Living on One Acre or Less

by Sally Morgan

  These commercial white geese are bred from Embdens.

  Feeding ducks and geese

  Both ducks and geese being raised for the table need the right food in order to reach a good weight. Ideally, ducklings and goslings should be given a specialist waterfowl crumb, which has a different balance of nutrients from the chicken crumb, but if this is not available an unmedicated chick crumb would suffice (see page 149). Goslings in particular need greens along with their crumbs, so a grass turf or dandelion leaves can be supplied. After 4 weeks, ducks and geese can be moved on to a specialist duck and goose grower’s pellet, which has a lower protein content. If they are growing too fast, cut back on the amount of pellets you give them.

  The ducklings can be left on grower’s pellets until they are slaughtered. A hybrid Pekin duck bred for the table has the fastest growth rates of all the ducks. Under ideal conditions, it can reach a weight of 3.7kg (8lb 2oz) in just 7 weeks.

  Ducks retained for breeding, egg laying or simply as pets require a daily ration of layer’s pellets (for laying hens), which they will supplement with slugs, snails, worms and other animal life that they find in the grass and mud.

  Goslings stay on grower’s pellets for about 12 weeks and can then be moved to a wheat diet for summer. By autumn they are eating about 200g (7oz) of food per day. The final weight of the bird is 5-9kg (11lb to 19lb 13oz), which, when plucked and dressed, produces a dressed weight of 3-7kg (6lb 10oz to 15lb 7oz).

  Geese are grazing animals, so any adult geese on your plot need a constant supply of grass, and when this is available during the summer months they do not require any other food. At other times they can be fed a layer’s pellet, wheat or corn. If you intend to breed your geese, move them on to a specialist breeding-goose ration in late winter if possible; otherwise feed them a layer’s pellet.

  Rare-breed geese such as these American Buffs can be kept for breeding, as they are in demand from poultry enthusiasts.

  The large exhibition Toulouse is another rare breed that sells well.

  Turkeys

  Turkeys are excellent birds: impressive, chatty, friendly and inquisitive, and easy to keep, so they are a good addition to the holding for either meat or eggs (see page 143). As with other poultry, there are a number of turkey breeds available. The commercial white turkey is a fast-growing bird that is better suited to barn-raising than free-ranging. More suited to the smallholder are traditional breeds such as the Bronze, Norfolk Black, Bourbon Red, etc. These breeds are hardier, the meat is much more tasty, and they don’t get quite so heavy, which means the birds continue to be quite active in their last weeks. You can buy turkeys as day-old chicks or as 4-6-week-old poults in late spring and early summer. Some suppliers of Bronze turkeys offer a selection of strains, each strain reaching a different final weight, which enables a small producer to produce a range of table birds.

  The Norfolk Black turkey looks impressive but doesn’t reach the weight of the Bronze turkey. It has a gamey flavour.

  Turkeys range during the day and require a shed or barn for roosting at night. An adult turkey is a large bird, so you need to allow 1m2 (11 sq ft) per bird: for example, a 2.4m x 1.8m shed (8' x 6') gives 4.1m2 (44 sq ft), enough for four adult birds or eight to ten birds raised for Christmas. The shed or house needs plenty of ventilation. If there is a window, you can remove it and replace it with mesh to keep pests and birds out, or cut out a window-sized hole in the wall and cover with mesh. Just make sure the hole is not facing the direction of the prevailing wind.

  Although young poults are active and happily fly up to a perch, there is a risk of them denting their breastbone, so they should be given straw bales instead and only allowed to perch from 16 weeks. Adult turkeys need a sturdy perch positioned at least 70cm (28") from the ground. They can fly up to a perch in a small space with relative ease, but have more difficulty getting down and may crash-land! This means there is a risk of damage to the legs and feet, and they can get a condition called bumblefoot, caused by a Staphylococcus infection. As the birds approach their kill weight they may be too heavy to perch, so the perches can be removed to give them more space.

  The turkey pen needs to be well fenced, as these birds are escape artists. A livestock fence is no barrier to them, so you need netting of at least 1.8m (6'), or place pheasant netting over the pen. Space-wise, a trio of adult birds will be happy on a 10m x 5m (33' x 16') grassy pen. If you are keeping birds permanently, then try to have at least two pens, so you can rotate your birds between them.

  Raising turkeys

  If you buy day-olds rather than 6-week-old poults, they need to go in a brooder under heat for 4 to 5 weeks. The young chicks do not have great eyesight and they are easily spooked, so you need to make sure that they can find their food and water. Some people hang lights; others will use shiny objects like marbles in the water to grab the chicks’ attention. While they are inside and under heat, the chicks are fed a turkey starter crumb, which has a higher protein content than a chicken crumb. Then they are moved over to a turkey grower’s pellet until they are 10-12 weeks old. At this point they are fed a turkey finisher pellet until the last few weeks, when they are switched to oats for fattening. While foraging, turkeys will supplement their diet with grass and small insects.

  If you are raising the turkeys as meat to sell at Christmas you need to think about how you are going to tackle the slaughter, plucking and dressing of the birds. Selling them means that you are subject to more rules than if you’re just raising them for your own consumption. Being much larger birds than chickens, they are more difficult to kill, and you have to stun and bleed them if you intend to sell the meat (see Appendix). The best option is to have them killed at a poultry abattoir, but you need to book early as it’s a very busy time of year. If you can solve the slaughter challenges and have a market for your birds, raising a small batch of turkeys for the Christmas market can be very profitable.

  A batch of Norfolk black turkeys being raised for meat.

  Disease in turkeys

  If you are keeping both turkeys and chickens or quail on your holding, you have to be careful where they run. Turkeys are affected by a parasitic disease called blackhead or histomoniasis, for which there is no medication available in the EU. It is caused by a parasitic protozoan carried by intestinal worms found in chickens, turkeys and game birds, so it’s a parasite within a parasite! The parasite is found in the eggs of the worm, so it is picked up by turkeys and chickens when they scratch around in the earth. Earthworms may also carry the disease. Infected eggs can remain in the ground for up to 5 years. Although chickens and game birds carry the parasite, they are not affected by it, but turkeys are. Symptoms include yellow droppings and darkening of the head. To prevent the disease, make sure turkeys do not run on ground that has housed chickens (or game birds, for example quail) in the previous 5 years. If you have to rotate turkeys with chickens, the best preventative measure is to worm them every 6 weeks.

  Parasites, diseases and other problems

  Poultry are affected by a number of parasites, both external and internal, plus they are susceptible to some common diseases. The key to keeping healthy birds is knowing how your birds behave when they are fit and well. Take time to observe your birds each day so you can spot problems as soon as they appear (see Appendix). For example, a change in the appearance of their droppings is often the first sign of disease. Be aware that wild birds, especially starlings, crows and rooks, can harbour disease, as can rats and mice. Depending on the type of fencing used around the poultry pen you could net the pens to keep out wild birds. The following sections cover the common parasites and diseases.

  Ectoparasites

  Mites and lice are common ectoparasites of poultry, and any infestations will result in decreased productivity and reduced resistance to disease. Mites are arachnids and have eight legs, while lice are insects.

  Red mites hide in crevices in the housing during the day and emerge at night to suck blood from the birds as they perc
h. They are small, pale grey to red in colour, and are seen at night crawling over perches, etc. It is vitally important that regular checks are made for mites during the summer months, as wooden houses can harbour thousands of these parasites, making life miserable for the birds. In the worst cases, the birds will be reluctant to roost at night. Mites can survive in empty housing for up to 40 weeks, so it is essential to carry out a good clean prior to use. One of the most effective treatments for red mite is diatomaceous earth. This is a powder formed of jagged microscopic particles that wear away the exoskeleton of the mite, causing it to dehydrate and die. It is dusted all over the house and added to the dust bath. Mites can also be trapped on fly paper or caught in rolled-up cardboard placed in the roof space.

  The northern fowl mite and the louse live on birds. The northern fowl mite is tiny; barely visible to the eye. Typically it is found around the bird’s vent, causing the skin in this area to look dirty and greasy, but the dirt is actually the pinprick-sized mites. These mites can infect just one bird in a flock, so it’s difficult to know there is a problem until the birds are really ill. The loss of blood weakens the birds and causes them to suffer from anaemia. Lice are found in particular under the birds’ wings and around the vent. They lay their eggs near the base of feathers, ‘cementing’ them in place to form a hard white blob around the base of the feather. Lice feed on scales and feathers, but not blood. They can be treated by rubbing a louse powder or diatomaceous earth into the feathers.

  Scaly leg mite causes the scales on the legs to become raised and rough-looking, due to mites burrowing underneath. They can be treated with petroleum jelly (Vaseline): smear it over the legs and rub it into the raised scales. There are also some medicated preparations.

  Worms

  A number of internal worms can affect poultry, including roundworms, tapeworms, gizzard worms and throat worms (gapes), and they can be treated with wormers. The one that is used most commonly for poultry is flubendazole, which is available in powder or liquid form or in a medicated feed. The powder is added to their feed for 7 days, while the liquid is added to the drinking water. Flubendazole is easy to administer and it is safe to use on geese, turkeys and game birds, but it is not licensed for ducks. The wormer will kill the parasites in the birds, but there will still be thousands of eggs in the ground, so you may need to repeat the treatment or, better still, move the birds to a clean pen. Some chicken keepers recommend that you worm birds regularly, but it is far better to get faecal egg counts done first to see if you have a problem, rather than worm them unnecessarily. Regularly moving your poultry on to fresh ground will reduce the need to worm.

  The worm species that parasitize poultry are different from those that affect pigs, sheep and goats, so, for example, you can move pigs on to ground that has had poultry. In fact, poultry can help to reduce the worm load on paddocks used by sheep and goats by eating worm eggs.

  Natural wormers

  Many herbs and spices are known to have anti-worming properties. These include mint (Mentha spp.), cleavers (Galium aparine), wormseed (Dysphania ambrosioides), thyme (Thymus spp.), wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) and willow (Salix spp.). Seeds of cucumber and pumpkin have long been used against tapeworms. A good way to get chickens to eat a variety of plants which may have anti-worming properties is to dump weeds from the smallholding in their pens and allow them to peck over the pile, or collect specific plants from hedgerows. You can buy a natural wormer called Verm-X, which comes either as a liquid to be added to the birds’ water for 5 days or as specially formulated pellets.

  These chickens made straight for the seeds on these dead shoots of cleavers, gathered from a hedgerow.

  Coccidiosis and other diseases

  Coccidiosis is the most serious disease affecting poultry, and is caused by a parasitic organism that grows in the gut and passes out in its faeces to be picked up by others. Symptoms include mucky back ends with blood in faeces. Young birds are particularly susceptible at 3 weeks old, when their feathers start to grow. The best way to avoid this disease is to ensure that the litter in the brooder is clean and dry and that the chicks are not overcrowded. Make sure there is clean water and plenty of food so they don’t need to scratch around in litter. It is possible to use medicated chick food, but this should only be given to chickens and turkeys, not to geese or ducks.

  Birds can suffer from a range of bacterial infections. Symptoms include lack of appetite, weight loss and watery droppings. While birds can become lame, especially the heavier species, a joint that is swollen and hot suggests a bacterial infection, requiring treatment with antibiotics.

  Poultry are also affected by a number of respiratory diseases, causing them to have runny eyes and to sneeze, gurgle and have difficulty in breathing. Aspergillosis is caused by moulds of the genus Aspergillus. The number of mould spores in the poultry house can be reduced by cleaning out the bedding regularly to make sure it does not get damp or mouldy, and topping it up so the birds rest on dry straw.

  Another disease to be aware of is avian flu. Spreading around the world, this viral disease exists in a number of strains. There are two groups: the highly pathogenic forms and the less harmful. The disease is often carried by waterfowl that have a degree of resistance to the disease, but migratory waterfowl, such as geese and swans, spread the disease around the world. This is a notifiable disease, so you must contact your vet if you have unexpected deaths of large numbers of birds.

  Chapter EIGHT

  Pigs for meat

  Pigs are wonderfully friendly, entertaining and intelligent. They are among my favourite animals and are another essential for the smallholding. They grow quickly, so you need only keep them from spring to autumn, and just a few pigs should provide enough meat to sell to family and friends to cover your costs.

  Once you have your own pigs, you won’t want to buy other meat, as pork is so versatile. It’s not just for making chops and joints, but also for sausages, pies, bacon and gammon, pâtés and terrines, and for rendering down to make lard and more. Some breeds are particularly suitable for a small plot, and if you buy weaners in spring, you will have pigs ready to slaughter in autumn.

  You need to keep at least two pigs, as they are social animals and live in small groups. On a plot of one acre or less, you are limited to how many you can keep. Pigs will dig up the ground, and this gets incredibly muddy very quickly in wet weather, so with a small space it is strongly recommended that you keep pigs from spring to autumn only, and let the ground recover in winter. Pigs are usually bought as weaners, which, as the name suggests, are young animals that have been separated from mum and are feeding on solid foods. They are between 7 and 10 weeks old.

  Before you buy your pigs, make sure you have completed all the required paperwork. In the UK, for example, you must have a holding number before you can move pigs on to your land (see Appendix).

  A free-range Gloucester-shire Old Spots weaner.

  Gloucestershire Old Spots

  Originating in Gloucestershire, the Old Spots is the oldest spotted pig breed, with pedigree records going back to 1885. It is often called the orchard pig, as these animals were traditionally kept in orchards, where they were fed on windfall apples and whey (the liquid waste from cheese-making). Folklore says that the spots were bruises from falling apples!

  Choosing your pigs

  Most of the pork on sale in supermarkets comes from commercial breeds that have been bred to produce lean meat. They are docile in nature so that hundreds can be kept in barns under carefully controlled environmental conditions. Their fast rate of growth means they are ready for slaughter by 16 weeks. The traditional rare breeds are completely different, being adapted to live outside. They grow slowly, achieve a larger size, and their meat is darker, fattier and full of flavour.

  You can buy registered pedigree pigs, unregistered pigs and crosses. Registered pigs are pigs that have been entered into the herd book and are born of registered parents. In the UK, the British Pig Association (BPA) ma
intains the herd books for most of the breeds. Litters from registered pigs are birth-notified with the BPA, which means that a pedigree pork certificate can be obtained when they are sold for meat. For example, to sell meat as Gloucestershire Old Spots pork, the pig must come from a birth-notified litter, as the meat has been given special status as a protected food name, Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG), throughout Europe, just like Parma ham and Welsh lamb. Any pig from a birth-notified litter that is kept for breeding has to be registered, but if you are just raising pigs for meat, registered stock is not necessary. In Australia, the Australian Pig Breeders Association (APBA) undertakes the same role as the BPA, but in many other countries, including the USA, the individual breed clubs maintain the pedigree registers.

  Most small pig keepers tend to keep a couple of sows and just hire a boar when needed, and they don’t register their litters, in which case the weaners are sold as being of a ‘type’. In some cases, the weaners will be crosses, as the breeder uses a local boar rather than find a boar of the same breed. These animals will be cheaper to buy than birth-notified stock.

  Which breed?

  For a small plot, the best breeds are the Berkshire, the Middle White and the Oxford Sandy and Black, as they grow quickly and can be finished in 6 to 7 months. They are good at converting food into muscle and they don’t have a huge frame, so they get to weight quickly. The larger breeds, such as the Gloucestershire Old Spots and Saddlebacks, are slower-growing. They have a larger frame, which is grown first, so getting them finished takes longer. It’s not an issue if you have a decent space for them, but it could be if you want to use a smaller pen and have to run them on during a wet autumn.