NH Homesteader's journal

[Wannabefree]

You're secret is safe with me lol

 

[Mini Horses]

NH, Your roo is handsome...esp behind the 2X4 wire. LOL

Good job on moving turkeys, also. If I were you, I'd move the broody hen to her own pen where others won't "add" to her nest.
I do mine and they set much better, calmer. Hope you have a lot of eggs under those turk hens. Raised some years back & felt there was no way a farmer could make money with all they ate!!
Two huge toms made we wait for them to cross my road couple days ago....just nice, nice birds! We have a lot of wild ones here.

Bay, congrats on the chicks!! Mine are all "hen hatched" so far this year. Plan to add eggs to one setting now, without any...poor girl. Hope that one more goes broody soon...will set another batch. Then I hope to have enough replacement pullets and some roos for freezer by early Fall.

 

[NH Homesteader]

They eat a fair amount when they're growing but the breeders don't eat all that much. They really would rather eat bugs than grain it seems though!

I only have one other place to put the broody and it's in serious need of a good cleaning. We'll see when I get around to that! Lol

DH lets the roo free range when he's home and puts him in time out when he's not. So tonight we were outside doing chores and the roo pecked my poor dog, and went after our daughter again. He didn't hurt her but scared the daylights out of her. Not impressed. I need to have a chat with my husband about his rooster I'm afraid.

 

[baymule]

Two words. Butcher. Rooster.

If an animal went after my child or (now) grand children, that animal would have to go.

Feed; I pay $26.95 for 50# non GMO layer pellets. http://www.texasnaturalfeeds.com/ I sell enough eggs to pay for my feed, so I consider that good. Then we get our eggs and butcher roosters and spent layers. So we get the meat to boot. The costs are terrible when you don't want something IN your food. I hate GMO.

 

[NH Homesteader]

I also hate GMO, part of the reason I am switching up my goat feed. I absolutely cannot afford non GMO pig feed though, not at the moment anyway. Kind of why I'm trying to convince DH to get some AGH's, less consuming involved! I haven't priced non GMO layer pellets here yet. Do I even want to know? Lol alfalfa pellets are $18/50lbs conventional and $22/50lbs organic at my feed store. Can't argue with organic there!

I've told my husband every day for goodness knows how long, that the rooster needs to go. He keeps telling me that I'm cruel and to stop telling him to kill "everything". For someone who butchers birds (and occasionally pigs) for other people for money, I can never get him to do it with ours. Ugh. He said when it happened he "knew he had to go". I'll leave him alone about it tonight but tomorrow.... I'll start bugging him again. I have never killed anything myself and I would prefer to start with say, a squirrel or a rat? I don't want to make the darn stupid rooster suffer if I don't put him down "properly", otherwise I would do it myself.




I'm also in a generally poor mood this evening. So feel free to ignore my ranting!

 

[baymule]

Do you have a killing cone? If you don't, roll a piece of cardboard into a cone, secure with duct tape. Nail it up, drop rooster in it and cut throat. You know how to do the rest. Cook him his damn rooster for dinner.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Oh, I do... We have a butchering trailer actually, professional equipment and all. And I've never used any of it.

Actually if it wasn't for DH, I would probably be a vegetarian. I have a hard time making food out of things that were just walking around. I can do the plucking and stuff if I have to but I don't like the idea of killing things myself.

I guess maybe one of these days I'll get used to it? I had a real hard time the last pig he did so I'm not betting on it! Of course I help after the fact but that first part...

There I've admitted it! Lol!!

 

[tortoise]

Actually if it wasn't for DH, I would probably be a vegetarian.

Me too! I won't buy grocery store meat because of ethical and environmental concerns of how it's raised. I can't afford up to $25 per pound for grassfed lamb that's locally grown. I don't enjoy butchering and I won't kill if there's an alternative. no DH = no meat. I don't eat much meat as it is.

 

[NH Homesteader]

My goats would still be in business, I am a huge dairy fan!

I am trying to cut back on how much meat we eat. I've not really been enjoying it as much... Especially poultry. Seriously since thanksgiving I've been nauseous at the smell or even thought of poultry. I thought I was pregnant for a while, it was that bad! (no such luck) Very random. It's getting a tiny bit better now but I haven't had it much.

Good to know it's not just me!

 

[Wannabefree]

I could only be vegetarian in the summer....not even sure if I'd last all summer, I like beef too much...and fish and chicken and...ok Jewish, I could probably be Jewish and drop the pork. I likes meat. And I kills fuzzy wuzzy animals to get it sometimes. There I said it. I had a hard time too at first, butchering is an acquired skill, and it's never not unpleasant if you have any heart at all, but I am responsible for my food choices, and I like being responsible for their raising, to know they were well treated and kept and fed...and that does make it easier when you think about it from a personal responsibility standpoint. It's always gonna suck though. I've killed other folks chickens and it wasn't near the same...it's different when you "know" them.