Ok first thing is my goats just had kids and I know I had heard someplace that the does would come back in season soon after kidding but have heard others say it is only once a year, dose any one know if they do come back in season right after kidding and if so how soon? The second question is that I was wondering if there are enouph folks here who raise any animals other than pets or have intrest and or knowledge in it to justify seeing about an area pertaining to animal husbandry and such, the basic animal stuff of raising meat, milk egg produc5tion and so on? I know from what I have gathered most of the folks here dont have much if anything in the way of livestock but wasnt sure if there was an intrest and basis for exchange of info on the topic or if it would pretty much set idol.
I would be interested in any husbandry info people could furnish on chickens, goats and rabbits. For example, what all kinds of things do you feed them besides store bought food. when shtf store bought could be real hard to come by ie; baby chicks adult chickens (best time to butcher, how to clean etc) how many for a family of 7 minimum and trade I have not been on the farm for over 40 years and was a stupid teen ager that last time I was, so really had other interests than how these things were done. CG
Well I should be able to anwser most of those for you fairly well. quote="ChemicalGal"]For example, what all kinds of things do you feed them besides store bought food. when shtf store bought could be real hard to come by The chickens and rabbits will do fine on good graze or hay, as far as the baby chicks rolled oats better known to city folks as oat meal works well as a chick feed then once they are a few weeks old you can suplement them with a bit of corn or most any type of table scraps or anything especialy durring the winter and keep water out for them to keep them up around the house and have a place for them to be safe and out of the weather but let them free range and they will feed themselves on bugs and plants, just have to keep them out of the garden. ie; baby chicks adult chickens (best time to butcher, how to clean etc) how many for a family of 7 minimum and trade On how many chickens for a family that depends on if they are for meat, eggs or both and the kind of chickens. Most decent laying hens will average about 2 eggs every 3 days. You have to get broody hens if you want them to have any likelyhood of hatching the eggs as well as have a rooster. If you want them for meat you have to decide how many you will eat and go from there. Also your egg production will generaly go down by nearly half in the winter. You can improve this some by adding extra protine to their diets and putting a light in their chicken house but just due to temps and shorter daylight hours production will drop. As far as the best time to butcher chickens I would say given refridgeration and such probably whenever they look big enouph to eat start butchering maybe half a dozen at a time and sticking them in the freezer and replace them when convienent. You can butcher them any time of the year. As to how to butcher them the short anwser is that my butchering CD should be done in the next month or so and will include a section on chickens as well as beef, lamb, pork and rabbits. The longer anwser is that the best way IMO is to boil up a big pot of water, kill however many chickens you are going to do right then and cut or rip off their heads then dunk them in the boiling or near boiling water for about 10 or 12 seconds and slosh them around a bit. That will loosen the feathers so you can pretty well just wipe off all the feathers other than the larger ones in the wings and tail that you will still have to pull to get out. Then you take a page of news paper and light it and wave it under the chicken to burn off the little things that look like hairs. Now that it looks like a comics prop you cut off the feet, open up the abdomin and pull out the inards, rinse it off good in clean water and do as you would with a whole fryer from the store. On the CD it wil be a little more in detail and come with step by step pictures and a couple more little tips on it.
Monkeyman, Boy, does that bring back the memories from my childhood. I grew up on a small "hobby" farm where we raised chickens for slaughter, sheep (lambs), cattle, pigs and prolly some others that I don't remember. We did the small animals (chickens & lambs) ourselves but sent the cattle, pigs, and sheep to the local butcher. You'd think doing this stuff as a kid I wouldn't mind the sight of blood and guts and whatnot, but I guess I've gone weak in my old age. Though I do plan on getting back to deer hunting and starting duck hunting in the next year or two, I'm just not sure how I'll handle the field dressing parts Ryan
Field dressing is simple for deer. The first thing you do when you get to the down deer is make sure you have a round chambered in your rifle and the saftey off and hold it out and poke the deer in the eye with it, if they blink or twitch blow their brains out. Even a doe can tear you up with those shar hard hooves and a buck with a nice rach can get even more nasty. Once you are sure its dead set the rifle aside and stick the deer like it shows for the beef and lamb in the tutorials in Back to basics, cutting from the sternum to the head then cutting out toward the skin to hit the arteries. If you plan to have a full head mount this is far better than cutting across but may be better to keep the slit shorter and toward the sternum. Then you cut into the abdomen trying to be sure not to cut the internal stuff but just through the skin and abdominal muscels all the way from the base of the sternum to the pelvis. Insert the knife beside the rectum and cut around it and push it into the cavity then if you havent already try to point the rump down hill. Use the knife to cut through the cartiladge along the sternum or if you have a small folding saw cut down to the bone with the knife then saw through the sternum. Pull out all the inards and I always carry a bag with me to put the liver and heart in to save them. Now pull the wind pipe out along with the heart and lungs and the deer is field dressed. Then you just skin it and butcher it about the same as the beef in the tutorial here. As far as field dressing a duck I dont know as I have never hunted them but you could just dry pluck them then gut them at the time I would say. Oh and as far as when to butcher something like the goats, my preferance is to do it when the temps are in the 30s or 40s and are expected to stay there for a couple of days so they can be hung to cool and so there isnt much rush for getting them cut up and such.
Ok, I have another question to see if anyone can help with it. Dose any one here have much experience with banding critters? I have 3 little boy goats whos dangely bits are dropping so need to get them banded so they will start bulking up. The bands I have are the green ones that dont say how small of critter they are used for but just say 'not recomended for calfs over 250 pounds' and the opening when relaxed is just a little smaller than a pencile. Do these work for something the size of about a 10-15 pound goat or do you have to get different bands for them? Also if I need smaller ones, will the banding tool I have (one made for cattle) or do I need a new one of those too?
Not for sure. Actualy after I did a little more research I dont think I will cut them after all. I had understood that they tended to put on weight faaster when castrated but found out that the oposite is the case. Also found out about more potential problems and that a lot of the ethnic markets, those who pay the most for non show goats, often will only buy in tact males. So looks like they will be keeping the jewls after all.
