Category: Homesteading

February 21, 2022

Duck Eggs Are Getting HUGE

We’ve been getting double-yolk duck eggs — some are huge!

February 20, 2022

Duck Loss

We lost a duck yesterday — the first prolapse we’ve experienced. She didn’t lay a large egg, and the shell was not soft (we started giving them calcium a few weeks ago). She didn’t seem to be in distress, and we tried everything the Internet said to do to reduce the swelling and get all of the insides back on her inside to no avail. The other ducks were enjoying splashing in puddles of snow melt, but they would come over to the sick duck and give her ducky hugs — putting their neck across the top of her neck and draping their head down. Eventually, she put her head down, fell asleep, and passed away.

The five remaining ducks seemed pretty down today — they didn’t eat much and spent a lot of the day napping.

February 16, 2022

First Duck Egg

We got our first duck egg today — there weren’t any eggs when I let them out of their coop this morning. At sunset, when I was putting them back into the coop, there was an egg laying in the back corner. Now we need a couple more so we can try a duck egg cake!

December 27, 2021

Ducks Growing Up

Today was a great day to be a duck again — warm-ish weather, the pond isn’t frozen over. So they’ve been enjoying splashing and swimming. But, this morning, I could only count five ducks in the pond. Checked around the yard, but I didn’t see the other duck. Then a ducky head popped up from underwater and … well, it looked like one duck was trying to drown another duck! Then something I read in a duck forum popped into my head — ducks mating can seem like the drake is trying to kill the female. Or it could look like the drake is trying to drown the female (which … IMO, seems a lot like “trying to kill”. So I’m not sure what exactly the person was trying to convey there!). Our ducks are about five months old and, evidently, have matured enough to start mating. Hopefully, we’ll be able to hatch some new ducks in the spring!

December 12, 2021

Home Automation and Gardening

Something like 20 years ago, I tried to grow a plumeria flower in my apartment. I had a broad-spectrum light, plenty of heat, and plenty of humidity. But getting the light turned on and off at the right times wasn’t easy (especially if I was at work all day!).

This seems like a really good use for home automation — our home automation system tracks the sunrise and sunset times for our zip code. It’s possible to essentially cron “stuff” off of these times — e.g. get the birds ten minutes before sunset. I could easily track sunrise and sunset in Honolulu then have my light turn on at sunrise (or first light) and off at sunset (or last light). Voila — “sunlight” that runs for the proper duration every day.

November 28, 2021

Foodsaver Expandable Bags — Usage Trick

I ordered the Foodsaver expandable bags to freeze our turkey. They’re serious about the extra space at the end of the bag so you can get the pleats back together; but, even following their instructions, this is almost a three person operation!

I came up with a trick — once you get a side pleated, use binder clips to hold the side together (I used two clips). Then get the other side tucked and use binder clips to hold it in place. Now that it’s all held together, slide the clips to ensure you have enough plastic to fit into the vacuum sealer. Seal it up. And again. I moved the plastic out a bit and double-sealed another line. And a third … because it would really suck to ruin a huge bag of food like this!

November 13, 2021

Shotgun Shopping

We want to get a semi-auto 12 gauge shotgun for hunting waterfowl (and maybe deer). I like the box mags, so there are a couple of options we’re considering:

TriStar KRX — cheap gun available at Cabelas. Fixed stock.

Panzer KMR — A little more expensive. Can replace stock, but not telescoping.

UTAS looks like they’ve got a gun with an adjustable stock in the 500 dollar range

Remington 870 DM looks great too

November 10, 2021

Spatchcock butchering method

We butchered our broilers and ducks for the year. In a larger household, a whole bird is probably a perfectly reasonable amount of food. But, for us? It’s too much food. Half a bird is a lot more reasonable.

In looking at techniques for grilling and smoking poultry, we came across spatchcocking — basically splitting the whole bird along the spine so it lays flat. It looked like a much quicker way to butcher — and, if we didn’t want to have a whole bird in the end anyway it isn’t like the approach would be counterproductive.

So we’ve been butchering by detaching the crop, airway, and throat. Placing the bird so the backbone is up and the neck facing you, cut along the spine. It’s a little tricky to cut at the hip joint — you’ve got to find the right spot to snip, but the oyster is always included with the leg using this method — and be careful not to pierce intestines. You can leave the spine with one half or cut down the other side of the spine. Cut around the vent, then clear out all of the innards — one entire mass is removed. Either finish spatchcocking to store a whole bird or use shears to cut along the breastbone and have two halves. I’ve found this approach to be a lot quicker than the normal technique — and, since the carcass is open, removing the innards is very easy.

October 27, 2021

2022 Seeds

We’ve saved seeds from the garden (and seeds from both ground cherries and hot peppers that we picked up at the farmers market) that will make up much of our garden this year. I purchased a bunch of flower seeds to expand the bee garden, and a few new vegetables. And I really hope to get asparagus established this year!

Seeds for Honeybees