The Old Folks Home

[microchick]

Thanks guys, I hope so also.

This time last year I was starting to loose a bird a week, sometimes I'd loose one at 5 days and then another on day 7 so I was loosing 4-5 birds a month from January through May. It started slowing down a bit in May and by June I wasn't loosing any more birds. The last I lost was a hen two months ago to a prolapse that went undetected and I just found her dead.

That's why I keep going out every morning and asking them 'why aren't you dying?' when I check them in the morning. It's beyond me. Hopefully it means that the initial infection has peaked and the remaining birds, or at least a percentage of them are going to be resistant or that the copper laced hog food I blend in with their game bird finisher (and they seem to love) is keeping the infections at bay.

As long as the march to the burial ground stops I'm trying not to think about it too much and just allow myself to stop holding my breath.....just a little.

 

[chickadoodles]

Not feeling great now, just resting in bed . But i will list when i go downstairs later. Dill, oregano, i forget what else. You can sure smell the dill!

I hope you feel better soon.

I will be growing basil, rosemary, marjoram, dill, parsley, borage, sorrel and several mints.
I will also be growing some flower seeds also zenia, marigolds.
I am trying to find some geranium seeds that don't cost a fortune.

 

[microchick]

@CapricornFarm. Feeling bad isn't permitted! Stop that right now and feel better! That's an order! Okay?

I found some more seeds to add to your box yesterday. I've been looking for the jar for the past week. Kept finding other things.

I have a Rosemary plant that I brought inside early fall. It's thriving in my south 'plant' window and I have two baby basil plants that I'm nursing along. Nothing we like better when it comes to potatoes than cubing new potatoes, squash and sweetpotato, drizzle olive oil and light salt over them and then sprinkle them with fresh rosemary and basil. Then roast. You get a starch and a veggie at the same time!

 

[bruceha2000]

That's why I keep going out every morning and asking them 'why aren't you dying?' when I check them in the morning.

Gee @microchick, that doesn't sound very supportive of their efforts to stay alive! I suggest going in and saying "Good morning, I'm glad you are all still here"

I just say "Good morning girls" (the chickens) when I get to the barn door, they are all waiting on the other side for me to open up and give them BOSS and "Hi guys" (the alpacas) when I get inside. Unless, of course, the alpacas are already outside, then I greet them at the gate outside the barn door.

 

[chickadoodles]

Gee @microchick, that doesn't sound very supportive of their efforts to stay alive! I suggest going in and saying "Good morning, I'm glad you are all still here"

I just say "Good morning girls" (the chickens) when I get to the barn door, they are all waiting on the other side for me to open up and give them BOSS and "Hi guys" (the alpacas) when I get inside. Unless, of course, the alpacas are already outside, then I greet them at the gate outside the barn door.

Bruce why do you raise alpacas? I don't understand why people raise them.

 

[ronott1]

Bruce why do you raise alpacas? I don't understand why people raise them.

It is for the wool(or whatever you call it)!

 

[CapricornFarm]

Bruce why do you raise alpacas? I don't understand why people raise them.

So they can get more alpacas. Wool, meat, pack animals.

 

[chickadoodles]

So they can get more alpacas. Wool, meat, pack animals.

Thanks Cap. I did not know people used alpacas for meat. Interesting...
Wool would be cool if you can use it.

 

[Beer can]

Thanks Cap. I did not know people used alpacas for meat. Interesting...
Wool would be cool if you can use it.

My eighth grade homeroom and English teacher her first yr teaching has a alpaca farm. Out oldest that just graduated last summer had her also, imagine the rest of our kids will. Oldest dd became good friends with her and did some modeling of her wool clothes, couldn't find the pic on the website though it was a few yrs back. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Q_BcIUigLMAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ufnax6-DG7sZIRbo_N3X3

 

[bruceha2000]

Bruce why do you raise alpacas? I don't understand why people raise them.

Back during the "crazy times" people paid large amounts of money for breeders, raised them so they get babies (cria) to sell to people for large amounts of money so they could breed them so they could get cria to sell to people for large amounts of money ..... Eventually this "business plan" went bust when there were no more people willing to jump on that band wagon.

My 2 were given to me, about 7 years old. DD1 is an emotional vegetarian, no animal living here will be eaten which limits things substantially. Figured fiber animals could at least provide something. Alpaca fiber is worth more per pound than wool. The boys weren't sheared in 2016 (we got them in Oct) so what we took off last May/June is 2 years growth. Now we have to get on the picking, washing, carding, spinning part.

Alpaca fiber is very soft, warm and not "greasy" like wool, yet it is still water repellant and is not itchy.

So they can get more alpacas. Wool, meat, pack animals.

Um, I don't think these 2 geldings are gonna make more alpacas. I would have to suffer from "alpaca math". They don't pack a lot, being relatively small (~110-190 pounds) but they can carry what a person would. Llamas are more often used for packing, they tend to run ~280-440 pounds so they can carry between 70 and 110 pounds.