Raising Chickens for Dummies

[jeffinsgf]

That's interesting. My three take about 9 months to go through a $12 bag of feed. They eat non-stop, and the feeder is always full, but they'd rather graze on weeds and bugs than the feed trough. My bug population is down significantly from years past...still quite a few ticks, though.

 

[dmccarty]

That's interesting. My three take about 9 months to go through a $12 bag of feed. They eat non-stop, and the feeder is always full, but they'd rather graze on weeds and bugs than the feed trough. My bug population is down significantly from years past...still quite a few ticks, though.

The wifey is buying Organic chicken feed. We don't really care about the organic part of the chicken feed but this stuff minimizes corn and grains to have more seeds that are healthier for the chickens and hopefully for us when we eat the eggs. The chickens do have bugs, grass, weeds to eat, and they might have slowed down eating on the feed because their eggs are no longer xtra large sized but mostly large. Now that we are down to four chickens the food costs should decrease by a third. We were raising far more eggs than we could eat so we were giving away quite a few eggs which was the same as giving away money. Hopefully, our feed costs will drop and be more in line with what we eat.

A PP mentioned buying grit for the chickens. We have done the same but we have bought at least two sets of bags in two years. Maybe Ginger is building a concrete tunnel to escape from the run... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[jeffinsgf]

I had a Ginger...she led the pack out of the coop and started them all roosting in the trees. We battled for weeks, then I gave up. I was scared something would get them in the night up in the trees, but my two most recent predator losses were in the middle of the day, in the middle of the yard. Sadly, Ginger was one of them...but she lived up to her namesake well while she was here...she was a free spirit.

(For those of you scratching your head, Google the movie "Chicken Run").

 

[dmccarty]

(For those of you scratching your head, Google the movie "Chicken Run").

A year before we got the chicks, a very pretty rooster showed up at the house. I think someone abandoned the rooster on a dead end road behind us. We nicked named him Rocky of course but I danged well did now want a rooster. He eventually wondered off and I think he went to a nearby house. We heard a rooster for years over there but not recently. His crowing first thing in the morning right next to the door from our bedroom that goes outside did not score him positive points. We let him "escape." :laughing::laughing::laughing: He was a very pretty rooster though and very friendly.

The hens have been escaping the fenced in garden. Sometimes they will fly out but they have managed to find a way to get through the gate which we think we fixed.... We shall see what Ginger and the girls do next...

Later,
Dan

 

[Scooby074]

FYI, once the "bullseye rash" develops prescribing antibiotics is not really considered just a precautionary measure any longer.

While he may not strictly have Lyme Dz, or Babeosis, or one of the other "newer" tick-borne illnesses, the rash IS presumptive evidence of Lyme exposure, and per some experts may actually be the first (and often missed) sign of the disease.

Also take a look at Mother Earth News and consider searching the term: "chicken tractor" as a way to manage keeping chickens safer, while allowing a lot of the benefits of free ranging.

Good Luck, (to your dad too!)
Thomas

Thanks Thomas. Dad appears to be responding well to the antibiotics . The redness has reduced noticeably and the swelling has gone down. He's still going to visit his family physician in a week or so for a checkup. Should they have drawn blood at the ER? Is there some sort of blood test for Lymes?

 

[Scooby074]

Jason,

Yeah, they're small enough you still want a little supplemental heat...but you either need a bigger box or your need to raise your light. That spread wing stance they're in says that they're too warm. They need someplace where they can get away from the light every once in a while. Cute birds. Put their water up on a brick or something, and they won't kick litter into it as much.

THanks. I wasnt sure what that body position meant.

I raised the lamp about 6". Temps inside the Brooder range from 90* right under the lamp, to 80* in the corner by the water, this is down from 100* and 90* respectively. They seem to be staying in a close group, sort of under the light, in an area where it is high 80's. One of them is still staying in the heat stress position. You think he'd move if he was hot? The others are not in that body position.

 

[sd455dan]

Except that their personalities are a riot


we've had fun naming the chickens :laughing:: blanc, blackie, hawkeye, Houdini, Fog Horn, LegHorn, stir fry, souvlaki, noodle-soup, teryaki, Little, chop-suey, chicklet, and Bob ...

Their personalities are a riot alright! like our rooster (Chicken Dinner) & the 20 girls... if anyone is interested there is a dvd usually available at the library
titled
( The Natural history of the Chicken)

that has a lot of insight and humor and other interesting things about chickens good luck with them :thumbsup:

 

[Midniteoyl]

Our small place has a eight chicken posse that own the place (free ranging) and follow us around. They came to us after a preschool incubator project hatched them out. If you get a good coop, they will return to it each night. An auto chicken door, opening at dawn closing at dusk, and a self refilling chicken waterer cut down maintenance. I refill their feeder once a week. No smells, or bare soil but the risk of a predator attack.

Oddly, ours never roost outside their coop, and are always on the ground. They are very curious. You leave a door open, they will walk in and check it out. My wife was surprised to find them all in the kitchen.

Chicken poop sweeps off sidewalks if allowed to dry.

No ticks, no snakes, no stinkbugs, fresh eggs, and lots of laughs.

Worth it for us. The problem is roosters, and what to do with older hens that no longer lay eggs. You may need to replace (process, then eat) your flock after a second year, which is really hard when they have become part of the family. We haven't come to that time. Our will probably die of old age, as we get replacements.

Maybe useful

My bud bought a hundred a year. Same thing: good coop with auto water (hooked to hose) and door. They never pooped on anything but the coop and ground and always went in the coop at night. He let them eat the bugs, some scraps, and bread. He got the bread at the Sara Lee outlet - $15 for all you could carry. He filled a full sized van

 

[Midniteoyl]

Thanks Thomas. Dad appears to be responding well to the antibiotics . The redness has reduced noticeably and the swelling has gone down. He's still going to visit his family physician in a week or so for a checkup. Should they have drawn blood at the ER? Is there some sort of blood test for Lymes?

There is a blood test, but its not conclusive till its almost too late - or so I was told. Best thing is a big starter dose of anti-biotic followed by a maintenance dose...

 

[JazzDad]

Our first batch of chickens were allowed to free-range during the day. The last of them died about 1 year later. Too many things out there to eat them. One, we suspect, was scared to death, and by what we don't know.

We never lost any of the current flock due to predators, as they have lived in the protection of a large pen that is divided up into sections. We rotate them through, as you would cattle once they eat down a pasture.

These old things put themselves to bed, but it's usually at about 6 PM. Oh, they eat dinner at 5 and get the special senior price.