Okies in the BYC The Original

[CityClucks]

Shavon - having a milk cow is a big responsibility. Yes, they must be milked twice a day, every day, without fail. It can be very uncomfortable and even painful for the cow if she isn't milked on schedule. You must breed her once a year so she'll come fresh, and when she calves, take the calf off her after a couple of days and bottle feed it or put it on a nurse cow.

If you have just one cow you'll want to milk her by hand (a good job for Jordan and Lauren - they will develop amazing hand and forearm strength!). Train a neighbor or friend to milk for those times you want to go on vacation or even an overnight trip.

The milk is awesome - it's real food! The only "processing" we did to our drinking milk was to strain it and dip the cream off the top. We also had an electric separator that we put the milk through about twice a week. The separated milk and cream we sold or traded. You can make your own butter and have fresh cream...yum! Oh, and you can have buttermilk - something I never developed a taste for. When I grew up and tasted store-bought milk, I couldn't believe they could actually call that stuff milk. Store-bought tastes like water.

(I spent most of my time at high-school dances arm wrestling all the guys. I didn't date much...wonder why?)

 

[Buster52]

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Maybe she can get that doctor to do it for her, since he thinks it's such a great idea.

 

[CityClucks]

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Thanks for the compliments on the coop - most of you have seen it before when I posted some of these pics after it was built this spring.

Ha! That's a door to a storage area next to the nest boxes. I keep feed & scratch & a bowl of DE & grit & stuff in there. I can get to the nests and storage from the outside. Hmmm...now that you mention it Buster, I could put a little window AC unit and maybe a space heater in that spot...or even a small TV. Nothing is too good for the pampered city clucks!

 

[Brick243]

I always shut the doors on my coops at night. I have a mountain curr and a pyranees that do a great job, but you never know when a sneaky little predator might visit.

Lately I have been leaving the coop door open at night. I want the guard dogs to be able to go into the pen to get anything that might be trying to get in the coop. My dogs are great with the chickens. I took a picture yesterday of my curr laying right in the middle of some chickens that I let free range for awhile.

 

[MAllen]

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Thanks for the compliments on the coop - most of you have seen it before when I posted some of these pics after it was built this spring.

Ha! That's a door to a storage area next to the nest boxes. I keep feed & scratch & a bowl of DE & grit & stuff in there. I can get to the nests and storage from the outside. Hmmm...now that you mention it Buster, I could put a little window AC unit and maybe a space heater in that spot...or even a small TV. Nothing is too good for the pampered city clucks!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22131_4-22-09_003.jpg

That's funny! My coop, a converted storage sheb that was once used as a work shop, is now all coop, all 10 x 16 of it and it still has a window AC unit installed. I'd take it out but I don't have a use for it elsewhere yet.

 

[Brick243]

Beth, that is a great looking coop.

My wife was raised on "home grown milk". Also, has anyone noticed that store "milk" doesn't seem to last near as long in the fridge as it used to. But I don't drink milk, use it on cereal and such, so I might be too picky on freshness.

 

[Dandelion007]

***Stimpy Rock Update***

So far, there are 5 hatched with 2 more (that I can see) that have pipped. Of course it's getting cramped in there though so I might have missed one or two. The first one from last night is trying to stand but cannot because it's too short in the hatcher. Big Chick!

It's everything I can do to keep from removing the chicks and shells. I just keep thinking I want everyone to hatch... Boy are they noisy!

I took a Marsh 18 count manual incubator and removed the turning grid. It's made an excellent hatcher. I think I have finally have my setup working pretty good at this point. (Took long enough.) That or either Stimpy's eggs are that good!

When everyone is done hatching, I will definitely post pictures.

 

[Dandelion007]

My storage shed is starting to be converted into a chicken house. Right now I have 6 families moved in. They are all OEGB and MGB except for one apartment of Silkie/Showgirls chicks. More will be added.

When I was growing up, we used to buy fresh milk from our neighbors. I can remember making butter and whipped cream too.

City, you have a very nice chicken coop!

 

[Buster52]

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Or maybe a computer monitor so they can keep track of the BYC Okies thread?

 

[Dandelion007]

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Or maybe a computer monitor so they can keep track of the BYC Okies thread?