Okies in the BYC The Original

[nnbreeder]

The sale at Maud is every thursday night and they usually sell a lot of goats and poultry. Personally I would rather get a goat from a reputable breeder, the ones at auction are usually there because of problems.

 

[nnbreeder]

Here is a list I just found and there are bound to be some in your area.

http://www.goats4h.com/AllGoatBreeders.html#OK

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Yup Monte cello it was only a matter of time before it reared it ugly head, we missed you last night, Gerald was in prime form and we joked around most of the evening.

AL

 

[al6517]

Quote:
The first concern would be predator control whether it be from stray dogs, hawks, owls or any number of things that go bump in the night, or day! A coop with a covered run would be your best bet for that.

Some considerations for building a coop is expansion, hang around here and 5 will soon be 100 LOL, easy access, easy to clean and the ability to stand upright in it. I have seen converted play houses and sheds of all type used to house birds.

A well built chicken tractor is another option. They are usually light and easy to move to new grazing areas with a small enclosure build on to one end. Here is a site that will give you some good ideas on different designs of enclosures.

http://thecozynest.com/hen_house.htm

Very well said NN, My vote goes to the larger expandable type design. The main thing is when you first get into this you really don't know what direction you may head in the future, having the ability to expand as you go with out any total redesign or much effort. Standing up and ease of cleaning are a major point, I also prefer solid covered runs as the rain will have it in a muddy mess in no time, just some things to think about.

AL

 

[al6517]

Quote:
Ha! The clean ones? I think I actually bid against you.

It would be great to connect up next month. We are just starting our journey and would love to pick some experienced brains.

Buster :

So what did you pick up last night??, any birds or are you waiting to get set-up first. Any idea on what you may want to raise or just have a small layer flock??.

AL

 

[al6517]

Quote:
I agree LOL, he may be put off a bit by all of us fine Okies extending our offers to help. Heck we treat all our newbies like little chicks, feeding the chicken frenzie LOL.

AL

 

[al6517]

Sooner :

So glad to hear you had the gumption to step up and go to the auction by yourself, those of us who know you knew you could. I am glad to hear that Bigokie & John were there to help out, They are fine examples of what we Okies do here and that is extend a hand and a smile, Kudos Guy's coming to the aid of a damsel in distress, LOL So how was your impulse to raise your hand at all the neat stuff, sounds as though you had good self control LOL.

AL

 

[TJ's Na-Na]

Hey Teach - Heard the kids coming at a fast clip and hollering,
"Na-Na, Na-Na".....Gees, I thought something was on fire.......

Pa-Pa followed up carrying their first little Cornish chick from the
trio we got from you at POOPS. I guess I figured it would look
like a regular little chick at the get-go. But, it's built just like
a Cornish and is a heavy little thing for a brand new chick.
So, obviously, we're off and runnin'........ don't know to where....
but here we go........

Have a good one !

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
No, but I was drooling over those Bourbon Red poults going for a mere $5 apiece! It took all my will power and my wife's bear hug to keep me from raising my hand.

This year is the learning year. We have 4 good layers, one of whom turns out to be a good mother hen who hatched out five chicks a couple of weeks ago, and a beautiful Buff Orpington roo (I think we just got lucky with that one). We have two sets of five meat chickens (meat as in that is their intended destination, not because they have any kind of size to them) to learn the butchering process. No sense in going overboard if it turns out we can't bring ourselves to do the butchering.

We picked up eight RIRs at the Blanchard auction because my wife has been wanting some for a long time. Those will probably join the layers, the roosters we'll probably butcher.

For turkeys we have five nondescript whites, given their growth rate I'm guessing BB Whites. The BO and the turkeys are the only ones we have named. Again we are keeping the number of turkeys low to make sure we can hack the butchering process. Again we bought generic because we want to learn the process of raising them poult to table. People say they are very different to raise from chickens, and we are finding that to be very true. Because it is due to be a warm day and we will be here most of the day, we let them out of their tractor. They just spent the whole morning following me around as I fish my pond, or bothering my dog to tears.

BTW, speaking of butchering, I would love to come help someone do their butchering some time so I can learn from an expert. I helped my mom when we were kids, holding the head on the chopping block and plucking the feathers, but that was almost 50 years ago. Ya tend to forget a few things in that amount of time.

 

[al6517]

Quote:
No, but I was drooling over those Bourbon Red poults going for a mere $5 apiece! It took all my will power and my wife's bear hug to keep me from raising my hand.

This year is the learning year. We have 4 good layers, one of whom turns out to be a good mother hen who hatched out five chicks a couple of weeks ago, and a beautiful Buff Orpington roo (I think we just got lucky with that one). We have two sets of five meat chickens (meat as in that is their intended destination, not because they have any kind of size to them) to learn the butchering process. No sense in going overboard if it turns out we can't bring ourselves to do the butchering.

We picked up eight RIRs at the Blanchard auction because my wife has been wanting some for a long time. Those will probably join the layers, the roosters we'll probably butcher.

For turkeys we have five nondescript whites, given their growth rate I'm guessing BB Whites. The BO and the turkeys are the only ones we have named. Again we are keeping the number of turkeys low to make sure we can hack the butchering process. Again we bought generic because we want to learn the process of raising them poult to table. People say they are very different to raise from chickens, and we are finding that to be very true. Because it is due to be a warm day and we will be here most of the day, we let them out of their tractor. They just spent the whole morning following me around as I fish my pond, or bothering my dog to tears.

BTW, speaking of butchering, I would love to come help someone do their butchering some time so I can learn from an expert. I helped my mom when we were kids, holding the head on the chopping block and plucking the feathers, but that was almost 50 years ago. Ya tend to forget a few things in that amount of time.

The Bourbon red's were Carla's and she PO'd them, It sounds as though you have a good plan set in place, so if your birds are in Tractors just be very careful of preditors in thses parts they can & will be nasty. Any time you want to do any butchering I would be glad to pop over to Geronimo with the gear and show you how quick and easy it is. The Turkeys you have are probably BB Whites as you assume, just watch out on their feed they get big very fast, last yr I had 2 that were too big to fit in the oven 48 & 52 lbs in Nov. I processed one of them in Sept and she went 28 lbs in Sept mind you. Process your Roosters before 16 wks or they will need some creative kitchen work to be eatable, What breed are your so called meat/table birds??, if they are not Cornish X's they may need to be finished off differently for a few weeks before they head to the freezer coop. Keep your Turkey's seperated from your chickens, Blackhead disease is a killer.

AL