A lot of things we do on the farm are for the experience. My father and I were hobby beekeepers. I still have a couple of hives. With the money we spent on box, frames and an extractor we could have bought all the honey we would ever eat. However it was a bond that he and I shared 40+ years ago and now I can share it with my child. Enjoy the chickens and your time with daughter; that is what really matters.
To Chicken or not to Chicken?
- Thread starter RjCorazza
- Start date
forgeblast
Elite Member
Marhar agree 100% we just got our chicks in yesterday. My daughter has been a mother hen to them and she is having so much fun with them. Its an experience she will always remember.
forgeblast, reading the you comment made me smile. When I was about 9 my father and I would go to the basement and assembly of beehives, put wax in the frames and then paint the outside. 40+ years later I still remember working with him.
Me neighbors are great and encouraged their son to work with me: A few years ago their son (about 12) worked with me to catch a swarm. To see the smile on his face and to see his mother taking pictures meant as much to me as it did to him....Country Living at its best!
ponytug
Super Member
Avian flu has now been seen in foxes in Minnesota and Ontario. (To be expected, since they, like raptors, feed on dead birds.)
www.startribune.com
Stay safe.
All the best,
Peter
Virus that has killed scores of birds turns up in first wild mammal in Minnesota
Fox kit in Anoka County tested positive for bird flu, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
www.startribune.com
Stay safe.
All the best,
Peter
JethroB
Veteran Member
- Joined
- May 19, 2020
- Messages
- 2,137
- Location
- Really Deep Southeast
- Tractor
- Kubota L5460 HSTC Cab, MF 135 Diesel
Raising fast food 4lb size it sounds like. Ellijay? I was with Gold Kist for 20 years, lastly in Athens until PP messed us up.
fishdrivel
Gold Member
I lived in Japan where an egg still tastes like an egg. Wonderful flavor!
I lived in California where eggs have no flavor - sad!
As mentioned before, if you let them free range you are susceptible to predator loss. I let my hens out at around 9:00 this morning and went about my business. I went back up a few hours later to get some shavings for my young birds and knew something was wrong. One bird was up in the road, obviously injured; while there were no others around. I let Ruger out and he immediately confirmed something was wrong; he immediately went into search mode, driving 2 hens out from under a trailer. He ran about 600 feet up the field and found another; then started tearing around in the neighbor's woods, searching. He found 2 definite kill sites and probably a couple more before I had to call him off. He's not as young as he used to be but would search 'til he dropped... something a lot of people with house dogs don't understand. I had 11 birds this AM, now I can account for 5, but one of them I probably will have to kill.
That's the chance you take with free ranging birds though. It's been at least 3 years since I lost any to predators... that time it was a very similar story. Someday I will get the field fenced in.
That's the chance you take with free ranging birds though. It's been at least 3 years since I lost any to predators... that time it was a very similar story. Someday I will get the field fenced in.