Got Chickens

[powder smoke]

April 9 picking up a dozen chicks from the Feed Store in town.
Getting White Brahmas laying hens. This is my first go round
with Chickens advice will be appreciated. They tell me in 16
weeks or so they'll start laying. ps

 

[wolfsong]

In 16 weeks they'll be good eating fryers, too!

 

[gramps]

In 16 weeks they'll be good eating fryers, too!

Yep, what Wolfe said! Did you get sexed, or are they mixed? Watch for Spurs and combs. Keep one male, cull (eat) the rest. Keep all cats, dogs, possums, raccoons, and hawks away. :shock: They need to be kept warm(as chicks), and SECURE (always) at night. Always plenty of water, put grass clippings in the pen. It provides roughage, and bugs. Feed laying mash after 14 weeks. Good luck! 8)
gramps

 

[powder smoke]

Yes they are sexed all hens. I have a brooder set up in the garage with a heat lamp.
We have Redtailed Hawks and Bald Eagles around along with great Horned Owls.
Never gave a thought to these predators I was thinking more towards coyotes and fox.
My neighbor has chickens brings eggs over from time to time way better that store bought.
Figured I'd give it a try. Oh well not a big investment we'll see how thing go.
Thank you both for your input. ps

 

[powder smoke]

In 16 weeks they'll be good eating fryers, too!

Got a friend in Lagrange he raises meat hen they never leave the coop.
These birds were so large when he processed them they could hardly walk.
Excellent eating tho. ps

 

[nekvermont]

In 16 weeks they'll be good eating fryers, too!

Got a friend in Lagrange he raises meat hen they never leave the coop.
These birds were so large when he processed them they could hardly walk.
Excellent eating tho. ps

Were those large birds Capons? (Capons are roosters that are castrated as chicks). We raised them for a few years and some of them would hit 11 lbs. Best eating chickens I've ever had. Don't forget the skunks and weasels like chickens too. Sometimes you have to teach those day old chicks to eat and drink by placing their beaks in the water and food. Free range hens that eat bugs and anything else around the yard produce some really good tasting eggs. You can even feed them table scraps. Enjoy your new birds and the eggs they produce. Today hens, Tomorrow turkeys. Nothing like a fresh turkey.

 

[GA Cracker]

If you don't build a coop for them to roost in make sure the birds of prey can't reach them through the fence when roosting on their roost poles. Owls will stick a foot through holes in the fence and pull them tight against the wire and mess them up. I had ten black hens that provided eggs for several families. I always kept a rooster with the hens. Many older folks told me the egg yokes would be much richer if the eggs were fertilized. They also stated the fertilized eggs are much better for baking. I really enjoyed mine and I really enjoy hearing a rooster crow. If you don't let them run free I would build my pen out of dog wire or good wire that a dog can't tear through. Dogs and varmints will tear into you pens. I would also put a top over the pen to keep the flying predators out.
Build your nest boxes so that you can reach the eggs from the outside without having to go into the pen.
If you have a native fruit like blackberries, blueberries, or something else plant it around your pen so that it grows through the fence. Grass or anything green will work cause they love it.
If you let them free range you will hardly ever see flies. If you have livestock they will cleanup wasted feed and they will scratch down the poop piles. However...they will scratch out flowerbeds.
Always keep a little calcium shell in the pen then they won't ever start eating their own eggs.
I think you will enjoy having them and will enjoy eating what they produce. I surely did.

 

[Bayouhunter]

I started with 36 a couple of years ago and now down to 10 hens + 1 Rooster. One fact is they eat and crap a lot. Free range is better but then you're always stepping in chicken crap. We tried that for a short while. Right now we're getting 5- 8 eggs per day. I'll need to order a few more after this year.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Right now we're getting 5- 8 eggs per day.

How is your cholesterol?

Those dang free range chickens and roosters like to chase meter readers. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[roarindan51]

good luck trying to raise chickens....
I don't know if i planted them too deep or too far apart, but none of em ever came up!!

 

[KWYJIBO]

When they grow up and move out to the coop, give them some boxes to nest in. They will lay their eggs there, making the eggs easier to collect.

Give them a perch, like a broomstick or something, a few feet off the ground. They'll prefer to roost on it when sleeping, rather than on the ground.

You can buy some crushed oyster shell to mix in with their food once they start laying. The calcium will make the egg shells thicker/stronger. You can also crush up the shells from eggs you eat and return them to the chicken feed, a direct recycling program!

They like to take dust baths to keep bugs and parasites away. Make an area with fine, dry soil for this--or just observe where they've found to do it--and consider adding some diatomaceous earth there (look it up). It's claimed to have numerous benefits.

Expect to get about 5 eggs per hen per week in the summer, fewer in cold months. If you put a heat light in the coop, they'll continue to lay through the winter, just not as much. Without the light, they may stop entirely until Spring.

They lay for 4 or 5 years usually, but live longer than that. So you might want to eat them or give them away at that point, otherwise you're spending money on feed but not getting anything in return.

The coop/pen will be much easier to clean out if you cover the ground with straw or grass clippings.

Some people claim they like a toy, like something shiny hanging from a string or attached to the side of the pen, but I can't confirm this.

If you handle them frequently they can be quite tame. If not, they may become skittish, but I don't think this is a problem. It just depends on whether you want them purely for the eggs or for pets as well. Roosters can be quite aggressive and protective of their hens, so we never get them. If you just want eggs to eat, there's no reason to have one.

 

[Mega Twin]

Crows will get more baby chicks than all of the other predators combined.

 

[powder smoke]

All good advice lots to take in tho. I have an out building I plan to make a coop in a section of it.
My plan is to have my nest boxes with a hinged lid on the outside so I can get eggs.
I also have a couple of Guinea Hens coming. My neighbor uses thee to control the Colorado
Potato Beetle. They eat them faster than the beetle eats the plants. Looking forward to fresh eggs.
Thanks everyone ps

 

[nekvermont]

That's a great idea to use Guinea hens to control the potato beetles, I think they help controlling ticks too. I always thought the wild turkeys would clean up the potato beetles but they seem to pass them up.

 

[Selena]

Welcome to my world PS! I keep mine in a tight building with ground corn cobs for bedding and two heat lights. Make sure the waterers are clean at all times. Our biggest problem is with rats but as I said since they are in a building other predators can't really get to them. This year an unnamed idiot that shall remain my brother has talked me into getting 50 head of (domesticated) Mallard ducks as well. I just hope they turn out better than the quail he tried to raise three years ago.

 

[powder smoke]

Selena, Seeing I'm a carpenter and got a planer, I've got shavings coming outta my ears, that
is what I'll use. Fortunately, I do not believe there are rats around seeing no one seems to have
a problem with them. The only thing I'm not sure about is when they'll be big enough to take them
out of the brooder. How old they gotta be before they can take cooler temps. Goes by size or age?
Danger of frost till Memorial Day in these parts. That's June 1st. Got a lot of good info here also did
some reading on the net, the only gray area in my mind is when can they take chilly temps. ps

 

[Selena]

Selena, Seeing I'm a carpenter and got a planer, I've got shavings coming outta my ears, that
is what I'll use. Fortunately, I do not believe there are rats around seeing no one seems to have
a problem with them. The only thing I'm not sure about is when they'll be big enough to take them
out of the brooder. How old they gotta be before they can take cooler temps. Goes by size or age?
Danger of frost till Memorial Day in these parts. That's June 1st. Got a lot of good info here also did
some reading on the net, the only gray area in my mind is when can they take chilly temps. ps

Generally once they get their feathers or when they start panting it's time to let them out in the pen. I'm not sure about "free range" since I use "semi confinement." Which is a fancy way of saying I have a fenced in pen with a door that is opened in the morning and closed at night.

As for keeping them over the winter... the story is told;

It seems one cold snowy winter night a man was woke by a commotion in the chicken house. Expecting a varmint in his hens he grabbed his shotgun and went out to investigate. With shotgun at ready he bent forward to stick his head in the door to see what was going on. Unfortunately at that moment the dog decided to investigate the opening of his split tail long underwear with his cold cold nose... And the moral is ladies, unless you want to be dressing chickens at 2 in the morning never buy your hubby split tail long johns.

 

[AJGUNNER]

Just my 2 cents worth of friendly advice---unless it is really freezing cold, forget the heat lamp and go with a regular old screw in 100 watt bulb. If you must have the heat bulb, go out of your way to secure it and try to think of any and every scenario that kids/baby chicks can do with and to the bulb. I am speaking from experience here when I say you usually do not need a heat bulb, and they are the number one cause of farm/barn fires. I had mine hanging from a piece of lite weight chain like the chain used to hang fluorescent fixtures. I used this because I could easily open the links with needle nose to adjust the height. Somehow the little bug eaters knocked the chain and fixture down. Of course it landed right on dry straw and wood shavings with the hood making a perfect tent. Somehow it go so hot that the aluminum hood melted before the flames started. It burned/smoldered in the shavings and straw, and burned about 1/2 inch into rough cut 2 x 12 barn flooring. Somewhere along the line it burned through the powder cord and tripped a breaker. Had it not been for a stroke of luck it would have been a far different story.
From then forward I only used a 100 watt bulb, heavy chain and 2 different screws holding the chain in place. 100 watts should be fine since you can move the bulb right down almost on top of them. Just lay a thermometer down and adjust your height as needed. If it is so cold that a 100 watt bulb won't cut it in the garage, bring the pen inside. Several times I would start the chicks early (late feb/early march) and we would just use a large plastic water trough and put it in the mud room by the woodstove at night. This works fine for the first couple of weeks but can get pretty stinky as they get larger. Remember, even the best farm fresh eggs are not even close to the damage that a heat bulb/fire can do.

 

[powder smoke]

Thank goodness for your good luck. Still pretty cold
nites up here last nite was 11 degrees, Ill have them in
the garage trouble is 100 watters are getting scarce I,m
not getting them till the 9th Ill look around. They'll be on
a concrete floor with shaving. ps

 

[mishtub]

One thing I always was wary of when getting the eggs from the nest was the occasional snake that would be there for eggs or chicks. One good thing about catching the snakes was being able to put them in the gopher runs to rid the yard of gophers.
The first time I heard someone tell me to, while cleaning the dishes after dinner, to "Just put the garbage down the disposal", I asked "Where's your hen house?"

 

[Colonialgirl]

good luck trying to raise chickens....
I don't know if i planted them too deep or too far apart, but none of em ever came up!!

MAYBE you WATERED them too much !!

 

[olcop]

I started with 36 a couple of years ago and now down to 10 hens + 1 Rooster. One fact is they eat and crap a lot. Free range is better but then you're always stepping in chicken crap. We tried that for a short while. Right now we're getting 5- 8 eggs per day. I'll need to order a few more after this year.

Ahh yes, free range chickens. On the farm where I grew up, the chickens were wild and free,
there is nothing like waking up early in the morning, and going out on the front porch barefooted, and "cutting" your foot on a recently deposited chicken surprise! I think this is the origin of the dance called ",The Funky Chicken"-----trying to walk on one foot to the closest water faucet to wash it off your foot. On the plus side, performing this action will guarantee that you are wide awake early in the morning.
olcop

 

[Selena]

I started with 36 a couple of years ago and now down to 10 hens + 1 Rooster. One fact is they eat and crap a lot. Free range is better but then you're always stepping in chicken crap. We tried that for a short while. Right now we're getting 5- 8 eggs per day. I'll need to order a few more after this year.

Ahh yes, free range chickens. On the farm where I grew up, the chickens were wild and free,
there is nothing like waking up early in the morning, and going out on the front porch barefooted, and "cutting" your foot on a recently deposited chicken surprise! I think this is the origin of the dance called ",The Funky Chicken"-----trying to walk on one foot to the closest water faucet to wash it off your foot. On the plus side, performing this action will guarantee that you are wide awake early in the morning.
olcop

If you have checked on the price of nitrogen/phosphate fertilizer lately you will realize your yard is getting a good deal there. Keep in mind what my Grandfather told a certain politician during a "townhall" meeting. - The only reason I don't say you are full of bull---- is cow manure is worth $80 a ton.-

 

[Mike Armstrong]

I would have a few bantam chickens if I lived in the country. My favorite breed is a kind called "Arkansas Traveller," they are close to the ancestor of domestic chickens, the Red Jungle Fowl. Beautiful little birds, and can fly really well. They are pretty capable of taking care of themselves, too. We had them running around on our cattle ranch for many years and I don't remember losing any to anything but Coopers Hawks and Horned Owls. They roosted in the oak trees once they got big enough to fly (before that we kept the chicks and their mommas in a tiny henhouse).

As far as I'm concerned, the best alarm clock is "rooster music". But then, I'm a "morning person," for sure.

I remember many times seeing a little bitty banty hen back a range bull away from his feed!

 

[jpickar]

We had three flocks of chickens before we gave up. Everything from weasels to grizzly bears got them. Good luck.
John