Posted on 02/17/2009 11:58:23 AM PST by Marie
Why don’t you see what the neighbors raise?
I used to have nubians - till arthritis made it hard to milk... But since I found this:
The friend of one of my neighbors got one, and I went over and tried it... Works great! He had a dozen of the larger bottles, and narry a foot in the bucket, goats all welcomed the milker. Just wash, strip and slip on the milker - 5-6 squeezes and they let down the milk very well. I will be picking up a doe this spring after kidding after I get my milker
.
With the exception of butter, I have made just about anything you can think of - Several cheeses, yogurt, ice cream - great resource and they have such great personalities.
Oh, on the Buff Orpingtons, they are also very personable - people friendly birds. We have one hen who whenever she sees my wife, comes running for her to pick her up and carry her. I have one rooster who when I go in to collect eggs, jumps up to a high perch and then to my back as I bend over. As I straighten up, he moves to my shoulder and ‘supervises’ me getting the eggs. They are a large bird and lay a very large number of extra-large brown eggs.
I got my day old chicks from Ridgway Hatchery in LaRue, Ohio. They have a website at:
http://www.ridgwayhatchery.com
Others carry them too, but I have bought from these people several times over the past 50 years, and they really take pride in what they ship. This last order, I got a phone call to inform me that they were delaying my shipment for 3 days, as Mrs. Ridgway was not completely satisfied with that batch and they had more hatching in 3 days.
Their 3 generations of experience (86 years in business) is kind of reassuring. I had no losses in shipment and they were the healthiest birds you could imagine. Just put a bit of (1 tablespoon per quart waterer) apple cider vinegar in their water for a few weeks and they really do well on it. In fact, we had a week long rainy spell and they dropped off on eating, so I put the vinegar in their water and they perked up within a day. (Used about 4 oz. in 5 gal waterer)
Hey, drop in on the thread and share some with a lot of like minded people at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts?q=1&;page=1623
I have read that Australorps, big black ones from Australia, are good for heat. But I’ve never owned them.
I found a lot of Extension information, including stuff from Texas A&M, on the net.
That said, we have barred rocks, a dual-purpose breed, right now.
Indiana summers can have tropical humidity. In hot weather, we run a floor fan; put out extra water; pull the bedding back so they can rest on the concrete barn floor; but what works the best is to let them out so the birds can spread out.
In heat stress they will hold their wings out and pant. If 10 percent or more of your birds are doing that, you have a problem. If any of their combs and wattles turn blue or purple, they are about to croak. That’s a sign that their hearts are giving out.
Heat stress and panting will make their egg shells thinner because the extra carbon dioxides screws up their blood chemistry and calcium balance. You can offer more calcium (oyster shell) but a lot of times they are listless in the heat and don’t eat well, anyway.
Breeds that have larger combs and more exposed skin would be more heat tolerant. For instance, Australorps have big combs and Turkens or “naked necks” have more bare skin.
Hope that helped!
Chicken ping....
I’ve been asking neighbors for two years! All get is blank stares and, “Well, they’re just *chickens*. You know... chickens!”
I guess the folks here are most interested in mutts.
When I ask then what they feed their flocks I get, “They feed themselves!”
Maybe it won’t be as hard as I’m anticipating. My mom raised Cornish Cross and it was a nightmare. Those things break a leg just hopping off their perch in the morning. They’re like sheep: Just looking for an excuse to die.
“Hope that helpede!”
It did! Thank you!
That milker sounds like a dream!
We plan on “sharing” the baby’s milk. We’ll only take enough to take care of ourselves from each goat. (About 1 cup per goat twice a day should do it.) Then we’ll let the babies take the rest.
Once the babies start weaning, we’ll take more to keep the milk production up.
This way, the mamas take care of the babies and you don’t have to worry about buying the powdered formula and taking care of the kids.
“Marie darlin’, you just started one of FR’s famous thousand post threads.”
That would be nice! Lots of useful information to be gleaned from fellow FReepers.
Over the years, I’ve found that FR is the best place to come to for advice on just about everything. Parenting, farming, guns, cars to buy, etc. Never been let down yet. :-)
I had a situation, as it turned out, a mountain lion was bagging my chickens, years ago.
This sounds gross, but I collected mattress frames, pulled out all the sheeting/stuffing and built massive cages with them.
It worked. You can plant grapes or other vines to shade and beatify.
*That* is not gross. Gross is mortgaging our children's future so a politician can look good *now*. Gross is the raping of our Constitution.
Being practical and frugal is *never* gross.
(OK. OK. So I made homemade toilet paper... It actually turned out really well! lol!)
If I had a chicken who did that I would never be able to fry her.
Brenham ???? ... what was I thinking .. I even referenced the ZZ Top song and I still got it wrong. I've been in Houston for 44 years so I know knew the right answer.
W. L. Weller has kiiled many, many brain cells over the years.
About Cornish Cross ...
If you are feeling lucky, try them again in the cool season.
We’ve been doing this for several years and noticed that some strains have better livability than others. I think hatcheries and breeders have been working on this.
The feed conversion on broilers is terrific. They can get so big that each bird provides several meals for my family — i.e. roasted, then in noodles or stir fry, then have the broth for soup. For that reason I feel like taking a chance on them.
Ours have a schedule like this ... from hatching to two weeks they are baby chicks, growing steady, feathering out, etc.
From two to five weeks they explode. They grow up and out. That’s when they really need high protein feed. We feed them morning and evening, let them rest during the heat of the day, and let them clean up the feed before offering more.
From about six to nine weeks they are growing more slowly, gaining weight and laying on some fat. The feed conversion is not as good at this point. I don’t mind fat chickens because they are juicy and being a little older, muscles are more developed — not gelatinous pink globs like store-bought chix — and have better flavor.
YMMV
Good luck!
maybe you were thinking of Blue Bell ice cream???
LOL she has several years of laying before she will face the pot.
We keep about 1 rooster for every 8 hens, and my wife and I differ on which ones to keep. She likes the ones that crow, and I look for size, conformation, color, as well as temperament.
I swear, one of the roosters has figured out her criterion - whenever my wife goes out in the yard he crows and crows - you can almost see him reaching down to his toenails and brings up the biggest crow you ever heard. - So, he will be one of the keepers, along with my shoulder supervisor.
>>>>>*That* is not gross. Gross is mortgaging our children’s future so a politician can look good *now*. Gross is the raping of our Constitution.
Being practical and frugal is *never* gross. <<<<<<<<<
Yahooooo Texas Girls know ‘gross’ when they see it...
Chickens smickens you can rent that out for a good price!!!
>>>>My DH is all over the coop and the chicken run plans. He’s going to start with a foot deep trench filled with concrete with barbed wire running beside it. Two layers of wire fencing. A roof on the run (for protection and shade). Misters on the roof of the run to keep them cool in the summer. I have a feeling that our chickens won’t have much to worry about! lol!<<<<<<
Consider making it portable - they work great if you have a garden too. The chickens will eat every bug, tick or whatever in sight. The will clean up remains of plants and eat the over ripe veggies, and scratch up the soil almost ready to plant again.
There are a few shown here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2181392/posts?page=1285#1285
Wow! That’s not the same bird my mom raised!
The Cornish Cross she had were ready to be dressed out at 6 weeks and if you didn’t get them processed by week 8, they’d start dying. They got so heavy that their legs would just snap.
She experimented with their feed, but nothing helped.
But she kept raising them year after year. That way she only had to deal with a flock for two months and had the rest of the year off.
And yes, they had a LOT of meat!
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