Letting my broody raise 20 meaties. Now I have a rooster raising 50 CX chicks~new batch!

[vfem]

I am going to have to look into those nipples for sure. I have the jars all over the house, and those basin pieces everywhere. Years of collecting I suppose.

The funniest part about the duck, is the chicks go around scratching the shavings around being 'chickens' of course. So the duck cocks her head and watches them, and then tries really hard to act like the chickens using her webbed feed to scratch around the pine shavings in search of spilled food. The imitation is so obvious its hysterical!!!

 

[Beekissed]

That has to be cute! Poor thing will have an identity problem!

I found that these babies will imitate quite a bit, which is how three of my CX chicks wound up drowning in my dog's water bucket. The rooster showed them how to get up on the edge of the bucket to drink(seemed to be the only way he knew how and he wouldn't use the nipples either).

I've had chicks, older chickens and dog water buckets in the same space for the last 7 or so years and never had a chick drown in a bucket before....just these silly CX imitating this dumb roo.

Hope Duck learns to scratch!

 

[vfem]

Well all my ducks have been hatched and raised by broodies, This is the only 'lone' duck we've hatched so its quite amazing watching its learning habits.

Hubby is falling for the duck though, so don't know if it'll end up staying or not. He was the one who said NO MORE DUCKS! hahaha

Then again, he was the one who said no more chickens about 20 times?

Edited to add: I just moved the chick & duck out to the pen with the broody who hatched the duck. We'll see if she accepts them this time!? She pecked me when I put them under her, but she didn't freak out on them.... we'll find out come morning!

 

[gg706]

I think every boy dreams of finding a girl like their mom or grandma...one that does all the "women's work" and half the "man's work" around the home~but even finding a girl who knows how to clean a house is a rarity these days. Even if you find one, it doesn't mean you can keep her.

I was a single mom, so I drilled the lesson into the boys that your partner in life doesn't always stick around and sometimes they do stick around but they aren't really a partner~this leaves one person who is responsible for doing the necessary things in life.

Every woman needs to know how to change a tire, the oil in their car, maintenance the lawnmower, build something with various power tools, kill and process an animal, simple plumbing and electrical wiring, etc. One day you may not have a man around or your man will be disabled in some way~it's best to know it and not need it than to need it and not know it.

Same with all the menfolk...they should be able to cook, clean, take care of children properly, pay the bills, balance a checkbook, grow and preserve foods, etc.

Heck, I think it would be a dream to find a MAN who knows how to do man things, let alone the women. So many men not learned in men skills nowadays...and they aren't a bit ashamed of not knowing how to kill and gut an animal, clean a fish, change the oil. What in the world were they doing while growing up? Sitting in the corner of a dark room?

I COMPLETELY agree! People are raising their children to be ignorant and LAZY! I am hoping to expose my boys to being a little bit more self sufficient. I get a great satisfaction growing my own food...I am hoping that satisfaction will also go over into raising chickens for meat and eggs. Not to mention the food I provide my family isn't loaded with pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc. I am very motivated to learn how to raise and process meat birds. I figure unless I am going to stop eating chicken, it doesn't make sense NOT to raise my own. People are OK with eating chicken as a processed, packaged, grocery item....giving NO thought to the fact, what they are buying WAS butchered. I figure my meat birds would have a good life up to the butchering point, even the butchering part should be a better experience for them than what they would experience in a commercial packing plant. So I am going to put in an order for 20 CX in September....I need to wait until fall as Georgia is pretty hot in the summer and I think the birds would suffer. You mention the nipple watering system. I was afraid the birds wouldn't get enough water....seemed it would be hard for them to drink from. You use this system and prefer the nipple waterer?

 

[Beekissed]

Oh, yes! And they get more water than if they drank from a low waterer. You know how birds have to dip down then tilt their heads back to drink it? Well, with the nipples they merely have to reach up and peck for the water to come out and go directly into their beaks where they don't lose it in the process of tilting their head back... they are already tilted into the proper position for drinking!

I feel very little moisture in the bedding under the nipples, so I'm thinking there is very little water waste with this system.

The good thing about the nipples is that you can mount them into just about any receptacle...I've seen them mounted into the bottom of syrup jugs, even. I have two screwed into a gallon ice cream bucket for outside and 3 screwed into a 5 gal. bucket on the inside of the coop. They tend to use the outside waterer much more because they are rarely in the coop until dark.

The cheapest ones are on Ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/5-Chicken-D...121?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a1a4a72e1

I got mine on Amazon but they were a little more expensive than those on Ebay.

 

[galanie]

I think every boy dreams of finding a girl like their mom or grandma...one that does all the "women's work" and half the "man's work" around the home~but even finding a girl who knows how to clean a house is a rarity these days.  Even if you find one, it doesn't mean you can keep her. 

I was a single mom, so I drilled the lesson into the boys that your partner in life doesn't always stick around and sometimes they do stick around but they aren't really a partner~this leaves one person who is responsible for doing the necessary things in life. 

Every woman needs to know how to change a tire, the oil in their car, maintenance the lawnmower, build something with various power tools, kill and process an animal, simple plumbing and electrical wiring, etc.   One day you may not have a man around or your man will be disabled in some way~it's best to know it and not need it than to need it and not know it. 

Same with all the menfolk...they should be able to cook, clean, take care of children properly, pay the bills, balance a checkbook, grow and preserve foods, etc. 

Heck, I think it would be a dream to find a MAN who knows how to do man things, let alone the women.  So many men not learned in men skills nowadays...and they aren't a bit ashamed of not knowing how to kill and gut an animal, clean a fish, change the oil.  What in the world were they doing while growing up?  Sitting in the corner of a dark room?  

AMEN! My son married one of three sisters and is the only son-in-law that actually knows how to do man things (besides shooting a deer). He also cooks, etc. I can't take total credit for all that, his dad was the same way. It just astonishes me how many boys are proudly ignorant of what it takes to be a man these days. I do so many "male" tasks that people are astonished when I tell them that I'd gladly remarry and do all the "woman" things. Then I tell them that includes being able to stay home all day long and have Mr. Man actually do the Man things. You want a 50's style marriage, it goes both ways, bud. Suddenly they understand where I'm coming from.

 

[Beekissed]

Exactly! Knowing how to do all things and actually having to do them every day is something that I don't do by choice. What woman doesn't want to be taken care of in a manly way and, in return, take care of a man in a womanly way? I've always just wanted to be a good wife and mother but that wasn't God's plan for me, evidently.

I hope my boys find women who are real women that do all the womanly things that make a home a good place to return to at the end of a long day's work...and I hope my sons are real men that put that woman up on a pedestal and cherishes her for all her qualities that make his life so very rich, that he protects her and works along side of her like partners should do.

I like working alongside a man doing farm and other chores, so it is likely I would have learned all the man things anyway...they come to me naturally because I see great merit in knowing more than the traditional woman skills.

I've already seen the boys benefit from their house training and I've been called and thanked for making them learn how to do them....that is gratifying for a mom to hear.

 

[galanie]

I like doing those things too, actually. I remember helping dig a ditch when I was 8 lol. I'm a city girl but my mom knew all that stuff and taught me, and it's just a family thing. We all know how to do stuff. I just naturally want to learn how to do everything myself. From sewing to canning to putting up fences.

It is gratifying to hear how wonderful your boy is from someone else. Very. My son does his wife just as you suggest. And after 10 years of marriage, are still very much in love. You can see it in their eyes.

Ok sorry to derail it but back to the topic, I'm so happy that Mr. Pucker was so tasty! Kinda sad he didnt' work out, though. That was so cute.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah...I was hoping he'd work out to be some genetics I wouldn't mind carrying on. He was certainly unusual. I tried just cutting the jugular on this bird, just for information purposes, and it took him longer to die than any bird I've ever done except the few I tried pithing on. He bled well but he stayed alive for a full 2 min. or more....I usually just cut clear across the throat, trachea also, and it takes less than 10 seconds.

I've noticed the same thing while watching Salatin's videos on processing...his birds stayed living and struggling for far longer than mine ever have. I don't believe I'll be repeating that mistake. Hard to watch an animal struggle for life so long.

 

[galanie]

I do mine that way and they don't struggle till after they've passed out from the bleeding. But if I only do one side, it does seem to take them a long time to die.