Like the illusion of Wall Street, with its vast and powerful investment banks, now shuttered, China too is an illusion perpetuated by the Globalists that gave us the 15,000 mile Caesar salad, poisoned cat food and lead based paint on babies' pacifiers. Like the illusion that money would come from thin air to always push housing prices higher, China has spent a generation pursuing its illusion. Pursuing an unattainable dream to be like the West, while 6000 years of its carefully shepherded top soil blows into the sea.
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 13141 Location: naive idiot fantasy world
Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:39 pm Post subject: Re: Best chicken breed for small homestead...
SILENTTODD wrote:
Really? I'll have to look into those. I'll need something loud to wake me up in the morning when I won't be able to get batteries for my alarm clocks anymore!
Problem is they gripe and complain loudly all day..... _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy
Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6612 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:52 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Given the cost of commercial feed, I'd think foraging ability was the single most important factor in chicken breed selection. That, plus an efficient ratio of feed conversion to animal protein.
Previously I've free-ranged Barred Rocks and White Rocks and few individuals of oddball breeds like Speckled Sussex and Black Australorp. The rocks were huge eaters but had a gentle temperament. I butchered and dressed a few but found the meat to be tough. I'm not hard-hearted enough to keep chickens confined to a small space all their brief lives to ensure the meat is tender.
If I keep chickens again it will be leghorns for egg production. Some sort of leghorn that is tough (as in disease resistant) and that has exceptional foraging ability (any suggestions?). I'd guess that egg production is achieved more efficiently than meat production (and, obviously, on a more ongoing basis). At present, egg prices still aren't high enough to make this worth the trouble to me, though.
I would use the tractor method and use my chicken coop just for getting them through our relatively mild winters.
Leghorns and breeds with large combs are not appropriate for northerners unless they have heated coops (and are willing to pay for that heat!). _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother
Last edited by Heineken on Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:59 am; edited 1 time in total
Joined: Sep 14, 2004 Posts: 6612 Location: Rural Virginia
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
No, my chicken-butchering days are over, so the particularities of processing the corpses are irrelevant to me now. I find the whole process too emotionally unpleasant. This is not to criticize others who do it; it just relates to what feels right for me. As I said, if I keep chickens again it will be for eggs only. _________________ "Actually, humans died out long ago."
---Abused, abandoned hunting dog
"Things have entered a stage where the only change that is possible is for things to get worse."
---Me and my brother
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:02 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Heineken wrote:
No, my chicken-butchering days are over, so the particularities of processing the corpses are irrelevant to me now. I find the whole process too emotionally unpleasant. This is not to criticize others who do it; it just relates to what feels right for me. As I said, if I keep chickens again it will be for eggs only.
when we had chickens, we had a particularly mean fighting cock someone abandoned on us. It always attacked Bing when she went to get the eggs. One day I decided to kill it. I had the bolo (machete) and a chopping block. Bing said "no, let me". Instead of chopping off its head right away, she sawed it off. It took a long time, and cars were slowing down to watch. I was thinking here come the cops, but no. We pressure cooked it for eight hours. It was awful.
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 13141 Location: naive idiot fantasy world
Posted: Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:37 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Heineken wrote:
A real problem with McMurray (and perhaps other mail-order sources) is that you have to buy a minimum of 25 birds, which in my case is about 10 or 15 beyond what I'd want for egg production for our needs.
I usually get "straight run" and eat the roosters, which leaves about a dozen hens.
But it might be good to find a local source anyway.
I was afraid mail order chicken sales would stop completely due to avian flu fears. So far we seem to be safe from that (for the moment).
I'm still not sure which kind to get next Spring, whether to get ones that have done well in the past, or try another breed such as those Rose Comb Brown Leghorns. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 8:10 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
I was thinking of maybe keeping the roosters in a smaller area that although ventilated would have some sound proofing so the noise not carry too far, or how about a dog collar tha is used to stop barking, everytime the dog barks it sends a small electrical shock so discourages barking , may discourage crowing also, hahaha
Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 336 Location: Tennessee
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:17 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Are the chickens on strike? We've been looking for fresh eggs, our friends who run a CSA farm said the chickens are hardly laying any eggs and apparently other farms have seen a decline in production. Is anyone else experiencing this-possibly due to the heat. _________________ Rev 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 5:08 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
mystie,
My chickens usually go on strike during the hottest part of summer - or at least a slowdown if not a strike - so it wouldn't surprise me. If I were a chicken I wouldn't be working too hard in this heat either
Kathy
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 13141 Location: naive idiot fantasy world
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:12 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
We still get a few eggs every day, but I mean a few, like 3, from over a dozen hens. Very high temps do seem to stop laying for most hens. _________________ "...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy
Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 336 Location: Tennessee
Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 10:22 am Post subject: Re: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Thanks for the info-I'll pass it on. At least I was able to meet the chickens that lay green eggs (when they ever get around to it!!!) _________________ Rev 21:4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.
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- so it wouldn't surprise me. If I were a chicken I wouldn't be working too hard in this heat either 
