Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[Ribh]

Ribh some day you will look back on this and laugh (I hope). When we moved in the house was only partially finished. But, we had to get out of the old house fast as the new occupants wanted in early.

We were all sleeping in the basement, plus ten dogs (I bred Cockers)were in various pens. Only the downstairs 1/2 bathroom was functional. We had to wash dishes in the basement laundry tub.

I still can't laugh about it but, now and then I do smile. BTW 3 working adults fighting for bathroom time, and one housekeeper - trying to hang on until they left.

I actually find it hilarious now but @ the time...And my twins were really awful. We woke up one morning to find they'd turned all the gas knobs on. Lucky for us none of the caravan windows actually shut properly so we had plenty of ventilation but it was impossible to keep them out of things they shouldn't have been in. They were just on 1 & pretty much non~verbal but they could climb out of their cot & were very active [& destructive] little boys.

 

[Ribh]

So, yesterday was fun... I sold my first chicken, one of the Barnvelder boys for $20... he got to live and will get mature girlfriends to entertain, and I got pizza money. Of course the buyer showed up while we were feeding the cattle, so I had to drive back to the chickens. I didn’t run over the two trespassing, topless, man-bun wearing, dirty hippie hikers (no offense to true hippies, just this generation of knock offs). I now wish maybe I had... just a little. I called my husband who waited for them (brazenly walking down our 2 miles of private roadway) and asked them if they were aware they were on private property and a working farm. “No whatever man, we’re just walking through” they couldn’t care less.

We have two nice gentlemen out on our property bow hunting some pest goats for us who alerted us in the afternoon (asking if they could camp overnight tonight) that we had people camping on our property. So we had to hike up to the place they were spotted and found remains (still hot) of a camp fire. They were indeed camping on our property so it is “just trespassing”, and not the $5000+ fine they would get if they were caught camping/having a fire on parkland. There is no overnight camping or fires in our federal parks, very illegal.

View from where they camped
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When I have more say in the operation of this farm I’m putting a giant gate at that end of the property and adding “working farm, bull at large” signs to every perimeter gate. Our property extends at least 30m past all of our fencing between us and the park, so if they make it to the fence they’ve been on our land for quite some time.

I also caught my “purse mouse”. I tend to leave my purse in the car... it had a Kleenex tissue pack, and I left a half finished chorizo sausage in it, because it seemed like a good, clean place to put it. Well, the next time I grabbed my purse (needed my wallet at the local store) I found a poof of torn up Kleenex and someone had been nibbling on my forgotten snack!

I’ve been being better about bringing it with me now and not just letting it sit outside. But I knew there’s a rodent living in the car now for a few weeks. I need to clean out all the farm mess, but am thinking I will wait til I’m not handling hay everyday with it. Why clean it heavily twice? I kept meaning to set some traps in the car for the mouse but just never quite got around to it.

So we gave the cows a special grain treat which I deliver in a 5 gallon bucket, so I tossed the bucket in the back seat area and promptly forgot about it. Yesterday morning I find my very fat purse bandit/car mouse lured into it by the tasty molasses smells and trapped. I did release him into a heavily wooded area well away from our trailer.
He’s going to make an owl very, very happy one night, I’m sure.

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Yes, the tape measure is in inches, no it’s not a rat, it’s a local large mouse subspecies specific to our island. This is actually a small, but fat one!

I also set up a dust bath for the girls in a feed pan, Princess loved it! Yet one more thing to move with the tractors... but well worth the entertainment.

That view is stunning! I can see why they wanted to camp there. We've had the same problem, both in Sydney & here. Anything below the 6'6" high water mark is public property but people seem to think they can then wander @ will through your garden because, well, it's got a beach....And my aunt, who was a fantastic gardener & had a most wonderful garden used to find people picnicking on her front lawn ~ in suburbia! Mind you, in England they do have public paths across farmland but there are rules you are meant to abide by ~ & no, you're not in England.

 

[Kris5902]

There is a vauge and not fully detailed right to an easement if parks ever wants to put an actual trail in connecting their two properties. But they won’t be putting one in, as it’s not really geologically stable in all places, and oh the liability and maintenance costs of putting in a trail! Our official parks trails here are pretty much all wheelchair accessible walking paths, nicely gravelled. Most “hikers” are actually on our property, following the cow paths, because the “not a trail” through parks is unmarked and treacherous and basically right on the cliff in places.

Small update... they were specifically told by the store personnel “no camping and absolutely no fires,” and “it’s private farm property with just the beach and trail as parks” the only redeeming quality was they didn’t have a dog. I think I’m going to post a thread over in flock behavior/management to see if there’s a way to train your Roo’s to defend against strangers. Maybe I should get some really big guard geese?

 

[Ribh]

There is a vauge and not fully detailed right to an easement if parks ever wants to put an actual trail in connecting their two properties. But they won’t be putting one in, as it’s not really geologically stable in all places, and oh the liability and maintenance costs of putting in a trail! Our official parks trails here are pretty much all wheelchair accessible walking paths, nicely gravelled. Most “hikers” are actually on our property, following the cow paths, because the “not a trail” through parks is unmarked and treacherous and basically right on the cliff in places.

Small update... they were specifically told by the store personnel “no camping and absolutely no fires,” and “it’s private farm property with just the beach and trail as parks” the only redeeming quality was they didn’t have a dog. I think I’m going to post a thread over in flock behavior/management to see if there’s a way to train your Roo’s to defend against strangers. Maybe I should get some really big guard geese?

I had about 6 roos @ one time that kept absolutely everything & everybody off our property but as they also attacked everyone but me they were destined to depart rather promptly. Geese might work.

 

[aart]

I think I’m going to post a thread over in flock behavior/management to see if there’s a way to train your Roo’s to defend against strangers. Maybe I should get some really big guard geese?

You'd be better off training a dog....and you know how hard that is.

 

[Kris5902]

You'd be better off training a dog....and you know how hard that is.

Ahhhh, but no one suspects the chicken until it’s too late!

 

[aart]

I think I’m going to post a thread over in flock behavior/management to see if there’s a way to train your Roo’s to defend against strangers. Maybe I should get some really big guard geese?

You'd be better off training a dog....and you know how hard that is.

Ahhhh, but no one suspects the chicken until it’s too late!

<chuckles>

 

[Kris5902]

So speaking of attack Roo’s... I may have a candidate I wasn’t expecting. I am not of the thought that Roo + kid = disaster as a moot point. So I was taking with another soon to be chicken owner about our tractors, she brought her 4 year old and 11 month old out with her. We toured all the animals, petting the lambs, sheep, horses, cows, riding a cow, and then finally made it out to my chickens. I was keeping a very close eye on the cockerels, as I have every other time I’ve let someone new into the tractors, especially children.

The cockerel pen was fine, strangely enough... then we moved in with the hens and mr Marans (who has been very good with small people so far, though I still watch him extremely carefully and keep myself between him and any children). Mr Marans snuck behind me and under the roosting box, and attacked from behind and under their ramp. The 4 year old was bitten on the back of his arm. No blood was drawn but much crying occurred. We got over it, and he happily fed the hens some mealworms afterwards, with mr Marans secured in the roosting box. We talked about roosters, how they behave and why he might have been scared and defensive because of the the visiting kid (with the kid... while younger brother played in the dust bath sand)

No significant trauma occurred, and it was a learning experience for everyone. There are no hard feelings, and we are all (including the bitten boy) going into chicken husbandry, some aspects as a joint venture, and with independent projects as well. He’s a farm child, and will be working with his own chickens (and cows) alongside mum when they come in on April 7. They probably won’t be keeping a Roo with their laying girls, though they haven’t totally ruled it out.

Speaking of which, my first 40 meat birds (all rangers) will also be arriving on April 7th, but I have run into some issues and small complications with my solar setup for the brooder. I’ll be working those kinks out in the next week while I build out more tractors for them. I had my first case of a probable/suspected bug bite/sting in Mrs Marans, whose face swole up significantly... I dosed her with some benedryl and that helped.

It was a three egg day again, two green ones from Speckles and Precious, and one from Mrs Marans. I did have one in the nest box, but someone pecked it (it didn’t break the membrane though thankfully!) so I’m going to up the ceramic egg count to 2 in there.

 

[Ribh]

So speaking of attack Roo’s... I may have a candidate I wasn’t expecting. I am not of the thought that Roo + kid = disaster as a moot point. So I was taking with another soon to be chicken owner about our tractors, she brought her 4 year old and 11 month old out with her. We toured all the animals, petting the lambs, sheep, horses, cows, riding a cow, and then finally made it out to my chickens. I was keeping a very close eye on the cockerels, as I have every other time I’ve let someone new into the tractors, especially children.

The cockerel pen was fine, strangely enough... then we moved in with the hens and mr Marans (who has been very good with small people so far, though I still watch him extremely carefully and keep myself between him and any children). Mr Marans snuck behind me and under the roosting box, and attacked from behind and under their ramp. The 4 year old was bitten on the back of his arm. No blood was drawn but much crying occurred. We got over it, and he happily fed the hens some mealworms afterwards, with mr Marans secured in the roosting box. We talked about roosters, how they behave and why he might have been scared and defensive because of the the visiting kid (with the kid... while younger brother played in the dust bath sand)

No significant trauma occurred, and it was a learning experience for everyone. There are no hard feelings, and we are all (including the bitten boy) going into chicken husbandry, some aspects as a joint venture, and with independent projects as well. He’s a farm child, and will be working with his own chickens (and cows) alongside mum when they come in on April 7. They probably won’t be keeping a Roo with their laying girls, though they haven’t totally ruled it out.

Speaking of which, my first 40 meat birds (all rangers) will also be arriving on April 7th, but I have run into some issues and small complications with my solar setup for the brooder. I’ll be working those kinks out in the next week while I build out more tractors for them. I had my first case of a probable/suspected bug bite/sting in Mrs Marans, whose face swole up significantly... I dosed her with some benedryl and that helped.

It was a three egg day again, two green ones from Speckles and Precious, and one from Mrs Marans. I did have one in the nest box, but someone pecked it (it didn’t break the membrane though thankfully!) so I’m going to up the ceramic egg count to 2 in there.

So speaking of attack Roo’s... I may have a candidate I wasn’t expecting. I am not of the thought that Roo + kid = disaster as a moot point. So I was taking with another soon to be chicken owner about our tractors, she brought her 4 year old and 11 month old out with her. We toured all the animals, petting the lambs, sheep, horses, cows, riding a cow, and then finally made it out to my chickens. I was keeping a very close eye on the cockerels, as I have every other time I’ve let someone new into the tractors, especially children.

The cockerel pen was fine, strangely enough... then we moved in with the hens and mr Marans (who has been very good with small people so far, though I still watch him extremely carefully and keep myself between him and any children). Mr Marans snuck behind me and under the roosting box, and attacked from behind and under their ramp. The 4 year old was bitten on the back of his arm. No blood was drawn but much crying occurred. We got over it, and he happily fed the hens some mealworms afterwards, with mr Marans secured in the roosting box. We talked about roosters, how they behave and why he might have been scared and defensive because of the the visiting kid (with the kid... while younger brother played in the dust bath sand)

No significant trauma occurred, and it was a learning experience for everyone. There are no hard feelings, and we are all (including the bitten boy) going into chicken husbandry, some aspects as a joint venture, and with independent projects as well. He’s a farm child, and will be working with his own chickens (and cows) alongside mum when they come in on April 7. They probably won’t be keeping a Roo with their laying girls, though they haven’t totally ruled it out.

Speaking of which, my first 40 meat birds (all rangers) will also be arriving on April 7th, but I have run into some issues and small complications with my solar setup for the brooder. I’ll be working those kinks out in the next week while I build out more tractors for them. I had my first case of a probable/suspected bug bite/sting in Mrs Marans, whose face swole up significantly... I dosed her with some benedryl and that helped.

It was a three egg day again, two green ones from Speckles and Precious, and one from Mrs Marans. I did have one in the nest box, but someone pecked it (it didn’t break the membrane though thankfully!) so I’m going to up the ceramic egg count to 2 in there.

It may sound harsh but...learning how to deal with animals appropriately & what their behaviour means is part of life ~ or should be. These things happen.. Glad he & mum took it in their stride [more or less].

We have travelling pet farms that travel round the city schools so city kids can learn about farm animals. Much nicer to do the real thing!

I only got one lousy egg today ~ laid by my broody girl. The molter has an excuse but the wannbe & the freedloader want to up the ante before DH cottons on to their lack of production.

 

[Kris5902]

I swear I’m not a reckless monster! And he’s not going to outsmart me like that again... it’s the first time he’s shown any interest in being defensive to humans, even small ones, granted this is the smallest human he’s ever seen by about 1 foot in height. I don’t think the baby even registered to him.

I only got one lousy egg today ~ laid by my broody girl. The molter has an excuse but the wannbe & the freedloader want to up the ante before DH cottons on to their lack of production.

Reminds me of a comic in the paper with a backyard homesteader type showing off her chickens to the neighbor and saying and when “and when Henrietta here stops laying she’ll provide a nice supper for the family” the next frame showing the chicken at the grocer buying a dozen eggs!