The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

There are lots of different LABs too. The yogurt you eat is made with LAB (probiotics by another name). Different strains are used for different purposes. All are good for your health in one way or another and keep "bad bacteria" and "bad yeasts" in check.

 

[aoxa]

Random:
Our goat milk is amazing. We love it.. I will never go back to pasturized again.

It's sweet and creamy. I really want to try and make butter, though I know it takes forever to get enough cream to do so.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Aoxa - what breed are your milkers?

Maybe y'all could save up for a "home sized" cream separator? That would get a whole lot more cream out much quicker and easier. I know they have hand crank ones, but there are small electric ones also. Check Hoeger's Supply , Caprine Supply , etc.

I think if I ever do get milk goats and wanted to do butter I'd get one at some point.

 

[Leahs Mom]

However...I've read that some people that do use a separator hate them because they're a pain to clean...and they feel like it costs too much. Maybe it would be a waste of money...

 

[aoxa]

Aoxa - what breed are your milkers?

Maybe y'all could save up for a "home sized" cream separator? That would get a whole lot more cream out much quicker and easier. I know they have hand crank ones, but there are small electric ones also. Check Hoeger's Supply , Caprine Supply , etc.

I think if I ever do get milk goats and wanted to do butter I'd get one at some point.

They are Nubians crosses. Alice is not 100% Nubian, but is close. Her mother was 3/4 Nubian and father was full.

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

I've been having this horrible flea problem that I told you guys about with my poor cat. We dusted him with DE and boy, let me tell you, it WORKS. I wonder if that might help your mite problem? The wood ash smothers the buggies, the DE cuts through their exosceletons and then they dehydrate to death. It might be another additon to your kill the mites arsenal! I don't think I'd use it as a preventative, I think the wood ash is much better for that, and certainly cheaper, but as a solution to an existing problem it might be more effective. It's certainly worked great on the cat!

I've stopped using advantage with my dog, after hearing a bunch of dogs were having seizures after application. For 5 years I have been using DE and have never had a flea problem...knock on wood...I dust her with it outside after a bath and once every 3-4 months I might sprinkle it all over the carpet in the house and vacuum it up later that day.
It seems to work well with the chickens as well, its always in their dust bath area and in the shavings in the coop.

AFL I hope you can knock those suckers out soon! They don't sound fun at all

 

[RedRidge]

Aoxa - what breed are your milkers?

Maybe y'all could save up for a "home sized" cream separator? That would get a whole lot more cream out much quicker and easier. I know they have hand crank ones, but there are small electric ones also. Check Hoeger's Supply , Caprine Supply , etc.

I think if I ever do get milk goats and wanted to do butter I'd get one at some point.

I used a cream separator for making butter with my sheep's milk.
Loved it, but... skimmed sheep's milk just doesn't make near as yummy cheese as whole.
So... when I added a couple of dexter cows, I sold the cream separator.
I make butter with the cow's milk in the spring... freeze it in half lb balls for the entire year, then make mozz and other soft cheeses.
I use the sheep's milk primarily for hard cheeses which yield double what the cow's milk will.

The separator wasn't too bad to clean... especially if you had plenty of milk to run through it... but it's pretty big and bulky, so storing is an issue also.
You can buy them on ebay for just a few hundred.

 

[camilleathome]

Random:
Our goat milk is amazing. We love it.. I will never go back to pasturized again.

It's sweet and creamy. I really want to try and make butter, though I know it takes forever to get enough cream to do so.

http://www.amazon.com/Cream-Separat...TF8&colid=2S4X2U88EXD48&coliid=I3AKK5PYSZODVO

 

[aoxa]

http://www.amazon.com/Cream-Separat...TF8&colid=2S4X2U88EXD48&coliid=I3AKK5PYSZODVO

But it's so expensive... :/

 

[maryhysong]

They are Nubians crosses. Alice is not 100% Nubian, but is close. Her mother was 3/4 Nubian and father was full.

I used to have Nubians; loved them and really miss them. As soon as I'm retired I'm getting some more (crazy work schedule will not allow dairy animals right now). Nubians have the highest butterfat content of all dairy goats tho of course it varies by individual. What I used to do was I strained milk into quart jars and put right into the refrigerator. I noticed if it wasn't moved for two or three days there would be a fine skim of cream on the top. I bent a spoon handle so it was 90 degrees to the bowl and would skim off the two or three tablespoons per quart and put it in a container in the freezer.

Then for special holidays I would have enough to make whipped cream for our pie. Never really got enough that way to make butter tho.