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

[piglett]

My lone red dorking roo is beating up his cell mates

I really need that piggery completed to repurpose three stalls as coops.

i had a school project today for one of my classes (why everyone with a backyard should have chickens)

most of my classmates did some sort of powerpoint

instead i brought one of my two buff orpington roosters

all was good till i tried to be nice & give him a small dish of feed

he bolted past me, out of the large dog carrier that he was housed in

after about 5 min. i was able to corner the wild beast & put him back where he belonged

i'm guessing the old lady professor must have been impressed even though he made a brief escape in the classroom

because i got an A

but that isn't the end of the story

i had a 3 hour break before the next class so i figured i would return him to the coop at home

well him & his cousin who is just as big got into it

a couple hours later my wife went out to check for eggs

& the cousin was in tough shape

the escape artist must have handed that boy is @SS

she put the bluekote to both of them

now how do i get the 2 of them to live in the same coop again???

 

[ozexpat]

i had a school project today for one of my classes (why everyone with a backyard should have chickens)

most of my classmates did some sort of powerpoint

instead i brought one of my two buff orpington roosters

all was good till i tried to be nice & give him a small dish of feed

he bolted past me, out of the large dog carrier that he was housed in

after about 5 min. i was able to corner the wild beast & put him back where he belonged

i'm guessing the old lady professor must have been impressed even though he made a brief escape in the classroom

because i got an A

but that isn't the end of the story

i had a 3 hour break before the next class so i figured i would return him to the coop at home

well him & his cousin who is just as big got into it

a couple hours later my wife went out to check for eggs

& the cousin was in tough shape

the escape artist must have handed that boy is @SS

she put the bluekote to both of them

now how do i get the 2 of them to live in the same coop again???

now just imagine how much more fun that story would have been if you took a yak to college.

give the boys a day to sort it out. the cuz must of thought he was top roo for a few hours.

 

[piglett]

now just imagine how much more fun that story would have been if you took a yak to college.

give the boys a day to sort it out. the cuz must of thought he was top roo for a few hours.

i like the yak idea!!!

if i ever have any amount of farm land i want one

i would even be willing to name it OZ if you like mate

the beat up roo is in with the meat cockerels

should i put him back in with the main flock?


yes the cousin must have thought he had it made in the shade

the 9 pullets in the main coop are also about to be of age for a roll in the shavings

so there will be plenty of "work " for a pair of young roosters in the future

as long as the dam fools don't kill each other 1st

 

[ozexpat]

I guess it depends on what you will do with him if you don't.

Do you have another coop for him or will be become adobo?

 

[piglett]

I guess it depends on what you will do with him if you don't.

Do you have another coop for him or will be become adobo?

i wanted the DNA from the both of them to help improve my buffs

they are just about to start growing spurs (nubs are showing up)

by fall the pair of them will be a real force

nothing will mess with my hens

i may put the pair in a chicken tractor i have

maybe with no females the 2 of them will calm down

if so i can then put them back in with their ladies

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

If you wanted some traits from both would you be able to split your hens and give each a few and the cross the chicks from these? Or daughters to the other rooster? All in the same coop at the same time, only 1 would add to the gene pool for each chick. And if 1 was flawed you wouldn't know which to save and which to cull. AT least for 5+ weeks after your 1st hatch. Just a thought.

 

[ozexpat]

you better build more coops

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

you better build more coops

Isn't that what we all need? Well I do anyway.

My daughter is in AG-class, which here has requirement of FFA membership. For her final project for the year they pop a "Wood working project bring cash or lumber tomorrow." well we worked out that she is building an Ohio Brooder, in style anyway. But couldn't find actual plans for it on the net. So the teacher decided I could draw 1 up. THEN he says "I don't understand these. I even drew to scale on graph paper. She called from school and I told her tell him its an upside down box w/o a lid. THEN he understands. Anyway flash forward 3 hours I picked her up from an after school meeting and the 2nd AG teach wants to know if I sell laying hens.
Sent back a "Later this summer/fall." response because I am still behind on egg orders. Which consist of 3-5 dz a week x2 (Or +3 if I have extras on hand) and EVERYTHING else x1.
So I will be keeping my BSL pen for awhile, and maybe adding more of my BPR hens to them. And so even before my 1st real hatch I've possibly have future birds sold. And 1 of my egg customers who is a town dweller wants 2 pullets for his grandkids to raise.
Its a good thing my 1 pure works well in the SL pen. I am thinking adding back a few more hens but will have to wait for 100% SL because the girls FR now are with BSL males, and I am not sure what they would throw. Trying t make sure everyone gets what they want could start to get me frizzled.
With weather lately its hit and miss on eggs, at least on penned birds. 3-4 from each pen, 6-8 from BSL. Then 1-2 per breeding pen that is. And hey are starting a molt to add to the frustration.
Replacement roosters are doing good in a larger brooder. And as soon as they got in there it was spar time. Even though they are only 3 weeks old. Wish I could FF about 4 months, but then I would need MORE coops/breeding pens done. I should have time soon to get the brooding room done, with new Ohio brooder, thanks to my daughter that is always helping with the animals.
Hoping for some decent hatch rates and might sell some or all of my current BYM hens (When babies are POL) and only save my pure and hatched BSL birds. But for now they are 50% of my layers. And since that's what is paying for feed etc. they gotta stay, for now.
As a side thought I might try a feather sexing project if/when I get some more WLH grown. Try to diversify my options. So I can sell not just Black/barred birds sex-linked. I have BO and RIR to throw in there with WLH. Will do a little more old school research on it. But still gonna save RIR and WLH eggs until next Friday since I will end up with only about a dz each week unless something happens. Like I said its hit and miss with those girls.
All in all I have a load of things to do, but am working thru it because its what I want to do. Just wish the 2 and 3 y/o would leave my breeding pens locked and stop looking for eggs when the regular coop is empty

.

And as for the yak Oz my pasture has 2 dairy mamas and 3 Beef x dairy "calves" in it. Along with the horse that has a small paddock. I need more acres like I need more coops

. At least I am ahead of last week, when I was looking for more birds.

 

[ozexpat]

Isn't that what we all need? Well I do anyway.

My daughter is in AG-class, which here has requirement of FFA membership. For her final project for the year they pop a "Wood working project bring cash or lumber tomorrow." well we worked out that she is building an Ohio Brooder, in style anyway. But couldn't find actual plans for it on the net. So the teacher decided I could draw 1 up. THEN he says "I don't understand these. I even drew to scale on graph paper. She called from school and I told her tell him its an upside down box w/o a lid. THEN he understands. Anyway flash forward 3 hours I picked her up from an after school meeting and the 2nd AG teach wants to know if I sell laying hens.
Sent back a "Later this summer/fall." response because I am still behind on egg orders. Which consist of 3-5 dz a week x2 (Or +3 if I have extras on hand) and EVERYTHING else x1.
So I will be keeping my BSL pen for awhile, and maybe adding more of my BPR hens to them. And so even before my 1st real hatch I've possibly have future birds sold. And 1 of my egg customers who is a town dweller wants 2 pullets for his grandkids to raise.
Its a good thing my 1 pure works well in the SL pen. I am thinking adding back a few more hens but will have to wait for 100% SL because the girls FR now are with BSL males, and I am not sure what they would throw. Trying t make sure everyone gets what they want could start to get me frizzled.
With weather lately its hit and miss on eggs, at least on penned birds. 3-4 from each pen, 6-8 from BSL. Then 1-2 per breeding pen that is. And hey are starting a molt to add to the frustration.
Replacement roosters are doing good in a larger brooder. And as soon as they got in there it was spar time. Even though they are only 3 weeks old. Wish I could FF about 4 months, but then I would need MORE coops/breeding pens done. I should have time soon to get the brooding room done, with new Ohio brooder, thanks to my daughter that is always helping with the animals.
Hoping for some decent hatch rates and might sell some or all of my current BYM hens (When babies are POL) and only save my pure and hatched BSL birds. But for now they are 50% of my layers. And since that's what is paying for feed etc. they gotta stay, for now.
As a side thought I might try a feather sexing project if/when I get some more WLH grown. Try to diversify my options. So I can sell not just Black/barred birds sex-linked. I have BO and RIR to throw in there with WLH. Will do a little more old school research on it. But still gonna save RIR and WLH eggs until next Friday since I will end up with only about a dz each week unless something happens. Like I said its hit and miss with those girls.
All in all I have a load of things to do, but am working thru it because its what I want to do. Just wish the 2 and 3 y/o would leave my breeding pens locked and stop looking for eggs when the regular coop is empty

.

And as for the yak Oz my pasture has 2 dairy mamas and 3 Beef x dairy "calves" in it. Along with the horse that has a small paddock. I need more acres like I need more coops

. At least I am ahead of last week, when I was looking for more birds.

eat the calves, buy a river water buffalo and sell mozzarella

 

[5 Acre Rooster]

10 day old veal is a little young. The other 2 have such potential (700 lb. heifer and 550 lb. bull (Still need him worked). The other cow is pregnant again. SO we put her with neighbors cattle because bull still trying to nurse. The real baby 1 is up and zipping back and forth across the pasture and checking out the cattle over the fence nose to nose. When I can get to the vet I am getting a tranq and neighbor going to help me band the bull. Meant to keep him to breed back but other neighbor talked about selling out (He's like 89 and still works his own cattle) but not this year I guess. And I don't want Jr. to get into his heifers and accidently kill them because of his Holstein blood/bone size.
Last year we put the 1st bull (900lbs. give or take) into the freezer and we still have meat. On the hoof and just eating grass is as good as in the freezer. And cheaper (Tired of buying extra freezers on butchering day.) Best part is when we bought the 2 bred cows we were hoping for 2 calves from them, and then meant to butcher the older girls after they weaned. But we have an unspoken breeding agreement. That cost me 0$ just pond water. We get the occasional bale of hay over the fence in winter also. A great deal both ways (We're on calf 5 from the 2 we were hoping for and 1 more on the way. Like chicken math.) And the neighbor saves over $5000 a year on water for his herd. We don't have well water, even15 miles out because unstable water tables, So its piped city water everywhere. Unless you drill 250 feet for a reliable stable source. And they charge $2000+ for that. And that's just the drill and pipe not pump. Both properties are on a higher elevation also. Across the pasture neighbor runs cattle on it literally drops more than 400 feet, from my fence at a 45 degree angle or so, into a bottom land.

And all this pales to the fact of....... What is the shipping on an adult yak? And would USPS treat it like hatching eggs

.


But I think I have a BSL going broody so everything is good if she will continue he mood.

. More space in incubators.