If I see it all written out, will I be able to tend it better? Lets c

[rhoda_bruce]

Been more on the SS side mosta my life, but got really wild about it, due to fear, in 2008 and somehow have never been quite as profitable....but can I do better???? IDK.

Geese....my biggest birds, so I'll start with them first. They are Chinese and although they look huge, they really are the smallest of all geese and after killing both goslings from this years hatches, I am disappointed with the amount of meat I was able to harvest. Think I will need to make an order for another meat breed. One more pair won't kill me and they great with weeding in the garden......serious mean things though. Something white, I think. Will never make the mistake of allowing her to set on her own eggs again. What a terrible broody she made, pushing out all her eggs one at a time and abandoning the job, just before hatch day.....I could have .....never mind.

Ducks.......I am partal to the french breeds, due to the beauty and I was all excited to get Rouen eggs from a friend, but I can't believe my luck that of all the eggs that hatched, I somehow only have drakes. Fortunately DH insisted on a plucker, so I will tend them on my next off time, along with a few other things I will be thinning out. I also find they are very good in the garden and perfect in a bayou region.....they swim. I was really hoping I could start eating duck eggs again, but it wasn't in the cards. Perhaps I can order some ducks too, but I think Pekings. If its for food, I do like nice skin, so a white bird will do nicely. Big and white.

Araucanas......I must admit that I was hoping more of my chicks would be rumpless. I'm desparate to breed lots of chicks now. My breeders are coming into their 3rd year and its time to think about replacing. I MUST get rid of as many tailed birds as I can. The only way to do that, is to have a lot to choose from. I only wish I had more breeders with tufts, but I can do without them.......but I am going to concentrate on losing the tails first. I think I might even eat pullets and roos this year if they have tails. I didn't before because I was only just starting out, but its time to improve my flock.

RIR flock........I'm not sure I really need to hatch out too many RIRs, but its time to change out my older hens, so maybe I can put a tray of RIRs and from there, pick out my chicks and sell or eat the rest. RIRs have taken care of my families meat, eggs needs, plus got us started in the other poultry projects, as well, so I hate to let them go. But I don't think they will be my big seller this season.

Sex-link project......the only thing I don't like about my sex-link project, is that when its time to reproduce the breeders, I won't have the males to go with the various hens, I am using with my RIR roo to make the sex-links, so I'll need to replace every 3 or so years from an outside source. I am thinking I'll do good with the project because I can now guarantee the sex of my chicks.

Brooders........hello....we only have 3, plus one set up DH put together for my hatches that fits in a big wagon. We will need to finish the barn and set up several stationary brooders. They can't possibly go to waste. Even if not for chicks, I can always do rabbits, quail or put a mean roo in jail........gotta have more brooders.

Tractors.........not unless the yard is fenced in. Had such good luck until the coyotes started showing and figured how to open the tractors and take what they wanted. And of all the things.......my Araucanas, I was trying to increase. Wonder what coyote taste like.....

Fence........Oh yeah.....diffinetely finish it. Like yesterday, if possible. Kids safer, property safer, animals safer........egg hunting, non-existant. Do it.

Bees.......time to clean up around them. Before I know it, DH will say we have to flip boxes and I can't see going in their without the wagon. Wish I could put a hive in the orchard, but if I can't police it, something mysterous always happens. I suspect fowl play, but can't prove a thing. Something always goes wrong. Besides, I think 4 is enough. We did good last year; hopefully better this year.

Garden.........not big enough. Must go completely wild with it, if I want to stop needing groceries. If we fence in the yard, we can turn the geese, ducks and guineas loose to tend the garden for us. One step at a time.......fence, then garden increase. It only makes sense.

Goats........must learn about signs of heat. Both of them could probably be pregnant now. Can't have a dairy animal without breeding. Study Rhoda!!!

Children.......They all need to start helping more.......maybe its time for a family meeting. Haven't had one in a long time. This place could be working like clockwork if everyone did their share. Amen.

Wild game......DH or DS must tend to whatever is eating all the oranges in Daddy's orchard. If its a deer or racoon.......great...I have room in the freezer.

 

[Denim Deb]

Don't know what coyote taste like, and you eat raccoon?

 

[Wannabefree]

Racoon is pretty good actually

 

[pinkfox]

in terms of geese, chinese are generally mean terrible brooders and so so on the meat (small but tastey) they make better guard dogs than geese realy.
for a good meaty, id personally go with an embden or a toulouse, the toulouse is in my opinion the best meat goose but being a "colored feather" are a little more involved to completly clean than the pure white embden.

in terms of ducks if you want eggs go with khakis or runners...theres a hybrid out there called the white layer that woudl give o alot of eggs with a white duck too but i havent had any experience with the white or golden layer breeds.
pekin will give you a great meat duck but there not great layers.
runners tend to be terrible mothers (ive yet to hear of a runner sitting full term) and khakis are only so so but youll gat 150-300+ eggs out of them a year! if your planning on hatching any though youll have to pull for the brooder or put them under a broody hen.

 

[~gd]

Might I suggest Muscovy for both meat and eggs and broodys? The drakes get heavier than your china geese or the biggest Pekins [female muscovies aren't so big] the meat isn't as fatty as geese or other ducks and it reminds me of veal or roast beef but you can still cook it to get a crispy skin if that is what you want. They both seem fixed on growing a large family, the egg size is usually Jumbo+ and if you keep them picked up the number produced can be high. About the only problem is that they really want to raise large familes [3 times /year 12-18 ducklings EACH] and if you let them do that you will get few eggs. There are White strains available for meat production. You might want to check these birds may be banned in Flordia because of their tendency to revert to the wild.

 

[Beekissed]

I agree with the Scovies....and much more quiet than other breeds. Really good moms and meaty carcasses.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I live in Louisiana. But we can grow what Florida grows. Very much south.
Well I'm not too good with broody water fowl because of the possibility of high water. I would love a muscovy, esp if I can have a white breed, but DH thinks they ugly. Eggs are diffinetely a consideration though. If I have duck eggs, I promise you, I'm not frying my chicken eggs. I should perhaps go with 2 to 4 from an egg variety and about the same from a meat variety, because when I am set up with breeders, both will be issues. I prefer using broody hens for setting of hard to hatch eggs, such as ducks, geese, guineas. I don't mind setting up the incubator for chicken eggs though. Problem here with my broodies is that when the hatching starts, I have custody battles in the nesting boxes and the babies get hurt or die. So I have used the hens to do most of the work and then when its time for lockdown, I kidnap the eggs and either slip her something else for a few days or break her brood.
I had embdens in mind for the geese. I also considered toulouse, but was wondering what the skin would look like. It might not be too bad. I had a great Christmas meal with my extended family, but someone did bring a turkey and someone else did bring a beef brisket. They all loved the gosling, but I wish it would have been much bigger. I think it dressed out at 13 LBs if I'm not mistaken. We baked the bigger of the two and still have the runt in freezer camp. So really it was only slightly bigger than your biggest Cornish X dressed out. Can anyone tell me what the dressed weight of an emden or toulouse gosling about 20 weeks would be?
If we can finish the barn soon.....and as DH said, he is giving the whole thing to me for my poultry projects, I can perhaps have a stall to use exclusively for broodies to be confined from the laying hens. Perhaps less custody battles. Sorry, but when I have to stop a fight with 2 hens and find a dead baby, I want to wring the necks of 2 hens and start plucking. I use nature, but only so much of it. We were going to have half the barn as a greenhouse, but he is now thinking of closing in under the southern part of our house for the greenhouse (we are 8 feet up and in the winter, the sun shines at leat 17 feet under there). He sees that we are coming out ahead on all the poultry projects. We either sell the eggs, chicks or raise them and eat, so they diffinetely paying their feed and then some and although we have always gardened, we never had a greenhouse, so we not sure how hot it will get. Thats another story.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Well, I got off of work, just as DH went in for his 12 hours. Did a certain amt of housework and homeschooling. Really should have continued, but I wanted to go outside and play. So I started cleaning the dried bloodweed around the hives. After I got a good pile, I cracked a match and continued a while.
I now see evidence that the goats are doing a bit to keep the weeds under control. Everything green, is nice and trim. If it wouldn't be for the dried bloodweed, that area of the yard would actually be nice. If I can make myself go in there a few times a week and rescue one hive at a time, it won't take long. I wouldn't worry so much, except that I really like taking a wagon with me everytime I tend the bees. It makes a good work platform and its always good to take a bunch of supplies and containers. There is no telling what you will need when you open them up and it always looks like whatever I need is the one thing I didn't think to bring.
Doing stuff like that seems to inspire me in other ways and I can think of the big pic better. I was looking the place over and fighting to get things cleaned hoping to use some of the area for planting and I was thinking,"I'll clean up all this dried stuff and the goats will be able to reach the green better; but why not clip the chickens wings, so they can't fly out, and let them clean up too?" I only clip the left wing, btw.
So much to do....what I hate is thinking of the perfect plan, trying it, and it not working and next year having to start all over from scratch. I'd need to win the lottery. Then I could stay home and I bet I could make everything almost perfect.

 

[Denim Deb]

What's bloodweed?

 

[pinkfox]

i can tell you average live fall weight of both toulouse and embden males is up to 20lbs! (females tend to be closer to 13lbs)
i belive most toulouse and embdens dress out anywhere from 8-12lbs,
toulouse arnt that difuclt to dress out as they are ligth enough to not be a big issue, but if your a stickler for a very clena carcass embden are the choice...toulouse have the better/large liver though so if your a big fan of Foi gras, then toulouse are the breed of choice...

muscovy are great and if the plan is to eat them, it might be easier if they are "ugly" lol