Getting the flock out of here - a diary of a crazy chicken man

[ozexpat]

You may want to rethink the emu
They need very sturdy tall fences and unless you vent sex them the only other way to tell if you have males or females is to have them DNA tested (or wait until they are full grown and into breeding behavior)

plus you will have to hand turn the eggs about 5 times a day by hand.. for around 55ish days (depending on incubation temp)... lol

i love my emus.. but they aren't for everyone. Think of them as being a 100+ pound dinosaur with a taste for shiny things...

thanks for the advice.

If and when the emus occur - I will be prepared. My perimeter fence is eight feet high in the "farm" section of the place. I spent my "impressionable years" in rural Australia and am very familiar with the strength and speed of the emu. They are a few burgers short of a bbq in the intelligence department - but they make for a good amusing addition if socialized with humans from an early age.

as far as the turning goes - I will probably have a second gardener by then. We have an agricultural college about 3 km away - i will sponsor a kids college, room and board, in return for working before and after school- and he will get intern experience

 

[yinepu]

thanks for the advice.

If and when the emus occur - I will be prepared. My perimeter fence is eight feet high in the "farm" section of the place. I spent my "impressionable years" in rural Australia and am very familiar with the strength and speed of the emu. They are a few burgers short of a bbq in the intelligence department - but they make for a good amusing addition if socialized with humans from an early age.

as far as the turning goes - I will probably have a second gardener by then. We have an agricultural college about 3 km away - i will sponsor a kids college, room and board, in return for working before and after school- and he will get intern experience

I have several that LOVE hugs.. and a few that are more standoffish... but even the hugables will steal an earring in a heartbeat if they see it
ah.. but ya just have to love that face!




Dorian and Paco

 

[ozexpat]

I have several that LOVE hugs.. and a few that are more standoffish... but even the hugables will steal an earring in a heartbeat if they see it
ah.. but ya just have to love that face!




Dorian and Paco

now i want them more!!

 

[ozexpat]

OZ I sure hope you "aint" bald!!! he he he

full head of hair

no brains, but plenty of hair

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

 

[ozexpat]

.

I said I would post a few pics of my birds today. They are taking a few hours longer to upload than I hoped but here is a pic of one of the birds I bought over in my golf bag. Its the turkey on the table on our lanai. I packed a frozen turkey in the magic golf bag to ensure the temps would not spike in the travels.

The two guys on the left were day workers doing a project. The couple with the child are Analou and Bernie, our gardener and maid with their son Dave. The ladies on the right are our kids nannies. The white boy (with a full head of hair sally sunshine) is yours truly. Mrs Oz is the photographer and our kids must have been sleeping.

They locals had never eaten turkey. They were stunned at how big it was. It was just 11 pounds. I told them that next year they would be eating roosters that big. They are still in disbelief.

It was Analou's birthday on 12/28.

 

[yinepu]

now i want them more!!

Out of all of my animals Paco is my absolute favorite (even more so than the dogs).He is such a love bug..
Our lone female Rose isn't a love at all.. she is VERY standoffish as well as our youngest emu Beau (you can't even touch Beau even though he was treated the same as all the others). Rose used to be a snuggle girl.. then one day figured out she was the princess of the group and decided I was only useful for bringing her food..
At one point in time we had 10 (9 boys) then decided some of the boys needed to go since we didn't need them all fighting over Rose. I have 10 more eggs in the incubator.. so hopefully there will be another girl in the mix.

 

[yinepu]

.

I said I would post a few pics of my birds today. They are taking a few hours longer to upload than I hoped but here is a pic of one of the birds I bought over in my golf bag. Its the turkey on the table on our lanai. I packed a frozen turkey in the magic golf bag to ensure the temps would not spike in the travels.

The two guys on the left were day workers doing a project. The couple with the child are Analou and Bernie, our gardener and maid with their son Dave. The ladies on the right are our kids nannies. The white boy (with a full head of hair sally sunshine) is yours truly. Mrs Oz is the photographer and our kids must have been sleeping.

They locals had never eaten turkey. They were stunned at how big it was. It was just 11 pounds. I told them that next year they would be eating roosters that big. They are still in disbelief.

It was Analou's birthday on 12/28.

If I lived in California I would fix you up with some heritage turkey eggs.. as well as goose, giant Pekin, Muscovy and assorted chicken eggs

Lol.. i have a bunch of turkeys that I need to butcher soon (before they start getting too frisky)!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

.

I said I would post a few pics of my birds today. They are taking a few hours longer to upload than I hoped but here is a pic of one of the birds I bought over in my golf bag. Its the turkey on the table on our lanai. I packed a frozen turkey in the magic golf bag to ensure the temps would not spike in the travels.

The two guys on the left were day workers doing a project. The couple with the child are Analou and Bernie, our gardener and maid with their son Dave. The ladies on the right are our kids nannies. The white boy (with a full head of hair sally sunshine) is yours truly. Mrs Oz is the photographer and our kids must have been sleeping.

They locals had never eaten turkey. They were stunned at how big it was. It was just 11 pounds. I told them that next year they would be eating roosters that big. They are still in disbelief.

It was Analou's birthday on 12/28.

LMAO!! Your too much! You had better watch! If word gets round of a wonderful feast, you will need to add a few rottweilers in your golf bag! what other loveys are on that table? yummmy!! you better get to building that next hut for your temp seasonal employee, cough, me!

 

[ozexpat]

with the discussion going back to my golf bag, I am uploading the pics on the camera I used before I left.

Below are two rows of egg foams i had to modify to fit in the aforementioned golf bag with the mutt eggs from OGM. very pretty array of colors from white to pink to brown green and blue.



three rows of eggs were placed in a modified USPS box. Using this foam, 36 eggs could fit normally. I had 47. I placed a very warn pillow below them, a memory cleared min max temp and humidity thermometer next to the box and then jumbo bubble wrap on top to fill in the void and stop the box moving.



Below the eggs (in the upright position of the bag) was a frozen turkey, wrapped in another pillow. The turkey remained frozen for the 22 hrs. above the eggs was turkey stuffing, a can of powdered milk and sundry items.


the temp in the egg section ranged from 62 degrees to 68 degrees all the way to bacolod. There were 3 damaged airsacks out of 47 eggs. Those 3 eggs did not hatch. 30 eggs from this batch did.