Issue #011, January 10, 2009. In This Issue...

--How a Chicken Brooder Can Pay For Itself, Your Chickens and Your Chicken Tractor

--Get Ready for You Can Build a Chicken Tractor, the book!

--Stay on the Homestead Full Time With Niche Selling

--A Great Hand Cream Recipe

--Purchase Bulk Seeds to Save Money

--Time to Start Seeds Indoors

Lots of great information, so curl up next to the fire and read on!

How a Chicken Brooder Can Pay For Itself, Your Chickens and Your Chicken Tractor

But it’s hard to find unusual breeds like the Delaware locally; the only way you can get one is by ordering from a hatchery. And hatcheries usually require you order a minimum of 25 chicks. So what do you do if you only have space or time for two to six chickens?

That’s where a brooder – and a potential business opportunity – come in. Chicks are fragile the first six weeks of their lives, when they haven’t yet put on their full set of feathers. A brooder box keeps them warm and safe from predators.

Let’s say you build a brooder box that is at least five feet long by four feet wide. With a brooder that size, you can raise anywhere from 25 to 50 chicks until they are six weeks old and get their full set of feathers in. So order up to fifty female chicks, and then at six weeks, when they are tough enough to stay outside full time, tell everyone you know that you have chickens for sale. Place an ad in the paper and promote the value of the particular breed you are selling.

Determine a price by adding up the costs of the brooder, the chickens, feed to that point and materials for a chicken tractor. Raise 50 chicks and sell 44 of them, and you should recoup all of your costs and have six hens, a tractor and a brooder to be used again and again besides.

You Can Build a Chicken Tractor –
the Book is On Its Way!

This book fills in where my website leaves off, giving you tons of helpful information about building techniques and lots tips for caring for your flock, all at the reasonably low price of $12.95, plus shipping.

Or save money and get a copy earlier by purchasing the ebook. Yours for the ridiculously-low price of $7.95, plus you get it immediately, delivered straight to your computer without having to wait. What a deal!

When?

Look for the ebook to be ready in February, 2009. The paperback version will be ready in March, 2009.

How to Stay on the Homestead
By Niche Selling

On a whim I typed the words into a search engine and voila! Not only did I discover there really was a L'Heure Bleue perfume, but I could also buy it for $60. It was a mind-opening experience for me.

Doubtless you’ve had the same revelation over the years. You can truly find anything on the internet, no matter how rare and how unique, and that can spell opportunity for you. Do you have an unusual skill or craft? Do you know how to find something unique others would have trouble finding? Build a website to sell that unique item, and you’ll eventually have sufficient income to help you stay on that homestead.

But without traffic, you’re not likely to realize that income anytime soon. That’s where Site Build It comes in. Ken Evoy and his crew provide you with all the tools you need to build a website that brings in traffic. Want to see all they have to offer? Click here.

Then order SBI by clicking here.

What's New

Is the cold weather leaving you with chapped hands? My hands were always in terrible shape until I discovered this great hand cream recipe. You can find all the ingredients at your local health food store or save even more money by buying them online. Click here to see the recipe.

Purchase Bulk Seeds to Save Money

What better way to brighten the winter blues than by ordering your seeds for next spring. And by purchasing bulk seeds, you not only save money but practice self reliant homesteading. But there are tricks to storing them properly. Learn how.

Time to Start Seeds Indoors

Get an early start on your garden and save money by starting your own plants indoors. Here are some tips.

And as always, happy homesteading!