Cacklin' thread for chick'n'chat

thanks to DustyDS for this idea. seems it has been done in the past, but not for a while, so i wanted to get this started.... just one little thread to chat away on, [LOL like it is gonna STAY litte?] bragging about our fowl... ummmm, goats, and other live-stock. yes, that would include guinea pigs, meal worms and fly larvae too!

so..... because we now have five less eating roos, we also now have two less dogs and one less cat. but not for long, puss'n'boots turned out to be a female, and is PREGO! hopefully the youngest chicks are too big for the rats now. we must have another influx of young cotton rats, my herb garden was completly eaten down save for two small rosemary plants. ARGGGHHH! this after the destruction of one raspberry seedling and 7 clematis seedlings.... this IS war...

all seedlings are now living in pots in the dining room.... with Zook and Yook, my new frizzled cochins, and Chocolate, the first of my brown "Giant Buckeyes", and his 52 buddies, asst bantams from Ideal, thanks to our friend the Chicken Fairy...

and if we count everyone, including the new pigeon, the ducks, geese and guineas, then we now have just more than twice what i started with two years ago in March... despite all the heartbreaking losses...

so, has the chicken fairy been good to you this year?

Yep, she sure has. We started in April with the hatchlings coming: 21 of them, 12 red sex-links, and the 10 keets and 10 little roos that came with them. We still have all except for 1 keet that died. We must be doing something right to have that much going. We did, however lose our Penny on April 28th, and do not plan on replacing her. She tied us down because if we wanted to go anywhere overnight, we had to put her in the kennel. The cats can take care of themselves for a day or two, and the poultry would be taken care of by our next-door neighbor who is a farm boy from Kentucky, so he knows what to do for them.

The livestock fairy has blessed me with two guinea pigs, two sheep, two goats, six ducks, and more chicks! All this with my Water Dragon, two dogs, one cat, daughter's two gerbils, and the flock o' chickens I already had!

With a very pregnant doe goat on my hands if I see that livestock fairy she's getting a piece of my mind. And Heaven knows I can't spare it!
My doe isn't due till late September into early October. I was told she wouldn't show till about August. Ha! She looks pregnant now. My luck she'll decide to have triplets or quads (she was a triplet herself). This is her first time (and mine) so neither of us knows what to do!! By September you will find me in a total panic.

MollyD

Oh Lord Molly,

I was a first time goat owner and we had triplets and my at that time 2 yr old grandson got to watch with us the birth of triplets. It is kinda hard on 1st timers (not the moms but the watchers). You may have to help but from my experience and trust me it varies from young to older, to help a bit. We put our preggers up in the barn, that is if we could convince them to go into a stall. This particular goat we didn't have to help. She was at least 2 yrs old. She had been there done that.
Good luck
L2G

Thanks L2G. We figure on penning her in the shelter (there's a pen in there) about 1 week before she's due. That way we can make sure she's eating right and watch her more closely. I'm prepared for her to be very vocal about this! Milly does not like to be out of the loop. She is one nosey doe!!
I keep hearing horror stories about babies being breach or sideways. Experts loosing them or their mothers. Having to bottle feed them and my mind is saying what on earth have you let your self in for.

June 8th I had to give my bucklings their booster shots. That was hard enough but now both boys have lumps where they got their shots. Needles were clean (never touched them with my bare hands). Used different needles for each kid. So no idea why the swelling. Tommy had his lump first and today I noticed it was a little smaller than yesterday. Huck got his lump yesterday and today it's much bigger. Hope it goes down by tomorrow. Both have good appetites so I figure they're not feeling poorly.

MollyD

What a great idea.. a chatty thread, we all know I can chat.
The plunge into chickens this year has been great.. I think all my guys are thriving.. and I am learning.
My next project I would like to dip into goats, their purpose would be for milk, soap, cheeses, I don't believe I am interested in meat goats at this time.
After goats, the next livestock on my list is a Dexter cow.. just enough milk to make the few products we would want..

These are all meant for our personal use not for sale, although I may have to look at that later down the road to fund my projects.

Oh shoot I cant remember what that is called it is common with shot to get a lump. With mine they went away. My Dh would say how the heck did these goats survive in the wild with out us messing with them. He is more natural. I try to be very organic to the point I even made a natural wormer out of things in the house and OMG it stank the house up. I also read all them horror stories and i was mortified. I said HECK no I am NOT going up there to get that baby. I have had yet to have to. And them about them sists or lumps, I read that also and again was mortified. They went away. Only time I had to give pennicelin (sp?) was when a neighbor dog went for the rear end of one my goats. We ended up selling the lot about 20+ of them. Just got tired of them getting in my fenced in yard. With them boogers there is a way they have the will. They will make a way to get in. And the mean ole "billie" was mean. I might get a female or to once I can build a proper place for them, maybe a young male I can raise and he wont attack me. Im scared of a rooster so...........its from child hood.

My 1st set of babies born were twins both boys, Joe and Moe. I babied them even to the day they became dinner they would come up to me and I could hand feed them. Gosh I miss the goats now , just not the turmoil they caused.
Sorry this got to long.


L2g

Hey, L2g, that is why this thread was started. So we could chat ourselves out and no-one would get antsy about it.

GG

I love the goats L2G but I hate the way they act at meal times. I get clobbered with them jumping up on me to get at the bucket before I can put it in their feed bin. Often they'll spill it and that stuff cost a lot now. You know they won't eat it off the ground so it's wasted.
Mine are all meat goats. We started out to get one goat, then learned that goats get depressed without another goat so we looked for two does. Well found two sisters but one came with the kids! Of course since we wanted meat to eat the other sister had to be bred. Then we got the wether to keep the kids company since we were planning to sell one of them. Now we need 2 does for the boys to mate with and we need a buck for their mother and aunt. It goes on from there! I don't want to end up with a huge herd to feed!!! I'm hoping Milly's are all boys so I can wether them and they'll all be for meat. We can eat does too but you just know you get tempted to keep one or two if they're girls.
The guy who sold the goats to me is my 'goat' mentor. He's very knowledgeable about goats and is heavily involved in the local goat association. He told me it was the shots and would go away. He was surprised that the lumps are so large though. They're big enough to fill the palm of my hand. Normally they're nickle size. I'm surprised at the length of time between giving the shot (June 8th) and developing the lumps (June 21). I would have thought a reaction would be faster than that.

MollyD

sorry about your goats MD! wish you could give them a natural antihistamine for their reaction...

if i don't get some more shells for the gun, i may end up with a flock of cresteds LOL. at being from ideal they can all quarantine together...

oh, my i'm getting a headach.e..

TF is it really true they euthanize the chicks they don't sell? I just saw 2 ads from Ideal saying they needed to ship these chicks out tomorrow and Wednesday. One for mixed bantams, the other for crested mix.

Why in the world would I want more baby chicks when I haven't built coops for these yet?

Why would they have eggs to hatch that nobody ordered? I sent Ideal an email today and asked what happened to the chicks nobody bought, so far no reply.

Karen

Well put Granny!

Molly....are there other goat herds in your area with the breeds you are looking for? I don't know if they do this for goats, but is there any way to 'borrow' a buck to get your doe bred. For some animals they charge a stud fee for doing this, but it should be a lot less that buying another goat that you don't really need or want. Just a thought.

Christy

Christy there are other goat owners around here. The problem is diseases. People with a clean herd won't let you bring a doe onto their property and won't allow their buck to be on yours. People who would rent their buck out usually have such sick (and unregistered) animals from poor bloodlines that it's not worth it.
The bucks we're looking at start at $500. and up. We saw the perfect one at the goat auction on Saturday but he sold for $950.

MollyD

Well if Ideal has spare chicks that nobody wants and sells out early of the chicks that everyone wants (usually rarer), why don't they hatch more of the unusual ones?

Good point. I have more than enough to take care of here anyway.

I think they hatch out more than they sell because you never know what sex you are going to get before they are hatched. Also, they don't know how many chicks they are going to sell at any given time. And since most people want pullets, most likely the chicks they have now are roosters.

Since they have filled most of their orders for this year, they are offering them at a low price to get rid of them, so they don't have to kill them. Which they will.

GG

Molly....that makes a lot of sense.....especially given what the breed you have costs. I guess if it were me with goats worth so much, I wouldn't take any risks either. We did that with cows after we got a good start. Closed herd, mostly. We had 2 different bulls at different times, but mostly AI'd. When we had cows, they cost $1800 to $2200 each and one got sick and died despite all the medical care that could be thrown at her.....it was a HUGE loss. Especially if she was pregnant with a heifer calf. When we got out of the business, we has offers of $600 as soon a heifer hit the ground. It was wild!
If there are a lot of goat farms around you, does anyone offer AI services? I would have no idea how to find one or what they would charge. For cows, it was $20 to over $100 depending on the sire you wanted per tube, plus a $7 trip charge. I don't know if you are looking for a different alternative.....just trying to come up with a way for you not to have even more mouths to feed!
The feeding problem......is there any way to distract them while you get the grain in the feed bin? Something they like to eat that doesn't cost much? If they have something they can eat that they love more than the grain, you could feed a little of it to keep them busy just long enough to get the bins full. Do they like carrots? Around here you can get a great big bag of whole ones for not very much.

Granny.....that's what I thought too, about the reason they hatch out more than they can sell. With it taking 3 weeks minimum to hatch out eggs and longer for others, if they only set what they had orders for, we might have to wait a lot longer to get our orders. Then there are always people that call and cancel orders. Those eggs are probably already in the incubator when someone calls and does that.
You know, until tf wrote about what happens to unsold chicks, I had never given it any thought. I don't know why, I guess I thought they were all always sold. It's sad. I have to wonder why a hatchery wouldn't offer these unsold chicks locally for REALLY cheap or even free, before they 'off' them?

Christy

TF.. Thanks fer gittin er dun.....
I have been in a tornado of activity here trying to get the rest of this house packed up and all the small stuff moved up to the Homestead...
I have early call for work tomorrow at 7am...Gonna be a 4 day week, but a verrrry long one for me.. My baby son, who turned 28 today, will be here Friday night and we will load up everything Sat AM...Thankfully I think I have everything ready to go...I showed this house tonight at 6pm, and the lady took it...Thankfully...I sure didn't want to have to show it anymore before the weekends move...

Guess I better get to bed...Y'all be good and I'll check in on ya tonight...

Dusty

did i say that? i guess somewhere just not in this thread. i belive i saw the video on you tube... it was BAD.

since Ideal is also a Poultry Bredding Farm, maybe they riase some for that purpose, or sell them to local feed stores that can pick them up at a later date.

i just really appreciate that they are willing to sell them so cheap in order to find them homes.

thinking about all the floods in the midwest, can you just imagine how may people had to cancel or reschedule their chicks? just like LB said, they are already in the bator, so what do you do if there is nobody to ship them to?

will make a decision in the AM. have to admit i was very disappointed that none of the asst bantams were crested... lots of cochins, brahmas, seabrights, and OEG.... and lots i have no clue about, will have to look at some pics when i have time...

a friend and i are going in on this, in order to sell them. i don't mind having extras, gonna run an ad in the paper this Sunday. lots of people need chickens, and they don't even know it yet! ^_^

Karen, you could do the same thing. get a 7 dollar wading pool from the Dollar General. bantams are so small, 50 fit quite easily. some of the crested will be standard size though. run an ad and sell them for 3-4 dollars each, and give out chick care info to the buyers... post notices at Gebo's. my Gebo's in Amarillo is referring potential buyers to me since they no longer care to have chicks for sale... and they sold a LOT of chicks this year... well, just a thought.

folks, i am done thinking for the night LOL. glad we are utilizing this thread. anyone on dial-up internet should let us know when it takes too long to load, then we just start a new one and put a link here to it.

tf

I'm dial-up, still loading fine here : )

goodness Dusty, scared me there for a second when you said TORNADO!!! i bet you ahve been one busy little bee!!! congrats on the sale, can't wait for you to get the homestead going.

hey, you might as well jump in and order those chicks from Ideal Tuesday or Wednesday, CHEAP!

i think asst bantams hatch on Ts, cresteds on Wd... i got mine last week on thursday. there is no shipping charge in the state of Texas, but a 7 dollar fee for orders less than 100 chicks... gee, this is beginning to sound like a Save the Chicks commercial. anyone want to change the subject? seen any chicken fairy's on the side of the road? road-kill? buckets? growing live proteing LOL...

chicks are a nice subject, huh?

tf

TF.. You are a brat...LOL....I cannot order ANY varmints until I have fences up...
My poor dogs are really gonna suffer until I get the yard fence up...They have a 20x20 pen now and are used to over 1/2 acre to run in...
Now I really AM going to bed!! LOL
Hugggs

Christy last night I tossed lots of locust branches into their pen before I went in to feed them. They were so busy eating those they almost didn't spot me till one of the kids saw me and snitched. This morning I did the same thing. This time they did come running at me but since they had eaten some they weren't as frantic for their grain. I was able to push the does back with my foot. One hand is holding the feed bucket and the other is closing the door so I don't get grief from Paul cause they went in there. That only leaves my foot for pushing them back I'm afraid. Still I did manage to get them fed without hoof prints on me.
AI - yes I've been looking into that. There is only one person who did it and no one knows if he still does. Tubes from good bucks start at $100.00 and up. Haven't been quoted the other fees. If I find someone it would be far cheaper to go that route and give me access to different bloodlines.

MollyD

come on Dusty, they are such small little creatures, they just need a spot in your guest bathtub, a wading pool, or a toddlers playpen?!

hey Dusty.. I'm just a wee bit of a drive from you..
you buy them, pay for their feed and I take care of them till...
I could hold-em, love-em and pet-em till they grow up ugly.. then you'd be ready to eat-em.. hehe...

I do miss the little ones. Romping around playing king of the mountain, butting heads and such. Maybe in the future when I am more apt to take better care of them. When we had them they were free range. They had 45 acres to transgress on. I dont know how many escapees we had over the 3 years we had them. Or had to go out to the fence line cause one got its horns stuck in the fence. Maybe!!!!!!! Time will tell. I do love to eat goat, very good. And good for you.
L2G

That's sure a good start Molly! Score for you! I don't know how your set up is.....but is there anyway of reaching over the fence and dumping their feed in that way? You would have to be able to get one heck of a good grip on the bucket though. I used to have the same problem with calves.....small and big ones. I also used to use my body to block the feeder when I fed....but if you did it this way with goats we's have to start singing a song for you.....to the toon of 'Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer' ........Molly got run over by some goats, walking from the barn one fine eve, you could say there no such thing as killer goats, but that's what we have all come to believe! This could continue in song for a while....including goat hoof prints on you back........lol.........sorry, slipped off into la la land for a minute! Hope you think it's as funny as I did! (the situation isn't though, but hearing you describe it I got all kinds of images in my head!)

Wow......$100 or more a pop, huh? I sure hope you can find decent bloodlines for better prices! That could really add up fast. I don't know how easily doe's 'take', but I know with cows some can take 3 or more times to 'stick' and for breeding to 'take'. That's not always the case, we used to have pretty good luck with it taking the 1st time.....it might just depend on the animal. Of course, goes might get pregnant very easily, I'm not sure.

Christy

Do you know a "billy" can take a herd of 200+ and keep the ladies happy. He is like the energizer bunny........ wont go any more into detail there. If you know male goats then you know what i mean. 500 bucks for a male with good bloodline is a very good price. Just think, at AI at 100 bucks a pop times 200. You will have a herd in no time. We were not prepared for what we got our selves into when we started. We did have quite a few butchered, but we just didnt know what we were getting into. If I do it again it will start out small time and my yard will be more fortified than Fort Knox. I will be goat proof. We got run of the mill off the line, this time will be reg. with good bloodlines.

Listen tome I am talking like I am going to go ahead and do it. Someone slap me.
Have a good day
L2G

Christy I talked to Jim this morning and he says it's rather complicated with does. You have to give them a shot to get them into heat and to make sure they're ready you have to (blushing here) insert a butterfly thingy into them to errrrr stimulate them . Then they're ready for the AI implant.

L2G when we first thought to raise goats we talked to a lot of people. The general consensus was poor goats eat just as much as good ones and give you less in return. So we went the registered route. Ours are all purebreds. Next best is fullbred. We want our buck to be fullbred.
A buck can cover many does but most breeders won't let a buck cover more than 30 does a year for health reasons. It weakens them.
I've been lucky with my fencing. I'm using welded wire with 3" openings. It's mounted on metal T-post every 4ft. So far so good (knock on wood!).

We're going to look at some bucklings later this week or next week. Also Jim is willing to let one of his bucks (out of Starbuck) cover my does so no rush there. We'd just have to bring them over to him. He knows these are healthy since he sold them to me and I don't have any other goats here from other sources. That slows the rush down for a buck. Still need 2 does for my boys.

MollyD

very good plan there Molly. I was being silly with the 250 does to one buck. It can be but wouldnt recommend it lol. What I was told and not sure its right, you want cross in your females and full blood in your male. The cross does will give you 3 "litters" every 2 years. The full blood does will only give 1 a year.

If I do it again I will pick and choose and get what I want.
L2G

L2G someone mislead you on that. There is no advantage to using a percentage (that's what they called crosses) doe. In fact the purebreds usually have an advantage. If you are going to be using registered goats you want to move away from percentages and stay with full or purebreds. Otherwise in one or two generations you've lost the money you spent on getting your first goats cause the new ones won't be worth much.
Do you know what breed you are interested in? Milk or meat goats? My Boers can produce 2 litters a year of up to 4 babies each time(it takes 5 months for each pregnancy). Normally I won't let them do more than one a year cause it's not too healthy to do every year.This year Milly will be bred in December even though she'll have given birth in Sept-Oct. I want to get both does on the same December cycle (means babies in May). No such thing as purebred does only breeding once a year. You should do some online research on the breed you want. Also there is an online group called Goat Wisdom that is very good.

MollyD

We had Boer cross. I say cross, they were full boer but different kinds. If that makes any sense. If I get them it will be for meat. My mama's threw some pretty babies. Does Akido or something like that sound right. Id have to go thru my files I burried to never look back on.

If i get them again they will be babies from the get go. A goat can be trained, takes work but they can be. I will start out small.

SLAP L2G!!!! SLAP! Molly is sending the goat fairy to Oklahoma!!!

would y'all believe, i just got a callback from Ideal. I left a message with FRAN??? but she no longer works there, some other lady called me back. wante dto set me up for JULY? i said the speical is only good through june30, she said they are all sold, HOORAY! but she would honor the special OOPS...

so, if any chick is left stadning tomorrow, it's coming my way, other wise, will get them in July, which is just around the corner...

tf

OUCH ok I am back to reality here. NO MORE goats for me lol. My call came from Missy and yes mine is going to be shipped out July 9th, which is good, gives me time to get HWMBO in line to do the jobs. I will get it all tore down (the old wire) and he can remodel.

so, what did you order? i am sure inquiring bird brains want to know...

I ordered (if that was to me) just the special run. Hopefully more hens than roosters but my luck............

L2G never heard of anything called Akido. In Boer's there's just that. They come in different colors from Red (which to me looks brown) to painted to white with the dark head and variations in between but all are called Boer's. The only distinction is how much Boer blood they've got.

MollyD

Akido may refer to a champion boer they are descended from, often lines are named after some great sire from some-wher-or-other...

yeppers, you! they will call me if i get any from tomorrows batch, otherwise i get to wait as well. i got the asst bantams last week, got the crested special this week. so, which special did you get?

Yes but when they refer to a particular buck they will say something like my twins are referred to as out of a Designer 19 kid. Their father is the Designer 19 Kid. No one says they're Designer 19 Boers.

MollyD