Montana

[karlamaria]

Wow chicken Haus looks like your set for meat all winter! Are all your girls young. ( this years birds? ) if so you will have plenty of eggs all winter, no real molting the first year. I would love to try alphalfa but worry about impacted crop, I can not afford to loose one bird.

 

[9gerianMile]

Oh I have 35 chickens. But only 7 good hens. 4 that need culling who don't lay, and then the one keeper Roo. Then there are 10 young roos for meat. The rest of the pullets are young. The oldest are about to be 5 months old, and the youngest are just over 2 months old. We're going to be processing soon... maybe tomorrow.

 

[karlamaria]

Do you process your own? I wish I could, man I wish I could! But I could not and have to pay if I want it done. Of course I have no hubby to help, and my kids would freak. Sure would be nice to have a freezer full of meat!

 

[9gerianMile]

Yeah, we do it ourselves. I used to think that plucking was super hard so we skinned them.... it's so not! So now I pluck and do everything. DH shoots them in the head, and I process. Thinking of saving the pretty feathers for crafters and fly-tiers. Some of the roos have black or blue centers and thick golden lining on their hackle and saddle feathers

 

[9gerianMile]

Well, we've had a few more light dustings but today all has melted off! It's a little dreary out there, and sprinkling some rain on occasion, but not too shabby! Of course, the yak pen is disgusting to walk through the heavily-trod areas... I wish that area would freeze selectively so I wouldn't sink a few inches in muck!

How is the weather for the rest of you?

 

[Azriel]

We had a mixed bag of weather yesterday, rain, hail, snow, then back to rain, snow over night, and a bit of rain this morning, then the sun came out and we had a great rest of the day. This week looks like it will be nice, high 60s till Fri then back to the 40s.
I took my dog for a walk this morning to check the fence and gates, and heard a bull elk bugling, thats always fun to hear. I also saw alot of bear sign, we have a blond black bear sow with 2 cubs, and they have been busy ripping up rotten logs looking for grubs. So far I haven't had any trouble with hunters, but its early.
I let the chickens in to clean up the garden, lots of tomatoes I didn't get picked, and I had sunflowers along one side and they love jumping up to get the seeds out. I had a few squash that must have gotten a little to much frost and were getting soft so the chickens got them to. they love squash seeds.
9gerianMile, would $800 be a good price on a yearling yak heifer? I keep seeing one for sale in ND, and have been thinking about getting her just for fun.

 

[9gerianMile]

What color is she, Azriel? If she's a grey nosed black, then that's pretty standard. If she's an Imperial (black nosed black) or a Royal (piebald) then that is a good deal

Is she friendly? If you're just getting the one, you'd want her to be friendly. You can train her to carry a pack and up to 20% of her body weight so you can go trekking and not have to carry your stuff

The heifer we got for $800 is a hot mess, weaned too early, going to be meat because she's never going to be breedable. Just be careful and if you want, I can call and ask them the pertinent questions and tell you if she's a good buy


We've been wrangling our large round bales and boy, it's not so fun. But it has to be done. Since we bought two year's worth, we're now trying to figure out where to stash them all! Our hay barn was made with sm squares in mind, so it's rather useless.

 

[Azriel]

9gerianMile, the heifer is black nosed black, she is not halter broke, but will come for a bucket of cake and can be handled. Could I breed her to a regular Angus bull? I love the big rounds of hay, I'll never go back to the small bales. if you stack them one standing on the flat end then another laying down on top they keep much better than if you have them all laying down.
I had a weasel attack this week. One of my pop doors didn't shut right, and it got in and killed 13 of my pullets and 2 cockerels. I have been trying so hard to get some real nice BLRW, and a few more Golden Cuckoo Marans, so of course it killed all but one of my BLRW pullets and all but 2 of the Golden Cuckoo Maran pullets, and it killed the cockerels I had kept for each group of pullets. Why couldn't it kill the old production reds that I don't like but can't bring myself to butcher. I guess I try again next year.

 

[9gerianMile]

Azriel- That is probably the most sought after color for high quality fiber $800 is a good deal if she's workable and will come for grain. Yaks are slow-growing, so you could breed her to a young Angus bull, but I would not breed her to a mature one. The yaks have a different version of heat than our cattle do. For instance- I have a Highland cow, but my bull doesn't recognize her heat because he wasn't raised solely with 'normal' cattle. So I may have to pay for a bull to breed her =/ I don't know if an Angus would recognize your yak's heat or not. Haven't tried for a hybrid that way. If you like, I can ask around to see if anyone has done that?

Sorry about the weasel! That's horrible! I hope you have better luck next year, for sure.

We had an interesting development, a wolf or wolf-hybrid came into my yard and attacked my sheep not 30 feet away from me with a running tractor, lights shining. My LGD bit and ran it off, and my ram is fine with a little doctoring. The wolf held its tail up and tried to lead my LGD out of the yard. Luckily, he minded me and stayed put! Talked with our Wolf Manager at FWP, she thinks it is a hybrid or pet wolf who became too unruly for its owner, so they "set it free" in the "wild" that is my valley. Wouldn't be the first time she's heard of this happening. *sigh* People are so dense sometimes. We're going to take it out if we see it again. We still have 2 cougars about, too. It's been a predator-heavy Fall!

 

[Azriel]

Its to bad about that wolf/wolf hybrid, it should be illegal for people to own a wolf or breed hybrids. Back in MN where I'm from, there was a place breeding wolf hybrids and when they had some legal problems, they just turned them loose and skipped town. The same thing happened, they ended up being killed attacking livestock. They just don't know how to be wild and live off their natural prey.
I'm going to go look at that yak heifer tomorrow, I'll let you know if I get her.