Fermenting Feed for Meat Birds

[perchie.girl]

I literally had to file an insurance claim in order to fix the numerous hoof marks on my black car. I'll never forget the agent that inspected the damage: "I'm sorry, ma'am, did you just say that GOATS did this?... Were they wild goats?"

Wild goats? No, you idiot. These are goats that I bought and paid for. Why? Because apparently I'm an idiot too.

hey where did my other smileys go.... uh... oh there they are.. hey i am laughing with you on this one.

The other day mom called grandma to tell her someone had stolen her licence plate.... Or so I heard from half the conversation.... I thought... hmmm Licence plates are worth money to somoeone who has a stolen car... Later on that day mom called me and told me she warned the neighbors that someone was going though and stealing licenses... Then she said something Odd..... "... the tag just looked like someone tried to chew it off".... I said "mom... you mean they stole your tag not your plate?" "yep its all mangled" remembering the recent trip up to the house we took where I went in to clean cat box and feed... "OMG mom I know who stole your license tag.... it was Rikki" Little reprobate.... I caught him one time trying to steal the one off the truck. He got whacked for that.

Cost me 30 bucks to replace the tag. I realllly have to get my goats contained.... I really do.

deb

 

[Triple Willow]

@Perchie Girl... I wish I had elderberries growing near me! I bought some last year but fooled around and let them die. I know a guy that make wine out of them. I have seen those grafted trees in the catalogs I get. I may get one just for the heck of it. lol I should have planted a bunch of fruit trees, bushes and vines years ago!

 

[perchie.girl]

Ok for those of us who havent "processed" before I found this thread on BYC and was fascinated by the very first entry....

Processing from start to finish graphic

deb

 

[ChocolateMouse]

TW; The deer around here are frightening. If you want to see the horrors that modern humans preforms upon animals you have to look not further than my sister's back yard. I was out there with two dogs (granted, they were my sisters small dogs, 15-25lbs) on extendable leashes. In the woods behind the house were two of the Buck Posse. The dogs charged them to the ends of their 30 foot leads, together, barking madly (one's a beagle mix so it was loud) and the deer... Stomped his feet and took a few aggressive steps towards us shaking his horns and snorting. YIKES! I pulled the dogs back, they peed and we high tailed it back indoors!

But noooo... We're not allowed to do crazy things like KILL THE DOG-ATTACKING DEER that live in our neighborhood... WHY? Because we'd be killing POOR BAMBI! Bloody deer have NO predators and there's one that had a broken leg that's still liming around THREE YEARS LATER.... And they will come right up to you, and walk right towards you and in the fall they will attack you... I walked a 45lb terrier mix within 20 feet of a doe a few weeks back. It took a few steps towards me because it was curious. No fear at ALL.

*rages over these deer for like three hours*

 

[Triple Willow]

TW; The deer around here are frightening. If you want to see the horrors that modern humans preforms upon animals you have to look not further than my sister's back yard. I was out there with two dogs (granted, they were my sisters small dogs, 15-25lbs) on extendable leashes. In the woods behind the house were two of the Buck Posse. The dogs charged them to the ends of their 30 foot leads, together, barking madly (one's a beagle mix so it was loud) and the deer... Stomped his feet and took a few aggressive steps towards us shaking his horns and snorting. YIKES! I pulled the dogs back, they peed and we high tailed it back indoors!

But noooo... We're not allowed to do crazy things like KILL THE DOG-ATTACKING DEER that live in our neighborhood... WHY? Because we'd be killing POOR BAMBI! Bloody deer have NO predators and there's one that had a broken leg that's still liming around THREE YEARS LATER.... And they will come right up to you, and walk right towards you and in the fall they will attack you... I walked a 45lb terrier mix within 20 feet of a doe a few weeks back. It took a few steps towards me because it was curious. No fear at ALL.

*rages over these deer for like three hours*

That's bad because those kind of deer will attack you. I have heard of people having pet deer (males) and when a woman in the family have their monthly, the buck will attack I guess trying to breed. Strange but very true! I know a guy that had to shoot their pet deer because it attacked his wife and he couldn't get it away from her. Also there was a university in Missouri that had deer hanging around like you do. The female deer with babies got to where they would attack students walking by. There is nothing more stupid that "authorities" that will protect animals over people. I'm afraid if one of those deer pulled that crap with me it would get blown away. You're not expected to let a person attack you and possibly kill you, why would you allow an animal to? (But then there are cases where people get in trouble for defending themselves, which doesn't make any sense) Or maybe it would be better if somebody good with a bow picked them off real quietly. I keep reading stories about wild animals (deer, foxes, coyotes, etc) that are not afraid of people at all. I can't imagine that. Around where I live they all know people will shoot them. LOL I have deer here on my place but they won't come within probably over 500 feet and if they see me out they will watch me for a little while then run off and hide. If they come too close they just might end up in my freezer. You folks that live around there need to raise cane about that because it is dangerous. I'd be afraid to let kids out if those deer were anywhere around.

 

[Triple Willow]

@ChocolateMouse... it was Southern Illinois University, not in Missouri. You might want to make the authorities there aware that they could be sued.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/05/25/student-sues-illinois-university-after-deer-attack/

 

[Beekissed]

. On a smelly note my meatys are growing and eating and poopin. It's every day (sometimes) cleaning out their pen, man it smells.

Walt, you feeding the FF yet? Shouldn't be stinking that bad with the FF consumption. Are you doing deep litter? That helps tremendously also..no cleaning out, just layering in dry material. One big cleanout if you want or just leave it for the next time and let it compost in place.

Bee, these are actually my pics - not Aoxa's.

I wasn't on here much yesterday, but I saw where the conversation touched on Marans - so I thought I would repost these pics and let those who are interested know that these pics are actually DP birds. The 3 roosters in these pics were young Wheaten Marans. 2 were 16 weeks, 1 was 23 weeks. I do not have a scale, so I'm not 100% sure what their dressed weight ended up at - but they were the same size as the girls. The girls were 2 2-yr-old Jersey Giants, and 1 6-yr-old Barred Rock. One of those girls was just cooked up last night in a pot of dumplings.

Oops!!! Should have been a clue when they didn't look anything like CX..I was thinking, man, her birds didn't put on good weights!

Sorry! Sorry, folks...I LIED. These birds are not all the same age as I had thought earlier but I've processed many of the same age and the same thing holds true...girls are fatter than the boys, boys have more meat.

What you mean is: "For now they don't WANT to get out."

If I were a betting woman, I would wager that they can and will get out when it suits their pleasure. There's not an un-electrified fence in the world that can keep these buggers IN if they want OUT. Trust me.

And when they do decide that they want out, watch your cars. Goats like to tap dance, and they prefer to be on stage when they do it. Vehicles make excellent stages for tap dancing goats. Ask me how I know.

Ayep...exactly.

I literally had to file an insurance claim in order to fix the numerous hoof marks on my black car. I'll never forget the agent that inspected the damage: "I'm sorry, ma'am, did you just say that GOATS did this?... Were they wild goats?"

Wild goats? No, you idiot. These are goats that I bought and paid for. Why? Because apparently I'm an idiot too.

Which is why I do hair sheep, boys and girls. They flock...which means no one wanders off on their own and tries to get out of a fence. I kept mine fenced with some very questionable old pasture fence and they never even glanced at the gaping holes in the fence. They like to be where the shepherd is, which is another great feature..they are real moochy and dependent upon the master. Makes me feel pretty special to be the only one who can move them from here to there.

Not one sheep on the Jeep.

Ok for those of us who havent "processed" before I found this thread on BYC and was fascinated by the very first entry....

Processing from start to finish graphic

deb

Excellent first post!!!! Great pics and everyone needs to have a look, because this is how it gets done. No wrapping up chickens in an apron and holding them on your lap, tapping on their necks like you are in a percussion section of the band, no prolonged petting, cooing, soothing. Just gettin' er done.

 

[DaveMorey]

Chicken question time. I picked up 5 Barred Rock hens tonight. I found them on CL advertised as only chickens for $1 a piece. This is what they turned out to be. When I went looking through the adds my intent was to find some cheap birds for meat. They are pretty sad looking and were in a sad looking place. The hens are pecking each other to the point of having no tails to speak of and one is missing some feathers on its back at the base of the tail also. I got them home tonight and have them set up in a run separate from my other birds. Here's the question; what should I do with them? They are still laying eggs though they are 3-4 years old. Or should they just go into the pot? One of them is making this noise that sounds like it has the hiccups or a sneeze. And yes I also do not like the way they were kept and share the sentiments of many of you about good animal husbandry. I am looking for advice though. Thank you all.

 

[Beekissed]

Dave..sort of sounds like my $1 chickens. I'd just keep them contained, feed them up on some FF, dust their poor bodies as they probably have lice and mites, treat their legs for scale mites and then see if you can clean out their unhealthy systems with the use of the FF. I certainly wouldn't eat them in their current state..who knows what they've been eating, how diseased their internal organs are, how many harmful pathogens are overloading their bowels.

That's what I'm doing with my crew and you can see such a difference in them in just a few short days. More activity, brighter eyes and feathering, just a better appearance and smell altogether. I'll be killing mine long about next Thursday, along with two of my old flock. Will keep the two smallest birds to put some growth on them and I'll only take on bigger birds from now on. But I'm going to keep this experiment going a little and see how many times I can procure cheap meats before it gets blue cold here.

I say 2 wks is the deciding factor...whatever they have will either be gone from their systems~ or there to stay, so they will be as clean as I can make them in that time.

 

[DaveMorey]

Dave..sort of sounds like my $1 chickens.  I'd just keep them contained, feed them up on some FF, dust their poor bodies as they probably have lice and mites, treat their legs for scale mites and then see if you can clean out their unhealthy systems with the use of the FF.  I certainly wouldn't eat them in their current state..who knows what they've been eating, how diseased their internal organs are, how many harmful pathogens are overloading their bowels. 

That's what I'm doing with my crew and you can see such a difference in them in just a few short days.  More activity, brighter eyes and feathering, just a better appearance and smell altogether.  I'll be killing mine long about next Thursday, along with two of my old flock.  Will keep the two smallest birds to put some growth on them and I'll only take on bigger birds from now on.  But I'm going to keep this experiment going a little and see how many times I can procure cheap meats before it gets blue cold here. 

I say 2 wks is the deciding factor...whatever they have will either be gone from their systems~ or there to stay, so they will be as clean as I can make them in that time. 

I saw you used castor oil for the legs and internals but don't remember what you dusted them with.