Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

Whew....what a read!!!! It sure takes some time and lots of very interesting info. Can't believe it thought I finally could keep up but more info....this could keep going and going and going. So much to learn!!!!

One hard lesson learned this year. Raccons are the enemy. Protect you chickens at all cost. They actually have riped the metal roof off my coop and chewed throgh very hard wire to breach my coop 4 nights in a row this summer. I lost 8 hens over 4 nights. We ran an electric wire around the base of the coop with a solar battery and it has worked like a charm. Sometimes at night I hear the coons hit the wire and just smile in my sleep.

I could picture that, Tracy!!!

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Amen! They look so darn cute when they're babies. But they're vicious snarling, snapping, growling, hissing, barking creatures when they're cornered.

I have been so blessed with a Lucy and Jake coon deterrent system.

Dakota is our deterrent/alarm system. He's why I know that they become vicious snarling, snapping, growling, hissing, barking creatures when they're cornered.

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X2 - And isn't that the best way to consume animal products (if you can), with integrity and by understanding that when you eat animal flesh, you are eating an individual and to know that you gave that animal the best life you could, and knowing that it did not have to be stressed, trucked, loaded and slaughtered impersonally in a large facility. People should respect those that raise their own birds for meat, and do so in a humane way, like the folks on this board. I don't eat chicken (or meat) much anymore, mostly because I don't like to eat animals when I don't know what their quality of life was or how they were fed. But I eat a heck of a lot of eggs, because they are from my birds, and I know how they live. Not all of them have names, but I am equally committed to the welfare and quality of life of each and every individual within my care.

RHR, Can I use your quote on my facebook page or in a blog? Because lot of people don't get it, and you said this very well. I will give credit to whatever name you'd like credit given, just PM me and let me know?

Or if you aren't comfortable with it, I can maybe re-work it in my own words, but I don't know if I can do it as well

Gypsi

I am one who leaves a light on 24/7.. I have also snapped lights off after dark.. chickens have good night vision.. they can hop up onto a roost after lights out.. If you doubt their ability to see at night, try chasing one down outside in the dark without the use of a flashlight.. when I leave the lights on, I can go out and check on them and they will be up on their roosts sleeping with their eyes closed.. This includes turkeys, geese, guineas, chickens and peafowl.. I have over 110 to 180 assorted birds.. I do not have any highstrung skittish birds..all of my birds are turned loose to roam my 10 acres every day.. No fences.. from what I have heard, the lights cause stress and skittishness.. If my birds were stressed I would get NO eggs.. I have a Toulouse goose who is giving me eggs yet at 20F down to minus 1F.. she has her choice of where to spend her nights, she opts for the lighted coop.. my other 3 geese stopped laying over a week ago..on schedule..

Bobbi-j - My daughter loves our roo for her morning alarm clock, she says she does not need a real clock, because Owl wakes her up every morning. Bless his little heart.

Was thinking about a heated water dish, but the last lightning storm we had, knocked the power out of our shed. So I get to trudge water out to them on 32 & below days.

Al - Big Congrats on your wins, I know you must be so pleased with yourself & your chickens. All your hard work paid off.

Can't quite figure my hens out, yesterday got 9 eggs before 3 pm. Today I got 3 eggs before 3 pm, as we were leaving for the Girl Scout Christmas Party, with one sitting. Hubby came home from Navy Reserves at 4:30 pm & found 4 more eggs. Since I only got a blue egg today, I should get a green egg tomorrow, hopefully in the nest & not on the shelf on the deck. Silly Birds

Bee = Got a Spur question for you? Owl our roo is 7 months old, he is a GLW, the part that the spur comes out of, started growing about a month ago. It is about 1 1/2 inches long now, but no spur itself has appeared. When do they show up, and will his behavior or attitude change when it does appear? He will dance around me, usually in the morning when I let them out of the coop, if he is not after his ladies. I just tell him to knock it off & go eat breakfast. He has never charged me or flown up at me. Our biggest issues is, he likes to come into the house & check around the feed bag we keep by the sliding glass door. I will sometimes give him a cup of his feed, tilted, so he can have a bit of a snack and not be bothered by the hens. And then I can scratch his back, I know spoiled roo.


I did have an interesting conversation with my 4 year old this afternoon, we were looking at Freedom Range chickens, and I told her they were meat birds to be eaten, not for eggs. She said to me, when it was time for our egg hens to die, then we could eat them. So the concept is there in her mind that when the egg hens time comes, they could be eaten.

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JVLS - Here's the thing. We all do things the way that we see best. I don't think anyone here would do anything to harm their birds. I had to chuckle at your comment about chasing a chicken down in the dark. Been there, done that. Mine always were roosting and sleeping with their eyes closed at night, too, when the light was on all the time. I believe that you wouldn't have your lights on 24/7 if they did stress your birds. After all, we manage our flocks to benefit them because if they don't prosper, they won't produce well, either. You have a LOT of birds! I have 14.