Kristen’s Chickens and Farming Ventures

[WhoDatChick]

Are alligator gar edible? Many really ugly fish are quite tasty... what I don’t eat are large flat fish like halibut, because worms too many returns, squiggly fish, and sometimes even videos of “what I found when I unwrapped my dinner items” small fishies for me only now thanks... shudder, parasites

We don’t eat that.. but my son was going to attempt trying it but he left early so it didn’t work out... he caught a three foot shark a few years ago and we did cook that and it was SO good!

 

[Kris5902]

So Monday I put “Roostie Roo” (Andrew wants to rename him Bob) into the hospital tractor for the evening, as I wanted to supervise his integration with the meat ladies to make sure everyone is safe and happy together. He spent much of yesterday in the “good rooster box” (renaming that too... positive reinforcement and all!) next to his prospective ladies. It was an entertaining walk from the hospital tractor to the meat girls tractor with him not exactly enjoying the ride and me needing both arms to carry/restrain him with Sammy trying to incite an incident, and dogging at my heels, but it worked out in the end! The girls seemed fairly receptive and he seems like a very well mannered boy.

So at not quite full dark last night I went out with Andrew and we put him in with the ladies, and transferred the box to Goose for extra protection, she’s trying hard to make a comeback, and I did have one downed ranger girl that was able to stand again with a little TLC and a few weeks of rehab, so I’m going to give her a chance. As of this morning everything is looking good, he’s tidbitting for the girls, and seems polite. Of course they still outweigh him by about half again as much, so it could just be a good sense of self preservation.

He is two days older than his girls at 22 weeks. I was surprised at how small he is for his weight, though he is nowhere near as heavy as the curvy girls, he’s easily more than double what even Mr Marans and Chickiehawk weigh! He’s got really thick legs and I’m super happy with my decision to save him from becoming “Roastie Roo” as his previous owner was going to eat him, then he thought of my attempted meat bird breeding program and decided to give him a few days grace.

Also on Monday when I picked him up I got to check out the other farmers set up, and see my Barnvelder boy “in action” herding his 30 ladies over to look for treats! He’s got a large free range set up with almost no predator protection, a 3 walled roosting spot, as well as a large fully enclosed run and rebuilt trailer as a grow out/meat bird area. I also got to see his pig set up which is combined with the free ranging birds (apparently the pigs will drive off eagles almost as well as dogs). I got some good ideas for what I would like to do in the future with some silvopasture and integrating different animal groups more effectively.

I’m snagging some coffee and a snack before heading down for my favorite chore, shoveling gravel! This time not for the road, but inside our house forms, so I’ll get some pics of those, as they are coming along well. Would be coming along better if anyone could stand to work with FIL, he’s supposed to be going to town today, so the coast should be clear for me to go use the shovel “incorrectly” (due to the old shoulder injury) at the site!

On the family front... Still not speaking with FIL, don’t have to deal with BIL (as he’s currently in prison for missing either a court date or a bail check in), not impressed at all with the treatment from the Aunts, and proposed a lease for at least the house area for our future security to Andrews cousin. That we are pushing forward, despite all common sense, can only mean one of two things; either Andrew and I are both completely insane and unintelligent, or we are far more committed to farming than we should be or is sane. Either way, I suppose by continuing to hatch chicks and procuring more roosters, I’m further committing myself to this place.

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

So Monday I put “Roostie Roo” (Andrew wants to rename him Bob) into the hospital tractor for the evening, as I wanted to supervise his integration with the meat ladies to make sure everyone is safe and happy together. He spent much of yesterday in the “good rooster box” (renaming that too... positive reinforcement and all!) next to his prospective ladies. It was an entertaining walk from the hospital tractor to the meat girls tractor with him not exactly enjoying the ride and me needing both arms to carry/restrain him with Sammy trying to incite an incident, and dogging at my heels, but it worked out in the end! The girls seemed fairly receptive and he seems like a very well mannered boy.

View attachment 1898218

So at not quite full dark last night I went out with Andrew and we put him in with the ladies, and transferred the box to Goose for extra protection, she’s trying hard to make a comeback, and I did have one downed ranger girl that was able to stand again with a little TLC and a few weeks of rehab, so I’m going to give her a chance. As of this morning everything is looking good, he’s tidbitting for the girls, and seems polite. Of course they still outweigh him by about half again as much, so it could just be a good sense of self preservation.

View attachment 1898011

He is two days older than his girls at 22 weeks. I was surprised at how small he is for his weight, though he is nowhere near as heavy as the curvy girls, he’s easily more than double what even Mr Marans and Chickiehawk weigh! He’s got really thick legs and I’m super happy with my decision to save him from becoming “Roastie Roo” as his previous owner was going to eat him, then he thought of my attempted meat bird breeding program and decided to give him a few days grace.

Also on Monday when I picked him up I got to check out the other farmers set up, and see my Barnvelder boy “in action” herding his 30 ladies over to look for treats! He’s got a large free range set up with almost no predator protection, a 3 walled roosting spot, as well as a large fully enclosed run and rebuilt trailer as a grow out/meat bird area. I also got to see his pig set up which is combined with the free ranging birds (apparently the pigs will drive off eagles almost as well as dogs). I got some good ideas for what I would like to do in the future with some silvopasture and integrating different animal groups more effectively.

I’m snagging some coffee and a snack before heading down for my favorite chore, shoveling gravel! This time not for the road, but inside our house forms, so I’ll get some pics of those, as they are coming along well. Would be coming along better if anyone could stand to work with FIL, he’s supposed to be going to town today, so the coast should be clear for me to go use the shovel “incorrectly” (due to the old shoulder injury) at the site!

On the family front... Still not speaking with FIL, don’t have to deal with BIL (as he’s currently in prison for missing either a court date or a bail check in), not impressed at all with the treatment from the Aunts, and proposed a lease for at least the house area for our future security to Andrews cousin. That we are pushing forward, despite all common sense, can only mean one of two things; either Andrew and I are both completely insane and unintelligent, or we are far more committed to farming than we should be or is sane. Either way, I suppose by continuing to hatch chicks and procuring more roosters, I’m further committing myself to this place.

What a good looking boy!

 

[Kris5902]

What a good looking boy!

Thanks! I’m going to trade a few dozen hatching eggs for him, once they size up nicely... they are getting there! The yolks are still a bit smaller than my layer girls’ so I’m going to wait at least 3-4 weeks on getting them set up and the ladies fertilized... I’m mostly interested in breeding the first generation of offspring back to a meat breed. So it’s going to be a drawn out project, but what impressed me the most is his good behavior (so far!)

 

[CrazyChookChookLady]

I'm really developing a soft spot for roosters. They really are very misunderstood. Don't get me wrong, I know there are so a-hole roosters, but the majority are just doing as nature intended.

He's my Blue Plymouth Rock, Breeze. He does an amazing job with his flock and 2 fellow roos. He keeps his distance from me, but I can handle him if I need too.

 

[Kris5902]

I agree, and he’s a very beautiful boy! Another thing I think is often overlooked is having enough hens to keep them happy. I think that’s a large part of the “attitude” some boys get. At least from what I’ve seen, the more girls the less defensive the rooster. Of course that’s not possible if you’re limited to just a few chickens by lot size or neighborhood, or by amount of time/energy/money you can put into maintaining a large flock.

 

[Ribh]

@Kris5902 : That is one gorgeous looking boyo! If he's well mannered as well ~ score!
I must say the pig is one animal I do not like though anything that will keep hawks away from chickens has to be considered seriously.

As for the rest ~ we all know you are committed to farming! No~one who takes such good care of their animals & so considers the codependency & various needs of the creatures in their care could be anything else. The old order is passing...

 

[Kris5902]

@Kris5902 : That is one gorgeous looking boyo! If he's well mannered as well ~ score!
I must say the pig is one animal I do not like though anything that will keep hawks away from chickens has to be considered seriously.

As for the rest ~ we all know you are committed to farming! No~one who takes such good care of their animals & so considers the codependency & various needs of the creatures in their care could be anything else. The old order is passing...

Thanks so much! So far as pigs go I prefer them mostly as bacon and sausage... funny story though: last year this guy had (now bacon) a horrible mama pig, she squashed all but one of her babes and abandoned the survivor. It was given to another local couple to bottle raise and it became a pet. Cute at first, but boy do they grow quickly! They now let a 100+ lb Berkshire cross pig sleep in their bed! Imagine? The husband admits one day he came close to losing something very precious to him to a nip under the covers. Andrew and I both draw the line at farm animals in the bed! Crazy...

Today I opted to shovel gravel over cleaning the trailer due to a water shortage... well 6 1/2 hours of shoveling later... we are closer to more concrete, I think! Here is the before:

Midway through when I stopped for 3 hrs of lunch/siesta because it had gotten too hot out:

And quitting time, right before FIL showed up, so I was already leaving as he arrived.

During my lunch break the chickens went crazy. Turns out alarm calls are also required for fence issues

I sent that one to Andrew at work... his response was “well looks like we know what I’m doing tomorrow... chainsaw needed for sure”, it’s one of the tools I don’t use, as they scare me silly! This little guy was hanging out on some of our tarped up walls.

And here is Blackie, gloating because yesterday she snuck past FIL (NINJA COW!) and got to have all our house grass to herself.

And for everyone who saw the fake moon (glare) in my Saturday sunset here she is at 6:30 in full daylight...

Looks just like the glare did, so now I totally get it!

 

[Kris5902]

Setting eggs for hatching at 3 pm on Friday! Everyone think “Marans like to lay lots of eggs on Thursdays and Fridays”

 

[drumstick diva]

Do they really?