Guest guest Posted October 2, 1999 Report Share Posted October 2, 1999 Haribol Samba Geese, great watch dogs, some are vicious, bite and draw blood.... Five geese eat as much as one cow! They do not necessarily sleep at night they are a great alarm critters. They mate for life, may live twenty years, as I recall they ate organic material love grass and aquatic plants, not water lilies alas, and love to swim. I don't know if they eat snails. Ducks on the other hand eat snails and any thing else they can get their beaks on are not a noisy as geese mate for the season. Can live away from water with ease. They can weed your yard and paths. But will eat your crops when young after grains get to large they can be used to weed and eat bugs, in your garden. They can eat any thing you eat. Peacocks, DON'T! They are loud will trash a garden and act like monkeys in a garden, They breed prolifically Aside for their beauty I would never have any around, I am certain they would eat your snails. Peacocks can eat any thing you eat also. Chickens, they will eat your snails and any thing else they can get their beaks on. I borrow a large flock each year to clean out my garden from season to season. They will eat any thing they can get. In Guatemala I used to feed the placentas (after birth) to the chickens after I had delivered a baby. The chickens are great at scratching up grubs, larva's, beetles, and worms of all sorts, beneficial as well as harmful from your garden. They will eat your garden plants the younger and more tender the better for them. As for the eggs well they hatch into little chickens. If however you do not get a rooster, the eggs will not hatch. You will have to gather up the eggs or the hens will try to hatch them and will sit on their nests. You can break the eggs and let the chickens eat them if you would like. The egg shells ate great ways to add minerals to your soil. Donkey, ass, mules well, All will do lots of work.. More than a horse, if they feel like it. They however require less maintenance than cows or horses. But still they require a certain amount of care. Again they are a twenty year commitment! They are all of them, cows, horses oxen asses and donkeys are sneaky and will find ways to get into your crops and gardens so eternal vigilance and good gates and fencing is your best bet. Sheep, well believe it or not are good for wool of course, and milk their tits are not as hardy so you have to be fairly gentle. They are great a keeping your grass trimmed. Goats are good for wool also if you get the angolias, they produce copious amounts of milk. and can pull small wagons and will trim your trees, they prefer to trim your trees as opposed to eat your grass, and they can climb trees great for pruning trees. Are as a group fairly hardy, and goats milk cheese is excellent! They can eat almost any thing a cow can also. Rabbits, I usually have about ten at any time. They will eat the weeds you pull and place in their enclosure. They will then poop out "bunny berrys"an excellent compost that can be placed on your plants without having to age them. I place sheet metal under their enclosure and direct the bunny berries and urine to roll down the metal to needy plants. Each day as I water I just spray the sheet metal to clean it off and it dilutes the urine which will "burn" your plants. Rabbits need lots and lots of cool fresh water. I move the cages as often as necessary in the hot summer I let the beans grow over the cages it keeps the bunnies cool and shady and they can trim any plants that grow into their cages. You must keep a board for them to stand on as a wire bottom cage is very uncomfortable on their feet, and will cause problems. One other problem, don't get a buck (mail rabbit) or you will have eight new babes every two months, till the mother dies! Snails in general. Place shallow saucers of beer under your plants and snails who love beer will get so drunk they drown, change the beer as needed it really works. To keep snails from getting into your garden place copper window screen around your trees snails cannot crawl across copper wire. The slime they must make to slither any where is salty and It is like getting a continuos electric shock for them. So if you can get copper window screen it will keep them from getting into your garden by placing a six inch high "fence" around your garden. As well as strips on the ground to keep them from crossing from row to row. Dogs, well there is a story of lord Chitana feeding some ones dog with his own two hands. So I guess he didn't go to hell for it. I didn't know that there was a hell in our beliefs. Is there? I thought we just got put back further down the evolutional path for various MIS deeds i.e. come back as a rat or earth worm or something. Dogs can pull carts will eat almost any thing you can. Is loyal, will defend you and your family, will warn you when someone is approaching, and can be easily trained not to attack your live stock particularly if you get the dog as a puppy. Can be trained to herd cattle sheep goats ect. Some dogs have very dense fur that can be used as wool and can be woven into sweaters but if you the sweater in a city you may end up chasing cars and urination on firehydrants! :-) Hope this helps Carol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 3, 1999 Report Share Posted October 3, 1999 On Sun 03 Oct, COM: Malati (dd) ACBSP (Columbus - USA) wrote: > [Text 2673338 from COM] > > Peacock: Nice to have around. From memory we had one or two in Ireland, and > one flew off. How do you make them stick around, without confining them? Do > they eat snails? What do they eat in general, and how much? > > They eat about anything and mate alot, they are fairly hardy creatures, BUT > they leave too much stool, big hugh globs if it, all aver the place. Snap! You remember them flying off before in Ireland Samba? I bet the devotees at Govindadwipa (Inis Rath) wouldn't mind some of them taking flight again! Ys Praghosa dasa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 1999 Report Share Posted October 4, 1999 > > > If mice are a problem, either in the house or in the grain storage, etc, a > cat will keep them away for the most part. We have one for that purpose. He > never sets foot in the house yet we rarely have mice (and they were a > terrible problem before we got him). We feed him on leftover prasadam only > and he is healthy and happy and friendly. > > ys, Balarama Dasa They also control wild rabbit population by eating the young ones, and chipmunks, both of which can be pests, especially rabbits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 1999 Report Share Posted October 4, 1999 They also get into the gardens and scratch up all of the flowers and veggies. Malati.ACBSP (AT) bbt (DOT) se [Malati.ACBSP (AT) bbt (DOT) se] Sent: Sunday, October 03, 1999 11:00 AM To: COM: Practical Varnasrama Cc: COM: Apocalypse 1999? (Are you ready?); COM: Cow (Protection and related issues) Subject: Creatures on the farm [Text 2673338 from COM] Peacock: Nice to have around. From memory we had one or two in Ireland, and one flew off. How do you make them stick around, without confining them? Do they eat snails? What do they eat in general, and how much? They eat about anything and mate alot, they are fairly hardy creatures, BUT they leave too much stool, big hugh globs if it, all aver the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 6, 1999 Report Share Posted October 6, 1999 Obviously the beauty of peacocks remains best appreciated when veiwing their feathers on Krishna's turban or crown, or seen from a far distance.....like not to close to home!or, as we say in the USA, "NIMBY"(not in my backyard)! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 6, 1999 Report Share Posted October 6, 1999 "COM: Samba (das) SDG (Mauritius)" wrote: > [Text 2671035 from COM] > > Can anyone give me any information on keeping the following creatures; > > Geese: From what I have seen they make a pretty good guard dog replacement. > Are they easy to keep, what does one feed them, how much, and is there > anything a person should know before thinking about getting some? Do they > eat snails? Think about the fact that they are a little aggressive and will harass small children, which while cute to watch perhaps can be a very terrrifying and unpleasant experience for the child. They do, as all creatures, defecate where ever and when ever they want. They do eat grass, and penned in with a bunch of strawberries, will clean the grass out of them, an otherwise difficult task. May be special breed for that. There are a lot of different breeds, so think about getting visually attractive ones. Guinea hens are arguably better as watch dogs, or so I have been told. > > > Peacock: Nice to have around. From memory we had one or two in Ireland, and > one flew off. How do you make them stick around, without confining them? Do > they eat snails? What do they eat in general, and how much? > They eat flower blossoms and they is usually a conflict between those appreciating their unpenned up beauty and gardeners. If you confine the hens, the cocks stick around. Even wiithout penning any, they roam a certain area but will return to where they have been accoustomed to be feed. As for one flying off, was it observed flyiing off? Just as the main predator of wild turkeys is the great horned owl, peacocks are also vulnerable. So it could have left in the claws of a predator. Raccoons will also eat young birds. Plus they are dumber than wild turkeys, as a wild turkey will move out of the way of a car on the road, but peacocks sometimes won't and get hit. Care is pretty much the same as turkeys, so read up on turkeys and you could handle peacocks. They do eat snakes, which may or may not be a good thing. They like prasadam. > > Ducks: Nice little waddling things. Does anyone know what they are good for, > apart from throwing bread at? Do they eat snails? What do they eat in > general, and how much? > New Vrindaban has a lagoon for sewage treatment ( sorry Radha Krsna, it was mandated by health authorities) monitored by the state version of EPA. Duck weed grows on the surface which is a violation of regulation. Conventional wisdom is to use an aquacide to control it. the devotee in New Vrindaban who manages it, got some ducks and keeps them on it. If they are there early in the spring and in the right amount, they will control the duckweed without having to resort to the chemicals, as they do here. So ducks on a pond will help keep it clean. Plus, the more exotic breeds are quite beautiful. > > Chickens: In the rainforests of South India, there are wild fowl, that look > good, and that run wild in the forest. I was thinking of trying to get some, > as they might like to eat snails (we get a lot of them here, as you might > have gathered) but they dont produce a lot of eggs, and we can let them run > wild. Might be something like the guinea hens. > > > Donkey, Ass, Mule: To me these are one and the same, but maybe not? Mule is a donkey/horse hybrid, by a donkey jack out of a horse mare. Almost as strong as a horse but with the stamina of a donkey. Can take the heat better. More tempermental than a horse, so needs a more experienced driver to deal with them. Not for neophytes. Sheep: Good for wool. Anything else? Keep the lawn mowed, good quality manure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 1, 1999 Report Share Posted November 1, 1999 <<Peacocks: I doont know if they eat smails but they will find some interst in your seedlings. At Bhaktivedanta Manor they had a liking for walking up and sown our village neighbours rather expensive cars. As a consequence we had to ask them to leave Who ? The neighbours or the peacocks ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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