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

[ozexpat]

I am torn between building up my goat herd and keeping status quo.

It almost seems a waste to not breed more "upgraded" goats with Caprino, but I wish I had the land to graze them.

Why did I not realize the value of foraging trees like Ipil Ipil years ago? 40 trees along the fence line would sustain all the goats I desire. I will at least wait till the rains of July. Then maybe we can have 8 does.

Oh well. Patience old man.

 

[roostereggs]

I am torn between building up my goat herd and keeping status quo.

It almost seems a waste to not breed more "upgraded" goats with Caprino, but I wish I had the land to graze them.

Why did I not realize the value of foraging trees like Ipil Ipil years ago? 40 trees along the fence line would sustain all the goats I desire. I will at least wait till the rains of July. Then maybe we can have 8 does.

Oh well. Patience old man.

I can't wait to get a trio of goats, but we don't have the fencing yet. *sigh*

Would love to do something like you are doing Oz, with the land and chicken mission, but I don't think I could handle regular travel to your side of the world (err...listening to dh complain about it lol). I would prefer a similar time zone, so we will likely retire in Central America or Mexico but keep the house here so we can come back and visit the kids (and grandkids when we have them). Dh works for the airlines, and in 5 years we will have lifetime travel benefits.

In the meantime, I will live vicariously thru you.

 

[Sweetpea3829]

1 - If you can get the brinsea octagon for $150 that is the steal of the deal.
2 - I convinced my hubby by calculating the expense of lost eggs. With Shipped eggs that added up pretty quickly.

http://www.amazon.com/Brinsea-Octag...e=UTF8&qid=1392695748&sr=8-3&keywords=brinsea

$159 +18.00 shipping...so....little bit more than $150, lol. I tried all of that convincing...hubby said, "Yeah, that's nice..we can get hatching eggs from the neighbor AND we can borrow their hovabator...for FREEEEEEE!"

*sigh*

 

[piglett]

those toxic little buggers met their match.

I am spraying a surface permethrin spray on my egg house floor once a month after its routine scrub and bleaching.

brooders and hatcher-bator also have feet in water cans

glad to hear that you "took those ants out"

i got the homework finished for the night so i figured i would check in here


egg production is going up more & more each week

also my turkey got in the game starting yesterday

she layed her second egg today at about noon time

 

[Wisher1000]

Got a birthday, anniversary, or can you wait till Christmas? Do like I did. I ordered it online, and when it came in and DH said, "What's in that box?" I said, "My Christmas present." He said, "From who?" I said, "You and the boys." That was that. It should work for you also, afterall, your $180 is WAY less than the $800 I spent!

I LOVE it!!!!

 

[piglett]

A busy day on the farm.

Last night eggs were set

12-Feb-14 3 leghorn
12-Feb-14 2 jersey giant
12-Feb-14 6 mutts
12-Feb-14
12-Feb-14

9
6

orpington bbs
orpington x rock
12-Feb-14 5 teenagers mix
12-Feb-14
12-Feb-14

2
6

barred rocks
easter eggers
12-Feb-14 3 rhode island red
12-Feb-14 2 visaya x RIR

Its pig weighing day - loads of fun pig wrestling

Bernies house is almost done - they harvested some big bamboo to finish fencing off the underneath

Aljay's dorm room is half completed

The fence continues

i like the sound of those orpington x rock birds
both offer plenty of meat so that should be a great cross
so far my french Bresse x english orpington chicks are outgrowing my buff orpingtons
that are the same age in the same diet
could be the buffs are all female so they are smaller.....?

 

[Sweetpea3829]

Got a birthday, anniversary, or can you wait till Christmas? Do like I did. I ordered it online, and when it came in and DH said, "What's in that box?" I said, "My Christmas present." He said, "From who?" I said, "You and the boys." That was that. It should work for you also, afterall, your $180 is WAY less than the $800 I spent!

I LOVE it!!!!

Ehhh, the next big thing is Mother's Day. We just celebrated our 10th anniversary a couple of weeks ago. And I REALLY wanted a porch swing for Mother's Day. Priorities though!

I could try the whole, "Hey, where did that come from???" .... "Oh, this old thing? I've had this forever!"

Pretty sure he'd catch on though, lol.

I wonder if I could barter with him....he can get the giant A-frame ladder he's been wanting, and I can get my incubator?

 

[Sweetpea3829]

i like the sound of those orpington x rock birds
both offer plenty of meat so that should be a great cross
so far my french Bresse x english orpington chicks are outgrowing my buff orpingtons
that are the same age in the same diet
could be the buffs are all female so they are smaller.....?

Pig, that big giant Orp that you had? What was it that made him so big? Didn't you say he was a certain line or something?

I'm looking to increase the "size" of my birds. My Amercaunas are nice and all, but I need a meatier bird. So I've got Orps on my list for this spring, along with australorps, barred rock (of which I already have a mating pair), and speckled sussex. I still really want to get ahold of some Black Copper Marans. But its not a priority at this point.

 

[hillfloweranch]

I have 3 eggs pipped!!! so excited...thought this hatch was bust...hoping they all get out and are ok!!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Cal...3165/?comment_id=661608000552429&notif_t=like

 

[piglett]

Also, my hubby just TOTALLY deflated my chicken plans bubble! I was all set to purchase the Brinsea and he was like, "Nope, too expensive". GAAAAAAH!

I'm going to have to think about this for a bit and come up with a good angle on why I NEEEEEEED a $150 incubator.

i purchased 3 hovabators last season
2 had turners & 1 was with picture window that one was used as a hatcher
all 3 had a fan kit
all in all i was out +/- $400

BUT i made more than that back from the chicks i sold
why sell a dozen eggs for $2
when you can incubate them & get $60 for a dozen?

i sell my birds at about 8 weeks
at 12 weeks they really start to go through the feed

also we had about 40 extra cockerels left over
we fattened them up & they went to camp
free chicken all winter for us!

so you really need a bator

good luck
piglett