We have 4 Heritage turkey poults for sale, hatched Sept 1. These were from a Blue Slate Lavender(self-blue) hen with a Blue Slate Tom (he dressed out at 20# last week). They were incubator babies, very acclimated to humans. They have been free range during the day for the past 6 weeks...
We have 9 Heritage turkey poults for sale. These are natural hatch babies from our proven Hen, hatched October 6 & 7. The tom dressed out at 20# last week. There are two Black Slates, we will sell them for 12.50 each. 5 Blue Slates are 15.00 each. We have two Lavender (self blue) poults...
We've first hand experience with feed differences. A friend and I both wanted new layers, but neither of us wanted 25, so we decided to split them. It would have been silly for both of us to run a brooder, and I have a better set-up, so I brooded the birds and raised them to about 16 weeks. I...
I think you would find the broomstick method the easiest, however, I agree that chickens can survive horrible trauma and survive. Can you put the bird in a quiet cage with some water laced with antibiotics and a lot of nice soft bedding? Help the bird get a drink, if need be. I've had some...
I've added chicks lots of times, I make sure everyone can see but not fuss with each other for a week or two, and I might wait until they're a little older. Then, I wait until everyone is asleep, tiptoe out with a flashlight and add the new chickens to the coop. For some reason, when they wake...
After you get your hygrometer calibrated, if you find that you don't have your humidity high enough here is one trick to try. Get some new sponges, and prop them up in the corners of the incubator with the ends in water. This may work well enough, it did raise the humidity in my HovaBator...
PureSnowChick -
If you want to get back to basics, try and get your hands on one of the older versions of Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book. I don't care much for the later versions, some of them have been "edited" to death by lawsuit leery editors and added to the to the point of...
PureSnowChick -
If you want to get back to basics, try and get your hands on one of the older versions of Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book. I don't care much for the later versions, some of them have been "edited" to death by lawsuit leery editors and added to the the point of...
I agree about getting books from the library. Carla Emery's book has a nice section on cheesemaking, at least the older versions do. Carroll's books are good too. Carla has lots of good info on raising and caring for cows. Don't get all riled about equipment, you can make do with a variety...
It depends on how much you want to spend, what you're hatching, and how many eggs you're willing to lose. A Hovabator will do OK with fresh chicken eggs of your own. Forget it for turkey eggs - you can't raise the humidity enough. I've no experience with ducks, but I suspect they need high...
After 2 1/2 summers of no baby turkeys, we are now running out of room! We have 7 adult turkeys, soon to be 6, as one Tom will be Thanksgiving dinner. We finally, nerve-rackingly, successfully hatched some turkey eggs after a three year run of bad luck about a month ago. So we have 7 one...
I've both kinds. The Brinsea (I have the Octagon 20 Advanced with the humidity pump, 'cuz I hatch turkeys) is easier to clean, IMHO. I hatched chicks in the Hova Bator for a couple of years, but now I just use it as a brooder. as the egg turner died, and I hadn't been able to hatch turkeys in...
Mine have eaten styrofoam several times over the past 25 years. Never seems to hurt them a bit, but can't say I recommend it as a regular diet. They seem drawn to it like kids to candy.
We use sweet corn and eggs to lure the coons into the traps- then they go for a one way trip :-) Shooting the rest will help for awhile - but we've found as soon as there's a hole, another predator will move into the neighborhood. Our hen house looks like Fort Knox - and our setting hen...
It all depends on what you want. If you want meat you know has been treated humanely, and fed stuff you know about, (and tastes better) then raise it yourself. If you can't butcher it, find someone who will. Or someone who will help you and do the killing the first few times to help you out...
Mine would roost, but I put the roosts rather low to the ground just in case. You will find them very much more active indeed than Cornish cross, and they dress out to really lovely and delicious carcasses.
from Michigan
Oh, go for the Black A's - they lay well, overwinter well, and you can't beat those shiny black feathers that glow almost deep green in the sunshine.
That's a beautiful cast iron skillet. Since you're all chatting about it here, can anyone tell me how to get some sort of stupid black paint or finish off an old cast iron deep pan and lid? I was so excited to find it at a flea market, TOLD the seller I planned on cooking with it, but it...