need help with chickens please

[INyooper]

If I never saw or ate another chicken, I'd die a happy man ...I do enjoy eggs, however. When I was a kid we raised chickens ...lots of chickens. Guess who got to take care of them!

In spite of how dirty they can be, my father still enjoys them, and still has quite a few back home. He does a lot of showing (and even judges at shows). Being a retired pastor, his little joke is that he's licensed to preach AND judge!

Murry McMurry is one of the most referenced places (and has a very long history, as far as I can remember).

As an aside, I remember getting a delivery of egg mash (corn) dropped off in front of the barn when no one was home; think it was about 600+ lbs. or so. It also rained a fair amount before anyone got home to either cover up the bags, or put them away. ...if only we had a still! My dad wasn't very pleased ...but the chickens were happy! HA! (not really, but imagining that Far-Side cartoon! ).

Enjoy your chickens ...just keep 'em on your side of the road. Oh, and get a watch-type dog (shepherd mix, etc) and make his home by the chicken coop. Also, a great reason to get a good shotgun (or another ...a "barn gun!" ).

 

[Bazooka Joe]

Enjoy your chickens ...just keep 'em on your side of the road. Oh, and get a watch-type dog (shepherd mix, etc) and make his home by the chicken coop. Also, a great reason to get a good shotgun (or another ...a "barn gun!" ).

Which came first, the chicken or the dog? If you have a choice I would recommend the dog. I learned this the hard way when I started and lost nearly a quarter of my flock before I noticed and could get out to dispatch some dogs off of my property.
I now have a Pyrenees mix that is worth her weight in chicken eggs. My mother just told me a story how she about wore herself out keeping a dog out of the yard over the weekend.

 

[SemperFiUSMC]

I ignore their pleas. They're just tasty birds.

And DON'T let your kids give them names. If you do you'll never eat chicken again.

 

[66chevelle]

Backyardchickens.com is a great forum. They have a lot of great info over there.

 

[Bazooka Joe]

I ignore their pleas. They're just tasty birds.

And DON'T let your kids give them names. If you do you'll never eat chicken again.

Naming them is half the fun. My rooster's names are Orignal Recipe and Extra Crispy.

 

[irishhunter]

All of our chickens have names, but my girls also know they are here for our food and once they quit producing our foot they go to the pot. Its funny sometimes if they dont come to them when they kiss to them or if they wont submit and let themselves be picked up my oldest Sophia (4) will tell them " get over here or you are going into the stew pot"

I have to laugh -- We live pretty rural and they have been raised to understand that God provided all these great animals so that we can have food to eat.

 

[grunt soldier]

i am bringing this back to the top as my coop is getting close to finished. i got 5 golden comet's from TSC today and got them under the light. i am going to buy 3 hens already laying if i can find some rhode island reds for sale anywhere.

if anyone has any rhode island red laying hens around a year old shoot me a pm plss and if anyone needs any chicken coop designs/ blue prints let me know and i can hook you up. i have a ton now after my research.

 

[Keith_Indy]

You can try craigslist, but there's no guarantee that an older chicken you buy has many eggs left in her.

 

[Wheezy50]

i am bringing this back to the top as my coop is getting close to finished. i got 5 golden comet's from TSC today and got them under the light. i am going to buy 3 hens already laying if i can find some rhode island reds for sale anywhere.

if anyone has any rhode island red laying hens around a year old shoot me a pm plss and if anyone needs any chicken coop designs/ blue prints let me know and i can hook you up. i have a ton now after my research.

Lets see some pics of the coop/house~!!!!

I've had my mixed flock for exactly a year now. I've got silver/gold laced wyndottes, and a few others i don't remember. I have 7 hens and get on average 4-5 eggs per day (once every 2 weeks or so there will be 7!! GOOD WORK LADIES!!). They slowed down a little this past winter, but with a light on a timer in the house to give extra "daylight" they still averaged 3-4 eggs/day and got by just fine.

One tip i'll throw out. Figure out a way to hang the feeder/waterer right at the chickens head level (i'm talking full grown, if youve got pullets they'll need other feeders/waterers while small) If it's hung as high as possible within reach, they wont scratch and throw bedding, waste, etc. into the food and/or water.

 

[grunt soldier]

Lets see some pics of the coop/house~!!!!

I've had my mixed flock for exactly a year now. I've got silver/gold laced wyndottes, and a few others i don't remember. I have 7 hens and get on average 4-5 eggs per day (once every 2 weeks or so there will be 7!! GOOD WORK LADIES!!). They slowed down a little this past winter, but with a light on a timer in the house to give extra "daylight" they still averaged 3-4 eggs/day and got by just fine.

One tip i'll throw out. Figure out a way to hang the feeder/waterer right at the chickens head level (i'm talking full grown, if youve got pullets they'll need other feeders/waterers while small) If it's hung as high as possible within reach, they wont scratch and throw bedding, waste, etc. into the food and/or water.

Lol ur tip is on the money. I got pullets now and the first day day they had do much stuff in the water it wasn't funny. I ended up putting the feeders on bricks and it's help

My wife is out of town with the camera but I will get some up soon

 

[AngryRooster]

Lol ur tip is on the money. I got pullets now and the first day day they had do much stuff in the water it wasn't funny. I ended up putting the feeders on bricks and it's help

My wife is out of town with the camera but I will get some up soon

The bricks will work to raise things up some, until they figure out they can roost on top and crap in the food and water. Best bet is to hang it so they can't get on top.

 

[Wheezy50]

Another thing i forgot to mention, when you build your coop or run, whatever you'd like to call it, make sure to put some kind of "border" around the outside to keep out digging predators. I laid a 2 ft piece of chicken wire all the way around the outside, held down with u-shaped sod staples. My dog tried in vain for 2 mins to dig and gave up!!

 

[grunt soldier]

thanks both you guys. when i get my actual coop finished i am going to hang the feeders for sure. i am going to line the bottom of the run with loose chicken wire to keep predators out. i did a 4x8 box with the A frame top and i got it set up on wheels so i can move it around the yard to different spots. i am mainly going to try and let them free range and just hang out in the run underneath the coop when they aren't. wifey just got back in town i will try to get some pics up

here is basically what mine looks like but mine is bigger.

Chicken Coop Info

 

[M88A1]

Another bit of info for you. We have done laying hens for last few years all went pretty good, I was a total cruit starting out too. We didnt end up with three rooster as they grew up, 2 of them made fine chicken dinners. So good that we got the idea of raising meat chickens, 3 dozen (Cornish/Rock) mix I think. They are very different to say the least from laying hens. They are so ugly looking I though we got some left overs hatched by a toxic dump. There feather grew in slow and in patches. They do grew extremely fast, so fast they have a hard time walking sometimes in the first month. There almost 2 months now and out in the big pen with the layers and the rooster and so far no fights. Stangely though they will not walk up into the coop, they stay under it at night (I spread stay out latey with the cooler weather). Now there feathers are all the way in (all white) so they can handle it till butcher time. I doubt we will ever go with the mix breed cross and try what they call fryers next time.

 

[Iroquois]

I was helping my wife's uncle round up his chickens a while back and he shared some
wisdom. "The only thing dummer than a chicken is a guy who'll keep'em". Seriously, if you
pen them [I would] keep a lid on the pen or every critter from a crow to a coon will raid them.

 

[nhcruffler]

The BackYardChicken forum / website is just great. They helped me a lot with raising turkeys. The only tip I can give you is to not let them get too big before you butcher them. But I was dealing with Turkeys---my life story.

 

[grunt soldier]

lol i am done with the coop and my chickens are doing great. when i am gone they stay in the coop which has a 4 x 8 foot run under it. and when i am home they free range and do their thing. its been a month or so with no problems so far, knock on wood. its really probably been a bit longer but again they are doing great. no eggs yet but hopefully in a month or so

 

[WETSU]

I just ordered a dozen isa brown pullets. I'm officially a hillbilly.

How do you juice chickens?

 

[grunt soldier]

How do you juice chickens?

how?

 

[WETSU]

Grunt, sorry it DOES sound like the opening of a joke. I was asking Newbomb92 seriously, because I thought he just ate fruits, veggies and a few handfuls of nuts to maintain his 4000-5000 calorie/day meal plan. The chicken thing threw me off...