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Post by macmex on Dec 21, 2021 13:09:41 GMT -6
Well, if there's no urgency, let's just revisit the idea of getting you some more stock around May 2022. I should have a fair number of young rabbits getting ready for the freezer, then. If we set one or two aside for you, they'd be ready to breed in the fall.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 22, 2021 19:06:41 GMT -6
I'm talking after hedgeaopke, here. I'll be isolating three varieties if okra, myself. This forum should be lit up with okra next summer!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2022 23:01:53 GMT -6
I was told to secure the rabbit hutch tightly some time ago.
I stumbled across rabbit and chicken groups online and there are droves of newbies and folks looking to raise either or. Really incredible.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 7, 2022 13:11:56 GMT -6
There is a real homey feeling where chickens and rabbits are concerned. You can't do things like that if you live in an apartment building. They just make you feel like you've arrived at a place where you belong. I just now heard one of the hens cackling out beside the house. I know she has been laying off somewhere and I need to go look for her nest. Things like that keep your heart warm in Winter, knowing there is something that needs your care and it also cares for you in return. kind of like having a good dog, except, EGGS! When I find her nest, it will be banana bread time!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2022 18:22:29 GMT -6
Probably be a good idea to order your peat now.
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Post by macmex on Jan 9, 2022 6:29:19 GMT -6
Many people, when first thinking of becoming more self reliant think of chickens. I can see why. Too many, though, want to purchase adult, laying hens, to start out. With what they cost, that pretty well eliminates any profit from the eggs obtained. We have a flock of really good Buckeyes, which we've maintained since 2011. No need to bring in outside blood. We get both eggs and meat from these birds. Additionally, in the course of producing meat birds I always end up with extra hens. They sell well.
In my opinion rabbits are even more versatile than chickens. We use a cage system, hanging the cages in a dedicated room in our barn. We can crank up production until the whole family is tired of rabbit meat, packing our freezers, etc. Rabbit is the most economical meat we produce too. I've worked their forage needs into my garden maintenance routine. During the growing season the rabbits receive a large portion of their nutritional needs from things I cut from the garden and fence rows. If I had to do without any outside input, rabbits would be easier to produce.
Still, we love our chickens.
Muscovy ducks are another huge meat producer (and eggs). I like their eggs even better than chicken eggs. But they really need room to roam. They're huge on foraging and consume lots of insects as well as rodents and small reptiles and amphibians. To me, their main shortcoming, though, is that processing a duck is much more time consuming than a chicken. Still, we keep them and eat them. Duck is the closest thing to red meat that our daughter can safely consume. Duck is "party food' in the McLaughlin home.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2022 16:13:53 GMT -6
We absolutely must have eggs. Many have suggested Muskovy but I am not certain about keeping them. Chickens will be super hard for me through the learning process, but I've thought it through and my daughter promises me she is eager to help.
We plan on starting off with 4 pullets with the primary purpose of learning to care for chickens. I do not even have space for chicks, much less the equipment. I figure after learning to care for chickens well, the production will automatically come in.
I think it will be a headache, but maintaining one breed stock is best. This may be problematic for me as a constant noisy rooster isn't a good idea (which is why people have suggested Muskovy or Campbell ducks).
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 9, 2022 20:41:41 GMT -6
You don't need a rooster to raise hens for egg production. They lay eggs regardless. If you need more chicks, just buy them from a local feed store. I usually have a hen to go broody about once per year and just place a chick under her at night. when she wakes up the next morning; she'll think she hatched it and will quit the nest. If you buy a pullet chick in Spring, it will start laying eggs that Autumn, or sometimes later on in Winter. The first eggs will be sporadic, but when Spring rolls back around they'll be hitting on all cylinders. we only use about 3 eggs per day, so I try not to keep more than 4 hens. I just add a new chick every year as the older hens cycle out, to keep them laying between 2 and 4 eggs per day for the kitchen.
Keeping hens is as easy as pie; they basically just take care of themselves if you have a place for them to roam free during the days. Sometimes dogs are a problem. That's where a really mean rooster comes in handy. If you don't have a Daisy BB gun, get one at a pawn shop somewhere, you'll likely need one to run off dogs. Dogs are inherently scared of guns, so most of the time all you have to do is scold them and point it, but it helps to be able to back up your words with a BB in case there is one that is hard-headed.
I usually just shoot a piece of barn tin or a trash can or something nearby when I see a dog around. The noise usually makes them head for the hills.
if you have a henhouse, chickens will naturally want to roost there, if not, they'll probably be possom or owl bait, so for that reason, I lock mine up every night.
My henhouse has a walk-thru door for me to go in and out and a tiny chicken door that opens and closes at the bottom of my walk-thru door, so the hens can run for cover with a dog chasing them, but the hole is too small for a dog to follow them inside. I never leave the main walk-thru door open, I just leave the chicken door open during the day and close it at night. If you have a ramp leading up to the chicken door, be sure to nail cleats across it so you won't slip and fall on wet or icy mornings.
When building a henhouse, just make sure you have a place for the hens to roost that is higher than any nest boxes, as they will always go for the highest spot to roost. If your nest box is that spot, they'll roost in it at night and foul your nest.
A chicken will roost anywhere you set it at night. All you have to do to get them started roosting in your henhouse is catch them using a flashlight and place them on the roost after dark. The next night, they'll usually go back to that same place. (Sometimes though, you'll get a chicken that prefers a treetop, no matter what, but most of them will naturally go to roost wherever you but them that first night.
No matter how careful you are, you'll likely lose a few chickens to dogs, but I've found that stringing an electric fence around the perimeter of the henhouse really seems to help in that regard. It doesn't even have to be hot after the neighborhood dogs have tested it out a few times. They won't cross it again after it has zapped them a few times. I take my dogs with me each morning to check the eggs and talk to them about not eating my hens. They understand more than you might think, although, some dogs are just killers. Some dogs will just lay for an opportunity to sneak around and kill a hen no matter what you do to him, short of getting rid of him or shooting him. Most can be trained though. I have 5 dogs right now and none of them will kill a bird.
You will probably have problems with keeping chickens out of your garden though. They love tomatoes. My wife about got rid of all my chickens because of a cantaloupe one time. They waited until it was just turning ripe, then pecked it full of holes. Ducks and geese don't seem to be such a problem where gardens are concerned, but chickens love to scratch for worms and will uproot almost any seedling they see (especially if it is mulched with straw).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2022 9:55:03 GMT -6
Yeah, dogs are the worst even in our city. The timid city dogs become emboldened when they run in two or more. Took out five kits last year. The kits didn't know how to be still and, instead, would run around encouraging the dogs to become more aggressive. They're only a prob at night.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2022 7:04:21 GMT -6
Atwood's brought the popcorn popper back into the store. All is well again. I was beginning to worry.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 18, 2022 10:40:59 GMT -6
It has been a long time since I've seen any popcorn at Atwoods. Maybe the world will get back to normal someday. Which reminds me, the Doctor's Office got their magazines back in too. They had removed them when the covid scare came along. Now they are back.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2022 18:28:25 GMT -6
Now I miss cream in muh ☕.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jan 18, 2022 21:26:00 GMT -6
Not being familiar with Atwood’s, I was trying to figure out if “popcorn popper” was somehow an expression for a pen for chicks or something. I think just because it followed on the earlier discussion of raising chickens. Nope, just popcorn. I got a good chuckle at myself, so I thought you all might get a chuckle, too.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2022 2:46:25 GMT -6
Lol! Yeah, they provide free popcorn! It's just one of those little things with big emotional attachments.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jan 19, 2022 20:23:46 GMT -6
Everyone needs an Atwoods. At their grand opening in Tahlequah, they built a corral inside the store and had Big Jake, (the world's biggest horse) in there walking around eating hay while everyone else was eating popcorn. From that day on I was hooked. They sell feed, tack, guns, canning supplies, clothes, food, hardware, charcoal grills, patio furniture, cleaning supplies, kind of anything you need, so you don't have to contend with the crowds at Walmart. They even sell nickel candy on the honor system. Take a piece, leave a nickel.
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