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Thread: Home Farming Adventures

  1. #1
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    Home Farming Adventures

    For some reason I keep hearing this voice; "Zeke, tell us about your chickens...." So I guess I better get to it.

    It has been a very busy summer. We started in very early spring on an adventure to do some hobby farming. We decided to do chickens and rabbits for meat and ducks for eggs.

    We started with 6 ducklings and something like 25 meat chickens and a couple of rabbits.

    Just as our chickens and ducklings were starting to grow a weasel got into our shed while we were at town getting feed and hay for our adventure. He quickly slaughtered each and every one of our feathered critters. No rhyme or reason. He only took one or two away to eat.

    So, back to town to get smaller wire for our rabbits just to make sure that they didn't meet the same fate.

    Thank God that the Zekelettes were spending the night with their cousin and didn't witness the carnage.

    We then brought home just 2 Pekin ducks Home Farming Adventures-pekin-jpg so that the girls would have some kind of consolation. The youngest was very attached to each of those birds.

    A short time later we bought 2 banty chickens. One turned out to definitely be a rooster Home Farming Adventures-elvis-jpg, so we named him Elvis, and the other PriscillaHome Farming Adventures-priscilla-jpg. Meanwhile I ordered a couple of Khaki Campbell ducks Home Farming Adventures-khaki-campbells-jpg from a friend who was hatching them in his incubator.
    We also bought a couple of Guinea hens Home Farming Adventures-guinea-hens-jpg, which are named Frank & Beans.
    I have also referred to them as the Jordanaires being that they hang with Elvis and Priscilla.

    Our Pekin ducks also turned out to be 1 male and 1 female, so they are Donald and Daisy. Our Khaki Campbells also ended up being 1 male and 1 female, and we named them Daffy and Daphney.

    Meanwhile, we bought some more breeding rabbits, determining that our breeders would also serve as pets. Silver Flash and Black Beauty have just recently given us 5 brand new bunnies. A couple of them will end up being breeders, and the rest meat for the freezer. Two of the others that I had bought for breeders actually ended up in the freezer already so that the Zekelettes could hand raise a couple of bunnies from scratch.

    It was funny. At first the ducks were afraid to go down and get into our pond. They would only swim in their little kiddie pool, and then only if it was clean!

    Now they all go down and hang out in the pond for most of the day.

    One day a wood duck showed up and hung out with them. Even went up to their pen area for a while. She even came back the next day. Haven't seen her in a long time now.

    Who would have thought that a few chickens and ducks could be such great entertainment!!!
    We love them and they are quite spoiled too. They have wandered off a couple of times now, but they come back from the woods when we call them.

    Next spring we will probably get a couple of Indian Runners (ducks) and some more Guineas. The Guineas eat ticks and bugs and even snakes! They also make a great predator alarm. I have also been eyeballing the size of them and thinking about freezer fodder.

    All in all, it has been a wonderful family adventure so far. Never knew that I would get so much enjoyment out of a handful of strange little creatures.
    God surely is good!

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  3. #2
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    For some reason I keep hearing this voice; "Zeke, tell us about your chickens...."
    That was me.

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  5. #3
    That's awesome, Zeke! Congrats on being self-reliant. Are you growing food? If so, what are you growing?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    For some reason I keep hearing this voice; "Zeke, tell us about your chickens...." So I guess I better get to it.

    It has been a very busy summer. We started in very early spring on an adventure to do some hobby farming. We decided to do chickens and rabbits for meat and ducks for eggs.

    We started with 6 ducklings and something like 25 meat chickens and a couple of rabbits.

    Just as our chickens and ducklings were starting to grow a weasel got into our shed while we were at town getting feed and hay for our adventure. He quickly slaughtered each and every one of our feathered critters. No rhyme or reason. He only took one or two away to eat.

    So, back to town to get smaller wire for our rabbits just to make sure that they didn't meet the same fate.

    Thank God that the Zekelettes were spending the night with their cousin and didn't witness the carnage.

    We then brought home just 2 Pekin ducks Home Farming Adventures-pekin-jpg so that the girls would have some kind of consolation. The youngest was very attached to each of those birds.

    A short time later we bought 2 banty chickens. One turned out to definitely be a rooster Home Farming Adventures-elvis-jpg, so we named him Elvis, and the other PriscillaHome Farming Adventures-priscilla-jpg. Meanwhile I ordered a couple of Khaki Campbell ducks Home Farming Adventures-khaki-campbells-jpg from a friend who was hatching them in his incubator.
    We also bought a couple of Guinea hens Home Farming Adventures-guinea-hens-jpg, which are named Frank & Beans.
    I have also referred to them as the Jordanaires being that they hang with Elvis and Priscilla.

    Our Pekin ducks also turned out to be 1 male and 1 female, so they are Donald and Daisy. Our Khaki Campbells also ended up being 1 male and 1 female, and we named them Daffy and Daphney.

    Meanwhile, we bought some more breeding rabbits, determining that our breeders would also serve as pets. Silver Flash and Black Beauty have just recently given us 5 brand new bunnies. A couple of them will end up being breeders, and the rest meat for the freezer. Two of the others that I had bought for breeders actually ended up in the freezer already so that the Zekelettes could hand raise a couple of bunnies from scratch.

    It was funny. At first the ducks were afraid to go down and get into our pond. They would only swim in their little kiddie pool, and then only if it was clean!

    Now they all go down and hang out in the pond for most of the day.

    One day a wood duck showed up and hung out with them. Even went up to their pen area for a while. She even came back the next day. Haven't seen her in a long time now.

    Who would have thought that a few chickens and ducks could be such great entertainment!!!
    We love them and they are quite spoiled too. They have wandered off a couple of times now, but they come back from the woods when we call them.

    Next spring we will probably get a couple of Indian Runners (ducks) and some more Guineas. The Guineas eat ticks and bugs and even snakes! They also make a great predator alarm. I have also been eyeballing the size of them and thinking about freezer fodder.

    All in all, it has been a wonderful family adventure so far. Never knew that I would get so much enjoyment out of a handful of strange little creatures.
    God surely is good!

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    FresnoJoe (10-04-2015)

  7. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by CatchyUsername View Post
    That's awesome, Zeke! Congrats on being self-reliant. Are you growing food? If so, what are you growing?


    Excellent show and tell! How many acres do you have? Were you the one considering bees for honey also?

    BTW, there's a youtube channel I watch called MichiganSnowPony, she's only on about 10 acres but has an array of farm critters and her goal is to be self-sustaining too. Check out some of her videos when you get a chance, I think she's a little south of you:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/Michigansnowpony/videos

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    FresnoJoe (10-04-2015)

  9. #5
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    We grew some 'maters. I made a terrace planter on our upper deck and we grew them their. I have more of a black thumb than a green one. We have 8 acres. We will probably pretty much stick to raising meat and eggs and just a few plants that we can grow. Also, I plan on stocking our ponds with some more fish after I do some more work on them. First I need to install a flume? so that I can regulate how much water is in my ponds. This has been a very high water year and we have ended up with basically one very large and long pond instead of the 2 that we are supposed to have. I started digging a trench for this, but it was too much by hand. Will try to get my hands on an excavator and then I can do it in about an hour. We also want to create more oxygen in the water by installing a series of water falls and enhancing our bio filter area.

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  11. #6
    Super Moderator Quest's Avatar
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    I would have like to do that as well but our HOA says no...we have lots of ducks on the lake but they are protected wildlife...so a little 'farm' and my 'bees'. They are not considered 'farm stock' :)) at least not yet...

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  13. #7
    Awwww, come on, Zeke! Growing veggies ain't that hard, and having a few fruit trees is wonderful....not much work at all with those. It's a small learning curve, imo. We are in year 6 or 7 of having a small garden, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Our banana and jalapeno peppers and swiss chard are still going crazy. It's wonderful to grow your own food.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    We grew some 'maters. I made a terrace planter on our upper deck and we grew them their. I have more of a black thumb than a green one. We have 8 acres. We will probably pretty much stick to raising meat and eggs and just a few plants that we can grow. Also, I plan on stocking our ponds with some more fish after I do some more work on them. First I need to install a flume? so that I can regulate how much water is in my ponds. This has been a very high water year and we have ended up with basically one very large and long pond instead of the 2 that we are supposed to have. I started digging a trench for this, but it was too much by hand. Will try to get my hands on an excavator and then I can do it in about an hour. We also want to create more oxygen in the water by installing a series of water falls and enhancing our bio filter area.

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    FresnoJoe (10-04-2015)

  15. #8
    Senior Member Ezekiel 33's Avatar
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    Someone has to bring the meat to go with all those veggies!!!

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  17. #9
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    Someone has to bring the meat to go with all those veggies!!!
    I saw a bunch of meat pics in your OP.

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  19. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33 View Post
    For some reason I keep hearing this voice; "Zeke, tell us about your chickens...." So I guess I better get to it.
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    That was me.
    I don't think so...now if Zeke had said it was about pigs and pork, then yeah, that would be you.

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