Chickens, and things related

[Tororider]

What is everyone's experience with chickens imprinting? Will they imprint on you if you buy them as day old chicks mail order, or only if you hatch them out? I am trying to decide how to start the chickens, with just a few and hatch them in the garage so that the boys can see them hatch and grow until they are old enough to live in a coop by themselves without having to monitor to heat. Any suggestions with regards to this would be much appreciated.

Also, if I get a half dozen and hatch them myself, what is the likely outcome if I get adult birds later and add them to the flock? Are they likely to fight? Does it depend on the breed?

 

[davitk]

Eggs are more expensive than day old peeps, plus you need incubating equipment. If you want the boys to have the experience, eggs would be fun, otherwise peeps are the way to go. The "imprinting" is equally shared by the amount of handling they recieve and genetics. Look through a good poultry cataloge or try the ICYouSee chicken chart: http://ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html and choose the most compatable breeds.

Adding adult birds can be a crap shoot - like people, they learn behavior over time, some good, some not so good.

All things being equal, if I had the time, patience and money I would hatch some from eggs. It's a great learning experience for the kids and terrific entertainment during the winter doldrums.

Good luck! Dave

 

[EddieWalker]

The ducks are almos wild. We give them food a couple times a week, but otherwise, they are on their own in our pond. Since there is only two of them with 3/4 of acre of water in that pond, we don't notice any poop issues. I also didn't tell her that I was buying the ducks, just did it and suprised her when she noticed them in the pond.

My goal with turkeys would be to raise them to a point they can fend for themselves and let them go or escape on their own. For this to work, I think I'd need to fence in an area with trees and cover for them to get used to the wild. Where do you guys get your netting or fencing material?

Neither of us are much on eating eggs or chicken meat. If we had any of those, it would just be for the sole pleasure of seeing them walking around. Ornamental birds.

Eddie

 

[Soundguy]

Chickens imprint on those who walk in with the feed.

In my big walk in coop, when I drive up on the CUV with the bucket of feed.. the chickens cackle at the sound of me driving up.. when i walk in.. if I don't move fast enough.. some of my banties will fly up and roost on my arms as i throw out scratch or pellets or corn.. etc.

I can picke all of them up except for the rhode isle red roosters... the same will eat out of my hands and not scatter as i move around.. etc.

I've raised some and bought some.. after a few weeks don't make much difference.

soundguy

What is everyone's experience with chickens imprinting? Will they imprint on you if you buy them as day old chicks mail order, or only if you hatch them out? I am trying to decide how to start the chickens, with just a few and hatch them in the garage so that the boys can see them hatch and grow until they are old enough to live in a coop by themselves without having to monitor to heat. Any suggestions with regards to this would be much appreciated.

Also, if I get a half dozen and hatch them myself, what is the likely outcome if I get adult birds later and add them to the flock? Are they likely to fight? Does it depend on the breed?

 

[Tororider]

Cool, thanks for the info. I guess that will leave it up to the wife as to whether we hatch out any eggs. I am trying to recruit family and friends to buy eggs so that I can sell the idea as a money maker, wink wink, to the wife.

Eddie, how do your ducks stay safe from your monster coyotes? I would have thought they would have been dinner by now.

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie, how do your ducks stay safe from your monster coyotes? I would have thought they would have been dinner by now.

I started with four ducks and I'm down to two. We tried everything we could think of to keep them in the pond, but the liked to wonder off. It got so bad that we actually have pictures of them on our game camera, which is close to 150 yards from the pond!!! My ducks are flightless Rouens. They look like mallards, but are bigger.

We lost one after a few months to coyotes. I got a shot off at a coyote shortly after that, but guess I missed because I never found him or any sign of a hit. He flipped over like I hit him hard, but I never found anything to support a hit.

Then when the three got to taking their nature hikes, we lost the third. He was the biggest, and probably the slowest. Since that day when he disapeared, the other two have stayed in the pond. They must have gotten scared pretty good, because they learned the lesson after that!!!

Eddie

 

[Tororider]

I would be interested to see if you added a couple more if they all would stay in the pond now. Tell Steph it is a nature experiment, or just grab two more and suprise her, hehe.

What do you guys think about grabbing a shed from Craigslist and just modifying it to a coop, and then enclosing a run with chicken wire? I am thinking that may be a relatively inexpensive, time efficient, way to get ready for chickens. Thoughts?

 

[mjfox6]

What do you guys think about grabbing a shed from Craigslist and just modifying it to a coop, and then enclosing a run with chicken wire? I am thinking that may be a relatively inexpensive, time efficient, way to get ready for chickens. Thoughts?

I made my chicken house out of a kid's playhouse. Added a few boards inside for roosts, built on nest boxes to the outside of the building. Used 4x4's and 2x4's to make the chicken run and covered the whole thing (top and sides) with chicken wire. Buried about a foot of wire to keep things from digging under. Gives the chickens a place to go in the early (and sometimes not so early) morning before I let them out.

 

[shvl73]

I built mine but, its essentially an 8x8 shed. I put in shelves edged with a 2x4 for them to perch on. We used small plastic cat carriers for nesting boxes and placed them on the shelves. The birds don't seem too picky. I also put small hinged doors that we close at night to keep them inside. I used some free vinyl window sample units for windows.

 

[Tororider]

Also, has anyone constructed a coop that can be moved using the tractor? More like a shed, that can be moved? Or would that be too heavy? I have seen the chicken tractors, but those are smaller than I was thinking. Just wondering.