Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[beverly evans]

Well ChocolateMouse, I know who to call on if I need help.

Have you ever thought of Costa Rica? I have heard there are parts of it that is not over run with drug lords and is absolutely beautiful. Plus you would have all that coffee.....

Lisa

Yeah, Costa Rica has a stable government and lots of Americans are retiring there. Of course there is the occasional blonde that gets killed down there....I lived in Mexico for 7 years back before the cartels took over. It was heaven then. Still safe in the interior. If only they didn't have such a lucrative market for the drugs here!

 

[beverly evans]

Lisa, shame you live on the other side of the country! You should see my zombie apocalypse survival plan! XD Epic level zombie survival goin' on here... Nothing sad and inefficient like those Walking Dead folks.

Costa Rica would be another great place to live, yeah. Love their natural wetlands and sooo many beautiful birds! But if I moved to Africa I could fufill my dream of having a pet cheetah.... And that would just be baller. XD

When I lived in Mexico I got to play with a jaguar, a male lion and an ocelot whenever I liked. That was really cool. It made me always want to own a jaguar. They're not so big and you could own enough land to be kind to it, having space to roam that is. There is no way to ever make it right to own a big cat, but it's fun to think about it. I get the biggest rush out of getting my hands full of a tiger! I've only handled very young ones though. kSill talk! : )

 

[beverly evans]

Well, I know I have a legit reason for wanting a cheetah. Historically they are the most domesticateable of the big cats and pharohs used to gather them as kits from the wild use them in hunting and coursing like greyhounds. Small and docile enough to not kill you... Still one of THE most incredible animals in the world. There's less risk in owning a cheetah than most exotics. I'm crazy... But not so crazy as to want tigers and **** anymore! XD Too much work.


The Ameraucana chicks are spending 24/7 outside. I made them their own little coop out of a box on it's side wrapped in plastic raised on bricks and it stood up to some crazy heavy rainfall we got. Warm and dry inside. They've been getting FF for the past two months... They'll keep on getting it until they join the flock where the layer pellets are just more practical because I scatter them so they can forage. Have to weigh nutrition against enrichment.

But today I gave the layer flock some pickled veggies from the bottom of this all natural pickles jar. Carrots, garlic and bell peppers. Honestly, it could be enough to call those their worming for the spring for all I know! (I will probably still mix up a Thing later.) They loved em!

You know, they certainly would be safer than any other big cat. I've never heard of one turning on it's owner-master-keeper. And they make good friends with your dogs. Maybe you'll have one someday? : )

 

[beverly evans]

Lol, Linda! I grew up in a conspiracy theory house. My mother was a nutjob back then and could be defined under the categories of Crazy Preppers (you know, the ones who keep 6mo of food in their house including MREs, a bug out bag in the bedroom, and are actually convinced that any day now they will be on the run because "the government".) In any case my days as a kid were spent outdoors with wilderness survival books for fun. I would play at building miniature forest shelters, finding wild foods, stashing them away from scavengers, cooking in the sun, finding water, and learning to identify plants. That was my every day life for me. And it sounds silly for that to be good practice for survival techniques but the truth is it is waaay more than most people get. I learned how to build the shelters structurally sound, I know almost every native edible plant, the water finding techniques still work, etc. And now a days I know the basics of trapping, plus I can butcher an animal and shoot a bow and arrow.

Sometimes I feel like I was really just born into the wrong place or time! XD

My kinda man! You are a guy aren't you? I've been wrong before. You could make a million on "survivor" but they would probably feel threatened by your knowledge and vote you off! Remember that guy who caught and butchered a wild hog for them to eat? They voted him off. I'd love to have you along on the minimalist wilderness hikes we used to take with the Sierra Club. You are a bit of a "Mckiver", right? : )

 

[LindaB220]

Lol, Linda! I grew up in a conspiracy theory house. My mother was a nutjob back then and could be defined under the categories of Crazy Preppers (you know, the ones who keep 6mo of food in their house including MREs, a bug out bag in the bedroom, and are actually convinced that any day now they will be on the run because "the government".) In any case my days as a kid were spent outdoors with wilderness survival books for fun. I would play at building miniature forest shelters, finding wild foods, stashing them away from scavengers, cooking in the sun, finding water, and learning to identify plants. That was my every day life for me. And it sounds silly for that to be good practice for survival techniques but the truth is it is waaay more than most people get. I learned how to build the shelters structurally sound, I know almost every native edible plant, the water finding techniques still work, etc. And now a days I know the basics of trapping, plus I can butcher an animal and shoot a bow and arrow.

Sometimes I feel like I was really just born into the wrong place or time! XD

I can see the allure of it. Feel like I need to start save more, doing more. But that's a side of my OCD Talk about Y2K. I had it going. After it was over, I finally went to the doctor and told him I couldn't stop. No need anymore but I still needed to save. THAT's when I found out about my OCD.. I got a handle on it but still do tend to obsess on things. Today it's chickens. My daughter said that doesn't sound too bad. (I never told her about chicken Math)

 

[Beekissed]

Okay this may be an oddie question, but I have been accused of that before.

We got chicks for our grandaughter on 3-13
Yesterday Pics



DH is sure if I leave them out in this coop with only a heat lamp they will die from the cold (low's in low to mid 40's)
If I fashioned a door on the coop could they move in permanently / safely? They still occupy his hobby room inside the house at Night.

This was purchased as a transition brooder it will NOT be their grown up home!

They won't die of the cold. They are a month old and fully fledged, so they have insulation from the cold. They are old enough to stay out in the coop permanently. You can tell hubby that mine have been without heat out in an open air coop for almost a week now in those temps and they don't even have feathers covering their body.

Mine are half the age of yours

 

[ChocolateMouse]

My kinda man! You are a guy aren't you? I've been wrong before. You could make a million on "survivor" but they would probably feel threatened by your knowledge and vote you off! Remember that guy who caught and butchered a wild hog for them to eat? They voted him off. I'd love to have you along on the minimalist wilderness hikes we used to take with the Sierra Club. You are a bit of a "Mckiver", right? : )

Whoops! Nope, this Mighty Mouse is a girl in her early 20's! XD I know, super sub-typical... People feel like I should be off in college spending $10,000 a year avoiding homework so I can go drinking and clubbing and eyeballing cute guys or something. I'm just like;
"Noop. Ima stay home and cuddle some chickens now, OK? Come back after the clubbing... If you're drunk enough maybe you'll be able to keep me company while I butcher some rabbit without you freaking out, OK? And in the morning we can share a nice cup of tea because I don't drink coffee... By the way, you like my new Titanium Branch Clippers?"

I would be better at some of the other survivor type shows like Out of the Wild. Survivor as too much "Climb a wall commando style" for my taste. I'm more work smarter not harder. XD Sure I can get stuff done if I HAVE too... But ingenuity is spawned from laziness!

 

[TexasLisa]

MY HERO!!!

LindaB, you brought up Y2k. Ken and I didn't believe in it, but others around us did. Since we have a 2 story house with a wood burning stove AND a generator you should have heard all the people that were coming to stay with us when it was going to hit. Funny thing was nobody was offering to bring anything with them.

I 'prep' because I live in hurricane alley plus I don't trust you-who-we-should-not-name-in-the-wh!!

Lisa

 

[BCMaraniac]

MY HERO!!!

LindaB, you brought up Y2k. Ken and I didn't believe in it, but others around us did. Since we have a 2 story house with a wood burning stove AND a generator you should have heard all the people that were coming to stay with us when it was going to hit. Funny thing was nobody was offering to bring anything with them.

I 'prep' because I live in hurricane alley plus I don't trust you-who-we-should-not-name-in-the-wh!!

Lisa

Amen to that sister. We have the generator and the woodburning stove that doesn't have a fan with a flat top for cooking.....a well, pantry.....

This spring I felt led to buy a couple of piglets to raise and I just read in the paper about there going to be a shortage of pork and a spike in prices. Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea, never seen before in the US, and thought only to occur in Europe, has been discovered in 15 states. It affects nursing piglets and often has 100% mortality.......scary stuff.

 

[Triple Willow]

Ditto! I'm not really a complete nut but I believe in being prepared for whatever may come.