Recent content by erehwon

Why? Surely you are just a keeper of chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese. quail or whatever animal you wish to discuss here yours or mine sexual preference should have no bearing on that fact!

It gets down to -25 C here in Bulgaria during winter with snow easily a metre deep, we put extra hay in the hen house/coop and spread some around the ground for when they come out so their little tootsies do not get cold (they refuse to wear slippers!), we have put vaseline on their "exposed...

Strange creatures these goosey things! I still have a lot to learn.

I sympathise, we tried introducing our muscovies today and the feathers flew everywhere, so much for our familiarisation procedures, back to square one tomorrow! :(

Thanks for the replies, I was getting worried as the gander chases the the second goose away and spends all his time with his "favourite", the second goose just seems to sit on the periphery of things. I think I just feel sorry for her being left out as she is my favourite so I may be being a...

We have three Toulouse geese, two female and one male, the male and one female have paired off and have started going through the ritual of dancing around and in the water bowls before attempting to mate (unsuccessfully so far, the poor lad is a bit clueless at present!) leaving a lonesome...

We started out keeping geese after being given some Pomeranian's but they soon ended up in pot after constantly attacking our chickens, we decided to give them another go and exactly the same thing happened. Last year we hatched some Toulouse Geese then a neighbour gave us a couple of his...

Fortunately I do not have one!!! :D

I was sent this by a friend today.... "The sound of a rooster crowing can reach 142 decibels (when measured at the rooster’s head). To put that in context, a chainsaw produces about 120 db and a jet taking off 25 metres away is about 150 db and can lead to eardrum rupture. Scientists in Belgium...

I was surprised that our chickens love the rain as I was always under the impression a wet chicken was an unhappy one! Even when drenched and looking way past their best they still chase around in it leaving their shelters empty. Chickens are baffling creatures!

It can get to -30 C here though the average is @ -20 C, we throw some straw/hay around their coop so they will come out and dig lanes for them to walk around the garden putting wheat/corn/straw/stored leaves down in places along the walk ways for them to scratch at. The snow can easily be a...

We keep chickens, ducks and geese and wet pluck them all by hand. They are dunked into water that is @ 65-70 C (we estimate rather than thermometer check) until we can pull out the wing feathers with no problem. For the ducks and geese we add a dash of washing up liquid. Tried dry plucking but...

As much as I agree with you and we do keep them as livestock but we still enjoy their company and their antics, some even get named and the odd character kept but then again we are as odd as the animals we keep.:)

Keeping chickens is not just about eggs or meat, it is about enjoying them and the happiness they bring you.

Sad fact is that we are not only untrainable when young but we become totally impossible to train or do anything with the older we get, totally hopeless and often a lost cause the male gender!!!