What’s the deal with you chicken people??

[Mamahen64]

Hi, first time chicken owner, I’ve got 4 red sex link pullets, and 4 chicks.
Is there a chicken breed underground that I’m unaware of? Like the Free Masons of chickens??
Before I decided to get chickens, I read EVERYTHING I could about them. And yall chicken ppl blow my mind with ALL the breeds and knowledge about them. Not just in this community. I went to the feed store just to buy another feeder. Ol man comes over “oh you got some me chickens huh. Well you need some bebop’s and floofloos, and maybe cross you some yummytums and plickados”. At one point I don’t think he was speaking English anymore. “What kind of chickens you got”? I was dumbfounded I said “mine are red”. I felt so.. ignorant. Seriously where/how do y'all learn about all these breeds? And why is it important? I feel like I’m missing something here. I want to be in the chicken know!

Here's a tidbit for ya,I have a leghorn, Plymouth, Australorp, I named them Marvin, Martha and Margaret and when I call their names no matter where they r they come running and not just at feeding time. I can call Marvin and he will come by his self, So do the others.so I goggled can a chicken learn their name and it says yes and the other chickens will also no each other's name .Now how weird is that.I love it. My next hen will be Mabel.lol

 

[tlcmurphy]

lol I’m not allowed to buy anymore chicks either! Sooo I’m incubating some eggs my neighbor gave me. My husband said “damn a loophole!” So yay I’m still married too

Wait for the contract, that comes next. No more loopholes.
I now have only 2 girls, and only one layer. My husband signed an addendum to my original contract stating I may purchase 2 pullets that are a) not babies and b) guaranteed to be girls. I’m going for it.

 

[z3lda3]

Wait for the contract, that comes next. No more loopholes.
I now have only 2 girls, and only one layer. My husband signed an addendum to my original contract stating I may purchase 2 pullets that are a) not babies and b) guaranteed to be girls. I’m going for it.

I’m so happy to know someone with a weird chicken contract marriage too!! Where does a person get pullets? I thought eggs, chicks or someone is always giving away a rooster. And are pullets more likely to carry diseases? ( if bought as pullets). In my head chicks are less likely to bring diseases into the flock. Nope I have no earthly idea why I think this.

 

[RoyalChick]

In my head chicks are less likely to bring diseases into the flock. Nope I have no earthly idea why I think this.

I think that is true.
Day-old chicks are generally from a sterile environment and haven't been exposed to anything. Any quarantine you do before introducing them would only be about letting their immune systems develop a bit.
But pullets have been out in the world (probably) and been exposed to disease. You should always quarantine pullets you bring in to make sure they are not sick with something that your other chickens could catch.

 

[z3lda3]

I think that is true.
Day-old chicks are generally from a sterile environment and haven't been exposed to anything. Any quarantine you do before introducing them would only be about letting their immune systems develop a bit.
But pullets have been out in the world (probably) and been exposed to disease. You should always quarantine pullets you bring in to make sure they are not sick with something that your other chickens could catch.

Whew ok so I’m not just making up rules in my crazy head!

 

[KayisforKale]

Most chicken suppliers start talking to you about the most random stuff.

"Hey, Do you need some bobos, Some hoo-has, Maybe if you're lucky we have some Doodasflipflops in stock."

And when you decide on a chicken they start questioning you like an interrogation

"Are you sure..? This chicken smells like garbage every Thursday and attacks anything yellow. It lays small eggs as well!!!"

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I guess I gained most of my knowledge of chickens over the years by watching chicken videos constantly and reading chicken articles all the time. I guess I learned that, the more you research on one subject, the better you can know about it and understand it. For instance, when my chickens got frostbite I watched videos and read a bunch of articles (at the time I wasn't a user on here.) The trick is to not rely on just one source of information on a subject, because different websites/people have different ways of doings things, for an example, if you do a search on Google for treatment of bumblefoot in chickens, many results will show up, each having different solutions for bumble foot, such as a surgery approach, a wait-and-see approach, and many many more. And none of those solutions are wrong. But, some are. If you relied only on this image that I found on google (for instance), that would be bad news because this is wrong.

Notice that is has avocados in the fruits and veggies section. It's probably the most lethal thing for chickens besides swallowing foreign material. This image is absolutely awful because if a chicken-keeper relied on this source and this source solely, then that means certain death.

And no, you are not ignorant at all. We are all still learning. Even chicken EXPERTS still have more to learn. EVERYONE does!
All of us don't just decide to go to the computer one day and start researching. It just comes naturally when, for instance, if one of your chickens is sick, that's when a lot of us unknowingly gain our knowledge about chickens or anything really, is when we start researching frantically when our chickens aren't feeling well. Don't worry, as the years/months/weeks pass, you'll learn more and more about chickens and soon, you will get to spread on your knowledge to other people!
Even though you think you know little, you still own chickens and you can spread your knowledge about personal experiences and what did/did not work for you when owning them.

What really helps me learn about different breeds is making a quiz about them and sending it to family members, because you are learning about chickens and at the same time, it's super fun! (I make my quizzes on Google forms; you can watch a YouTube video to learn how to use it. If you don't have a Google account there are quiz makers online.)

Let me know if you have any questions about anything! We are all always happy to help

 

[z3lda3]

Here's a tidbit for ya,I have a leghorn, Plymouth, Australorp, I named them Marvin, Martha and Margaret and when I call their names no matter where they r they come running and not just at feeding time. I can call Marvin and he will come by his self, So do the others.so I goggled can a chicken learn their name and it says yes and the other chickens will also no each other's name .Now how weird is that.I love it. My next hen will be Mabel.lol

Awww that’s adorable!

 

[KayisforKale]

Oh with ducks I’m even worse! Big duck small duck, the end.

Sounds a bit like a Dr. Seuss thing. Big duck, small duck. Red duck, green duck.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I’m so happy to know someone with a weird chicken contract marriage too!! Where does a person get pullets? I thought eggs, chicks or someone is always giving away a rooster. And are pullets more likely to carry diseases? ( if bought as pullets). In my head chicks are less likely to bring diseases into the flock. Nope I have no earthly idea why I think this.

I saw this family post in the BYC state thread that they sell hatching eggs, chicks and started pullets. I’m sure you can google it too!