hi, from kibbutz 20 minutes from jerusalem, israel

nok13

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7 Years
Dec 8, 2012
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so ive been busy asking questions already; there is a similar forum in hebrew here, but like many things in israel, its a small group, and since the country is so small, everyone knows someone who knows someone on the forum, making it quite 'clique-y....and a bit snobbish. the old timers that raise their own farm animals dont tend to use the internet, so its a bit 'citified' farming for me.

i had a petting zoo for 10 year as part of an amusement park here; mostly goats, rescue donkeys, legal local wild animal rescues/release/breeding programs, and fowls/birds. i was never a bird person, but really love hens...
i have two lhasa apsos, one a rescue, one bought... previous had boxers...and recently my husband (a thai immigrant worker , still working on visas/residency here) got me a present of six leghorn type battery coop layers. they've just finished moulting, and started laying two weeks ago. i also have one red hen with twiseted toes, howver she is the boss...
although a farm type set up, on our kibbutz we are all residential and there are no clear cut laws about animal ownership, so the unwritten law/community agreement is that if it doesnt bother your neighbhors then u can do it... so i have my pink chicken house on the side, my neighbhors give me veggie leftovers, they get some of the few eggs mine are laying presently, and they will benefit from compost also. our neighbhorhood is full of dogs (leash laws exist but not enforced especially here), and my coop is not really well built, but working on it.
just bought an incubator for my husband for his thai fighting chicken eggs , that was within my price range, meaning a cheapy cheapy one **buy cheap spends lots later ** but in our excitement to set the eggs obviously didnt do all my homework first ....
my hope is to trade some of my white layers for some friendlier, smaller, less vocal and prettier hens.. i have one white hen that screams all morning, hoping the neighbhors dont get annoyed (they have a volaire of lovebirds that also talk in the a.m., and a few feral draras/ring necked parakeets living and screeching in our trees also)... will post picks once i figure out how to move stuff from cellphone to computer...
they get bought layer feed, and veggies, and cooked rice leftovers from our house, crushed egg shells, and now, piles of mulberry leaves from the tree near my house. their coop is under an olive tree, for shade in our hot summers.
we have foxes, jackals and a spotted hyena living in the kibbutz orchards as well as mongoose/weasels. the foxes weasels and jackals come up in to the residential area, but all our dogs in indoors at night so no protection other then good secure closed coop/cage//. we also have vipers and coops are a great attraction for them, during the winter they are in hibernation, spring is egg hatching so i have to keep watch/
for those that dont know what kibbutz is: we are still the old fashioned kind, no salary, still mostly communal (eating, holidays, education, and health/culture as well as senior citizen care) but own our own stuff. pets /gardens etc are our own responsibility financially and legally. so i have little money, the house is mine until i dont live here anymore, adn community peer pressure is the guiding force behind getting people to conform to laws/rules/

forgot to say: im native marylander, graduate from amherst area (mass.). i have three grown kids, two out of army (IDF) and the youngest in a year of volunteer work before army , so the house is empty. yes. empty nest syndrome. and no grandkids in the near future hahahaha so:
hens it is.
 
Welcome to BYC and Merry Christmas
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It sounds like an interesting set-up where you live! good luck with the visas (I know how stressful that can be! We've emigrated recently) and I hope we'll see you round the forum.
 
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People being people, attitude sometimes surfaces here, but the mods nip it in the bud. I see future challenges in your chicken keeping. Watch out for predators, and that does include the free ranging dogs.
 
hi thanx all,
not worried about 'tude. having a thai husband who came as a migrant worker (the upcountry, village, farm boy national geographic style thai, not educated, big city) , unsual in of itself , and dealing iwth the racism here, means i have a cool attitude towards bad mouthing and raised eyebrows. plus, im a moderator on a forum for mixed marriages , because i have a 'cool' attitude... no worries... i dont do politics in any way shape or form....

the most worrisome predator around here, apart from those on four and those that slither are the ones on two, since around here horse goat and car rustling are very very very common; and fancy chickens and birds fall in the 'stealable' category also. we had a volaire of cockatiels kept for a year after they were stolen found and returned as they were evidence in court (as if the birds could point out who stole them); horses mostly dont get found and goats, after being stolen, end up on the grill. on the other hand, we havent had locks on doors for 30 years!!. my kids havent a clue about keys, they can walk at night anywhere they want without fear, and our air here is fairly clean and 'crisp' compared to other areas here. we also have an amazing view of the judean hills, prior to the judean desert (for those that are in to biology and botanica and geology, never mind history). we are the area of 1000 springs, millions of burial caves from biblical times and bfore, terraces, and ruins from second temple period. which tourists love, i find boring.

so thats my background... now i have more immediate hen/egg/incubator problems... and just hoping that i dont get in trouble with my hens....

bina
 

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