5R Farm

5R Farm Backyard chickens inspired our move to the country! Sharing the joys of the small farm life in St. Helens, Oregon.
(4)

Order my book “An Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Raising Backyard Turkeys” everywhere books are sold! We started with a flock of 3 backyard chickens in 2010, which soon grew to 5 chickens. The idea for 5R Farm became a reality when we purchased 4.5 acres in St. We now have several dozen chickens and turkeys and 3 beehives. I sell pasture-raised chicken eggs as well as natural bath and body products including handmade soaps and lotions.

18/04/2026

Whenever there’s mischief afoot I know who to blame ➡️ Peggy Sue! 🐔 She was scratching around by the shop yesterday and so I picked her up and carried her back to her fenced yard and imagine my surprise at seeing Bindi, my nearly blind hen, wandering around outside the fence without a care in the world. I’m so glad I happened to see her before she wandered off and got lost. 🙄 I don’t know how she got out but I just know adventurous little Peggy Sue had something to do with it! 😂

17/04/2026

Do you know the differences between chicken and turkey anatomy? 🐓🦃Instead of a comb, turkeys have a snood. It’s a fleshy protuberance attached to the top of their beak, on a tom turkey it hangs down the side of the beak several inches. Tom turkeys can retract their snood and make it short and pointy like a little unicorn horn 🦄 but typically it hangs down. This is a hen and their snoods are much shorter.
🦃 The wattle is a flap of loose skin that hangs below the beak and is attached to the neck. Unlike chickens that have two wattles, turkeys have a single wattle. It is larger and generally a brighter red color in the males then the females.
🦃 Caruncles are fleshy bumps that occur on the head, neck and at the base of the throat. Both males and females have caruncles and on the males they are larger and more prominent.
🦃 The facial colors of turkeys change with their mood. When they are relaxed their colors will be paler and when they get excited the snood, neck and caruncles turn bright red.
🦃 Big thanks to Peppy for being such a good sport! What do you think about turkey anatomy, is it weird or wonderful?

15/04/2026

Soft-shelled eggs are so weird! I never like to see these in the nest box because it means something isn’t working right. I provide calcium free choice for my flock but I do have several older girls in my flock and sometimes their reproductive systems can have some irregularities as they start laying again. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about, although I can’t help but worry a little. 😬

15/04/2026

Old enough to know better, but still acting like she’s an invincible teenager. There’s no telling a turkey what to do, or more importantly what not to do! 🙄 My eleven year old hen Prudence, the one with the injured foot that Junior and the flock were picking on, still insists on roosting up high and hurting her foot every time she flies down. I put her in the chicken coop for a couple nights to keep her from roosting so high but she hated being locked up so I gave in and let her have her way. She’s happy and even if she makes bad choices, it’s her life to live how she wants to. I’m just along for the ride.
😂🦃

11/04/2026

Poor Junior 😂 still figuring out how to be a man in this crazy turkey world! Ringo used to intervene and break up fights, and I’ve had some roosters that were really good at doing this too. I’ve also had boys that didn’t want to get involved. I guess Junior is in the don’t get involved camp!
🦃

10/04/2026

Peggy Sue has resumed her wandering ways, and if I’m not outside with breakfast early enough she heads for the back door and starts squawking!
📢🐔
Watch until the end for her cute rooster squat 😍 at least she lets me pretend to be the boss! 😂

09/04/2026

Turkeys are famous for saying no thanks when it comes to using the perfect nest box that you custom built for them, so before you build one, take a look around your homestead and see if you can’t repurpose something as a nesting spot. Here are some ideas and our favorite turkey nesting spots in this video. Two of my favorites are the spaceship 🚀 which is a repurposed dishwasher drum and our pumpkin patch! Watch until the end to see them!
🦃

08/04/2026

Don’t let your seedlings get root-bound. ✋❌ They look tiny but it’s already time to thin these seedlings into one per cell. This is the before video and since filming this I’ve transplanted the best looking seedlings that will be going into the garden into bigger, deep pots. I’ll keep some extras for a few more weeks in case I need to replace any in the bigger pots.
🪴🪴
Another thing I’m doing differently is that I’m not keeping way more extra seedlings than I have room in the garden for! I’ve already thrown about a third of these in the compost bin, and I know you know how hard that is 😂 but I’ve decided this is the year that I stop making extra work for myself caring for a bunch of extra seedlings that I realistically don’t need.
🪴🪴
What’s something you’re doing differently with your seedlings this year?
🪴🪴

Address


Website

https://5rfarm.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when 5R Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to 5R Farm:

Shortcuts

  • Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service?

Share