Joined: Apr 03, 2004 Posts: 6559 Location: My Grandkids' Farm
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:31 am Post subject: [Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)
Here is a new thread about birds. There are lots of good sites out there and most are low-tech but we pearkers like to stick together right?
Anyway, as I’ve mentioned on other threads, I have a few birds; Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex. I’ve only had mutts before and paid a huge amount for these, but they are both supposed to be dual purpose, good sitters and good mommas. The Buffs are fairly common but the Sussex I could only find at McMurry.
I’m keeping them in moveable pens, one for meat and one for layers. I’ll eventually have a permanent ‘brooder house’ for the best mommas as well.
So what do you know about chickens? _________________ Make a plan and work it:
Last edited by Pops on Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:09 pm; edited 1 time in total
They make a hell of a lot of noise, preferably at very inconvenient hours. The smell of their cages must list among the most horrifying in the world. They attract flies like nothing I have ever seen. If they escape they can destroy a newly planted field in a matter of minutes.
Other than that they make a pretty good soup.
If you plan to have chickens make sure you have enough distance between you and them. If you value your relations with your neighbors make sure there is plenty of distance between those two.
Joined: Oct 23, 2004 Posts: 488 Location: Canada/Quebec Province
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 10:11 am Post subject:
They give tasty eggs most of the days,are good to forage for bugs and give a lot of fertilizers ! Oh,yeah..they are easy to feed almost for free when you use worms to do your composting ...
They are small creatures which are particularly adept at turning bugs into fertilizer, eggs, and very tasty meat. If you actually get up in the morning, then their crowing is kinda nice. I think they're GRRREAT.
Keeping them out of the garden is important though, and roosters aren't ideal in the city.
Joined: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 12559 Location: zombie horde wonderland
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject:
I love chickens! I like them to eat and I like them as pets. I don't eat my pet chickens. I don't mind the crowing, and I have three mature roosters currently. They are noisy birds, but not as annoying as guineas, in my opinion. It's not necessary to keep a rooster unless you want to produce baby chicks. Chickens are easy to care for and not stinky if you either keep their pen well supplied with fresh bedding, or keep them in a moveable pen. I have both setups.
I presently have one Buff Laced Polish Rooster, one Buff Orpington rooster, one Black Australorp rooster, one Speckled Sussex hen, three Dark Cornish hens, a white hen of unknown breed, one Black Australorp hen, one Light Brahma hen, 20-something Dark Cornish cockerels and pullets, and one white mystery pullet (or cockerel).
The smell of their cages must list among the most horrifying in the world.
Actually, as long as you keep their run full of hay - when they work it down, just add more - and their house relatively clean, they don't have any smell at all. Commercial houses, and poorly kept ones are the ones that smell.
I personally love my 3 roosters' crows in the morning. I can tell who is crowing by the sound. They each have distinct crows. I can't wait till my babies start crowing too.
Adult birds, I have: 18 white leghorn hens, 2 Aracauna hens and one Rooster, 1 Buff Orpington Hen, and three hens and two roosters of backyard barnyard lineage .
At nine weeks old, I have a variety of brown egg layers, both pullets and cockerells 47 total - Buff Orpingtons, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Black Astralorps, Brahmas, Barred Rocks, and a couple I haven't quite identified yet.
My three barnyard hens are now raising (together) 4 babies, who were born in the last week. They're just adorable. Little brown and yellow fuzzballs.
The longer I keep chickens, the more I learn about them, and what they need. Mine provide me meat, eggs, entertainment, frustration , and a more than reliable alarm clock and predator alarm, too.
Hawkcreek - you just reminded me of my grandmother . We spent much time doing the same thing with her - and a bunch of peeling peaches in the summertime when their orchard was in full production. Grandmother canned many many jars of peaches, and I ate a good deal of them.
Here's hoping I can make some of those same happy memories with my neices and nephews.
Kathy
Joined: Dec 04, 2004 Posts: 2337 Location: perpetual state of exhaustion
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2005 9:57 pm Post subject:
I know that when you crush up the used egg shells to feed back to them (cause it gives them extra calcium so they form harder egg shells) they should be crushed and baked first. Baking them gets rid of any salmonella that might be in the egg shells.
We always used to bake them cause we had a fire stove then an electric but I bet you could boil them or whatever.
My grandma also used to use wooden eggs to put under the chickens, its basic chicken psychology I guess, they lay more when theres something to add to.
We have about 18 or so, mostly barred rocks and RI reds and a few of unknown lineage.
We keep them in an old fashion chicken coop with a large fenced yard for them to run in, although most of the time half of them manage to fly over the 6 foot fence and spend a lot of time in the yard and pasture. But at least we don't have many flies around the house.
I don't know if it is just us, but do any of you that have chickens have a problem with your dogs or barn cats getting along with them?
We have a Beagle who's dog house is on the outside of the chicken yard. This winter 3 or 4 of the chickens began using her dog house instead of returning to the coop at night. The Beagle seems to enjoy their company and curls up with them at night in the dog house, she even shares her food and water with them.
And our barn cats are the same way. Sometimes the cats come up to the house looking for food. They lay near the house on the sidewalk and the chickens walk right by them and even lay down next to them. The cats never bother them or their chicks and these cats are hunters, I have seen them catch mice, birds, young squirals and even some of the Toms have gotten rabbits, but they ignore the chickens.
In fact, when we do feed the cats we have to chase the chickens away or else the chickens chase the cats away from the food.
I have even found cats in the chicken coop sleeping in the nesting boxes.
Has anyone else had an experience like this or are we just wierd?
I think a really good deal would be to know one or two other local breeders and regularly trade chickens to bring in new genetic material. This is assuming new birds aren't available from a hatchery.
Aha, this from the Rare Breeds site:
"Given the vulnerability of poultry to predators, the number of flocks is important. "Conservation breeding flocks" are those of 50 birds and above."
Joined: Feb 26, 2005 Posts: 107 Location: By the river
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 6:28 am Post subject:
RidgeRunner, while I've never found my chickens sleeping with the other animals, they are never bothered by my dog & cat. When we first got our dog he killed two of my hens within a month. Everyone told us we would have to get rid of the dog, but we worked with him instead, and now he just lays on the porch and watches them. My cat likes to walk along the top of the coop fence and harass the blue jays that steal food.
I have learned that roosters can get mean, no matter if you have babied them, petted them or hand feed them. (puberty maybe?)
Chickens do not like change. They are visably upset if anyone is with me whne I feed them. They like to be talked to (and will "talk" back). They are great at keeping my compost pile turnned.
Geese suck. About the extent of my knowledge. _________________ "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the
Abyss, the Abyss gazes also into you."
Ammo at a gunfight is like bubblegum in grade school: If you havent brought enough for everyone, you're in trouble
Joined: Dec 04, 2004 Posts: 2337 Location: perpetual state of exhaustion
Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 11:34 am Post subject:
Riverside: how did you work with your dog? What approach did you take?
Spec_op I'm with you on that one, when two geese went after my 1 1/2 year old son I decided they weren't worth the time of day. they are fat and greasey too.
Tame geese can sometimes be nasty, depending on the breed. But the wild ones can certainly be a prime food source if you're near an area that is infested with big flocks of Canada geese that seem to take over park areas that have ponds/lakes near a town. There's nothing tastier than a fat Canada goose, and a mature goose will weigh 12-15 lbs. or better.
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! Oh,yeah..they are easy to feed almost for free when you use worms to do your composting 
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