***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Kyzmette]

Quote:
Kass... I think Subhanalah has a point here.... You might want to watch yourself if you're eating jello from a buffet table in a deserted themepark at night and Rudy is nowhere to be found... MJ, I don't know if the camera really had a hard time with exposure on that shot of Spook, because the picture is perfect. Spook really does look like a ghost calf in that shot. Such a beautiful boy. Almost makes me want to own my own cow.

 

[greenbeetle]

What do I need to do? I purchased some cochin hens that where already laying eggs. One of them has layed soft shell eggs every time, I feed them the 16% layer pellet and give them oyster shell and always fresh water, but still seems to lay soft shelled eggs. What else can I do to correct this problem. Thanks

 

[bardies]

Wow. What a beautiful herd. And I love the names-Moon Pie is my favorite! And spook is gorgeous. Will you keep him for breeding?

Anyone know of anyone in the area (OKCish) with bantam americaunas? I have no experience with them but am thinking about looking into them. All this talk of blue eggs has me wanting some variety!

Becoming (or staying) a bull is tough to do. He's going to have to grow a lot of horn to overcome his lack of pattern. As beautiful as he is, my eye would be more towards trophy steer than hamburger.

 

[ashtree]

Becoming (or staying) a bull is tough to do. He's going to have to grow a lot of horn to overcome his lack of pattern. As beautiful as he is, my eye would be more towards trophy steer than hamburger.

So having a pattern is more desirable than 1 color? I just love his color tho. I also like hamburger tho.

 

[Ksane]

What do I need to do? I purchased some cochin hens that where already laying eggs.  One of them has layed soft shell eggs every time, I feed them the 16% layer pellet and give them oyster shell and always fresh water, but still seems to lay soft shelled eggs.  What else can I do to correct this problem.  Thanks

David, lots of times when pullets 1st start laying they'll lay soft shelled eggs until their hormones straighten out. Is she still a pullet? If she's older than a year it may be something she's not going to outgrow. I don't think it's anything you're doing wrong in the least.

 

[NanaKat]

I was in the hospital all Monday night and most of Tuesday, discharged at 4pm. I have never had a more horrible experience. Ever.
...Bike wreck...hit the concrete....I gashed my right thigh and hip, tore open my left knee, dug several inch-long cuts into the end of my right elbow and bashed my head pretty good.

But the worst was the artery--I had severed an artery in my thigh, and it was bleeding, causing the muscles and tissue under the skin to swell slightly. I had a grapefruit sized mass in my hip when I got to the emergency room, and that quickly escalated to a football sized lump.

The xrays revealed no broken bones but the swelling was definitely not a bruised bone, so I went in for a cat scan, next. And that was how they found out that the artery was bruised and losing blood.
Anyways, because I had already lost blood from external wounds, I was sent by ambulance to the out of town hospital to be put on observation.

Update: will likely be going back to the hospital. I just noticed that, from my waist down, literally everything is swollen. My leg is coolish feeling and numb from lack of circulation, as well as having taken on a darker shade to it, so this cant be good.

This is serious...glad you are returning to the hospital and praying for a speedy recovery!

 

[NanaKat]

Robyn...so sorry to hear about Traveler.

Kass...Rudy is truly a unique bird. Can you AI him with the dark skinned girls to make more?

Betsy...possums are crafty predators. Had one carrying babies in her pouch in the trap...she was after the juveniles.

We had a first time heifer deliver her calf during the rain this morning. He is doing great.

Four newly hatched Chicks in the Cochin coop have three mommas claiming them so I took another six from the hatcher out for them to share. Two of the hens gave up their eggs to help mother the chicks. It is a mass of feathers with little heads sticking out...will need to take my camera out for a photo session. There are a few more chicks hatching today so the three moms will get a few more.
I candled and moved the abandoned eggs under an eager broody in the barn...she is quite happy and will have chicks in about 10 days....lucky girl...won't have to work so hard to get hers.

Hope we get some more of the rain since we only have about 1/2 inch in the rain gauge. We did not get any hail. The garden gets watered every day .

 

[bardies]

Les, looks like you may well have been right about a predator skinning my pullet's back. What I thought was a very small opening, actually could be made into a much larger one and not be noticed. The rooster may have been chasing her because of the large, bloody wound.

Early one morning early last year, a very young opossum was in that end pen, but I wasn't too worried about that, as it did no damage, and I thought it was more or less a fluke that it found that small opening.
This morning, Vashi told me the dark blue showgirl hen, who was in the next-to-last section, was gone.
He normally wouldn't have noticed, but she was the only dark colored chicken, and the only one in a section by herself.

When Vashi and I put the corrugated, clear plastic roof on the pen about 4 years ago, I didn't realize he didn't secure the top edge, even though he put the formed foam strip under it. It is my fault the predator got her, because I'd started making a section of quadrupled poultry netting to fill what I thought was about a 1 1/2" gap, and had I done it, I'd have noticed the roof was not secured. All it had to do was push up on the edge of the roof, and then it had easy access. I have no idea why it got the one out of the second (from that end) pen rather than one in the end, closer to the opening. Maybe the rooster with that hen defended her strongly. It had to go through quite a bit to get that hen out of the pen, up over the coop and a very large cage on top of it. Feathers on the edge were a dead giveaway.

The edge of the roof is now secured, and a tight wad of quadrupled poultry netting is attached and stuffed into the gap. I was able to tell that at least part of the rest of the top is also not secured, so I put a heavy piece of landscaping timber on it until we can secure it tonight.

I feel soooooo bad about that sweet hen!

betsy, so very sorry to hear.... but for a 'fault' that you couldn't see ... that would have been very hard to discover. Funny how the predator knew somehow....those are sneaky ********... they must sit there for hours just trying to find the way in.

 

[bardies]

Quote: Darn it, what is the name...oh, Jurasic Park....I knew that when I hit send on the question the name of the movie would come to me. I have been trying to remember it since I first wrote the comment about mosquitos. Didn't figure it would come to me WHILE typing the question!

 

[bardies]

So having a pattern is more desirable than 1 color? I just love his color tho. I also like hamburger tho.

Me too, longhorn hamburger is particularly good, the patties stay the same size as when you start cooking them. Pattern is more desireable, one of the more unique longhorn characteristics. You can keep a solid cow with no problem - particularly if she is good in other areas - as solid cows can produce patterned offspring. Same holds true for bulls as well, but while you might keep the majority of your females only the top percent or so of bullcalves are good enough to be kept for bulls. I agree though - just his color along is eye candy. That is one advantage of being a longhorn - they can have ornamental value. I also get to know each one of these calves on a personal level. If he is sweet, I will try harder to get him a non hamburger home. If he is not people oriented...then being a pet is not the best option. Our beef animals live good happy peaceful lives until the end. No feedlots sitting in poop with a thousand of his best buddies. It can be tough though. We all love Nanakat's Norman, but in the end, he is still a beef animal. Those cared for personally though - like mine and like Norman, experience less stress throughout their lives and at the end, and as a result taste even better imho!