Americans

The word “Walipini” is the Aymara Indian word meaning “place of warmth,” according to Tree Hugger. The structure debuted two decades ago and enables residents of South America’s mountainous regions to grow fresh food all year, regardless of weather conditions.

Also known as a pit, the Walipini uses passive solar heating for warmth as well as the earth itself for shelter and protection. Most Walipinis are simple in construction. They are usually around 20-by-74 feet (dug 6-8 feet in the ground) and then covered by plastic sheeting. When digging the hole, make the longest side of the rectangle face the south, which will expose it to the greatest amount of winter sun and warmth.

How a Walipini Greenhouse Works

The sun’s energy and light get into the underground greenhouse by passing through the plastic covering on top of the hole, where they are then absorbed throughout the Walipini, according to Natural News. By using plastic sheeting instead of glass as the roof, specific light rays that actually prevent plants from growing well cannot get through.

The sun not only provides needed light for plants to perform photosynthesis, it also gives off heat that is stored inside the structure, giving plants ideal growing conditions.

Easy and Economical to Build

The average cost of building a 20-by-74 foot walipini is around $250 to $300. The structure is built using fairly inexpensive but sturdy building materials like PVC pipes and UV plastic sheeting. Of course, digging a hole of this size will take more than just a shovel or two and asking a few neighbors to help.

To make the process as easy and fast as possible, consider renting some digging equipment. Most rental companies have compaction equipment rentals like electric hammers that are great for breaking through brick, concrete or hard earth, as well as saws that can help remove trees and brush.

Enjoy the Bounty

Once the Walipini is built, survivalists can begin to use it immediately to grow crops all year long. Growing seasons will no longer be an issue, and warm weather fruits and vegetables can be harvested in the middle of winter. Some common greenhouse crops, according to MPR News, include green vegetables like kale and lettuce, as well as a host of other delicious and healthy selections.

Filed Under: Gardening

Tater Tot Hamburger Casserole [Recipe]

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

Tater Tot Hamburger Casserole

Sometimes everyday preparedness is having a meal that is easy to prepare. And if you have the standard preparedness pantry, you have ample cans of cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup on hand – staples for building any hot dish, I believe it is casserole for the rest of the world.

You Will Need:

  • A bag of tater tots
  • A can of cream of mushroom or chicken
  • A can of green beans or ?
  • Hamburger, or a pound or whatever.

Optional:

  • Onion if available.
  • Cheese to sprinkle on top.
  • Salt, pepper, or season to taste – garlic salt, etc.

Directions:

  1. Brown hamburger, mix with soup of choice and vegetable.
  2. Put tater tots on bottom and top.
  3. Bake for 45 minutes or so.

This is easy to make, even when the electric is out. I’ve done it on a cast iron pot on a Deadwood Stove. Or a regular camp stove. Or after browning the meat, bank your coals and put the pot in the coals.

There is nothing like a hot meal to make life look better!

Filed Under: Recipes

How Food Storage Can Get You Out of Debt

March 8, 2024 by Seasoned Citizen Prepper

We have to have money to survive. Period.

As much as we wish that that could change, it won’t. Money is a necessity for all of us to maintain or improve our current lifestyles. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to come across an abundance of greenbacks, nowadays. A lot of the cause for the dollar difficulty, is debt.

With the economy being the way it is, surviving in this financial nightmare has become increasingly difficult. Making any monetary progress has seemed nigh unto impossible. With debt eating up hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars on your monthly budget, is it even possible to save money, anymore?

Fear not, my friends, for there are plenty of ways to save your bank account. One of them isn’t a very common one, however.

Although the idea of food storage is popular, rarely do we see the thought carried out into action. It can end up saving you a lot of money, too.

Some people don’t know how to start a food storage. Some people don’t have the desire. Other people don’t think it’s necessary. But what if there’s a natural disaster that hits your area? What if the economy drops, again? In the unlucky case that one of those things happens, you’ll be ready, and you’ll have a full belly, as well.

In the event that a huge disaster strikes, food can, and probably will be exchanged almost like it were currency. It’s very important to have a food storage, not only for the betterment of your finances, but for your emergency preparedness, as well.

Getting a food storage started isn’t as difficult as many people think it is, either. Every time you go to the store, you can grab a can of imperishable food, or two, and by the time you know it you’re going to be needing a huge pantry for your loads of food. You can also go a little more aggressive while you’re building up your food storage, too. Get three or four cans of food at a time, beans, etc. and you’re going to have the best food storage on the block. If you need help getting going, check out our complete survival food list for ideas.

Part of how a food storage will save you money, though, is by using it. Instead of going to get fast food every night (Which could cost somewhere between $7-$42 normally, depending on the size of your family), you can use a can of beans, which costs less than a dollar, and some type of dehydrated fruit or meat to feed your family. You’re saving a lot of dough, by buying and using your food storage.

By building and using your food storage, you’re going to be financially able to do so many other things. Instead of spending the big bucks on dining out, save it, build a food storage, and use the money you’ve saved to pay off your debts. It’s simple, easy, and it’s fun to be creative with the dishes you can create with your food storage. It’ll help you and your family get on the right financial track, again, too.

Filed Under: Survival Food

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