A Journey Through a Different Way - Funny Story Pg. 69

[ruth]

Quote:
Thank you for taking the time to write. It was/is the whole purpose of this thread. I know that the free ranging birds are healtier and "happier" and don't have the health issues that penned birds have. We do have 5 large dogs that really help with the predator problem and of course, nothing gets near the house or in the coops and many of my birds sleep all over the yard, in the bushes and trees, under the carport with the dogs, front porch/back porch, and coops (some of which are never closed up) - BUT - I do lose birds during the day that wander too far into the woods. We are surrounded by thousands of acres of woods. However, from what I've seen, the birds learn really quickly. If they are with a group where one got grabbed, they no longer go into the woods but stick close to the coop and yard. Down side to that is now almost all of them stick close to the coop and yard waiting for me to walk outside and toss them some feed so while loss is down - feed bill is up.

I just enjoy the free roaming ones, even when a hundred of them are getting in my way and stampeding me. I told my husband they are worse than cats and I swear they are trying to trip me and make me drop that feed bucket. I feel sorry for the penned breeder birds and they get all of our kitchen scraps and the more expensive feeds but still, there they are in pens with nothing to do, waiting to be fed. When the rainy season hits, I turn them loose because it's just "inhumane" in my mind to see them penned up in muddy pens. We are working towards building bigger and better pens that cover more of the pasture and where I could rotate the breeder birds.

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Uh oh - that means "Big Jack" (Big Daddy) might need to be replaced because out of the 15 kids born these past 6 months - we've gotten 11 males and 4 females.

On the flip side, he and his women sure are fertile cause the same 5 girls are giving birth 5 months to the day after last kidding and he's been kept separated (along with any young males).

 

[TwistedSerpent]

For the longest time I've been sitting here thinking just how to keep these birds in brooders for months, reading about all the issues and getting the feeling that the general thought was that free ranging is thought of as bad, all the while thinking 'come on now they're chickens, they've been dealing with life long before electricity and being smothered as pets. I plan on after a week or two of getting them sticking them in the coop with a heat lamp at night, letting them out once I feel theyre ready. The dogs are kenneled at night but that may change for at least my two assuming I can trust them with the birds. They're still young goofy puppies (heelers) but at the very least they will alert me to anything around. Would be so nice to not have to actually work and be able to spend time working out here, but unfortunatly thats not an option now.

 

[RedStickLA]

Hey Monique…

Thanks for posting the pictures!

They all look great! Bitsy’s kid looks nice. From what I can tell in the pics she looks long and level across the top but one thing with Betty was we were able to get our hands on her to feel how dairy she was… loose/thin skin and very open ribbed.

That little Chamoisee buck kid

of Goldie’s is just beautiful…although I am partial to chammy’s with blue eyes. I have one and she is known at my house as “mom’s favorite” my oldest daughter is always offended on behalf of my other girls.

I try not to have a favorite but she is just special. Sorry you lost Goldie’s doe kid! I can only imagine how heartbreaking it was! That must have been horrible to walk up on that!

And that’s two more pretty Confetti kids. She did not have any that looked like her this time? As you know

I just love her coloring! Most likely you are tired of hearing me say that!

A question about Cowboy…Have you treated him for Coccidiosis?

 

[ruth]

Quote:
Hi Mitzi, yes we've treated Cowboy for everything. Luckily, right now, he seems to have dried up again. The vet suggested maybe he had a milk allergy or there was something to the mother's milk since both Cowboy and his brother Bob had the diarreah from about two weeks old till about 3-4 months old. Bob's cleared up quicker than Cowboys but both little bucks are real "runts". They hang out with the big guys though and seem to be alright. One thing I was doing with Cowboy when he had it so bad was to put him on Bella, first twice a day, later once a day, to nurse when I was milking her. I think it kept him alive. However, if he did have some sort of milk allergy it might not have been helping at all. The real blessing/mystery is that when I finally "gave up" and decided to stop all "treatments" - he dried up and seems to be much better. Maybe by finally stopping the surrogate nursings, the various antibiotics, wormers, Kaopectate, and everything else we were trying his body was able to hande whatever it was/is. For me, it's all the more reason to try and stick to my more "natural" way of doing things but I find myself, especially with these cute little goats, willing to do and try and buy anything that will save them.

So, is Chamoisee the color that little guy is? I sure do think he's cute.

Finally, Betty was the one you and Cindy wanted for show. In the pics she's brown with a little black - sleek and shiny. Cindy even said she would consider showing her if I would register her. One Spot is the black one with one white spot that you two had so much fun feeling and showing me how loose her skin was and teaching me the difference in a good show goat and good dairy goat. Betty is the offspring of Confetti and the "Grand Poo Pa" goat Cindy had and was referring to. By the way, don't you just love my extensive knowledge of goat terminology and breed lines?

O.K., now let me ask you, and any other goat people out there.......I have been milking Bella for months. She kidded in Feb., three bucks, I took them away at around 3 months and have been milking her ever since. I'm tired of the twice a day milkings plus, it's starting to look like she might be pregnant again too, so I want to let her dry up before kidding again. She puts out a lot of milk, almost a quart each milking, twice a day. Should I stop milking cold turkey, or gradually taper off? Her udder gets really huge and hard if I don't milk her every 12 hours. Previously, when I was milking one of them, they would put out less and less and by the time I would let them dry up there wasn't much being produced anyway. Not so with Bella. She's a fantastic milker.

 

[RedStickLA]

Oh don’t worry Monique I know who Betty is!

She is a red buckskin and is very nice and yes Cindy would like to get her in the show ring. She has loose/thin skin and is very open ribbed just like one spot…I remember her too! I am not getting them mixed up! The loose/thin skin and opened ribbed (and other things) are a part of the “Dairy Character” of a goat that is judged in the show ring.

And yes your little cutie buck kid’s color is called “Chamoisee”.

As far as drying off Bella… First let me say that I have not dryed off any does yet but from what I know and what I will do when I have one to dry off is... Don’t milk her out all the way just maybe half way so that you are decreasing the demand on the udder which should make her start to make less and less milk. She should get to a point where she is only filling her udder once a day and you just keep the process going of decreasing the demand on the udder until she will only need milking every other day, then only every few days, etc. until she stops producing. Some are easy to dry off and others take longer… sounds like she may be the latter.

On a chicken note…I had a little banty cornish hen hatch out about 18 chicks today! They are so cute but I am trying to down size my flock

and they sure are not helping me the little stinkers! They are so good at hiding their nest…I find them after they have been sitting and I don’t have the heart to just take the eggs from them when I don’t know how far along they are. Thank goodness usually I am able to find homes for the ones they hatch out. I will leave them two or three chicks to mother so they won’t sit on more eggs. I leave them to free range and its survival of the fittest! Yesterday I heard a feathered out baby chick squawking. I found it in a ditch and though it was stuck in the mud…Well to my surprise a big snapping turtle had a hold on its leg and was trying to pull it under into the mud to eat it!

It was crazy! Poor thing…I had to help save it…so yea... so much for the survival of the fittest!

Mitzi

 

[Luke0987654321]

hi,
i hadnt been on this thread for ages,
but i'm glad i checked, your granddaugher is so cute,
and congrats on the soon to come grand baby,
all the goats look great! and i just love the chicken pics
any way, gtg,

bye

luke.

 

[FireTigeris]

Male mammals determine sex, however there is always a 50% change of either gender unless there is some unique goat set of genes that is lethal only in females (usually lethal genes effect male offspring more readily as the female can be a carrier but still have a good copy of the gene (in mammals) )

So if you flipped a coin 25 times it COULD come up heads all 25 times even though its really just a 50/50 chance each time.

 

[jeremy]

Monique, I just read through dozens and dozens of (different) pages of your thread.
I have to say I wish so much I had the homestead life, your stories are just great! Urban farming just isn't the same.
Your pictures on the Marans thread of your birds sparked my interest to come over and take a look.

I look forward to seeing many more updates, hope all is well!

 

[bayouchica]

Hey Monique,

How's life on the farm???? Are yall enjoying the cooler weather?