Michigan

[sj3364]

I just saw my pansy rooster challenging one of the big girls! Both of them had hackles out and chest to chest. He did give up first but she didn't thump him. This is more than I've seen him do before. He usually just ducks and runs away. I hope my little boy is finally becoming a man!

 

[Opa]

I haven't fallen in the water, I've just be too busy, trying to get things done around here. I last went fishing on Thursday with no luck and had intended to go tomorrow but with rain forecasted I probably will wait until Friday.

 

[chicken grandma]

Quote:
Thanks OliveHill. If December comes and we still havent found any, I'll be sad, and I'll be emailing you!

Jenerva,
Just a thought. If you are losing hens due to illness, it might not be a bad idea to get more chickens in the Spring after your ground has had a chance to freeze this Winter. It might reduce some of the bacteria or parasites that might be in your soil. Also you can check a stool/fecal/poop sample at the vets to make sure your current hens are fine before adding new chickens. Wishing you much success with your flock. It gets discouraging to lose them. God bless.

 

[teeville5]

Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderfully dreary day. DH woke up and is grumbling about getting a sad light again. He's been asking for one for a few years now so I suppose I should make an effort to get him one.

Anyway, I finally convinced DH we had to get the pigs taken care of. It's long past time for it. So he went out to get a measured weight on them and found out he has two whopping-sized girls. He figured they would be about 300lbs, but guess what, they are 495lb and 595lb.

I really don't know what we're going to do with all that, but I've got to say the look on his face when I gave him the final weight numbers was priceless.

 

[Olive Hill]

LOL! That's too funny, Teeville. Pigs are deceptive. They're short and solid and weigh more than you might otherwise think. On the bright side (or not so bright side, depending on how you look at it) you probably won't get that much more meat out of them than if you'd processed at 300 lbs. The biological systems have three distinct phases of growth -- bone and organ, meat, fat. There is overlap, of course, but the major growth patterns go in that order. You'll get more meat out of them, but it won't be what you might think. Just because you double live weight doesn't mean you double dressed weight. So, fortunate on the storage/use side of things, but not so fortunate on the economics side of things. They also usually have a surcharge fee for anything over 350-ish if you're planning on paying for processing.

 

[teeville5]

DH isn't sure what he's going to do yet, but he's looking into the options. As for the portions, he figures it will be quite a bit of meat and a TON of lard. I asked him what we were supposed to do with the lard and he replied there were many uses and since Christmas is coming soon I could use it for cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. My reply? Um, yeah, no...

 

[M.sue]

Quote:
Glad to hear you didn't fall in...lol Indeed there is a lot to get done outside before the real nasty weather strikes. Maybe next week mother nature will provide better fishing conditions!

 

[M.sue]

Has anyone ever taken pumpkins, scrapped the insides out, guts and all and froze it for later use through the winter....for a chicken snack that is.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
Fresh lard makes the best baked goods you'll ever eat. It can be used in any recipe where you would normally use shortening or butter. You can use it to grease your baking pans, use it to make stir fries, etc instead of oils. There's a solid case to be made for the health of lard over other options, too, but I won't bore you with it. You can do additional research if you're interested.

You can also feed it to your birds. Or the wild birds over the winter.

It is an incredible salve for dry, chapped skin.

And on and on the list goes.

We save and render our lard and encourage our customers to use their lard as well, but to each his own.

 

[Olive Hill]

M.sue :

Has anyone ever taken pumpkins, scrapped the insides out, guts and all and froze it for later use through the winter....for a chicken snack that is.

The insides are the best part, especially the seeds which have anti-parasitic properties. And pumpkins don't have to be frozen to be stored if you have an insulatd garage or basement you can just keep them cool and dark like potatoes or apples.​