New farmer?

Anna j

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Hey there! We moved to middle TN Nov of 2017. We've just beat back the forest and cleared out some fences (and fences and more fences) and will soon be getting our first chickens! Which brought me to this site after seeing your link on BYchicken site! I was looking for ways to train our "pups" to leave our new vulnerable "prey" alone. We also have 2 bee hives and I've posted a new 2019 thread there. We'll be looking for some insight into that world as well. I look forward to learning and bouncing ideas off you guys!
 

Devonviolet

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Hi Anna,
Welcome to BYH, from NE Texas! :frow You’ve come to the right place to learn about homesteading and raising animals of all sorts.

DH and I started our journey back in January of 2015 and now have 2 LGDs, 6 goats (with at least twice that - in kids - due within the next couple of months), Muscovy ducks, Pekin ducks and LOTS of chickens. We love what we do and have learned so much about it all here on BYH.

It would be helpful, if you would add your general location (with a nearby city), to your profile, so when members answer your questions, they know where you are. And we are all about the photos, so by all means don’t hesitate to post lots of photos.
 

Devonviolet

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It should show up right away.

Click on your screen name at the top of the screen.

That will bring a drop down menu.

Click on Avatar and click to add a photo from your phone or computer.

Choose your photo and click Okay. Your photo should then show up in your avatar.
 

Devonviolet

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BTW. :) I am a ma'm, not a sir. :lol:

You didn't say how much land you have. Is all of it fenced? Do you have a coop, and fenced area for your chickens?

Do you have any thoughts as to what, if any other animals you might raise, on your land, after you get chickens?

Whatever animals you get, it's a really good idea to get at least two LGDs (Livestock Guardian Dogs) to guard them from predators. We bought our two Maremma LGDs when we bought our first goats, back in 2015, and we haven't lost one animal to a predator since then. :celebrate

I know you want to train your "pups" to protect your chickens. What kind of pups do you have? Certain farm dogs are fine for protecting chickens. However, a lot of people seem to like hunting dogs, which instinctively chase chickens.
 

Anna j

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:fl:fl
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I’m so sorry about that! :oops: Apparently I didn’t save the changes? But the avatar and address are both updated now.
Farm...we have 240 beautiful acres here, about 30-32 are cleared or grassland. Numerous streams. Eventually we would like to get some cows? But most likely no more than 5. We currently seem to be more stewards of the land and getting it back into shape. Letting the fields rest - guy before leased it out for hay and cattle grazing. No fence maintenance to speak of and certainly no trimming of trees or underbrush for roughly 40 years? Maybe longer. So far the fences have been mostly ripped out and we’ve had some seriously huge bonfires. It’s back to looking like a farm or park! I love our land...but we are very removed from pretty much everything so you guys are my immediate life line! End goal? Sitting on th back porch with whatever pups there may be...and watching life go by on my land, listening to the cows, birds and occasional owl, hawk and coyote. Ohm my current two rescues are retriever mixes. My avatar is golden mixed with husky we think, (2 diff colored eyes and curly tail) and my other white girl is a retriever lab mutt? She’s 11, he’s 5. They are my babies, and as a husky he is stubborn, but very intelligent. I’m hoping hes quicker to associate them with off limits when he’s “corrected thoroughly”. :fl She is closer to being senile! :old
 

Anna j

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By the way devonviolet, I love your avatar. I’ve always loved pyrs but have never had a reason to get one. And thank you Baymaster for the welcome! Lgds May well be in our future, but not yet. We’re in no hurry. Well see how the chickens so fare. :hu
 

Devonviolet

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Wow @Anna j ! Your land is gorgeous! I'm having some serious land, stream and pond envy!! :D Wow, 240 acres, with 32 cleared. We have 5 acres with 2.5 acres cleared. :lol: However, truth be told, 5 acres is about all we can handle in our retirement years. :old

My avatar is Deo. He is a 4 year old Maremma. We also have his littermate, Violet. Maremma’s are similar to Pyrs, except for a couple small differences. Both are excellent gurardian dogs. However, Pyrs tend to bark most of the time, to warn off predators. Maremma’s mostly only bark when they are aware of a predator or a problem - like a car coming up the road 1/4 mile away. :lol: Great Pyrenese love to wander, and if they get out, they might take off and never come back. Or at least be gone for a while. Because of that I have heard of Pyrs getting hit and killed on the road. I heard of a pair of Pyrs being found 50 miles from their home. If our two get out, they do what I call a “runabout”. They run out into the hay field next to us, around into the woods behind us, and then back to the gate so we can let them back in with their goats.

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This is Violet on the left and Deo on the right.

@Baymule and I got started on our land about the same time. She went with hair sheep and we went with goats. I milk my goats and make cheese. With goats, it is easy to get caught up with “goat math”. Like with cows, to keep the milk freshened, it is necessary to breed the goats once a year. Goats have multiple births (usually 2-3 kids). I have LaMancha’s and one Nubian. They tend to have twins. So, we have to decide if we are going to keep any of them. Which is hard, because they are all so darned cute!!! Usually, the boys are wethered (castrated) and put in the freezer or sold for meat. Since dairy goats are long and lean, I bought a Myotonic (meat) buck, to breed my does, so our kids have more meat, and will sell for more money, as meat goats, rather than dairy goats. This is our first year doing that, so we shall see . . .

Here is our Danny Boy. He is short and stocky and very meaty. His kids should be bigger (because their mama’sare bigger) and nice and meaty.
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Here are our twins, from last year. They. Are pure bred Lamancha. We waited to breed them, until they were a bit older, so their kids should be born in July. They were bottle babies, and are sweet as sugar!!!
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This is Rosemary. She came to us at 3 months. I fell in love with her on Craig’s list and just HAD to have her. Shhh . . . She is my favorite. :love
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Here is Rosemary with Angelica, another LaMancha doe.
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This is April, our newest addition. She is due anytime now. She came to us, from the herd of a friend, who recently passed away. This is her, in the back of our pickup, with a bed topper, the night we brought her home.
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I would love to have a couple steer to butcher and then either sell the meat and/or put some meat in the freezer, but that isn’t possible on five acres. So, I have to be happy with goat meat and chicken in the freezer.

Speaking of chicken. We have about 60 birds. Twenty are rooster, that we bought, to butcher, some are old layers, that will also go into the freezer, as stewing birds, 9 are ducks (Pekins and Muscovys) and the rest are laying hens. We sell their eggs at farmers market. We did have Khaki Campbell ducks, which are egg layers, but last year, we learned that people don’t seem to want to try something different and we brought most of the duck eggs home from the market. So, we sold the Khaki’s. We will eventually butcher the Pekins, as well, but will keep the Muscovies.

This is our Muscovy drake.
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One more thing .. .. just a suggestion. When you mention someoone in your posts, if you put an “@“ before their name, like @Anna j, it will alert them that you mentioned them, and they will know to take a look at your post. Once again, it is nice to have you join us. I look forward to seeing your “little” place develop, as you add animals. :)
 
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