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

[R2elk]

I am a very adventurous eater.. I've had ostrich, squirrel, dove, horse, rabbit, shark, alligator. I've eaten seriously questionable things like raw beef, blood sausage, Dutch herring (cured in it's own bile, YUMMO!), eel. I drank raw cows milk in my youth, roaming around on a dairy farm. Spent countless hours around all sorts of critters....

Those are all fine and dandy but you don't have Rocky Mountain oysters on your list. They are really good!

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:

At least Muscovy are quiet!!

 

[ramirezframing]

Quote: I thought you had Moatza (SP) the water Buffalo for this.

 

[ozexpat]

I thought you had Moatza (SP) the water Buffalo for this.

MOZZA will be its mother!!

I should have said 1/2 river carabao

 

[ozexpat]

An inside look into one of our multi level brooders.

The space is divided by a half wall coming down from the ceiling to assist in heat retention.

We just use 30 watt bulbs to keep chicks toasty warm. Part of yesterdays hatch

 

[LAChick]

An inside look into one of our multi level brooders.

The space is divided by a half wall coming down from the ceiling to assist in heat retention.

We just use 30 watt bulbs to keep chicks toasty warm. Part of yesterdays hatch

I like using sand base too!

 

[ozexpat]

I like using sand base too!

Sand is great

We actually use "labhang" - rice husks. The photo is not so good sorry.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

 
I like using sand base too!

Sand is great 

We actually  use "labhang" - rice husks. The photo is not so good sorry.

I use rice husks, too. Love them. They don't break down as dusty and fast as pine.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote: I use rice husks, too. Love them. They don't break down as dusty and fast as pine.

I use Rice hulls for my Horse and poultry both. They love them and surprisingly as windy as it is here they don't blow away.

Funny thing when i first was required to use them (at a boarding stable) it was because they found that the shavings tended to flatten out and compress almost into an OSB and they were hard to get out of the corral. But the Rice hulls didnt do that.

I was skeptical at first but my girl would not lay down on the hard survace of the corral and she was stocking up... Legs swelling because they werent rested. The corral was 24 x 24 and hard packed Decomposed Granite. In the winter mixed with urine and what little rain we get and the small amount of organic material in the corral left over from the other five boarders that used the corral before us. the ground was an eewy Gooy Nasty stinky mess. And she definately wouldnt lay down in that.

So I caved and bought the rice hulls at nine dollars a bale and put five bales in the corral. three were spread out and two were piled in the middle for her to spread on her own. She was very interested in those rice hulls and started nibbling and eating them. apparently they have a few little bits of rice in them...

The chickens do the same you just pile the hulls up and they to a fabulous job of spreading them out for you while picking through for the little bits of rice.

I find them to be incredibly water resisitant the underneath can be soaking wet if a down pour comes through. The top will be dry. I never saw muddy patches on my horse after that even when the hulls disappeared into the mud and I had to add more.

Big Fan Big Time here.

deb

 

[Tomtommom]

I have never had goat cheese like that. I swear most is not. Pinky swear even.

But I'm the kinda girl who thinks blood sausage is the best part of a Full English, LOL! I pretty much only draw the line at things that are either emotionally/culturally taboo (e.g. dog) or that I think are too high up the food chain for me to feel ok eating them (monkeys, dolphins, whales, animals that mourn their dead like hippos and elephants), or stuff that's endangered, cause that's just wrong. If there's something crazy on the menu, I'm pretty likely to order it. I've had everything you mention (except the shark) plus rattle snake, guinea pig, a variety of insects (dated an entomologist in college, his department's parties were kinda gross), buffalo, antelope, and snails.

I love blood sausage and eel and raw ground beef. I love my steak to go moo when I poke it with a fork. Warm and bloody. Num num num. Haha I've always wanted to try guinea pig. They look delicious, honestly. It's probably fairly close to rabbit in flavor. I've not eated snails or insects, heck.. I've not eaten oysters. They seem a little slimy, and slimy I am just not that crazy about. I enjoy cooked mussles and clams and such. I've tried crayfish and maybe they were just prepared wrong but they weren't very good. I've never had lobster in my life, just not really been in the budget and if I'm going to have it, it's going to be at the coast.. fresh.

I forgot to add frog to the list of things I've eaten. Tastes like chicken. Aligator does too. Frankly, most things taste like chicken. Or veal.

Those are all fine and dandy but you don't have Rocky Mountain oysters on your list. They are really good!

I'd eat them in a heart beat. Not easily squeaked. Waste not, want not. Num num num.

At least Muscovy are quiet!!

My drake was uh.. working on making offspring this morning. I was amazed how quiet that process was.

I use Rice hulls for my Horse and poultry both. They love them and surprisingly as windy as it is here they don't blow away.

Funny thing when i first was required to use them (at a boarding stable) it was because they found that the shavings tended to flatten out and compress almost into an OSB and they were hard to get out of the corral. But the Rice hulls didnt do that.

I was skeptical at first but my girl would not lay down on the hard survace of the corral and she was stocking up... Legs swelling because they werent rested. The corral was 24 x 24 and hard packed Decomposed Granite. In the winter mixed with urine and what little rain we get and the small amount of organic material in the corral left over from the other five boarders that used the corral before us. the ground was an eewy Gooy Nasty stinky mess. And she definately wouldnt lay down in that.

So I caved and bought the rice hulls at nine dollars a bale and put five bales in the corral. three were spread out and two were piled in the middle for her to spread on her own. She was very interested in those rice hulls and started nibbling and eating them. apparently they have a few little bits of rice in them...

The chickens do the same you just pile the hulls up and they to a fabulous job of spreading them out for you while picking through for the little bits of rice.

I find them to be incredibly water resisitant the underneath can be soaking wet if a down pour comes through. The top will be dry. I never saw muddy patches on my horse after that even when the hulls disappeared into the mud and I had to add more.

Big Fan Big Time here.

deb

Where do you get rice hulls? I guess in areas where they grow rice... I've been using straw and wood shavings. I had sweet PDZ starting out but at the time that didn't work for my set up. If I'd redo my coop I'd get plain poop boards that I scrape clean or something. Not that I have to clean all that often, but it would probably be better.