Texas

Does anyone have any experience with 4H in the DFW area? My daughter (8) is very interested in working with animals and would like to show at some point. I did as much research as I could online, but there really aren't any specifics on the time commitments, meeting schedules, etc for the different projects. I also noticed that the Dallas county 4H is really urban focused with fewer animal projects. Wonder if I could slip her into the Collin Co. 4H?? Thoughts?
 
I collected all the dead June bugs I could find last night and gave them to them, they had a heyday! There were some chicken chases, that's for sure. I gave them some grass clumps that I hoped had grubs in it before I went in for the night. Hopefully they found something yummy! 


They probably did. My chickens run with geese and whatever my geese eat the chickens try. They even clean the bills of my geese, guess partially chewed food is yummy. :sick

I also got some wheat and oat deer feed seed. I sprout it and feed it to them, roots and all. It takes about a week after soaking for the sprouts to be ready, no dirt needed. The seed is cheaper than feed and 1 pound of seed gives me 4 to 6 pounds of sprouts. Plus the chickens and geese go nuts when I throw it in!
 
They probably did. My chickens run with geese and whatever my geese eat the chickens try. They even clean the bills of my geese, guess partially chewed food is yummy.
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I also got some wheat and oat deer feed seed. I sprout it and feed it to them, roots and all. It takes about a week after soaking for the sprouts to be ready, no dirt needed. The seed is cheaper than feed and 1 pound of seed gives me 4 to 6 pounds of sprouts. Plus the chickens and geese go nuts when I throw it in!
I was reading about sprouting last night and now your note this morning...I think I need to start some sprouts!
 
You guys do not want ostriches. They are the meanest things. Though they are gorgeous. My dad works for the Texas land man. So he sees alot of animals and his boss says that threw meanest guys are the emus and ostriches.

I would like some red stag and zebras on my (imaginary) ranch.

Aawwww Man! But I wanted to ride an ostrich, ;) lol!! If they r mean tho, I guess they r out. I want peace on my imaginary ranch/farm!! So, if the llama spits, it's out too ;P!
 
I was reading about sprouting last night and now your note this morning...I think I need to start some sprouts!


You guys are gonna think I am insane, lol. But I started sprouting for my.....dogs and indoor cats. 4 of my pooches are Siberian Huskies and they, apparently, like cats get hair balls and then throw it up. I got tired of it, they killed most of the grass in the pen through digging. So I started growing sprouts, it worked like magic, no more hair balls on the carpet! For the dog and cat grass I grow it in window boxes for the cats, big round or square buckets for the dogs. After a while the grass does either die or grow too long. So one day I put the cat box in the chicken coop to see if they would mow it down, and boy did they. So I then started sprouting without dirt for them. And I think that during the months when Texas heat kills the grass, or during winter, the sprouts will be help keep their diet balanced.
 
Aawwww Man! But I wanted to ride an ostrich, ;) lol!! If they r mean tho, I guess they r out. I want peace on my imaginary ranch/farm!! So, if the llama spits, it's out too ;P!


I'll take a spitting llama, and a mean emu, but not an ostrich. The emus will be my new guard dogs! The spitting llama I'll turn on any salesmen that manage to get past the emus! Lol. I'm horrible
 
Yeah. My parents had some chickens, ducks, and geese when I was a child and I used to got look for their eggs, feed, and care for them. I loved the geese best, my pet gander Lucky was just awesome, and the chickens were cool, I didn't much care for the ducks though, those suckers were mean, we had to cull a mallard due to his bad attitude. My parents taught me how to cull and process chickens, my mother was raised on a farm. It's been years, since I then, but I wanted chickens and geese. My parents had Barred Rocks and Rhode Island Reds. So I went on a search for chickens, I had originally planned for a small flock of a dozen chickens and 3/4 geese to start with. I just couldn't say no to all those cute, adorable chicks and goslings. After I cull and process our extra Roos for the dinner table I will have about 18 pullets, if I am right on sexing. I purchased 6 of BO and 9 BA pullets, and 6 each of BR, RIR, and SLW straight runs, and was given 1 extra SLW chick by the feedstore. 1 BR chick died, the rest all made it, I think I have 3 BR pullets, 3 RIR pullets, and 1SLW pullet (either that or the SLW pullets grow combs and wattles like a Roo). I had 9 goslings, 1 died from the feedstore switching their feed to medicated without telling me, I gave a pair to my brother -in- law as an early birthday present, he is also getting 3 BA pullets once they get bigger. My BR are my most outgoing, curious, and friendly chickens, they like to perch on my shoulder and talk to me when I'm cleaning their coop, :). My RIR are the next friendly, the SLW Roos are a pain in the butt, really don't care for them and they are gonna taste so yummy after all the grief they have given me, the 1 SLW pullet I like. The BO are about 5 weeks old and have already been integrated into the flock of my 8 week olds. I put the brooder box in the coop, fenced off from the others until they were 3 weeks old, then turned it on its side, put a dog playpen layered with chicken wire, in front so they could see each other but not peck for a week, then let them mingle. My BA pullets are 3weeks old and are currently in the brooder, on it's side with the dog playpen in front. I think I could have let them mix already, (I flipped the brooder over when they were 2 weeks old because of heat) but there are 2 3 week old African goslings and 2 2 week old Chinese goslings in there with them. My 8 week old geese attacked the goslings when I first introduced, so I have been slower to integrat this time. But, the dog pen is not up flush against the box anymore, I moved it away to give the babies more room, those goslings grow fast and big. The chickens fly over to visit the babies, they don't peck or bully them, just visit and steal food, greedy pigs. I have been working on the geese manners for over a week and while the geese do let everyone know who is boss, its more of a (pardon the pun) goose to the behind to remind everyone than grabbing the neck now. I have placed cinder blocks and other things in the cage, these are for the chicks to be able to hide when I remove the playpen, which I hope happens real soon.

Eventually, I'd like to add more chickens, some that I already have, some other color Orpingtons, I'd love some EE at some point. At this time I am going to let my flock mix breed, so am trying to stck with large, dual purpose, brown egg layers. But the Amarcaunas are simply adorable and I may get some anyway. I also already have plans to enlarge my geese flock, a lady on here will sell me hatching eggs for brown chinese and pied chinese next year. And I know someone who has white African geese I could probably buy eggs from. Oh dear, i think I'm obsessed with chickens/geese after only 8 weeks! Help!


There is no help out there for chicken obsession!! With all the enabling going on here and other people in real life just do like I have and go with it. Stop fighting it and find away to move forward. I have changed what my original plan was. which was to have 30 layers for eggs to have eggs for my home and to sell the rest to pay for feed. Now I have talked with a feed store owner which has said he will buy all the chicks I hatch from spring to fall. So I am building breeding coops and pens. Also building a incubator that will hold around 720 eggs. That would give me 240 eggs a week to hatch out. I just need to get the pens made and fill them with birds to stat laying by this time next year.

Harley, you absolutely are the winner, top of the class, straight A student, Honor Society, in Chicken Math! This is awesome. Look forward to seeing how your chicken venture plays out. I, too, would love to see chickens supplement my income more than just egg money! Congrats!
 
Wow I had alot of catching up to do. First of all welcome all the new people. I have been busy last two weeks so I try to pop in a read when I can. My chicks are two weeks old today. And they are starting to get some of the feathers. My hubby is fixing me another small coop to put them in. But I am gonna wait for another month maybe if he will let me keep them in house that long lol. As far as husband yeah they are all kids I belive cause god knows mine still is lol. And if he would let me I would have more animals than I would know what to do with. But he say no waaaay to much.
 
I'll take a spitting llama, and a mean emu, but not an ostrich. The emus will be my new guard dogs! The spitting llama I'll turn on any salesmen that manage to get past the emus! Lol. I'm horrible

BAH HAHAHA!!! That was what I was gonna use the geese & donkeys for, but I figured the donkeys wld b more kickers/biters! Ur plan is more salesperson humane :), so I'll keep the llama even if its a spitter, ;)!!
 
Wow I had alot of catching up to do. First of all welcome all the new people. I have been busy last two weeks so I try to pop in a read when I can. My chicks are two weeks old today. And they are starting to get some of the feathers. My hubby is fixing me another small coop to put them in. But I am gonna wait for another month maybe if he will let me keep them in house that long lol. As far as husband yeah they are all kids I belive cause god knows mine still is lol. And if he would let me I would have more animals than I would know what to do with. But he say no waaaay to much.


Congrats on the chickens and welcome to our insanity/obsession! Your lucky your hubby is building your coop.i had to design and do most of mine. He did do the anchor points and the roof because I was too short or not strong enought to drill through metal and concrete. Lol. And even though hubbies are big kids, they can be such party pooper can't they?
 

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