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

[Sweetpea3829]

My oldest son was "special" when he was young, his oddity was putting things in his ears!!! m&ms, pencil erasers, gummy hands, toys you name it. Annual checkups where like santa pulling gifts out of a bag.

LOL! My oldest son (now 7) has always been a pretty reliable kid...and I can usually count on him to be honest about things. So imagine my surprise when, at a routine check-up two years ago, the doctor found a green bead in his ear. TOTALLY out of character for this kid. I asked him, "Colton, how did the bead get in your ear?" He INSISTS that his pillow put it there. ??? I still can't figure it out. But I'm telling you, this kid *usually* tells the truth right away and ALWAYS tells the truth when prodded....and still, to this day, he insists his pillow put it there, and he can't explain any further how it happened.

 

[piglett]

Day 5 of Getting the Flock Out Of Here, Part 7

I decide to add some white layers to our flock

With requests for Polish, they were an easy choice.

We also added Brown Leghorns, Red Leghorns and White Leghorns.

On day 5 candling 79% are viable. The browns, whites and Polish all came fom same supplier.

The whites took some damage coming in with 4 broken eggs. The viability was 8/20.

The others 24/24 and 22/24 viable.

The gifted Red Leghorns were 4/6

Sally, Pigs and HFRs chicken eggs get their candling on day 7. We will cull non viable whites then.

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I posted an advert on a agricultural forum last week and have a buyer order 12 BBS Orp chicks. We have had 14 hatch in the last 8 days. I found out the cost of sending 1 "rooster box" airport to airport freight is $11. The buyer will travel 6 hrs by car to Manila Airport to meet his chicks at the plane.

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Our local hatches remain excellent at 80+%. 25 chicks hatched overnight with 100 due in the next 12 days.

When I was checking on the birds I noticed that the three Buff Orps hens were in fact 1 BO hen and 2 BO ROOS. It seems there was a clerical error lol.

Please remove any spells or prayers for a high roo count in Pigletts eggs. I removed the Barred Rock Roo. Hopefully he was least active. Its amazing that 3 roos did not kill each other or strip every feather of the poor girl's back. She has 16 eggs cooking.

Kev's naked neck is in with the Rhode Island Reds and our first "Cobra" as they are locally called have hatched.

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The fence is just 2 weeks from completion (well the East side). As soon as its stuccoed the guys will move onto the piggery. They gilts are growing out of their pens and hopefully in a month will be ready to move into their new digs. This will give us three small breeding coops.

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We planted 4 Southern Live Oak seedlings along with 6 Australian Beach Cherry, 2 Loquat, 2 Bay Leaf (Laurel), Cuban Oregeno, 4 Muscadine Grape and Tahitian Gardenia seedlings in 8" pots the nursery.

Seeds for Kaffir Plum, Indian Jujube, Prickly Pear, Dwarf Papaya, 3 types of Passionfrui and Camphor have been planted.

Calla, Canna, Dhalia and Hawaiian Ginger bulbs went into pots to get started and then replanted at the start of the wet season in June.

Our Ipil-Ipil and Malunggay seedings are over 15" tall and will also be re-planted in June for best survivability. The dry season is now well entrenched. The grass is brown. Planting anything in the ground will require loads of water. We will only plant vegetables in the garden for now.

We have half a cubic yard of composted sawdust and rotted wood. We are starting to compost another cubic yard of sawdust to build up our soil.

6 foot rows of swiss chard, kale and mustard greens go in to a head to head trial as new greens. They will compete with choy sum, a chinese green. Planting will be tomorrow.

A doz tomato varieties will also go into planters along with Anaheim and yellow peppers.

Its all systems go.

OZ i loaded you up with rooster eggs

so don't be mad if they are mostly boys


i found that it can take months for a hen to 100% "clean out"

for better than 3 months my silkie was laying 1/2 buff orp. eggs

it was just crazy so get ready for plenty of crosses

the only thing that could save you is if the "rock" was low in the pecking order

if so maybe he didn't mate your lone buff hen ???

i think you will find out soon enough


now as far as the roos killing each other

mine only want to really go at it if i do something like add more hens

but even then if they grow up together they share the mating duties

now non orp breeds may do it differently

 

[hillfloweranch]

OZ i loaded you up with rooster eggs

so don't be mad if they are mostly boys


i found that it can take months for a hen to 100% "clean out"

for better than 3 months my silkie was laying 1/2 buff orp. eggs

it was just crazy so get ready for plenty of crosses

the only thing that could save you is if the "rock"  was low in the pecking order

if so maybe he didn't mate your lone buff hen ???

i think you will find out soon enough


now as far as the roos killing each other

mine only want to really go at it if i do something like add more hens

but even then if they grow up together they share the mating duties

now non orp breeds may do it differently

My Roos grew up together and they seem to get along well. I have 3 Roos with 9 hens
Roos are NHR, PWR, & CM and no fighting so I think if they grow up together probably ok

 

[ozexpat]

Are you composting the rice hulls from the coops after cleaning? Thought with the moisture they absorb and your tropical heat it should provide nice quick compost for your garden.

Rice hulls are tough to compost - we generally just spread them but now we are taking composting seriously, we will try more seriously

from wikipedia

Production

Rice hulls are the coatings of seeds, or grains, of rice. To protect the seed during the growing season, the hull is formed from hard materials, including opaline silica and lignin. The hull is mostly indigestible to humans.
Winnowing, used to separate the rice from hulls, is to put the whole rice into a pan and throw it into the air while the wind blows. The light hulls are blown away while the heavy rice fall back into the pan. Later pestles and a simple machine called a rice pounder were developed to remove hulls. In 1885 the modern rice hulling machine was invented in Brazil. During the milling processes, the hulls are removed from the raw grain to reveal whole brown rice, which may then sometimes be milled further to remove the bran layer, resulting in white rice.
Use

​

The temples of the Batujaya Archaeological Site in Indonesia(5th century AD) were built with bricks containing rice hulls.​

Rice hull ash[edit]

Combustion of rice hulls affords rice husk ash (acronym RHA),. This ash is a potential source of amorphous reactivesilica, which has a variety of applications in materials science. Most of the ash is used in the production of Portland cement[1] When burnt completely, the ash can have a blaine no. of as much as 3,600 compared to the blaine no. of cement between 2,800 to 3,000, meaning it is finer than cement. Silica is the basic component of sand, which is used with cement for plastering and concreting. This fine silica will provide a very compact concrete. The ash also is a very good thermal insulation material. The fineness of the ash also makes it a very good candidate for sealing fine cracks in civil structures, where it can penetrate deeper than the conventional cement sand mixture.
A number of possible uses for RHA include absorbents for oils and chemicals, soil ameliorants, a source of silicon, insulation powder in steel mills, as repellents in the form of "vinegar-tar" release agent in the ceramics industry, as an insulation material.
More specialized applications include the use of this material as a catalyst support.[2]
Toothpaste

In Kerala, India- Rice husks (Umikari- in Malayalam)was universally used for over centuries in cleaning teeth - before toothpaste replaced it.
Brewing

Rice hulls can be used in brewing beer to increase the lautering ability of a mash.
Fertilizer and substrate

Rice hulls can be composted, but their high lignin content can make this a slow process. Sometimes earthworms are used to accelerate the process. Usingvermicomposting techniques, hulls can be converted to fertilizer in about four months.
Rice hulls that are parboiled (PBH) are used as a substrate or medium for gardening, including certain hydrocultures. The hulls decay over time. Rice hulls allow drainage,[3] and retain less water than growstones.[4] It has been shown that rice hulls do not affect plant growth regulation.[3]
Fireworks

Rice hulls are coated with fine-grained gunpowder and used as the main bursting charge in aerial fireworks shells.
Fuel

With proper techniques, rice hulls can be burned and used to power steam engines. Some rice mills originally disposed of hulls in this way.[citation needed]Unfortunately the direct combustion of rice hulls produces large quantities of smoke. An alternative is to Gasification. Rice hulls are easily gasified in top-lit updraft gasifiers. The combustion of this rice hull gas produces a blue flame, and rice hull biochar makes a good soil amendment.[5]
Juice extraction

Rice hulls are used as a "press aid" to improve extraction efficiency of apple pressing.[6]
Pet food fiber

Rice hulls are the outermost covering of the rice and come as organic rice hulls and natural rice hulls. Rice hulls are an inexpensive byproduct of human food processing, serving as a source of fiber that is considered a filler ingredient in cheap pet foods.[7]
Pillow stuffing

Rice hulls are used as pillow stuffing. The pillows are loosely stuffed and considered therapeutic as they retain the shape of the head.
Insulating material

Rice hulls themselves are a class A thermal insulating material because they are difficult to burn and less likely to allow moisture to propagate mold or fungi.
SiC production

Rice hulls are a low-cost material from which silicon carbide "whiskers" can be manufactured. The SiC whiskers are then used to reinforce ceramic cutting tools, increasing their strength tenfold.[8]

 

[hillfloweranch]

Rice hulls are tough to compost - we generally just spread them but now we are taking composting seriously, we will try more seriously from wikipedia
Production

Rice hulls are the coatings of seeds, or grains, of rice. To protect the seed during the growing season, the hull is formed from hard materials, including opaline silica and lignin . The hull is mostly indigestible to humans.
Winnowing , used to separate the rice from hulls, is to put the whole rice into a pan and throw it into the air while the wind blows. The light hulls are blown away while the heavy rice fall back into the pan. Later pestles and a simple machine called a rice pounder were developed to remove hulls. In 1885 the modern rice hulling machine was invented in Brazil. During the milling processes, the hulls are removed from the raw grain to reveal whole brown rice , which may then sometimes be milled further to remove the bran layer, resulting in white rice .
Use

​

The temples of the Batujaya Archaeological Site in Indonesia (5th century AD) were built with bricks containing rice hulls.​

Rice hull ash[edit ]

Combustion of rice hulls affords rice husk ash (acronym RHA),. This ash is a potential source of amorphous reactivesilica , which has a variety of applications in materials science . Most of the ash is used in the production of Portland cement [SUP][1] [/SUP] When burnt completely, the ash can have a blaine no. of as much as 3,600 compared to the blaine no. of cement between 2,800 to 3,000, meaning it is finer than cement. Silica is the basic component of sand, which is used with cement for plastering and concreting. This fine silica will provide a very compact concrete. The ash also is a very good thermal insulation material. The fineness of the ash also makes it a very good candidate for sealing fine cracks in civil structures, where it can penetrate deeper than the conventional cement sand mixture.
A number of possible uses for RHA include absorbents for oils and chemicals, soil ameliorants, a source of silicon, insulation powder in steel mills, as repellents in the form of "vinegar-tar" release agent in the ceramics industry, as an insulation material.
More specialized applications include the use of this material as a catalyst support .[SUP][2] [/SUP]
Toothpaste

In Kerala, India- Rice husks (Umikari- in Malayalam)was universally used for over centuries in cleaning teeth - before toothpaste replaced it.
Brewing

Rice hulls can be used in brewing beer to increase the lautering ability of a mash.
Fertilizer and substrate

Rice hulls can be composted , but their high lignin content can make this a slow process. Sometimes earthworms are used to accelerate the process. Usingvermicomposting techniques, hulls can be converted to fertilizer in about four months.
Rice hulls that are parboiled (PBH) are used as a substrate or medium for gardening, including certain hydrocultures . The hulls decay over time. Rice hulls allow drainage,[SUP][3] [/SUP] and retain less water than growstones .[SUP][4] [/SUP] It has been shown that rice hulls do not affect plant growth regulation .[SUP][3] [/SUP]
Fireworks

Rice hulls are coated with fine-grained gunpowder and used as the main bursting charge in aerial fireworks shells.
Fuel

With proper techniques, rice hulls can be burned and used to power steam engines . Some rice mills originally disposed of hulls in this way.[citation needed ] Unfortunately the direct combustion of rice hulls produces large quantities of smoke. An alternative is to Gasification . Rice hulls are easily gasified in top-lit updraft gasifiers. The combustion of this rice hull gas produces a blue flame, and rice hull biochar makes a good soil amendment.[SUP][5] [/SUP]
Juice extraction

Rice hulls are used as a "press aid" to improve extraction efficiency of apple pressing .[SUP][6] [/SUP]
Pet food fiber

Rice hulls are the outermost covering of the rice and come as organic rice hulls and natural rice hulls. Rice hulls are an inexpensive byproduct of human food processing, serving as a source of fiber that is considered a filler ingredient in cheap pet foods .[SUP][7] [/SUP]
Pillow stuffing

Rice hulls are used as pillow stuffing. The pillows are loosely stuffed and considered therapeutic as they retain the shape of the head.
Insulating material

Rice hulls themselves are a class A thermal insulating material because they are difficult to burn and less likely to allow moisture to propagate mold or fungi .
SiC production

Rice hulls are a low-cost material from which silicon carbide "whiskers " can be manufactured. The SiC whiskers are then used to reinforce ceramic cutting tools, increasing their strength tenfold.[SUP][8] [/SUP]

Very interesting! Seems their thermal properties and mold/fungi resistance may play a role in helping other organic material compost faster, and may be reused with additional matter rather than used as primary compost material...? Thoughts?

 

[ozexpat]

My Roos grew up together and they seem to get along well. I have 3 Roos with 9 hens
Roos are NHR, PWR, & CM and no fighting so I think if they grow up together probably ok

Our BCM roo was a nasty SOB. Even Bernie hated him. He has now been converted to night soil.

Bernie was not sad when he received the execution order on that one.

 

[hillfloweranch]

Our BCM roo was a nasty SOB. Even Bernie hated him. He has now been converted to night soil.

Bernie was not sad when he received the execution order on that one.

ROFL!!!

 

[piglett]

Quote:
i have 4 monster buff orpington roosters in the coop at the moment they all get along just fine 1 is just a bit smaller so he will head to the roasting pan for my wife's birthday the rest will stay put to keep the hens "company"

 

[ozexpat]

Thoughts?

Rice husks live forever. As litter they last months and months, I use about 50 sacks a year. Letting sun and rain break them down worked so far

I saw a study where ther were carbonized and used for litter in a piggery. A 12 inch layer supported a 12x12 pen of pigs from wean to sale at 150lbs

 

[piglett]

Rice husks live forever. As litter they last months and months, I use about 50 sacks a year. Letting sun and rain break them down worked so far

I saw a study where ther were carbonized and used for litter in a piggery. A 12 inch layer supported a 12x12 pen of pigs from wean to sale at 150lbs

i understand that most pigs try to poop in just 1 corner of the pen so if you keep the poop scooped out of that corner the litter stays fairly clean