chickens and goats

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I have a yearling doe that does not want to be bred when she goes into heat. I am certain she is in heat when I take her to be bred. She flags when she sees the buck but clamps down her tail and fights me and him. I was hoof prints head to toe last time I took her. She is terrified of any goat that is not in her herd. Has anyone ever seen this and have any suggestions?

One of my mama hens hatched out some chicks and now I've got too many roosters. How old is too old to butcher a rooster? I don't want to make all that mess if the meat is going to taste like leather.

Thank You All

-- Tiffani Cappello (cappello@alltel.net), November 02, 2000

Answers

Tffani, we have eaten roosters up to three years old, just be sure to let the meat age at least 24 hours in your refrigerator before using or freezing. Also, use the long,slow cook method, 325 degrees for at least 4-5 hours, cooking bags or a tight roasting pan work best, add additional liquid as needed. You can also can the meat, pressure can, that is, guaranteed to make any meat tender! Good luck, Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 02, 2000.

Tiffani, I'm sure the goat people will have something to say on this question. All I can suggest is slowing down. If you can leave her there for a day or 2 to calm down in her new surroundings that might help a lot.

You can butcher a chicken no matter how old, but they can be tough. A free range bird will be tougher than a penned bird, so you might consider penning the extra roosters and giving them plenty of grain. The lack of excercise coupled with the grain will help. You might want to just do one and cook it and see how tough it is. If it is tough meat, you can cook it in a crock pot or pressure cooker, or make and put up a lot of chicken soup. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), November 02, 2000.


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imme

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-- imme (imme@greenspun.com), April 25, 2003.


Meanwhile Back in the Desert Island

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-- imme (imme@greenspun.com), April 25, 2003.


Tiffani, heat and standing heat are two different times. A doe can get quite vocal, flag and even have a clear discharge and still not accept a buck breeding her, it is just after this that she is in standing heat. A very good way to tell is to look at her mucous, put on a glove if you are sqemish, though it is sometimes harder to tell with gloves, being the same color of the mucous you are looking for, but insert a couple of fingers in her vulva, swirl around and take it out, when it is thick, stringy and you can't see through it is when she is in standing heat, don't wait to long this is the quickest part of heat. She should let the buck stand for her a this point. This is one of the reasons we tell new folks to buy a young buck each year and if you don't want to keep a big buck around, sell him when you know everyone is bred. Taking virgin does to be bred is very stressful, you will be lucky if she ovulates many eggs, and you are also causing stess released eggs from worms into her system, just when you shouldn't be worming. Anybody in your area you can just lease a buck from and bring him to her to be bred, leave him until you see her being bred. Our hemaphrodite (he and she mixed together) also wouldn't let a buck mount and breed her, has she been looked over very carefully by anyone experienced? When you are swishing around in her vulva, feel for anything proturding in their, also are her teats mature looking on that udder or baby like, that is also a good sign of hemaprodites.) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 02, 2000.


If you are sure she is in heat(does she have any discharge?)she may just be feeling a little scared and ambivalent about the whole business. I have seen some that behave like this. They flag nonstop, kiss the bucks' face, holler, the whole works. Then when you let the buck out to breed them, they run away like they're scared to death! After all, he is snorting and pawing and making all kinds of weird sounds and chasing them! If I am sure she is in heat, I tie her up short with her head in a corner,and lean against her and press her against the wall so that the buck can breed her. Yes, it sounds terrible, but the funny thing is that once they have been bred once, they discover it's not the end of the world. Watch to see if the buck is actually able to enter her and if he actually breeds her. He will throw his head back and make a funny face. You have to watch for this, because I have seen bucks that mount, but don't really 'do' anything. I also had one doe that fought and fought like you are describing. I tied her up to be bred, and the buck couldn't seem to get in. She never took, so I guess something was wrong with her. She developed a coarse appearance and went to the sale barn. Now I wish I had investigated a little to see what was wrong with her. Anyhow, I'm sorry to be so descriptive about all this, but I couldn't find any better way to say it!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 02, 2000.

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