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

[armorfirelady]

Ok OTS can I ask you opinion? Do either of these hens look close to POL with how their combs/wattles look? They are 30 weeks old this week per the date the person who gave them to me said was hatch date. On FF with of course fresh veggies/fruits.


The one above is the bossy hen. First to food, very vocal, and has no fears of chasing the other 3 away if they are going for the grape she wants. She is also the one who is alert ot whats going around them and gives the warning call when needed


This one has the next largest comb/wattle. Its not as red as bossy hens but some days its redder in color. She is 2nd biggest in size as well.

The other 2 while not as large as these 2 in comb/wattle size they are still only a little bigger than the ridge they have had since I brought them home. They do have the start of wattles growing also. Their combs are pale & wattles red. All are healthy and active.

This pic shows the 2 with smaller combs with the bossy hen. A few weeks ago there was a definite size difference in them but the smaller ones have almost caught up to size with the bossy hen.

Never see anyone in nest boxes but I can tell they are in there. DO you think I will have to wait till spring for eggs now that the days are shorter?
Thank you to you all

 

[mbmess2003]

A big congrats and thank you to the thread....I've laughed, I've learned and I'm appreciative to the ones brave enough to ask questions and the ones that that tell it how it is! It was more than a little disconcerting to hear everything that you could do or all the things that could go wrong when I first considered chickens. I've raised three children and most of the other threads out there were making me feel incapable of raising a few chickens. Then I came Across this thread when it had less than 500 posts....I read it all in one setting! The thing that has stood out the most even though I've implemented a lot of ideas from this thread is....let chickens be chickens and that's what I encourage others to do as we'll.

Brad

 

[galanie]

A big congrats and thank you to the thread....I've laughed, I've learned and I'm appreciative to the ones brave enough to ask questions and the ones that that tell it how it is! It was more than a little disconcerting to hear everything that you could do or all the things that could go wrong when I first considered chickens. I've raised three children and most of the other threads out there were making me feel incapable of raising a few chickens. Then I came Across this thread when it had less than 500 posts....I read it all in one setting! The thing that has stood out the most even though I've implemented a lot of ideas from this thread is....let chickens be chickens and that's what I encourage others to do as we'll.

Brad

YES. Don't worry about them too much. But please do worry about them enough to make sure they're ok! They are fine if they stub a toenail but they are not fine if you just throw them some corn every few days.

 

[zinia8]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Started reading this.thread at the.very beginning. got side tracked and never got caught up completely probably never will. Its hard to believe how this thread took on a life of its own. Thank you to all the OTs. you made me look at chicken keeping in a whole different light.

 

[LOVEIGEE]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OT..........You have made such a difference in everyone's live...especially the chicken's lives.......thank you so much~

 

[delisha]

Give your hens another month..at least one looks close. They look pretty beefy. How much do they weigh?

 

[Eggcessive]

Happy Birthday to the Oldtimers Thread. I enjoy all of the input from the experienced people, and trying out some of the suggestions that make sense to me. Having chickens has been one of the most enjoyable things I have ever done, and I love learning new techniques and new ways of doing things. Many of you that post here each day have become like friends, especially since none of my friends have any interest in chickens. Thanks to Al, Fred, Beekissed, Walt, and all of the other oldtimers.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

I started reading BYC about a month before we got our chickens. Honestly I was almost to the point of saying STOP I don't think we want to do this...chickens are always sick and die of all kinds of horrible things and they cost a fortune in vet bills etc. I just know ours are all going to die. Then I thought, wait a minute, the friend were getting them from never has problems with sick birds....cayotes wiped out a good deal of his flock at one time, a couple of years ago, but I never hear about vet bills and them being sick......this just can't be right. And I am happy to say this thread has proved that.

 

[Pozees]

When I think about how this thread has contributed to my approach to keeping chickens, I think (bear with me here) of a scene from the Eddie Murphy movie, "Boomerang."

There is a scene where Eddie Murphy is trying to get comfortable with a woman he isn't really in love with but he thinks is a better score (Robyn Givens) and keeps thinking of this other girl he considers more plain but he really likes her better (Halle Berry). The Robyn Givens character asks, "If you're so in love with (whatever her character's name is), what are you doing here?" and he replies, "Exactly." Whereupon he departs to seek the Halle Berry character.

It's funny how movie moments stick in your head, but that one did, and it does a passable job of describing how I feel about this thread. Sometimes you just know in your gut what makes sense, and by and large, the advice offered here makes sense.

Happy Birthday, OTs thread!

 

[Beekissed]

And what man in his right mind would ever pick Robin Givens over Halle Barry? Ain't happenin', so your analogy was correct. The plain, sensible advice is not so plain if you are in your right mind...shines like a new penny to me and to those who apply it.