The Old Folks Home

[Arielle]

RE ducks..... one of my Muscovy hens took off over the house, I assumed she landed in the back yard with other group of ducks. Hours later DH sees the animal control officer at a house some distance away trying to catch a duck......well that poor hen apparently "got lost" but understood a house meant food and water. Took a bit of trickery to catch her but I was thank ful to have her back with her friends.

We clip wings more often.

 

[chickadoodles]

RE ducks..... one of my Muscovy hens took off over the house, I assumed she landed in the back yard with other group of ducks. Hours later DH sees the animal control officer at a house some distance away trying to catch a duck......well that poor hen apparently "got lost" but understood a house meant food and water. Took a bit of trickery to catch her but I was thank ful to have her back with her friends.

We clip wings more often.

Good thing you got her back.

 

[microchick]

I love ducks only second to chickens and keep threatening to get 6. In fact, if I knew then what I know now about the prevalence of Marek's on our property, I would have probably gotten ducks instead of chickens. Hearing y'all talk about the reality of them being messy little devils slaps me back to reality

The older I get the less I like slogging around in muck. I couldn't let them near our two farm ponds due to predators on land and the big bad snapping turtles in the water.

Maybe Guineas.......

 

[Wickedchicken6]

It may be that they only feed them this while they are in those tight packed finishing feed lots CAFO's for only six to eight months.
I knew our condensed whey was going to a place for animal feed, I didn't know what for, I imagined probably for the protein added to dog food maybe?
I was shocked when the driver explained it. Like I said everything that's food, snack or candy, packaging, plastic, boxes, five gallon pails, gets shredded in a mixer, supposedly they filter out the plastic (I don't believe it), add our 40% solids condensed whey, mix it up, spread it on a drying floor, dry it out, bust it up and load it on trailers for beef feed. Mmm yummy.

I find it shocking too. I wasn't aware that anything like this even occurred.

I met a gal here in the back country raising Brahma Crosses... good foragers good at handling heat... all healty feed suppliments.... She sold them as organic fed. The minut they were loaded up on the truck someone went through and injected the ears with hormone tag.... and off they went to a feed lot.

That's something I'm not familiar with, the hormones. I understand that time is money etc...etc...but I can't help but feel we're going down the wrong path in a lot of ways...not just this.

@Wickedchicken6, your herd is beautiful. Such nice healthy looking animals.

Beef farming is really big around here, mainly because crop land that is flat enough to plant is scarce. Every now and then I tell DH that maybe we should think about turning a couple of weaned steers in our pasture, fattening them up by fall and taking them in to be butchered. I'm so tired of not knowing what is going into the beef we eat. We both have just enough health problems that taking on steers is just a little more than we want to tackle. Plus, black faced cow and calf pairs right now are going for about 2500 dollars right now.

I admittedly, don't eat a lot of beef. When I do it is just 93% lean ground sirloin for hamburgers and casseroles or spaghetti and prime rib once a year at Thanksgiving. I think once a year I may indulge in a nice thick steak but that's it. The rest of the time, it's poultry or fish. Sirloin chops on occasion. Every time I start loosening up a bit and thinking I need to eat more beef, I read something about what they feed cows to fatten them up in feed lots and I have a change of heart.

DH once saw something on the internet about beef being imported from China and it being 'feed lotted' on garbage dumps. I couldn't touch beef for a long time after that revelation.

I have a hard enough time now reading about poultry 'byproducts' on our pet's food after seeing them dumping newly hatched rooster chicks into grinders when they are hatched out at egg production farms. I'm too darned soft hearted.

Gout? OUCH! My mom had that and it went right to her big toe. Glad that I've dodged that bullet so far.

Thanks! Some people tease us. I think our cattle might be spoiled just a bit. Dh was just saying when he came in that they aren't interested in the alfalfa hay, they want the millet bales. The millet bales cut as green feed and they're full of millet...lol.

We eat some beef...we find as we're getting older that both beef and pork are not quite as easy to digest. I find that disturbing about the cattle being fed on garbage dumps. I was just telling DH about the chicks. He's now teasing me that I'll build enough buildings and take all those baby rooster chicks in...all 22 million! It's hard to think about that, I agree.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

This place
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...B9oQFgiXATAE&usg=AOvVaw2bS1-Bg49cKbrTb1MEPJqT
They say "One facility recycles items from the human food production stream (‘pre-consumer’) diverting it from its previous fate of entering a landfill"
Guess that makes it sound better.

I watched a bit...but will watch the rest tonight. I guess bread and some of the other products are originally grain. I'll have to read and watch the entire video to comment.
Maybe they'll answer my question...but I can't help wonder why most of that type of food isn't rerouted to hog facilities. They are omnivorous.

 

[perchie.girl]

I love ducks only second to chickens and keep threatening to get 6. In fact, if I knew then what I know now about the prevalence of Marek's on our property, I would have probably gotten ducks instead of chickens. Hearing y'all talk about the reality of them being messy little devils slaps me back to reality

The older I get the less I like slogging around in muck. I couldn't let them near our two farm ponds due to predators on land and the big bad snapping turtles in the water.

Maybe Guineas.......

guineas and turkeys.... even though Turkeys get it they dont suffer from it... Guineas lay eggs only in the summer, unfortunately. But they are excellent foragers.

I am considering Muscovy and or runner ducks. Muscovy roost at night and are good fliers for predator evasion. we used to herd the flock down to the rifver bed for water play time.... river was more like a stream in spring.... then at dinner time they would fly back over the whole ranch. wed just bang on a trash can. This was a boarding stable not my own place by the way.... The Rest of the time they were death on horse flies and chicken flies snatching them out of the air. Prolific layers year round here... I would not keep them in less than a 50 x 100 netted enclosure though.

Runner ducks dont fly well are skittish but are excellent foragers and egg layers... So I have read.

@Alaskan Has Muscovies... I wonder how he handles their "husbandry" schmoo wise....

 

[Wickedchicken6]

if you have them long enough you get attached and it's just like taking care of all the others.

I think if I had tame ducks that's what would happen. I would have all these huggable ducks! I also want turkeys SO bad. I love turkeys...always have. But I think I already know none of the darn things will ever make it into the oven. I'll end up hugging them all and making pets.

I picked up one of my cull roosters yesterday...I've never handled this fellow. He fell asleep in my arms. So I'm stuck with a dozen plus cull roosters that are goofy pets. I should be raising awful, wicked roosters so I don't have trouble getting rid of them.

 

[ronott1]

I think if I had tame ducks that's what would happen. I would have all these huggable ducks! I also want turkeys SO bad. I love turkeys...always have. But I think I already know none of the darn things will ever make it into the oven. I'll end up hugging them all and making pets.

I picked up one of my cull roosters yesterday...I've never handled this fellow. He fell asleep in my arms. So I'm stuck with a dozen plus cull roosters that are goofy pets. I should be raising awful, wicked roosters so I don't have trouble getting rid of them.

They look like pets but after they are plucked and rested int the fridge, they look like chickens you eat from the store.

Very tasty too!

 

[perchie.girl]

I think if I had tame ducks that's what would happen. I would have all these huggable ducks! I also want turkeys SO bad. I love turkeys...always have. But I think I already know none of the darn things will ever make it into the oven. I'll end up hugging them all and making pets.

I picked up one of my cull roosters yesterday...I've never handled this fellow. He fell asleep in my arms. So I'm stuck with a dozen plus cull roosters that are goofy pets. I should be raising awful, wicked roosters so I don't have trouble getting rid of them.

Wild turkeys or heritage turkeys are goof balls.... Mr and Mrs T were my two...

 

[Wickedchicken6]

They look like pets but after they are plucked and rested int the fridge, they look like chickens you eat from the store.

Very tasty too!

I'm sure they'd likely taste much better! Gee, you'd never know we used to slaughter 60 chickens every year.