It has been a long while since I did a post purely on questions and answers. I thought it might be time for another one. Though I have always encouraged questions in any of my replies, some of you, in the past, have waited for one of these posts.
So feel free to ask away. As long as it is within reason, I will do my best to answer it. And remember you can post anonymously if you wish.
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11 comments:
Via LJ. Killi is having problems getting onto blogger today;
What kind of new birds have you ordered? I ordered theOrnamental Layer Collection, I needed pullets. Large fowl or bantams? large. Exactly what animals do you have? I have chickens, geese, goats, sheep, dogs, cats and a turtle. Numbers? 4 chickens, 2 geese, 3 goats, 1 sheep, 4 dogs, 8 cats, 1 turtle {anyone want a kitten?} What else do you want? I would like to have more sheep, some dexter cows, a draft horse, and my donkey. Are you going to be building your house? Yes, hopefully soon. What materials? Log. Will you do it yourselves or get people in to help/do it completely? We plan on doing it ourselves, but help is always wanted. When you camp do you use a tent or a camper? Tent. What sort of tent, if tent? a dome from Coleman. When do you find time to read? Usually when it is raining or at night. Do you do any handicrafts/ artwork? I make chainmaille. When do you write your novel? at night or early mornings. & your ezine articles? same as the novel. Do you name your animals (besides Donkey)? Yes we do, only if we have no plans of eating them. Will that do for now? yes ma'am, thank you.
I'm ON!
I'm not familiar with these, means little though as I really only know Cuckoo Marans, Welsummers, Cochins, Silkies, Buff Orpingtons & the smal ones are Banties! Will you get a cockerel ,or buy hatching eggs/more pullets in?
I daren't have sheep with my 5 dogs, the goats can take care of themselves & I'm not allowed cattle as I think I'm only allowed to keep 1/2 a cow on the land I own (EU directives on stocking).
What kind of Draught Horse? Mine is a Gypsy Cob (Gypsy Vanner over there). She was mated with an Irish Draught this time.
I'll copy odd bits from Rolfe Cobleigh's book for you regarding house building :)
How do you make your chainmaille? forged? What is it used for?
I was thinking about naming my so far favourite Banty hen chick (I think she's a she) Phelan because she is so gorgeous & so unusual ~ I must take a picture of her & post it.
If you had the choice, would you leave your homestead?
Killi, woohoo! How on earth do you keep 1/2 cow? I'm not sure what kind of draft horse I am looking for, need ot do some more research, but that is in the future.
Thank you.
Field fencing works the best. I coil, cut and link it myself. Mostly I make jewelry.
awww...it's a perfect Irish name for the perfect Irish chick. :D
Rhonda, If I had the choice...depends on the day you ask me. Some days, yes. I want to go back to suburbia. It is so much simplier and lazy. BUt days like today, where things are going well. No, I do not want to ever leave.
Are you both (you and the S.O.) there together 24/7 and, if so, how close to you come to throttling each other and how often? This is a SERIOUS question, I might add.
Lin, unfortunatly we are not able to live without working outside of the home. I am here most of the time, my husband works in the city. Even if we were together, we both have individual projects that keep us away from each other. We do argue at times {usually about how I am managing to mess something up} But we tend to get along very well.
I have a question. I had a leghorn and a Rhode Island Red. I raised four chicks. We introduced the three month old chicks, now pullets, to the chicken coop - slowly at first only during the day, then in the coop, but separate from the hens at night, and then just all together.
The Red never liked the pullets and would attack them whenever she got the chance, often leaving them with bloody beaks.
She was otherwise a great hen, a fabulous layer, but unfortunately, something (we believe now it was a raccoon) got her.
The "something" got two of the four babies in the last week.
This afternoon, my daughter went into the coop to close up the chickens, and one of the babies had a deep, heavily bleeding gash on her neck. She died, probably from blood loss.
I'm afraid it may have been the leghorn this time. There was no evidence that our "predator" was even in the area.
Do chickens do that? And if so, how can I introduce new pullets to the leghorn? Or can I? I've heard that chickens shouldn't be alone, that they need company, but Penny actually pecked at the pullet today, and I just left her in the coop ... alone, and brought Emily in the house ... alone. I'm planning to get some pullets (not chicks this time), but I'm concerned about whether or not Emily will accept the pullets, and really concerned that Penny will beat them up, and possibly kill one, like I'm afraid she did to Brownie. Any ideas?
I've introduced bought in chickens to my flock & put them in at night. Cecil, the Banty cock, attacks Woodstock, the Cochin cock ~ 4 times his size, so Woody won't go in the cowshed where they live. I'm lucky in that I put the poultry in an old cowshed & still have my original henhouses so they can remain separate. With bought in & self hatched babies I have Winter rabbit runs (rabbit hutches with attached wire meshed runs) that in the past I put in the shed & then opened the run so the littlies could get out if they want to. This time I have more babies than adults! My poultry, at the moment, is totally free range ~ they can go anywhere on my land & into the baby forestry nearby, but, as the Beddy goes through phases of chasing anything feathered I'd like to give them a well fenced area behind the cowswhed ~ there's a window with a ramp up 1 side & a ramp down the other & a lockable door to close the window. They'll have an interesting area to play in, dust for bathing, a seasonal (in rain) spring, grass of sorts, the hay barn, a wooded area that actually stays dry & safety from my & Christy's dogs! I'd like to put some of the ducks & the goose in the goat field ~ there is a boggy area there which the ducks will love & the goats will keep the grass down for the goose. At the moment no goats are in it!
Wendy, my first suggestion is the easiest, and that would be to dress out the leghorn. But that doesn't sound like something you want to do. I have yet to find a way to fix behavioral problems in birds. Is there such a thing as a chicken whisperer? I have not dealt with a hen that is so agrrasive as the one you describe. My roosters on the other hand... Wanting to keep her might mean seperating her from the other's. Has or does she get along with any of the other's at all? Perhaps a private run for her will be in order, something that she can have visual access to the young ones that you bring in, but no contact. My goose is similar. She has the run of the pen {1/2 acre} and we have set up a smaller coop and dog run for the chicks. The minumum tie we leave the chicks seperate is two weeks, we have left them in there up to a month. It depends on how she takes to them. she tries to eat the bannies. Maybe that would be a better situation for your leghorn, keeping a seperate smaller pen for you new ones, allow her to have the larger run, and give them time to grow accustom to each other. There will be fights to show who rules the roost. Yet if it countinues, it will not be worth it to keep her. Good luck, and try a live trap to see what is eating your birds.
How many loads of laundry do you do in a week? Do you make your own laundry detergent, do you use an electric washing machine and dryer, or do you hand wash and line dry?
Ginny, I do at least 1 load a day. I recently purchased new washer and dryer. I rarely spend a lot of money on products like this, but these are the weight wash/sensor dry types. I do both line dry and use an electric dryer. During the winter my clothes ill freeze if I tried to line dry them. I do not make my own laundry soap, the biggest reason being I can not find the ingredents locally to do so.
I do have a large wash basin to hand wash my clothing if I feel I need to. I haven't got to the point yet.
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