Chickens

[Bird]

Brown eggs cost more in the grocery store in this area; have no idea why. When I was a kid the U.S. Post Office delivered lots of baby chicks, and if they couldn't be delivered for some reason within a day of arriving at the Post Office, the postmaster would simply sell them real cheap. For quite a few years, dad got 100-150 every spring from the post office, so we had a variety of breeds, mixed sexes, etc. (and a terrible job when it came time to kill and dress 50 or so at a time to put in the freezer)./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

My parents moved to Baltimore when I was a baby and never ceased to marvel (and tell stories) about the "city" folks who'd never been on a farm. A couple of stories were their favorites. Mother said a vendor came around pretty regularly pushing a cart with fresh vegetables and also eggs, and whoever saw him first would knock on neighbors' doors in the apartment building to tell them he was outside. She said one day a neighbor knocked on her door, told her the vegetable cart was outside and "he has a good price on eggs today, but make him let you pick out your own; he has some that are so old they've turned brown." And she said she was telling a neighbor about milking the cow and giving me that fresh, warm milk, and the neighbor said, "You mean you let that baby have that milk before they put the cream in?"

 

[Egon]

Bird:

Anyone who has neither had the pleasure of cleaning the hen house or spent a day preparing chickens for the freezer has most definetly missed some of the finer things in life.

Egon

 

[Youare]

One egg about every 30 hours, they are on a different clock than us.

I get my chicks from Muarry McMuarry Hatchery, they have a website and you can order chicks over the internet. They have over 50 varities available. If you just want eggs and are not hung up on the color, in New England if it is not a brown egg people don't think they are fresh.

I would suggest the Highland 55 chickens, they are a leghorn variety. Good feed to egg production ratio, a hearty white chicken.

Randy

 

[Boondox]

Doesn't if feel strange to be talking chickens with a fellow named Bird..? /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

I think it takes a couple of years to get your routine down. We keep the coop very clean in the warmer months, adding the dropping/straw/shavings mix to the compost pile and replacing it with fresh stuff on a regular basis. But in the cooler months we allow it to collect, just tossing more shavings on top. That mix cooking on the floor actually helps warm the coop thru winter!

Tamara and I have a process for offing and butchering birds now. We do it at night late in the year when the temps get back around the freezing mark. No panic at all if you do it while they sleep. Hang them upside down to drain out and leave them there till morning. By then the meat is chilled and much easier to butcher, especially if you do the boneless thing. We like to do this up front next to the road as it scares the tourists away /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif Besides, there are no bugs to fight with in the fall!

Everyone has favorite breeds. The leghorns, while great layers, are just too skittish for me. Rhode Island and New Hampshire Reds do well, though the combs and wattles tend to get frostbitten. We've had great luck with light brahmas and buff orpingtons; both types are heavily feathered and very mellow. In fact my two light brahma roosters are hand tame, and the buffs are so friendly we have to watch where we step lest our feet come down on theirs! While not the most prodigious layers, they don't slow down at all in the cold, dark days of winter. With ten hens, we generally get 6-8 eggs each day.

Pete

 

[dmccarty]

ChickenGuys,

WHAT do you do with all the eggs? 6-8 eggs per day is a minimum
of 42 eggs per week. I think we go through maybe a dozen eggs
per week. If there is company we might go through 24. What do
you do with the surplus?

We are thinking of having some chickens but I'm not sure it is worth
the work/cost just for a dozen or so eggs a week. My cousin had a
couple of hens in her backyard for a few years even though she lives
in the city. Do the eggs really taste better than store bought?

What kinda of feed does one use or do you let them free range?

We have a few snakes, a family of hawks, buzzards, at least
one fox and I think some coons. So I would have to set things
up to keep the chickens from being food for some other critter. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Hillbilly]

I butcher mine with a 22 rifle,then cut there heads off,makes for good target practice. I ordered an ornamental layer collection form Murray McMurray, I have Brahmas,Crested Polish,Hamburg,Cochin,Salmon Favorelle,Arcuana,Golden Laced Wyandotte,Egyptian Famouis, The 2 prettiest breeds I have,Lakenvelder and Black Sumatra a friend of mine gave me a bunch of Game Chickens.I like to look at all the different birds running on the hills etc.

On free range chcikens you have to supplement there diet will a little cracked corn,more in the winter.

 

[Boondox]

Dan -- We sell eggs at work for $1 a dozen. Folks are willing to pay much more for fresh, range fed eggs but that makes enough $$$ to cover the cost of winter feed, shavings, and the occasional treat of cracked corn. Any egg with poop on it goes in the dogs' food bowls to give them sleek and glossy coats. Occasionally an egg is launched at some tourist racing up the road leaving a huge dust cloud in his wake. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Fresh eggs definitely taste better, though the bright orange yolk from free ranging hens (bugs and seeds make for orange yolks for some reason) puts some people off. Fresh eggs have yolks that are almost perfectly round like a ping pong ball. The old eggs from the store have yolks that can get as flat as pancakes. There is a similar drop in taste quality.

We let our hens free range. Keeps the bug population down. Besides, few things in life are as entertaining as a flock of hens hopping into the air like popcorn as they try to get that elusive Japanese beetle! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Our snakes are wimpy little things. The chickens eat them. Buzzards are no threat, though we occasionally lose a bird to the hawks. We chalk those losses up to the cost of living in the country. Coons can be kept away if you place a radio in the coop and turn it on at night. The hens like classical music, especially Chopin. Foxes are the real problem because they'll kill every bird at once, eating one and saving the rest for later. So for foxes we use the shotgun. Bummer. If they only took one at a time like the hawks we'd leave em be.

Pete

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Do the eggs really taste better than store bought?</font color=blue>

Dan, I think that depends on your taste. I'll bet a lot of people would not want them, and have known some folks who did not like them./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Like Pete (Boondox) said, darker orange yolk, "stronger" flavor. In other words, better to some of us, not as good to some. I guess it's kinda like "Does real butter taste better than margarine?" or "Are homegrown, vine ripened tomatoes better than store bought?"/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[fractal]

I got mine from the local feed store. I think I paid a buck and a half each for them. Do get a book and read up. Day old chicks need to raised in a brooder (I use a cardboard box with a heat lamp) for several weeks before they get moved outside.

We have rhode island reds and "easter egg" chickens. The "easter egg" are often sold as aracuna(?sp?) or americana's but don't meet the "chicken people" criterion for either breed. They do lay blueish/greenish eggs.

You will get an average of 5 or 6 eggs per chicken per week. You can get one per day at peak but if you are producing for sale, should budget on 5 or 6 a week. You will also go through about 1 pound of chicken feed per chicken per week. You should plan on 1.5 to 2 sq ft of coop space per bird if they go out during the day. Lots more if they are indoor only birds. Mine get let out every day so I only have to clean the coop every month or so. Figure on semi-daily cleaning if you confine your birds into a small area along with high losses due to sickness. Cleaning a coop during the heat of summer is not high on anyones list of favorite jobs.

The "day old" chicks you buy from the feed store are 95% female. We have yet to get a rooster but feed store chicks aren't guarenteed. Some breeders will guarentee it (meaning if you get a rooster they will send you another 99 cent chick) which is kinda useless since you would be adding a day old chick to a 4 month old flock...

Back to breed . our rhode island reds lay larger brown eggs and are more doscile birds. A 3 ft fence keeps them contained. The aracunas (easter egg chickens) are more nervous, fly over the 3 ft fence and lay smaller blue/green eggs. My wife/kids like the personality of the easter egg chickens. I prefer the more doscile ones when I have to work around them. My neighbor who was the "4h chicken mom" for the area recommended rhode island reds as good all around chickens.

Commerical laying hens that lay white eggs are not well suited to backyard chickens. They have been bred for egg production, not temperment, and I have heard they get down right mean.

 

[dmccarty]

Boondox,

Your comment about the Japanese bug was strange. Not the comment
but the timing! I was talking with a coworker who used to have
chickens. He said they loved to watch the birds eat especially when they
went after the Japanese bugs! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I made some snide comment about living an exciting life when the most
fun was staying home on a Saturday night to watch the chickens eat bugs!
/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

He lost alot of chickens to a neighbors dog one day....

Later...
Dan