Do you have chickens?

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Permalink Reply by Salma Kamal on February 18, 2009 at 10:32am

Your coment is very informative for starter.
Here I would like to add that in our part of world chicken are also
vulnerable to mongoose, eagles ,crows and hawks.

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Permalink Reply by Clarence on September 14, 2008 at 5:29am

Maria,

"Question: Any good suggestions for where to purchase? and...."

I have gotten most of my chicks through the mail. Murry McMurry, Ideal, and Townline hacteries are a few I have delt with directly myself.

Mount Healthy and Welps I have gotten chicks from indirectly. Indirectly as some feed stores, farm stores, or individurals will order chicks for a group of people who don't want the minimum of 25 chicks per order.... ie. if you can get 5 people to order 5 chicks each then you together have the mim. of 25.

I have done the ordering for groups in the past, which realy gets intersting when everyone orders different breeds and they all come together in one box and are not marked or segragated in any way..... sometimes you don't know if everyone has gotten the right chicks untill a few weeks have gone by. Now days there are good photos of the different breeds of chicks that ID's are a lot easier. My one stop site to get info http://feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKBabyChicks.html

You may also enjoy....http://www.backyardchickens.com/ Lots of info there as well.

Clarence ~:>

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Permalink Reply by maria on September 14, 2008 at 5:19pm

wow thanks for the websites I am going lookin' right now. My husband also appreciates all the feedback. Will let you know how we do.

thanks - maria

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Permalink Reply by marsey on September 19, 2008 at 5:11am

A dog can be trained not to kill chickens. Years ago we came home from an outing to find that our Irish Setter had killed three and was still running around for her next bird. Rusty was a good dog and a fairly good bird (hunting) dog. To that time she had never showed any interest in the chickens at all, so who knows what got into her? I think we have to remember that it is a dogs natural instinct to hunt and kill prey but on the other hand, over the years dogs have been bred to want to please their masters and every dog is trainable if it's done properly.

We were living in an old farming community and we asked around about what to do. The old timers told us that we needed to wire the dead bird to Rusty's collar and leave it there till it started to rot. I didn't have the heart to do that, so I wired it to her dog house and tied her to her house with a very short rope. Then we ignored her or spoke roughly in passing, something like, "No! You can't come--why don't you play with your chicken you bad dog", and so on. Worked like a charm! She never touched a chicken again.

Of course there we no electronic collars back then, but these days I'd bet that a few good shocks might do the trick.

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Permalink Reply by Beva on September 19, 2008 at 5:25am

Hey Chris... my husband is not buying into letting me have chickens either!!
Guess we need to band together! I really want chickens as they are voracious tick consumers... and here in Maine we have deer ticks that carry Lyme disease... not a good thing, People I know here that have chickens do not have ticks! I notice that since I have been able to attract more mourning doves and song birds to my property that the tick population peaks in spring but drops after the birds arrive for summer. So, maybe you can use this as a motivator for your wife to agree to chickens... that they eat BUGS!
:)
Beva

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Permalink Reply by lani on September 19, 2008 at 2:29pm

We have 20 hens and 5 roosters (four separated and one with hens). They are Naked Necks and are 4 1/2 months old and we were gifted with our first egg yesterday. The hens are very social and want to be petted. We have compost piles (getting ready for container gardens in the spring). They are good foragers and will eat just about anything. They are dual purpose birds.

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Permalink Reply by Clarence on September 22, 2008 at 6:23am

Congrates on the first egg with 20 ladies you will soon be getting a dozen or more eggs a day!

I have heard that Naked Necks are great chickens, but I never could get past all that bear skin on a chicken.... seems to me that a chicken should be covered with feathers, but that is just me.

I like chickens with rose combs. Currently I have brown rosecomb leghorns... very flighty and the rooster is meaner then mean (he will soon be invited in for supper once we see how many roosters are in our current batch of hatchlings).

I also have green egg hens and a rooster, He is as sweet as pie. You would hardly know that he was even there as he seems to crow less then the other breeds I have and he only comes at you when one of his ladies are in destress.

I am a little disappointed in the Marons.... not just that they are not rosecomb. I do like the speckled eggs I get. Every one and a while I get one of those near "coffee bean" dark brown eggs you would think all Marons are expose to lay.... but like anything, you get what you pay for.... I guess I'm too cheap to pay for better.

I think I will get some Wyandottes when I order chicks next spring. ~:>

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Permalink Reply by Beva on September 22, 2008 at 6:48am

A saying in Maine;
Brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are good!!!
I get eggs from my friend who has free range chickens... and what a difference in taste! Brown eggs are so common here, that when I do see a white egg, I'm a bit surprised by it! :)

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Permalink Reply by Clarence on September 22, 2008 at 7:05am

I like the different colors of eggs I get.... but my dear wife likes only white eggs. She is not a chicken person at all, in fact she seems to have a phobia when it comes to chickens (proof that opposites attract). A white egg to her means a clean egg... simple as that. So I keep white eggs for her and rest are enjoyed by me and my friends.

I could sell eggs, but I have chosen to give my surplus eggs to friends and family. Some are retired and living on fixed incomes, one is a single dad raising three kids alone from a wheel chair.... ~:>

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Permalink Reply by Penelope on September 22, 2008 at 8:58am

I believe Black Minorcas (sp?) lay white eggs. I raised a few one years. Beautiful silky, black feathers and the whitest eggs I've ever seen. Butchering was a bit of problem with those dark pinfeathers and darker skin, but otherwise nice birds.

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Permalink Reply by Clarence on September 23, 2008 at 5:14am

I have four buff minorcas... their eggs are the same as my rosecomb leghorns. Personality wise they are less flighty then the leghorns but still not come eat out of your hand freindly.... and alas they don't have a rose comb. I may try crossbreeding them to get a buff rose comb... ~:>

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Permalink Reply by Mo on September 28, 2008 at 4:08pm

Hi Chris, Well yes, we have chickens and lovely fresh eggs and scat for the garden. They've been living and working with us for about 10 years now. My flock is now about 18 girls. We have decided that since roosters tend to get extremely protective as they mature and sometimes our grandchildren and I are the "bad guys" and treated accordingly by the rooster, we stick with girls. Whatever roosters do come along in a batch of assorted chickens become fodder for the soup and stew pot after 6 - 8 weeks. We have an 8 x 10 house for them, 4 nest boxes for laying eggs, 3 roosts at different levels, woodshavings on the floor and a hanging pellet feeder inside. They roam in their enclosure during most of the day and spend 3-4 hours carousing around our yard daily. Each morning I change their water which is kept outside of the house, give them some sprouted whole grains on the ground and I'm done. At night we close them back into their fenced in yard and into their house . They recieve household meal scraps as well as any and all garden scraps. The eggs are, delicious and we feel them worth the small amount of time that they require. Do we have a varmint problem? We live in the country, so I cannot imagine that there are not some around, but they keep to themselves and do not annoy in any way. Oh did I mention that the eggs are delicious? !!! The old girls make great stock and chicken soup too. oh yes, We use organic grains. Each year we add 6 - 8 new girls and cull the old ones. We keep track of who is who by purchasing different varieties each year. Good luck and good eating.

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