DIY On YouTube: From Raising Chickens To Cutting Hair

Even before the outbreak of COVID-19 YouTube had already become the first place to check for quick lessons, basic tutorials and how-to video instructions for just about everything. In the weeks since the United States has undergone a de facto lockdown more and more videos have popped up on YouTube offering do-it-yourself (DIY) tips – and some seem like a throwback to another time.

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner

One of the surprising tends has been on videos about “raising chickens” – apparently even people who might never have seen themselves as small-scale poultry farmers are now considering it.

Among the popular sites are Hobby Farm Nutt’s Raising Chickens 101, getting started and what they don’t tell you; Guildbrook Farm’s Beginners Guide To Raising Backyard Chickens; Stoney Ridge Farmer’s How to raise baby chicks. Simple and easy tips for a healthy flock; Living Traditions Homestead’s These Make Raising Chickens Easy; and Sow The Land’s Cost to Raise 30 Chickens On Pasture.

“As many people are buying chickens for a source of eggs during isolation, many are turning to YouTube’s homesteading and FarmTube communities to find out how to raise their new purchases,” said a spokesperson for YouTube. “We found that since March 15, average daily views of videos with variations of ‘raising chickens’ in the title increased by 130% when compared to the average daily views for the rest of the year.”

As these videos increase it will be interesting to monitor and see if additional videos on avian flu and other dangerous poultry diseases also increase in the coming weeks and months.

By Bread Alone

If raising a chicken is too “ambitious” – not to mention the fact that many communities might not even allow the raising of animal livestock – there are other videos that might be of interest in the food variety.

One of the most popular DIY videos has been those on baking sourdough bread, which have increased by 260% percent since March 15 when compared to the average daily views for the past of the year. Uploads of such baking-related videos hit an all-time high last month

“All sourdough is reliant on the starter, a combination of flour, water, and sugar that ferments over the course of a few days. Starters can be finicky, but, if fed and cared for consistently (much like a plant), can last for decades,” explained YouTube. “Many home cooking creators (Alex, Joshua Weissman) share their starter tips and tricks. We’ve seen a recent trend of a small number of homesteading creators start to share their feeding processes in diary-style formats with daily videos that track their progress (Making Lemonade From Lemons, Bumblebee Junction, The Kneady Homesteader). Comment sections, meanwhile, are full of fans sharing stories of their own starters that have been passed from one generation to the next, as well as their experiences “raising” starters from scratch.”

Some popular examples for baking the perfect bread have included: Bon Appetit, Brad and Claire Make Sourdough Bread and that particular video ranked within Bon Appetits’s top 20 most viewed videos; Ilovecookingireland’s How To Make Sourdough Bread Masterclass; Alex’s A Non-Baker’s Guide To Making Sourdough Bread; and The King’s Roost’s Cultivate Your Own Wild Yeast Starter, which is notable in that The King’s Roost has only 35K subscribers, yet that video has been viewed more than one million times.

On The Hair Cutting Edge

Across the country barbers are finding that even if states aren’t making them close down, fears of coronavirus are keeping the customers away. That could explain the huge spike in hair cutting related videos on YouTube.

“As more and more people find themselves at home, many are starting to realize they’re going to have to take matters into their own hands when it comes to their haircuts,” added YouTube. “We’ve seen a spike in people looking for content teaching them how to cut their hair at home since March 16.”

It has been more about the basis with such videos as “Try a men’s haircut at home with tips from professional hair stylist” George Northwood; Kayley Melissa and her “Range of at Home Haircuts”; “Learn how to cut layers with Carli Bybel“; and “Dive into these 7 tips to do a men’s haircut at home with Real Men Real Style.”

Face Mask Time

It should also be absolutely no surprise that one of the most popular DIY searches has been for face masks.

“Over the last few weeks, videos around the world related to DIY, How-To, or Tutorials with ‘Face Mask’ in the title have been viewed over 60 million times,” said YouTube. “Many creators are sharing helpful information that empowers people who have the time, supplies and skills to create their own masks at home.” 

Deaconess Health has less than 5,000 subscribers but its face mask tutorial is the most-viewed video on its channel, and has been seen nearly 2.4million times.

Other popular DIY mask videos have included Sew Yeah’s How to Sew a Simple Face Mask Tutorial; Sew It Online’s Tutorial: How to Sew a Face Mask for Hospitals | Coronavirus COV19; and Joann Fabrics’ How to make a face mask, which was viewed over 1.5 million times and also encouraged people making face masks to donate them through Joann Fabrics.

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