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jchny2000 said:
LOL sounds like fun what fueled that event? I've been lost once deer hunting 1987. It was my my DH at the time "teaching me" to use a compass. Found my way back and bagged a deer on the way!
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Husband was bow hunting and shot a deer because her hind leg was badly broken and she was suffering. He came home to get flashlights and I came along.

We found her that night and she was resting. Went back in the morning and she was dead. Didn't retrieve the carcass, just left it.
 
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jchny2000 said:
Have not changed direction this year still plan keeping the same breeds. We have American Bresse, Black Copper Maran, EE/OE, lavender Ameruacana, White Leghorn and Barred Rock. We are still keeping Muscovy duck and Brown Chinese.
What breeds are working for you, whats not?
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I have Orpingtons, they're working very well for me! Chocolate, chocolate cuckoo, Lavender, Black.....

I should have lavender cuckoo next summer

They're good, seasonal, layers of large brown eggs. Huge, fluffy birds that are like puppies following you around the yard looking for treats. They do eat a lot of food but free range time helps with that!

I also raise bantam cochins in Blue,Black,Splash and Calico. They're almost as good at going broody as my silkies. I have never entered into any poultry shows but hope to with these in the next few years.
 
wheezy50 said:
I have Orpingtons, they're working very well for me! Chocolate, chocolate cuckoo, Lavender, Black.....

I should have lavender cuckoo next summer

They're good, seasonal, layers of large brown eggs. Huge, fluffy birds that are like puppies following you around the yard looking for treats. They do eat a lot of food but free range time helps with that!

I also raise bantam cochins in Blue,Black,Splash and Calico. They're almost as good at going broody as my silkies. I have never entered into any poultry shows but hope to with these in the next few years.
Click to expand...

I'm with you about the Orpingtons. I have Lav, Blk, Blue, and Laced. (And a Buff Colombian & a Choc - but not for breeding. Not sure if we're going to keep them, but they're soooo beautiful.)

One of my silkies is a great mama, the other is too dumb.
(Never raised chicks yet. :idunno She keeps trying to hatch the food bowl. )

My best ever broody hen is my bantam Orpington, Cookie. She 's a good layer when not broody. She's small but has a wide spread. She doesn't weigh much, so never breaks eggs. She may scream like a banshee when on eggs, but doesn't peck. She can handle as many chicks as I give her. (record is just over 30) I just put her in the big brooder, and she mothers whatever poultry is present. Lays very well when not broody. She's 6 years old now. i'm hoping to have her for many more years. I'd love to get another bantam orp like her, but she came from imported English bloodlines. The breeder sold off all her bantams 4-5 years ago

Lastly, I have a couple seramas for the kids and 2 leghorns for eggs.... Someone needs to feed us over the winter.
 
Totally agree with everyone on the Orps, they are an awesome breed! My favorites were the English chocolate cuckoo Orp. I hope to add them again someday but not until all the new coops are done.
All the black sexlink pullets are growing up fast. I also have a couple SLW in with them. Plan to put them with my extra Lavender Ameruacana roosters (2) for olive eggers. Wound up with 5 LAs 3 were roosters ugh. They are such a stunning breed I'd hate to waste a single one.
My goat bucks get to go on pasture with their respective ladies this weekend. I have one doe, my oldest Oberhasli Mocha that actually jumped the electric fence into the buck pen. She's been pacing the fence line (in heat) So I'm hoping Tron got to her before Twilight (Nubian) did! I didn't see her in there until very early morning today. I do a late night check on my herds around 10pm. If not and she kids does they will still be a good milker. Twilight will have his 2 Nubian does, Agnus and Anna. Tron will have a handful of Oberhasli does too: Mocha, Coco, Paprika and Luna. We won't be keeping any does next year all the kids will be sold. I will be adding a couple more Nubian does soon.
Still on calf watch :thcows have anytime between the 271st and the 285th day to calve after being bred. So its at least 2 weeks either way. I've learned to watch udder development and other signs to estimate when calves are coming.
 
Jchny 2000 I was at the Tractor Supply in Ellitsville a couple of years ago and couldn't understand why the heck they had straight run black sex links there, because I could imagine people who knew how to read the markings or thought to google it would but out all the hens and leave the roosters, and some poor sap would walk in and look at the price and figure yes, I'll get some birds(let's say a dozen) and think, well about half are roosters so I'll have 5-6 hens no big deal and end up with all roosters. I thought if they would have straight run it ought to be of a "normal' or "standard" breed not a sex link. But then again a few years before when I was there during chick days they had a bin of "red chickens" or somehow phrased something like that I figured could be a red sex link, or a hatchery red (like a production red) or some other breed of red chicken that was "leftovers" or "over runs" of a breed or two that people who just wanted a red chicken and didn't know/care about breed could get a red chicken...
 
Since the BSL were a gift basically I took them. I do like the red sexlinks. Often called golden comet, cinnamon queen etc. Great layers, huge eggs and very human social but... Had several get egg bound or prolapse. Lucky if they lived longer than 2 years! I was given a large flock of about 30 several years back that had just turned a year old. Friends wife had kidney failure so the husband asked my DH to take them. UGH, built a big coop quick, and got them.
Within 18 months I only had a handful left due to health issues. Have had a few more since and they have a very short longevity. For a farm that turns the laying flock over every 2 years they may be ok. One of my roosters will be 7 next year (leghorn) and his 2 oldest ladies as well. Eggs are just as big, and those 2 hens still lay very well. And The eggs are still fertile! I really prefer heritage breeds over hybrids. Honestly tho if they are from a hatchery most breeds are bred towards production and not longevity.
 
Please, someone talk me out of this :oops: or tell me go for it! Thoughts please?
Have been considering keeping a couple pigs again. Not breeding! But keeping like 2 feeder pigs a year. I've learned a lot about electric fence and pasturing hogs since I quit keeping them about 4 years ago.
Joel Salatin is someone I follow and admire very much. I've read and seen several videos and articles published by Polyface farms (his business) and several homesteading YouTube channels including Mother Earth News and Justin Rhodes. Since I'm canning and preserving more food, garden keeps growing larger. I keep feeling like the leftover waste is just that, wasted. I do compost but geez even with that and giving extra to the birds, not good enough. Bone broth is a good example, hogs will eat most all those leftover bones and spent vegetables. With 7 or more adults here we have a lot of kitchen waste also. I host a lot of family gatherings.
I usually would allow the chickens in with the hogs and worked out very well. I had 1 sow we bought that I culled immediately, saw her kill and eat a chicken. The rest never bothered the birds. If we do this I'd put the pigs over the garden in fall and move off 3 months before planting. So basically next year.
 

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