Before
We used to have three buffalo's and they were fun to have around. They must be cared for well and need a good place to sleep. They had a good strong dungeon under the rice storage house. In the evening it helps to make a small fire so that the smoke keeps the mosquito's away, if they haven't caked themselves with mud. They're not called water buffalo's for nothing. They are very strong and very hard to handle come rice-growing time, they must be kept away from the field that looks so lush and green to them. So I could not keep them any more.
Also before
The foray with ducks and geese failed when marauding dogs decimated the population. Whatever we did, fences, houses, opportunities for ducks and geese to jump into the water, these dogs were relentless. They usually attacked in the night time in packs of two or more, patiently biting and digging their way through everything we put up. I did not want to build a fortress, so we quit the ducks and the geese.
Mean stray dogs
We've discussed endlessly about that to do about these dogs. Villagers would just poison them. In fact, we lost our own very peaceful dog who got along fine with our chickens, to poisoning just a few weeks ago. This is not a good way to go about it; we're liable to poison our own cat and other unintended animals as well. In this case the best thing might simply be to shoot them in the act, but I don't have the means to do so, and don't like this either. One solution is to "trap" them. Thais do not eat dogs, but there are lot's of tribes people from other places around here that do. At least it's useful. In the meantime I haven't done any of this, and haven't seen the dogs in a while. Most probably someone else has taken care of them.
Now
Chickens is another matter. We have quite a few chickens roaming about the yard since they multiplied a few months ago. They do roam freely, sometimes quite far into the field, but they know where their home is.
Kai Baan and Bantams
These are "Thai native chickens". They are a bit lean, strong and good looking. They scrounge the ground all day for small insects, worms snails and the like and also eat cooking scraps and food leftovers, rice bran and husks. We never buy feed for them. In Thailand they are simply called village chickens "Kai Baan" house chickens, similar to Indonesian villagers calling their chickens "Ayam Kampong" village chickens. In higher circles, this Thai species is apparently called "Shamo". It is said to be a native Thai chicken, but it does appear to have its historic roots in India. The roosters are good fighters.
We also have some Bantams, one couple in brown & gray and one female in white. I'm looking to find some more.
Both the Shamo and the Bantam species like to sleep in the trees. The chickens, single, in pairs and in groups, each have their own fixed place in a tree and a limb (unless a female has eggs, then she stays on the ground). Sleeping in the tree does come in handy when dogs come around. No need to build a fortress. The chicken coop remains largely empty. We're not collecting eggs now, but we'll need to organise this a bit better, and safely, if we want to do so. The last batch of chickens was bred right under the house stairs - where dogs don't stray so quickly.
Browns
To expand my chicken zoo I went out and got another species of chicken. These are from the chicken farm. They are reddish, warm brown with some white, a bit wide and fat looking. Everyone says they won't survive without being fed high-so brand food, but I believe otherwise. They've been doing fine for more than a week now. But they've never seen a tree before. Nor do they know what rain is. So they need extra care come bed time, or rain.
Since neither we nor the chickens trust the chicken coop to be safe, in the night time we keep the new lot under a "zoom", a kind of bamboo bell. We even double it up, an extra large zoom over a large zoom with a partial plastic cover. These zooms are close to the house so that when a pack of dogs comes around we hear it and can interfere. Anyway, we need to rethink and redo the chicken coop thing. Lightning and thunder clap - must turn the computer off.
Now I'm trying to figure out what it is that I actually got. It took me a while but now I think these reddish brown chickens are "Lohman Brown". Looking into it more, I came across Bovan Brown and ISA Brown. These all look similar and maybe they're just all the same root. At least they're all brown. Best to give them a new fitting name: Warm Brown, nickname "Brown".
Update: Well, the Browns did not do too well. They were simply too inexperienced, or too blazé to survive in the conditions that we call normal. They lacked "survival instinct": They would easily get disoriented, not finding the way back home, would not get to their shelter when it rained, they would actually fall down the slightest incline, land in a shallow creek where they could still walk, but did not even bother to figure out how to get back on dry land. About nine out of ten died. However, the surviving 10% turned into superb, strong, large chickens, calling the shots in chicken land. The mixed Brown and Kai Baan chickens have also been doing very well.
BReds
Update: Then I got some "Rhode Island Reds". They're supposed to be dual purpopse, that is good for both, laying eggs and meat. Of course we only seldom eat our chickens, since we're kind of attached to them. These are large, tall reddish-brown chickens. They are said to be an American breed, which in specific fact and practice means a cross between a Southeast Asian chicken said to be Malay and a Leghorn said to be Italian, an Ital-Asian so to speak. Although we also got these from the chicken farm/factory, they had a higher survival rate then the Browns. These Rhode Island Reds are tall, inquisitive and bossy. The males started causing some disorder by starting never ending crowing concerts at the most unusual times of day and night. They also would eye their own and other chickens' baby offspring, take a fast pick and swallow them whole. We weren't used to chickens being this mean, and decided it was time for more grilled chicken. The rest of the chicken zoo is now much more peaceful.
MultiCulti
Update: It appears that these different chicken species (I'll check later if we're talking about species or variants or whatever) readily mix with each other. Many of our chickens are now part Brown, Red, Kai Baan, Bantam and Jungle Fowl. Some of these are very beautiful and strong looking, mostly reddish dark brown, short hair, not overly tall with a relatively short neck, with strikingly close resemblance to original wild forest chicken.
Turkeys
Update July 2016: I also got six turkeys. They have been doing well from the start. They are beautiful to see, with a graceful manner much unlike the ever busy chickens.
Fowl Colera - Apocalypse
Update September 2017: One of our brown ducks died from overeating snails in the rice field two weeks ago, or so we thought. Healthy to dead within a day. When we went to the next village's keeper of ducks to get a replacement, it turned out that all her ducks had died. In Trumps words: "all her ducks, all of them, not a duck left, not a duck left".
Then there has been news by the village head that there's a chicken disease going around. We first thought we'd be OK since we're a good distance away from the village. When our first chickens died we thought they had caught a cold from the stormy monsoon rains. But then twenty chickens died within a day, two days later another ten and this Monday morning again ten. First the foreign (Brown and Red) chickens died, then the mixed and Kai Baan senior adults, then also other chickens. Chickens and turkeys get sick and die within a day. Four out of five adult turkeys died, the fifth one is sick this morning. This is a disaster, a vary sad one, and its not over yet.
The "word" this morning is that its Fowl Cholera. That's got vaccine and treatment for humans! After 15 minutes of research I concur that's it, and I come across descriptions of fowl vaccines and treatments. The two adult geese and four adult ducks are still OK (right now). The remaining 5 young turkeys and 4 young ducks have been kept separate all the wile and are also still OK (right now). We're finding this vaccination and the treatment as I am writing this. And get this done this early morning asap. We are way late on this as it is. I seriously wish I would have heard this "word" at least a few days ago.
Staff left the vet shop with vaccine, only. Turns out I have to clarify again the difference between a vaccine and a treatment, and the importance of getting both. Immediately drove to the shop to buy the treatment, according to sources supposedly tetracyclene for both injection and ingestion. The shop has Oxy-Mycin "Olan" brand for the injection, which turns out to be oxytetracyline hci, so it should be OK. The oral remedy, a chinese-looking brand, talks in general terms of stomachaches caused by fowl disease outbreaks - probably as an attempt to communicate a remedy to simple villagers. But I'm not convinced*. I am tempted to go to the people pharmacy and by a bunch of oxytetracyline pills to mix with the fowls' food. First I need to make double sure that everyone knows the difference between these remedies and that they are all applied correctly for healthy and sick. Needless to say I am feeling bad about all this. At least now we are working on it with red-hot urgency.
* Kh looked into it and it turns out that chinese-looking food supplement also contains oxytetracyline, plus vitamins and minerals. For the food supplement we've decided to assume that all fowl are potentially infected so everyone is getting the antibiotic-plus supplement regardless of symptoms or not. What a morning. What a week.
Fowl Cholera
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fowl_cholera
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ps030
Lohman Brown - Rhode Island Red
http://www.thai-farm.com/chickens
http://www.verbeek.nl/nl/leghennen/lohmann/lohmann-brown-classic
http://www.chickenkeeper.co.uk/hybrids/isa-browns.php
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/poultry/chickens/rhodeislandred
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_Red
Chicken coops
Obviously we are not going to buy these things, we'll need to make some ourselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A-frame_chicken_coop,_Portland_OR.JPG
http://www.bitsforpets.com/lancaster-add-chicken-run-p-3449.html
http://www.bitsforpets.com/5ft-apex-outdoor-run-p-2.html
http://farmingfriends.com/small-dorking-chicken-coop-by-oakdene-coops (my son' favourite)
