Baymule
Herd Master
Hmm maybe I need another apricot tree.
Devonviolet Acres
- Thread starter Devonviolet
- Start date
Bruce
Herd Master
Because you WANT one! Typically I do not. Going to be hard filling my customers' 4 dozen a week sales with 2 of the better layers trying to hatch shavings. But Angel will be down for a couple more months if I get her chicks AND she accepts them.Why does everyone else have broodies and I don’t?
Yeah that will surely make one of your hens go broody!
Mini Horses
Herd Master
Lay a clutch, set the eggs...that's her MO.
Broodies? I have 3 with chicks, 1 should hatch within the week. 2 more thought it looked like the thing to do! They went broody. I need to take their golf ball from each and put eggs under them.
I'm actually thinking I may buy eggs OR day old chicks and let them go for it. One is an old BO, other a yr old RIR, so both have a lot of size. Both has hatched out before & are good mommas.
Baymule
Herd Master
I even got a trio of Silkies, because everyone says what wonderful broodies and mommas they are. "Hatch a rock" has been bandied about on more than one thread. So do mine go broody? Aw HE!! NO they don't. 
I think I'll sell the darn things so they can go broody for someone else.
I think I'll sell the darn things so they can go broody for someone else.Mini Horses
Herd Master
than one thread. So do mine go broody? Aw HE!! NO they don't.
Maybe it's your water. I mean, I could send you a couple...…….
I'm losing 7 eggs a day from broodies.
Baymule
Herd Master
And I'll send you a trio of Silkies!!
The best I got is a Looney Gooney that must be sitting on 30 eggs and she hates me.- Thread starter
- #4,027
Devonviolet
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Back in May, we put a batch of Guinea eggs under our broody Black Copper Marans hen. After 3 weeks, a chick popped out in front of Mama Hen.
Since Guinea eggs take 28 days and chicks take 21 days, I decided to candle the rest of the eggs. It turned out not one of the other eggs was fertilized.
So, we fixed up a small stall, in the barn, for Mama Hen and baby chick. While I was trying to find out if the Guinea eggs were good, I put the chick in the stall by itself with a heat lamp. It was so cute when I put the hen in with the chick. Mama was cooing, to beat the band, and baby was peeping it’s head off. You never saw a happier Mama and baby chick! The chick disappeared under it’s Mama immediately! And of course the heat lamp got turned off, ‘cause it wasn’t needed anymore, with Mama there.
Here is a cute picture I got a week ago, when I went out to the barn to milk.
So now, our little Chickie Doo will be 3 weeks on Wednesday. It is getting wing feathers, and is a lot bolder about coming out from under/behind Mama Hen.
Calendula is getting big and such a joy to be with. She is such a happy little goat!!! When they are out browsing, after I milk Angelica, Calendula runs FULL SPEED, wherever she goes. It’s amazing how fast she can run!
Yesterday, when Angelica was browsing, I got some cool shots of our pasture, with the other goats and dogs, inside the pasture fence.
Danny Boy (Black head), Faith, Hope, Rosemary, Deo (in the middle) and Violet (on the right)
Angelica and Calendula and of course the 2-legged animal is DH.
This is Faith, Hope and Rosemary. We have not mowed this pasture. The goats are keeping it nice and short.
Rosemary and Faith. The goats just love to get up on the fence, to get some attention. And of course some tasty leaves and weeds would be nice too! I love wrapping my hand around their muzzle and stroking. It’s so soft! It’s a sign of trust, for them to let me do that.
We separated the Whiting’s True Blue egg layers (4 hens and a roo), for two weeks, so the rooster can fertilize the eggs. We have been eating the eggs, for the past two weeks and on Saturday started collecting eggs, that we can put in the nest, at the same time, so our broody hen can set on them. We usually get 2-3 eggs a day.
Saturday, I took up two eggs. Last night, I couldn’t believe it!!! I looked in their little hut, and found SIX eggs - from FOUR hens in TWENTY FOUR HOURS!!! So, that means at least TWO of the hens laid TWO EGGS in 24 hours!!! I’m thinking once we get about 16 or 18 eggs collected, we will put some hay in the hut (especially back in the corner, for a nice nest), and let our broody hen settle down, to brood the eggs. The plan is to sell the chicks when they are old enough to tell if they are hens or roos. Since they lay such pretty blue eggs, I should get about $20 per hen.
I should get about $10 for the roosters. I just hope most of them are hens. 
Law of averages says they will be 50/50 though.
After breakfast I went out and milked Angelica. I’m still getting about 1/2 gallon a day. Up until now, I have been making Kefir, to sell to friends. I want to start saving up a few gallons, now, so I can start making cheese. I will start with Mozzarella. April and Hope are due in the next three weeks. When I am milking three goats, I will eventually be getting about 3 gallons a day, for Kefir and cheese. I want to buy a used refrigerator, to make a “cheese cave” (with a special thermostat), to keep the temp at approximately 58*F degrees (14*C), so I can age the cheese. Once I have a cheese cave, I want to make cheddar, Swiss and hard cheese (like Parmesan or Asiago). I think the cheddar needs to age at least a year. The Swiss takes about two years and the hard cheeses can take up to three or four years to age.
Since Guinea eggs take 28 days and chicks take 21 days, I decided to candle the rest of the eggs. It turned out not one of the other eggs was fertilized.
So, we fixed up a small stall, in the barn, for Mama Hen and baby chick. While I was trying to find out if the Guinea eggs were good, I put the chick in the stall by itself with a heat lamp. It was so cute when I put the hen in with the chick. Mama was cooing, to beat the band, and baby was peeping it’s head off. You never saw a happier Mama and baby chick! The chick disappeared under it’s Mama immediately! And of course the heat lamp got turned off, ‘cause it wasn’t needed anymore, with Mama there. Here is a cute picture I got a week ago, when I went out to the barn to milk.
So now, our little Chickie Doo will be 3 weeks on Wednesday. It is getting wing feathers, and is a lot bolder about coming out from under/behind Mama Hen.
Calendula is getting big and such a joy to be with. She is such a happy little goat!!! When they are out browsing, after I milk Angelica, Calendula runs FULL SPEED, wherever she goes. It’s amazing how fast she can run!
Yesterday, when Angelica was browsing, I got some cool shots of our pasture, with the other goats and dogs, inside the pasture fence.
Danny Boy (Black head), Faith, Hope, Rosemary, Deo (in the middle) and Violet (on the right)
Angelica and Calendula and of course the 2-legged animal is DH.
This is Faith, Hope and Rosemary. We have not mowed this pasture. The goats are keeping it nice and short.
Rosemary and Faith. The goats just love to get up on the fence, to get some attention. And of course some tasty leaves and weeds would be nice too! I love wrapping my hand around their muzzle and stroking. It’s so soft! It’s a sign of trust, for them to let me do that.
We separated the Whiting’s True Blue egg layers (4 hens and a roo), for two weeks, so the rooster can fertilize the eggs. We have been eating the eggs, for the past two weeks and on Saturday started collecting eggs, that we can put in the nest, at the same time, so our broody hen can set on them. We usually get 2-3 eggs a day.
Saturday, I took up two eggs. Last night, I couldn’t believe it!!! I looked in their little hut, and found SIX eggs - from FOUR hens in TWENTY FOUR HOURS!!! So, that means at least TWO of the hens laid TWO EGGS in 24 hours!!! I’m thinking once we get about 16 or 18 eggs collected, we will put some hay in the hut (especially back in the corner, for a nice nest), and let our broody hen settle down, to brood the eggs. The plan is to sell the chicks when they are old enough to tell if they are hens or roos. Since they lay such pretty blue eggs, I should get about $20 per hen.
I should get about $10 for the roosters. I just hope most of them are hens. Law of averages says they will be 50/50 though. After breakfast I went out and milked Angelica. I’m still getting about 1/2 gallon a day. Up until now, I have been making Kefir, to sell to friends. I want to start saving up a few gallons, now, so I can start making cheese.
I will start with Mozzarella. April and Hope are due in the next three weeks. When I am milking three goats, I will eventually be getting about 3 gallons a day, for Kefir and cheese. I want to buy a used refrigerator, to make a “cheese cave” (with a special thermostat), to keep the temp at approximately 58*F degrees (14*C), so I can age the cheese. Once I have a cheese cave, I want to make cheddar, Swiss and hard cheese (like Parmesan or Asiago). I think the cheddar needs to age at least a year. The Swiss takes about two years and the hard cheeses can take up to three or four years to age.
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Bruce
Herd Master
All sounds great! Sadly only the first 2 pictures show up. The others have the broken link icon.
B&B Happy goats
Herd Master
Same here couldn't see them
couldn't see them- Thread starter
- #4,030
Devonviolet
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Last week we finally got off our duffs and put up 100 feet of fencing, in the side yard, where the chickens and ducks free range, so we can put our garden in.
So, here are some pics of our fence.
We left an opening, in the middle, so we can have easy access to the animals.
The plan was to build a gate, but we were tuckered out. So we just cut a piece of fencing and put a temporary wire gap in it’s place. It is working so well, we may just leave it there. Since the chickens can’t open it, we don’t even have to clip it, like we do our other gates.
BTW, the chickens and ducks are NOT happy, that we put the fence in!!! They figured out that the middle opening is the way into the other part of the yard, and they congregate there, when we are by the back door. A great benefit, of having them fenced off, is that they can no longer get up on our back porch and poop-a-doop all over the steps and porch!!! We also don’t have to fence off the blackberry bush, that is planted by the back steps and we can plant even more berries there!
We also left wire gaps at each end, so we don’t have to go so far, if we need access when there.
The fencing, on the right, is a wire gap opening and the opening between the two H-posts is a wire gap, into the the green space, adjacent to our property.
Friends, from down the road offered to loan us their rototiller. We were supposed to pick it up last Friday, but her brother (who lives up North) is dying and they went to spend time with him, before he dies. Now, it turns out they won’t be home until Friday. So, we will pick it up Friday morning. I am biting at the bit, to get the garden tilled and plant seeds.
So, here are some pics of our fence.
We left an opening, in the middle, so we can have easy access to the animals.
The plan was to build a gate, but we were tuckered out. So we just cut a piece of fencing and put a temporary wire gap in it’s place. It is working so well, we may just leave it there. Since the chickens can’t open it, we don’t even have to clip it, like we do our other gates.
BTW, the chickens and ducks are NOT happy, that we put the fence in!!! They figured out that the middle opening is the way into the other part of the yard, and they congregate there, when we are by the back door. A great benefit, of having them fenced off, is that they can no longer get up on our back porch and poop-a-doop all over the steps and porch!!!
We also don’t have to fence off the blackberry bush, that is planted by the back steps and we can plant even more berries there! We also left wire gaps at each end, so we don’t have to go so far, if we need access when there.
The fencing, on the right, is a wire gap opening and the opening between the two H-posts is a wire gap, into the the green space, adjacent to our property.
Friends, from down the road offered to loan us their rototiller. We were supposed to pick it up last Friday, but her brother (who lives up North) is dying and they went to spend time with him, before he dies. Now, it turns out they won’t be home until Friday. So, we will pick it up Friday morning. I am biting at the bit, to get the garden tilled and plant seeds.
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