Turn your pile every seven days or a compost tumbler every three days. You can build your own or buy a compost bin ready to go. Building your own compost pile is a great way to use household waste mixed with organic matter collected from your yard. If you’re growing vegetables, you need organic compost to add essential nutrients to your soil. Just remember, if you want to use your chickens’ eggs to hatch, you need to have roosters in your flock. It takes 21 days for chicken eggs to hatch, and chicks should be kept separate and warm until they are around six weeks old. Incubators come in a variety of sizes and complexities, so choose one that fits your situation. You will need an incubator and a dedicated set up to keep the chicks warm until they are ready to join the flock. You can hatch your own chicks and reduce the cost of buying replacement hens. To maintain optimum egg production, it’s best to have younger hens. Just make sure your plants are protected if your chickens are out! 4. The birds should be warm (or cool) and protected from predators.Ĭhickens love to roam around the fields and eat bugs, worms, and plants, enhancing the flavor of their eggs. You’ll need a coop with laying boxes and a roosting perch, but it doesn’t need to be elaborate. A hen starts laying at about 18 weeks old and produces one egg every 24 hours during the first year. Raise chickensĬhickens are easy to care for, they produce lots of eggs, and they don’t eat a lot. Later, if you discover that you can’t live without one, build one that is more permanent. You can make a nice one with PVC pipe and plastic. Your greenhouse doesn’t need to be an expensive, elaborate structure. Locally grown vegetables are becoming more and more in demand and are a great way to make more money from your land. This is a profitable venture because your only costs are the seeds and a small pot of dirt. If you have extra plant starts, you can sell them too. Having a greenhouse means you can start your plants inside during the off-season and be ready to plant them as soon as your soil has warmed up. Once the soil is prepped, you only need a few heavy-duty hand tools, a wheelbarrow, and hoses for watering. If you don’t have your own, you might know someone who can help you out, or you can rent one. Read about what types of plants grow well in your growing zone, when to plant them outside, how to care for them, and when to harvest.Ī garden tiller helps get your patch of soil ready for planting.

You don’t need extensive experience, but you should know the basics. Growing vegetables on a backyard farm is a must – whether you grow them to feed your family or to sell in local markets for added income. Is small-scale farming for profit a good fit, or would a hobby farm be a better idea? If you can’t pin down what to do, this list of small farm ideas might get your creative thoughts flowing and help you begin your project. So you’ve got a nice piece of land – around 5 acres or so, and you want to do something with it, but you’re not sure what.

Hobby farm 2