Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Bruce]

A patio for cats! Kind of like a run for chickens. A secure area where the cats can get outside, sort of. I have a neighbor that built a hardware cloth enclosed "catio" off a bathroom window. The cats have a space about 4' wide and 10' long where they can be outside but no danger of getting hit in the road (like a few of their prior cats).

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Dog did not sleep on the bed. One cat actually slept on the bed part of the night, probably as territory claiming action. It's been pretty quiet, dog I think just wants to sniff the cats and cats just want to keep distance. No chasing at all so far.

We have some no climb fencing but will definitely need more to fence a lot of the property. I think I know what we will be asking to receive for Christmas.

I think I've figured out if I get 200' of 1" grid wire mesh 6' tall fencing I can make a Poultry Knox that's at least 25'x50' and separated into a zone for the chickens and turkeys. I just need to bite the bullet and order the wire mesh, I think the whole project will cost around $900.

As soon as I finished posting this and went back to bed the dog jumped on the bed. Grr.

Also found a pee spot and poop inside the house. I don't know if it was because she didn't get out in time, or if it was territory marking because it was done within 1-6 feet of the cats litter box. I will be ordering a bell thing so she can signal when she needs to go outside.

Cats and dog have been keeping distance, the cats have never been around dogs before and the dog is actually seeming to want to play. I think they can get along eventually.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yup, what Bruce said, a patio for cats, but completely enclosed so the cat can't get out and raccoons/other can't get in. My cats have been indoor only for their whole lives since I got them as kittens since we've always lived near a busy road. I don't think they have the skills needed to survive outside at this point and I don't want them to become coyote snacks.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yeah but the money sure helps to work on the to-do list

Havanese, as in LITTLE dogs less than a foot tall? And you have to worry about them getting out of a fence? Yeah, run a hot wire 1' off the ground, that dog won't try to climb the fence more than once ... unless it is a very stupid dog

Congrats on the move!

Yup, she's probably about a foot tall at the shoulder. She's a jumper though. If you reach down to pet her, she can leap straight up and lick you - INSIDE your mouth. She likes french kissing apparently. I don't know how to break that habit but I'd sure like to figure out how.

I think she'll stay inside a fence, I just want it to be a fence that will also keep out other dogs and coyotes.

I finally met the neighbor to the south today, she seemed nice. She has a lab, so the dogs might have a play date.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I moved all the baby quail yesterday, I should have taken audio of the car ride. Over 100 chicks screaming because they were in the dark for the first time in their lives and there was no heat source. There were enough chicks in each container I wasn't worried they'd get too cold. It was a long car ride with all the screaming.

I checked on them this morning and they were fine, the slightly older ones are already testing out wing feathers! I'm glad I put the lids on, one of the chicks hopped on top of the water container after I changed it, definitely big enough to figure out how to hop OUT of the container.

I've got a potential buyer lined up so hopefully I can sell most of them tomorrow and make back the money I spent on the eggs. Plus then I would only need to raise about 10, so that would be much less stressful than 113. The ones I am planning to keep hatched out of Celadon eggs.

Planning to move the adult quail tonight or tomorrow, and the rabbits this weekend. Possibly chickens this weekend or next.

 

[Baymule]

Getting everything moved and settled in is a job. You'll heave a sigh of relief when you get all moved.

What kind of turkeys do you have?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Getting everything moved and settled in is a job. You'll heave a sigh of relief when you get all moved.

What kind of turkeys do you have?

Right now I have two Royal Palm toms, and 4-5 mixed breed hens I hatched last year. Their dad was a standard bronze and the moms were blue slate and bourbon red hens. I also have one turkey from the Royal Palm x mixed group being raised with my chickens; I'm pretty sure it's a hen.

I originally got the Royal Palms, because I was going to try to breed them (I had a hen but she got eaten by a predator) and sell the pure poults. Now I'm not sure what my plan should be. The birds I have will just create crosses, and previously when I've tried to sell poults the prospective buyers mostly request purebred poults.

I will be trying to raise some meat turkeys this coming year, but I'll need to figure out how to make their feed less expensive, especially if they are toms, they eat so much!! I do want to continue with the heritage turkeys too, but I need to be better at marketing the eggs and poults.

 

[Baymule]

I read that the Royal Palms have the least breast meat of the heritage turkeys. Boo. I was attracted to them, they sure are pretty. Next on the list is midget whites, followed by Bourbon Reds. Dunno yet.

So how much do they eat. How many turkeys to a 50# bag and how long does it last?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I read that the Royal Palms have the least breast meat of the heritage turkeys. Boo. I was attracted to them, they sure are pretty. Next on the list is midget whites, followed by Bourbon Reds. Dunno yet.

So how much do they eat. How many turkeys to a 50# bag and how long does it last?

Hens or toms? Toms are pigs, when we had grow outs last year we went through so much feed. Hens are better. If they can forage you won't need to feed as much. I don't think we kept an accurate total of food eaten, right now they are at the in-laws and she's buying the food. I'll keep better track when they are finally over here and under my control.

Bourbon reds are sweet, the hen we had was super friendly and chatty. Never had midget whites, so can't help there. There's a turkey forum on byc, you can get a ton of info there. Heritage take longer to grow out, they build the frame first then fill in. You could always get a meat turkey or two to run with your heritage so you'd have lots of breast meat. I think we hatched in May last year and butchered toms the week before Thanksgiving, they were at least 20 lbs dressed but they weren't as filled in as they could have been. They were super tasty though.

 

[Baymule]

Thanks for the information!