Ambassadors for the farm

[centrarchid]

I already supplied some for the poultry keeping display. The more interactive displays involve my personal birds only.


The intent it is make the poultry keeping process more transparent and we have the resources to demonstrate a lot methods suitable for backyard keeping. The poultry are a small part of the finca demonstration that includes all sorts of gardening / horticulture / arbiriculture and even apiculture.

 

[scottcaddy]

Isn't Aquaculture considered a normal backyard endeavor?
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

It is done but also comparatively rare. I would estimate for every 100 backyard poultry keepers you will find 5 backyard beekeepers and for every 100 beekeepers you will find 1 backyard aquaculturist. That excludes the keepers of ornamental fish which is dominated by indoor aquariums. Aquaculture tends to be more capital intensive.

 

[centrarchid]

Another field day tomorrow. Rollo about 3/4 through molt so looking decent again. He wanted to fight another bird through pen and was willing to go around house and a couple hundred feet to do it even as darkness approached.

 

[scottcaddy]

Take care of him, he is a nice looking bird.
Good luck with the other people..
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

We survived. Sallie (hen with chicks) immediately walked around house skipping feeding station to go after persimmons. Rollo went the other way straight to pen of rooster he wanted to fight late yesterday evening. I mean straight there with no line of sight for both birds.

 

[centrarchid]

Our English Shepherd pup (Ben) is being prepped for being and additional ambassador. Upcoming field events at area high schools involve livestock (usually ornamental breeds), my trained chickens, aquatic critters associated with production ponds and now a dog. LGD's not making cut this time because behind on shots and we are short on people to manage one during transport and when on site. Ben got shots today and I began getting him used to traveling in a vehicle. He was also vetted for behavior when released in a novel location where he passed with fling colors. he also took handling by numerous strangers well. He is already good around poultry and will require little effort o control around other stock. The point he will make centers around use of dogs in a farming setting and be an example of an American Heritage Breed. The history part helps get audience into what is being related to them.

 

[scottcaddy]

Hope that Ben does you proud!
It's good to see that he's still doing good and progressing in his training with birds.
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

Outreach season is well underway again. To get a more professional look (instead of using a fish cage as a portable coop) I purchased a cookie-cutter coop design that is small enough for me to move. The coop also has a array of doors allowing all sorts of access. It will even allow adding a solar charger, battery, fence charger, supplemental lighting and for fun navigation lights. The light weight comes at expense of durability. The coop will be used to demonstrate the chicken tractor concept and have be moved across state multiple times annually. Handles were installed and I made a heavy duty sled made from treated 4 x 4's. It is a "cute" setup but does not have much on a wet paper back when it comes to standing up against predators. My almost 3 year old daughter could tear the wire so I will be keeping the coop near perimeter hot-wire in pasture when it is not in display use. A brood hen or two will be acclimated to the coop and moved with it. A brood cock bonded to hen(s) will be tethered near it so he can be taken on trips as well. Birds for this will largely replace birds in use for last six years. Old hen (Sallie) still about but she is getting into the realm of being a pet.

I could have made a lot stronger for less money although weight considerations are overriding.

 

[HnkyDnkyZZFarm]

I work at a land grant university where food production is a major concern. We have multiple annual demonstrations and shows concerning various aspects of agriculture and the research we conduct. My job is to attract kids, usually through petting zoos and like. Critters usually brought to pet are crawdads, tadpoles, big biting insects and sometimes really big fishes. This year trained chickens, juveniles about 12 weeks old were used. Two are birds being trained to come by voice command which they do. A gang of four were taken to a festival on campus to the "fairgrounds" and set loose near my usual attraction. Each time a small group was exposed to the usual round of smaller wildlife in the petting zoo, a chaser was made of calling name my trained chickens. One, sometimes two, would come cutting through crowd and fly up into my arm. We could even get birds to fly up into arms of kids that never came into contact with any type of bird prior. Eduardo and sister Sally were stars of show. They (birds) even impressed a couple old timers that raised chickens commercially. Once satiated, the chickens would even allow kids to pet them. It was not just a situation where chickens fed from hand but otherwise avoided contact. Sadly, one of the chickens ate my walking sticks while I was working with a group of kids. This use of chickens will be used in years to come.