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

[Bayside Chicks]

Commitment is definatly not a strong suit for many people these days....

 

[HiddenChicken]

People just need to face the fact that sometimes one's eyes are bigger than their stomach and there is a quart of left over cooked steel cut oats!

 

[normanack]

Mine fly as they run. Wings flapping, a little loft but mostly running....like a duck on a take off.

Mine, too! I find it hysterical... Running their little fuzzy butts off while clearing all the fall leaves off their "runway!"

I love the lurching side-to-side effect when the big ones run -- like little dinosaurs.

 

[Pozees]

Ok...see? We're not so crazy after all!

Cracked wheat, huh? I may have to try that. And, I grew up in New Orleans, where grits & cheese grits (a.k.a. manna from God

) rule. And rice dishes...savory. I think you have a great idea with the sc oats...I'll try savory next time! Cheese oats? We'll see...

I just eat mine w some br sugar, butter, milk & either fresh fruit off my berry bushes or raisins. Birdies LOOOOVE it. With that sugar, I bet they do! I know it's not the best thing in the world for them (sugar), but I don't do it often enough to matter. But, if I do it savory, it's certainly better for them...

I tried some shredded mozzarella on it a couple of weeks ago, it was pretty yummy Have thought about trying some crumbled breakfast sausage in there too, just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[Pozees]

I love the lurching side-to-side effect when the big ones run -- like little dinosaurs.

My girls do that too, but I always think of them as goofy little girls being silly on the playground I often tell people there is no comedy as reliably entertaining as chickens running. There is also little more gratifying than watching a hen run full-out chasing a grasshopper across the yard and catching it!

 

[HiddenChicken]

There is certainly a fad quality to chickens right now. However I think there is a little deeper thing going on . I always think about the people that started this Country.
They were oddballs with a lot of grit. Fanatics, poachers, people willing to steal to feed their families. They were divergent assertive doers that were willing to break from the herd for ideas.
I think that the genetic makeup of Americans is different than any other Country. The passivists stayed in Europe and Mexico. The people who wanted more or different came here, against huge odds, and multiplied. So looking at things like SUVs and chickens and guns I just dont think Americans will slip quietly into the night. Face it we love the idea of going off road in the suv and a grocery getter that can man handle a median is a turn on deep in the phsychological layers for Americans. Europeans ride bikes and tiny little cars or trains. They have bikes that hold 3 cars seats in Europe for Petes sake and there is something to be said for that but its not the fierce independant nature of Americans, the hardest working people in the world and possibly the reason they/we work so hard is to make ourselves rationally okay with a gas guzzler or a chicken or a gun because of the independant self reliant genes we all have to a certain extent- or we would not be here. Americans insisting on providing our own independant food and protecting our homes and taking everything with us over that median is a culture that surpasses race and creed. There is something deeply similar in every American that I dont even think the politicians realize. Americans are unique as a group and thats why I think there is so much energy going into chickens right now. The individual looks around and realizes that the food processes are deeply flawed, the economy will take years to fix and they do something intimate and extremely local to fend for themselves if needed. And like always they do it with style and in some ways with pithy in your face obtusity like frizzles and blue eggs. But that is Americans heady in love with the largesse they created in a Country they created and it shows in the music, the Suvs, and the chickens. Sure some people- a percentage will bail- but a big percentage will keep it up and certainly the children of new chickeners are going to have the lifestyle imprinted on them which may make even bigger changes in the ideas of food 20 years from now. Americans may not always fight or even vote but they have grit and they will do things and quietly be things that impress me and that I am proud to be a part of.

X2!! Americans are a different "animal" altogether, I agree. A country born of "gonna do somethin about it!" kind of people. For better or for worse.

Many people are preparing for possible shortages in food, hyperinflation, an economic collapse. Many people who come to this thread (in particular) are looking for people who learned how to keep chickens from people who made it through the depression. Some of us out here are looking for a way to be more self-sufficient...in a way that uses old, tried and true methods that won't be compromised if the economic shtf. That is why I have chickens. And I raise them with the idea that they could be a real lifeline someday. And I treat them like gold for that reason. I don't survive off of them now, but with the knowledge I've gained here, I know I could. That confidence is powerful.

Mountain Momma, I agree with you that this is more than a fad at this point. Things are changing and for a LOT of people these chickens are "plan B." You know, survival. And with that comes a real desire to learn everything possible to keep them healthy and productive...and a real desire to not throw in the towel. Until it can be proven to me, in my mind, that we are out of economic peril, I will never give my girls up.

Here for the long haul...

 

[Pozees]

Al, we haven't heard from you in a couple of days, how are you and your wife doing?

 

[Mountain Momma]

Al, we haven't heard from you in a couple of days, how are you and your wife doing?

Yep Al. We are all wondering about you guys, your wife's stitches, if you have contacted anyone about the line etc. Please check in.
L

 

[Mountain Momma]

My girls do that too, but I always think of them as goofy little girls being silly on the playground I often tell people there is no comedy as reliably entertaining as chickens running. There is also little more gratifying than watching a hen run full-out chasing a grasshopper across the yard and catching it!

I love it when they catch a fly mid air. Like little black belts.

 

[chickencowranch]

All they have around here is Tom Cat, so I bought the bars and put some up and out of the way of the flock. I know I have mice I see them all the time at night on the game camera cleaning up any spilled feed.

I am already using Dcon bait trays in the coop storage section. My dear hubby built it separate from the rest of the coop so the chickens can't get to it. I went through one tray in one week. Im not sure if I have rats, but if I do I want them gone. I might use the pvc pipe method that Bee uses. I have to keep it away from the cats.