Chicken Scraps Blog

In our house, this is a hot button.  Why?  Because we have both a cow and goats.  There have been several heated debates over which is better, and here are the conclusions we have drawn in a nutshell: A cow and a goat consume about the same amount of concentrates to produce about the same amount of milk, if the cow is not grain-fed, and the goat gets some grain.  For land with lots of good browsing brush a goat is obviously the better choice, based purely on the type of feed. And here are some of the various characteristics of both animals that we have observed with our own: If you want: An animal that will come running when she sees you, displays great intelligence in figuring out how to get into things she shouldn't;  finds creative ways to get out of the rain (like climbing into the chicken laying boxes, see below);  puts her head into your lap, look up at you with soft lovey-dovey brown eyes, and begs to be petted: Then get a goat. If you want: An animal

My top five reasons for a family to live in the country on a farm: 1:  Children learn to work.   The Bible says that it is good for children to work.  It is manifestly obvious that a person who learns to work as a child is far better off when he (or she) grows up, than one who was treated as being either incapable of, or above work.  If a child has everything done for him, then he will receive a rude awakening to real life when he grows up and has to support himself and probably a family.  Of course, a child can be taught responsibility and learn to be hardworking in the city too- help out with the laundry, sweep the floor, do the dishes, shovel snow, etc, etc, but the country provides a much greater incentive and outlet for energy.  In the country on a farm, a child works because he has to, or the farm falls to pieces because Mama simply can't do it all.  Don't view work as a bad thing- love it, and teach your children the same thing.    In all labor there is profit,

There are so many blogs out there- some great, others mediocre, some helpful, some funny, some bad, etc.  There are farming websites and blogs too, with lots of great information which is readily available.  But there are some things that our family has learned on our little farm, which I have been unable to locate online, and as these things are, in many cases, extremely important, I want to make them available.  Also, family or friends frequently ask my advice on situations or ideas with their animals, mainly chickens, and this blog will give me a place to store information on what I've done in this or that situation, or suggest for certain illnesses.  And then there is also the fact that I like writing, but most of those following my personal blog don't really care to learn about how to deal with a dominant rooster, or the step-by-step, day-by-day training of our neighbor's filly.      So, in fine , this blog is to 1) Make information on natural animal care and cures a