California-Southern

[DebbieSkinner]

Sylvester,

We tried cattle and also sheep a couple times and even goats. Just too difficult because of their size for our 5 1/2 acres and the fact that we have to irrigate to have grass/pasture. Plus the added difficulty of the infrastructure for containing larger animals and the difficulty in processing and freezer space required. I have some funny stories that I could share about our Coriente cattle escaping and roaming the area and the phone calls we received.

 

[Jane H]

Downtown LA.

 

[artblueggwanter]

can you have animals there?

 

[Sylvester017]

Sylvester,

We tried cattle and also sheep a couple times and even goats. Just too difficult because of their size for our 5 1/2 acres and the fact that we have to irrigate to have grass/pasture. Plus the added difficulty of the infrastructure for containing larger animals and the difficulty in processing and freezer space required. I have some funny stories that I could share about our Coriente cattle escaping and roaming the area and the phone calls we received.

My folks had 25 acres but the horse, cow, sheep, goat livestock were still troublesome. The horses and cattle need lots of pasture and in SoCalif it's too dry most of the year except for a bit of green in Winter/Spring. The sheep tore up the ground and were nasty tempered with or without their lambs around. The goats were downright destructive, chewing car bumpers, bicycle tires, wooden gates, leather tack in the barn, and they were masters at escaping their enclosure, etc. Once they ate my Pop's uniform sleeves off the laundry hanging on the clothesline! None of these larger livestock were worth the bother and a moaning cow needing milking can bellow for miles! That's when the folks realized they could get meat AND eggs from just the poultry, with less feed cost, and less problems rounding up animals at dusk. The over-abundant milk-producing cow was never missed or the tons of homemade cheese either! Cows' milk is meant for nurturing calves rather than having humans forced to consume an over-abundance of dairy products.

Your question about geese interbreeding is that they are like chickens and will mate with anything - even a duck if they can catch one! Silly but I've seen it happen. Chickens cross-breed and so do ducks and geese. They generally stick with their own kind but all bets are off in breeding season. I've seen several drakes hopping on a single duck at the same time practically crushing her so I don't advise more than one male in a small gaggle or flock.

Your photos of your property are gorgeous! Enjoy!

 

[sol2go]

I just joined BYC and live in Aguanga, CA (SE of Temecula) and raise Marans, Ameraucanas, and Swedish Flower Hens as well as a bunch of Guinea fowl and Wild Turkeys that run around the ranch and also a flock of Muscovy Ducks. I am researching geese and interested in Nene or possibly other quieter geese.

Thanks for posting the pictures, I enjoyed them.

 

[sol2go]

RIP Black Bean ("BB"). Yesterday, I thought she was about to lay her first hopefully-green egg (she was 25 weeks/ 6 months old), but a couple of hours later, I found her dead in a nest box.

She was a Favacauna (SF x Lavender Am) from our first batch of broody-hatched babies (raised by our sweet SFH). I suspect she was eggbound and died from the complications thereof. ::sigh:: However, we want to know for sure in case it's something else that can affect the rest of the flock. So after I found her, I high-tailed to the CAHFS lab in San Bernadino to get her necropsied and made it 15 minutes before the office closed. Whew.

My SO and I accept that things like this are part of life and chicken-keeping, but when it happens, it's still a bit shocking, isn't it? My fear whenever one of ours passes is that she died of something we did or could've prevented...the necropsy report will tell us soon. Either way, I hope she didn't suffer too much.

Sorry to hear about your loss, she looks like a sweet pullet.

 

[sol2go]

Thanks for the info. We are a distributor for Modesto Organic feed and feed our chickens, muscovy and wild turkeys their pelleted feed and a bit of scratch. I can supplement. I may have to decide between the 2 breeds (Nene and Cotton Patch) then just to make things simple.

Do you have a suggestion for a pond that will be easy to maintain and not get too polluted with goose poo? Easy to drain and clean I'm guessing would be the best?

Yes, I want to make an enclosure that would be secure and rustic "cute" and fits well with the dog training field. I may run flock of Marans on the field too so need to come up with something for both the geese and chickens. Or if that's problematic because of the geese not tolerating the chickens well, I can just rely on my 30 guinea fowl that fly and roam at will wherever they choose. They really took out the grasshoppers, fig beetles and tomato hornworms all over the property this season.

My husband built this rustic coop for our free ranging Swedish Flower Hens that run our riverbed field with the hogs, horses and muscovy ducks.

It sounds like your animals have a nice life.

 

[sol2go]

Downtown LA.

I'm picturing a lot of concrete!
Welcome =)

 

[wwmicasa1]

Thanks for the info. We are a distributor for Modesto Organic feed and feed our chickens, muscovy and wild turkeys their pelleted feed and a bit of scratch. I can supplement. I may have to decide between the 2 breeds (Nene and Cotton Patch) then just to make things simple.

Do you have a suggestion for a pond that will be easy to maintain and not get too polluted with goose poo? Easy to drain and clean I'm guessing would be the best?

Yes, I want to make an enclosure that would be secure and rustic "cute" and fits well with the dog training field. I may run flock of Marans on the field too so need to come up with something for both the geese and chickens. Or if that's problematic because of the geese not tolerating the chickens well, I can just rely on my 30 guinea fowl that fly and roam at will wherever they choose. They really took out the grasshoppers, fig beetles and tomato hornworms all over the property this season.

My husband built this rustic coop for our free ranging Swedish Flower Hens that run our riverbed field with the hogs, horses and muscovy ducks.

Debbie,

In my experience the Geese tolerated the chickens until breeding time. Then the feathers started to fly. One of my Ganders grabbed a hen & broke her jaw We now keep the geese in a total separate area. They are fine, calm & respectful except during breeding season.

We built a pond "without" a drain. Silly move on our part. However, we drain it every 2-3 weeks using a pump with hose attached & run the hose to all our fruit trees. The extra fertilizer has been great. ~! We have a wild Muscovy duck (drake) that comes every morning to take a swim & eat the leftovers from the geese. He knows they are locked up so he has free run until I let them out of their cage. He then flies off & returns in the morning.

Let me know in the Spring if you are interested in goslings. I'm just right down the road.

 

[ChickaLong]

Anyone want a free legbar boy chick 4 weeks old? I have 7 available.