North Carolina

[dutchbunny83]

Thanks for the well wishes!
I appreciate the link to the children's hospital, I saved it in my favorites, it has a lot of great info!!!
She feels better for a couple hours after the medicine and wants to play, but the fever never goes under 100 even with the meds.
The site says if it stays like that for 3 days she needs to go to ER, so hopefully it will break before then.


I hope everyone has a great weekend! I planned to stain the new chicken coop, but apparently mother nature has other plans since it's raining over here.


My husband really wants to get meat birds. I really don't. It seems like sooooo much work for essentially one meal. We had those cornish cross broilers for like a week and I gave them away! All they did was poop EVERYWHERE it was a total mess I couldn't keep up. Heritage breeds I really don't think I could raise a bird for 6 months then kill it, I'd get way too attached. Is the meat really that much better? (I've never had meat that wasn't from a restaurant or grocery store). Is there some kind of meat bird in between the cornish cross and a heritage breed that isn't a freaky looking poo machine and doesn't need 6 months to be ready to process?

Also, anyone ever do turkeys before? That seems like a lot of work too, but I think I'd be happier getting more meals per life. Plus they're not as cute, so I think I'd be less likely to get attached to them. But who knows I get attached to everything!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Thanks for the well wishes!
I appreciate the link to the children's hospital, I saved it in my favorites, it has a lot of great info!!!
She feels better for a couple hours after the medicine and wants to play, but the fever never goes under 100 even with the meds.
The site says if it stays like that for 3 days she needs to go to ER, so hopefully it will break before then.


I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I planned to stain the new chicken coop, but apparently mother nature has other plans since it's raining over here.


My husband really wants to get meat birds.  I really don't.  It seems like sooooo much work for essentially one meal.  We had those cornish cross broilers for like a week and I gave them away!  All they did was poop EVERYWHERE it was a total mess I couldn't keep up.  Heritage breeds I really don't think I could raise a bird for 6 months then kill it, I'd get way too attached.  Is the meat really that much better?  (I've never had meat that wasn't from a restaurant or grocery store).  Is there some kind of meat bird in between the cornish cross and a heritage breed that isn't a freaky looking poo machine and doesn't need 6 months to be ready to process?

Also, anyone ever do turkeys before?  That seems like a lot of work too, but I think I'd be happier getting more meals per life.  Plus they're not as cute, so I think I'd be less likely to get attached to them.  But who knows I get attached to everything!

Hope your little one gets better.

I raise turkeys, as do several people on here. They are just as personable as chickens; perhaps more so. I've had hens that thought they were being ignored fly up to my shoulder. Cute in a one pound poult. Not so cute in a 15 pound hen. At least the toms limited themselves to jumping into my lap if I sat outside in a lawnchair.

Hubby didn't like the meat chickens, either, until he ate one. Homegrown is much better.

 

[Coop Scoop Boogie]

My husband really wants to get meat birds. I really don't. It seems like sooooo much work for essentially one meal. We had those cornish cross broilers for like a week and I gave them away! All they did was poop EVERYWHERE it was a total mess I couldn't keep up. Heritage breeds I really don't think I could raise a bird for 6 months then kill it, I'd get way too attached. Is the meat really that much better? (I've never had meat that wasn't from a restaurant or grocery store). Is there some kind of meat bird in between the cornish cross and a heritage breed that isn't a freaky looking poo machine and doesn't need 6 months to be ready to process?



If you are wanting chickens for meat then go with the Cornish crosses
or freedom rangers and do them by 6-7 months or sooner if you like.
If you are wanting eggs then do not go with the meat varieties and
find a duel purpose breed like Jersey Giants, Brahmas, Orpingtons,
Marans or some other multi-purpose breed.....research all the large
fowl breeds and find what suits your desires. There are many that
work well for eggs and meat but you need to invest a year or so of
time to get full sized birds for meat.
Good luck

 

[Matt A NC]

BigMama is doing great with her first brood. The first pic has a least a piece of 10 of the 11 chicks. I had just let them out of their temp lot to go play.

The pic below is everyone running from shade to shade. By 11am the sun gets hot. The babies like to play/hunt around in the garden. BigMama can't get in there. With the way they are growing the chicks are not going to be able to get in there for very much longer.


Out of the 4 pics I never did get a pic with all 11 chicks visible at the same time.

Matt

 

[cknnewbie]

Thanks for the well wishes!
I appreciate the link to the children's hospital, I saved it in my favorites, it has a lot of great info!!!
She feels better for a couple hours after the medicine and wants to play, but the fever never goes under 100 even with the meds.
The site says if it stays like that for 3 days she needs to go to ER, so hopefully it will break before then.




My husband really wants to get meat birds. I really don't. It seems like sooooo much work for essentially one meal.


Also, anyone ever do turkeys before? That seems like a lot of work too, but I think I'd be happier getting more meals per life. Plus they're not as cute, so I think I'd be less likely to get attached to them. But who knows I get attached to everything!

1) Don't forget popsicles are great fever reducers, playing in a sink or tub of water, and other ways of cooling off.

2) I've not heard of anyone happy with meat birds unless they're "in the business." Pretty much all of the small flockers I'm acquainted with felt like the meaties ate too much food and had too many problems (legs, etc.) because of the weight. Those chicken keepers went back to using dual purpose and relegating the roos to freezer camp, feeling that was the better use of their time and money. I suppose everyone has to try for themselves though.

3) We've connected with a local turkey keeper (already have our order in for Thanksgiving!) who says turkeys are just Dumb. That's not to say they don't have personalities, just that she shakes her head in amazement at the level of stupid she witnesses.

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Thanks for the well wishes! I appreciate the link to the children's hospital, I saved it in my favorites, it has a lot of great info!!! She feels better for a couple hours after the medicine and wants to play, but the fever never goes under 100 even with the meds. The site says if it stays like that for 3 days she needs to go to ER, so hopefully it will break before then. My husband really wants to get meat birds. I really don't. It seems like sooooo much work for essentially one meal. Also, anyone ever do turkeys before? That seems like a lot of work too, but I think I'd be happier getting more meals per life. Plus they're not as cute, so I think I'd be less likely to get attached to them. But who knows I get attached to everything!

1) Don't forget popsicles are great fever reducers, playing in a sink or tub of water, and other ways of cooling off. 2) I've not heard of anyone happy with meat birds unless they're "in the business." Pretty much all of the small flockers I'm acquainted with felt like the meaties ate too much food and had too many problems (legs, etc.) because of the weight. Those chicken keepers went back to using dual purpose and relegating the roos to freezer camp, feeling that was the better use of their time and money. I suppose everyone has to try for themselves though. 3) We've connected with a local turkey keeper (already have our order in for Thanksgiving!) who says turkeys are just Dumb. That's not to say they don't have personalities, just that she shakes her head in amazement at the level of stupid she witnesses.

Interesting. I know lots of people who are not "in the business" who raise out meat birds for themselves, like we do. We find it well worth the time over dual purpose. The older birds make good soup, but are tough for grilling or roasting. I've never had one down from leg problems, or had one flip. Too many people do try to keep food in front of them 24/7, and that's when you start killing them off. 12-on-12-off is the trick.. I also find my heritage turkeys quite smart. Smart enough to be a turkey, anyway. I don't try to compare their intelligence to anything else! I don't think the broad-breasted are as smart as the heritage, but I've had little interaction with them. Probably everyone's specific experience is different. How they are keeping the birds, how many they are trying to raise out...all that makes a difference.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Can you keep a turkey with the meat birds for the 2 months the broilers are around or will the turkeys pick on them.
I've heard other chickens will peck them, but I didn't know if turkeys had the same personalities.
I was thinking about getting 2 turkeys and maybe 6 of the rangers, all day old chicks.

 

[dutchbunny83]

Okay I found a place that still had white broad breasted turkey poults in stock set to hatch this Wednesday, I expect they'll be at the post office Friday.
I had to order way more than I needed to make the minimum, but got a good price for buying in bulk I guess.
It was $104 for 20 of them, so I have 10 extras if anyone wanted any, $5 a piece.
They're from Ideal Poultry. I got my barred rocks from them about a year ago and they were really good birds.
You would have to come over by me in Fayetteville to get them though because they get here Friday and I have to leave Saturday to go pick up my son in Maryland.

 

[atmaclean]

Angela, you have to be the busiest person I know! I don't know how you do it all.

Oh gosh the FLIES ARE TERRIBLE this year! Not so much the regular flies, but the deer flies and horse flies are SO bad. We put Equi Spot on the horses and use regular fly spray, but I don't think it does much. Our farrier told us about a horsefly trap thingy that he has seen, I guess something like that would help, but it would end up being about $100 to initially set it up, and there's no real guarantee it will make a difference.

I'm off work for the summer, so I keep busy outside with either the chickens or horses all day. lol! Our first horse camp starts Monday so I'm getting things ready for that, too. We always have so much fun with the kids.

I have not heard about the horse fly trap....wonder if it works? Our horses are out 24/7 as I don't believe in stalling them so I don't have a "concentration" of flies in one spot like around the barn but those deer flies and horseflies in the pasture are just horrible! Not sure I'd want to invest $100 without some guarantee that it would help.... Maybe I will google it

My husband got one of those driller bee traps and it hasn't caught a single driller bee! I hate those big 'ol things. They don't sting but they are SO annoying. DH enjoys taking a bat to them. I prefer those giant fly swatters they sell at the Dollar Tree. When we have guests over, they love to challenge one another to see who can swat the most! Luckily, we haven't seen many of them in the past few weeks - maybe their "season" is over....?

Did you sell any of your SFHs at the swap??

 

[atmaclean]

I know this is a chicken thread, but I know most of you have children so I'm hoping your experience can help me.

My baby will be 2 in 6 weeks and she hasn't eaten since yesterday, but she's staying hydrated, she told me her stomach hurts. This afternoon she started a fever and at 7 tonight it was 104. I gave her motrin and now at 9pm it's still 102.

I can't get in touch with her doctor and I'm trying to avoid having her sit in the ER all night because I don't think they can really do anything. From past experience I've always been told motrin works better for high fever than tylenol but to rotate motrin and tylenol every 4 hours.

Anyone know of any other tips for helping a fever to drop???
I don't like seeing it in the 102-104 range.
I know over 104 is really serious and can start seizures.

I'm googling stuff right now, but haven't really found anything.
THANKS!!!

My sister is a family practice physician and she told me that there is a really bad virus going around right now that causes VERY high fevers and nausea. Her son has it and ran a fever of 105 last night.

My youngest son used to run super high fevers - 105 with no other symptoms - and I would alternate ibuprofen and tylenol to control it. You can also strip them down and put them in a bath of tepid water to cool them off - as cool as they can stand it. The doctors tested my son for everything under the sun and finally said that it was something he would eventually outgrow. Sure enough, after he turned 4, they went away. He just turned 14yrs old and hasn't run fevers like that in years, thank goodness.

I hope your daughter is a lot better by now. It is so scary to have tiny ones like that so sick....