I did it~ I bought a cow! Pics

[Dennis Hultman]

I also had the royal palms, the blue slates, and the bourbon reds. Great birds~ great personality. FUNNY! We named a pair of hens "The Troglodytes" because if there was trouble on the property THEY were involved!

Mine did great even in with the chickens.....in the house. It was after I moved them outside that I had a few losses~ not many. Apparently my property had the worms on it already~ so the birds came in clean, brooded in the house and were exposed slowly from contact with us, our water, greens I brought in as snacks. Then when I put them outside I lost a few but not too many until the second year when I tried to hatch. Between the hens and my incubators we hatched OVER 100 turkey poults last year....ONE survived past a month....but died before 3 months old. Home gross necropsy:
(I'm just putting the links in for those who might want to see the innards of a sick turkey)
http://thereddragonsden.com/images/Homestead/09 Feb/blackhead-1.jpg

http://thereddragonsden.com/images/Homestead/09 Feb/blackhead-2.jpg

Thanks for all the compliments on my calves and my birds. I'm very proud of those calves and actually very proud of those turkeys.....you have no idea how hard it is to raise big beautiful birds on property that was trying to kill them from the start!

Well, I guess I'm pretty safe. Been almost a year having them next to the chicken yard and no problems. KNOCK ON WOOD. I'm amazed how great all the hens are natural sitters. Just had some babies hatch.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

Congrats! My silkies go broody pretty easy but I've only had one of the standard hens go broody so far this year. I've hatched a LOT of eggs in the bators myself already though! I love Spring!

 

[rcarichter]

Beautiful animals! I have to ask, can't help myself--
How hard is it to bottle-feed a baby, raise it, then eat it? Don't get me wrong, we eat a lot of meat. I just prefer to believe that God sends to to the grocery store, sliced up and wrapped in cellophane.

 

[Cheryl Marchek AKA JM]

If you just keep in mind that the life that calf has in a nice big green pasture with all the milk I can feed him and then all the grass he can eat playing with other calves and then sent to the family butcher who gives him a nice big pail of grain and makes sure he doesn't see the end coming before doing him right between the eyes is so much better than the same calf would have in a dry feedlot fighting for milk at a milk bar with 100 other calves then stuffed with so much corn to increase his weight as quickly as possible that he can't properly digest it all properly, shot up with antibiotics to slow down the painfull gastrointestinal symptoms of the acidosis and to combat the bacteria and viruses rampant in the overcrowded nasty feces covered dry feedlot, injected with implants to supplement his hormone levels and cause him to grow more quickly and then crammed into a truck and shipped to slaughter where he will stand in line and wait his turn to be electrocuted or bashed in the head before his throat is cut

well it gets a lot easier to eat the calf you bottle raised then

 

[rcarichter]

Alrighty then! Kinda shoots down my theory about meat coming pre-packaged from God, but I definitely see your point. Thanks for answering, I've truly always wondered.

Noelle