Hi all!
After years of being stuck with neighbors at arm's length, my husband and I finally got a little 2 & 1/2 acre place last summer. Now we can spread out and do some of the things we have been longing to do!
We raise and my husband trains German Shepherds, so one of the first things we wanted was goats milk to supplement puppies. We got two really nice little Alpine/Nubian cross pregnant does, which kidded on the coldest weekend of winter (naturally). We lost "LunchBox" to either tetanus or the bonehead that did his de-horn over-heating his brain, but "Goatburger" made it.
We have a bunch of wild turkeys that range through our place every evening, but we wanted to keep up the tick-control closer in, so we got 10 Guinea Fowl. We lost two right after we turned them loose, due to them flying into the dog kennel
, but the dogs now know that they BELONG and the guineas can literally walk ON the dogs without a problem! They will now come when called, just like the dogs!
This spring we bought 4 grown Buff Orphington hens. We brought them home on the 5th of March, and on the 7th I had two eggs! Now we are getting 3-4 eggs a day from them. We bought 10 more Guinea keets, 6 Rhode Island Reds, 4 Barred Rocks and 4 Aracaunas or Americaunas(?).
I have put an old towel rack in there for the ones that want to perch, and the guineas have been sleeping there with their heads and wings hanging straight down. It looks like a chinese meat shop window, but I haven't been able to creep up and snap a shot of them! Everyone seems to be quite healthy and thriving, even the teensy little brown thumb-sized Aracauna that I have dubbed "Tick-tick". It was the last one and I just couldn't leave it all alone!
Then, this LAST weekend, my husband Steve wanted to go see if the guy had some more of the Buffs. We had decided NOT to get a rooster on purpose, but.... at the flea market, where there were probably 1000 roosters of 50 different breeds, I saw this guy and two hens and he was the most beautiful rooster on the place! HAD to have him! Meet Giant Black Cochin "Handsome" and his two consorts, "Ruby" and "Opal":
Anyway, I'm looking forward to participating in the forum. I'm on a few dog boards, but this will be my first foray into chicken-dom!
Yaaargh! After carefully posting pics, I had to go back and strip them out! Pics to come in later post, I guess!
After years of being stuck with neighbors at arm's length, my husband and I finally got a little 2 & 1/2 acre place last summer. Now we can spread out and do some of the things we have been longing to do!
We raise and my husband trains German Shepherds, so one of the first things we wanted was goats milk to supplement puppies. We got two really nice little Alpine/Nubian cross pregnant does, which kidded on the coldest weekend of winter (naturally). We lost "LunchBox" to either tetanus or the bonehead that did his de-horn over-heating his brain, but "Goatburger" made it.
We have a bunch of wild turkeys that range through our place every evening, but we wanted to keep up the tick-control closer in, so we got 10 Guinea Fowl. We lost two right after we turned them loose, due to them flying into the dog kennel
This spring we bought 4 grown Buff Orphington hens. We brought them home on the 5th of March, and on the 7th I had two eggs! Now we are getting 3-4 eggs a day from them. We bought 10 more Guinea keets, 6 Rhode Island Reds, 4 Barred Rocks and 4 Aracaunas or Americaunas(?).
I have put an old towel rack in there for the ones that want to perch, and the guineas have been sleeping there with their heads and wings hanging straight down. It looks like a chinese meat shop window, but I haven't been able to creep up and snap a shot of them! Everyone seems to be quite healthy and thriving, even the teensy little brown thumb-sized Aracauna that I have dubbed "Tick-tick". It was the last one and I just couldn't leave it all alone!
Then, this LAST weekend, my husband Steve wanted to go see if the guy had some more of the Buffs. We had decided NOT to get a rooster on purpose, but.... at the flea market, where there were probably 1000 roosters of 50 different breeds, I saw this guy and two hens and he was the most beautiful rooster on the place! HAD to have him! Meet Giant Black Cochin "Handsome" and his two consorts, "Ruby" and "Opal":
Anyway, I'm looking forward to participating in the forum. I'm on a few dog boards, but this will be my first foray into chicken-dom!
Yaaargh! After carefully posting pics, I had to go back and strip them out! Pics to come in later post, I guess!
