The Old Folks Home

[vehve]

Oz, that's a great source of milk then. That kind of numbers must make them on par with cow when it comes to feed conversion.

 

[Bunnylady]

It's ironic - one of the biggest pest we have around here are Carpenter Bees. They are a large bumblebee, and chew their own tunnels into any exposed wood. Painting the wood may or may not deter them, but as you can imagine, 1/2" holes drilled lengthwise in 2-by lumber can seriously compromise its strength.

Another pest we have around here is a tiny little bee, maybe 1/4" long, that will fly/crawl inside clothing, and sting when it gets trapped between clothes and skin. I can't count the number of stings I've had from those little monsters!

 

[ozexpat]

Oz, that's a great source of milk then. That kind of numbers must make them on par with cow when it comes to feed conversion.

we dont have a breeding season in the Phils so goats breed all year - I hope to get a good consistant daily average by breeding a goat every 6-9 weeks

 

[vehve]

It will be interesting to see what one of those will attract. I think I'll start with putting one in the front yard though, we spend a lot less time there, so if some stingers decide to move in, they won't be as much of a problem.

 

[vehve]

Oz, when do they reach sexual maturity?

 

[chickadoodles]

That's great Wisher! I hope you keep it up!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Looking out the window next to the computer yesterday morning I saw this. I couldn't help but take a few snapshots.









Then this morning I pulled these off the game cam.
The first set was about 9:20 PM last night, about 2 hours after I set it out.






Stuck his mug right into the camera


Then at 5:10 AM one was moving away from the camera.












320 posts behind,

I won't even try but I did read a few and enjoyed the nutrition conversation especially the protein stuff - for both chickens and Wisher.

I don't know if this was brought up but it isn't sufficient to look at total crude protein. Limiting amino acids can skew the effectiveness of protein's nutritional value. This is especially true if someone is mixing their own feed made primarily from grains and no animal protein. Commercial vegetarian feed needs to have some synthetic lysine and methionine added to make it adequate. In a grain mix diet, threonine and tryptophan will also be limited. Then amino acids in excess of the least limiting amino acid ends up as higher nitrogen excretions and uric acid causing ammonia buildup in bedding.
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/dairy/nutri.../Protein and amino acid for poultry-final.pdf

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/pou..._acid_and_energy_deficiencies_in_poultry.html

http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informa...rmationmodule=1017786502&topicorder=3&maxto=7

There are 9 amino acids essential to humans, I believe 12 are essential to chickens.

http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/animal_husbandry/ani_chik_conventional.html

 

[vehve]

@ChickenCanoe , nice pics, not so nice visitor.

I'm only tracking methionine and lysine, but maybe I should add some more to my calculations.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I feel bad for all the Northeasterners weather. That's how it was here last winter. Brutal temps with a snow cover all winter. It's right at freezing now but hit 71F Saturday and 68F yesterday. Sunny and calm both days. Back into the teens and 20s at night this week but it was nice while it lasted.

Saturday, I taught a chicken processing class in the city. Here's a blog the "coop fairy" wrote on the event.

Group learns chicken processing in city backyard

By: ****** | 1 min ago

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This past Saturday, a blessedly beautiful and shirt-sleeved, warm, unusual February day, I had an equally unusual meeting in my new back yard.
I am one of 4 co-organizers of our local St. Louis Back Yard Chicken Meetup List, recently listed as the 7th largest in the nation, apparently partially attributed to my oft blabs – I mean, blogs – on us.

Guy ***** and I are right now the most active of the co-organizers, John and Linda ***** taking a bit of much deserved back seat time for present, but still we are an integral team and I enjoy working with each and every one of them, and also enjoy the members of our very active backyard chicken group.
Somehow, somewhere along the line, I got it in my head to organize a meetup to deal with the (to many, and to me, “ugly”) topic of processing birds. My remaining two chickens are beloved indoor/outdoor house pets, they visit schools and nursing homes etc as education and touch animals, and were in full and oblivious presence to our processing seminar, one (the Silkie) resolutely sunbathing under everyone’s feet and the other (the Silkie/Serama/Cochin cross, both are rescues from GA) running around trying to be as involved in the event as possible – other than being the processed bird!

Guy88888 demonstrates dipping a dead chicken in hot water, before plucking.
We had a crowd of a little under twenty people show up to learn how to process a chicken. Guy brought two already butchered Penedesenca roosters and in his usual, highly educated way, taught everybody the anatomy and details of processing for the dinner meal. There were many questions, much active inquiry and participation, and the crowd ranged from already-chicken-owners to chicken-owner-wannabes, and a family in tow who already has a large flock and the children are interested in processing and contributing to the dinner table.
Guy later generously donated his time and expertise to above said family and taught them in more detail and hands-on experience how to cook for the kitchen, and everyone voted for more such events.
For more information on this group, go to http://www.meetup.com/stlouischickens/ and join us in our love of chickens.
D88888, Little Sumo-San, and Cuckoo, loving our chicken community

 

[Beer can]

Hey Oz, ever research Kinder goats? They are supposed to give excellent high butterfat milk and have the best feed to meat conversion, good dual purpose and breed year round.