Mine are pets with benefits. I get the most fun looking chickens with the prettiest colors. They all have names and most of them are super friendly and will beg for treats like a puppy. Me and my husband don't eat eggs much, so we sell them to help with feed costs. Aside from the layer flock...
Welcome to BYC!!
Chicks are great fun and are fairly easy to raise, even for beginners (if you have the right resources). It would be wise to get somewhere around 5 or 6 chicks, then in case you have a couple mishaps or cockerels you will still have a few chicks to keep each other company...
If you shop at tractor supply, look for either Nutrena "All flock" or Purina "Flock Raiser", they are both a higher protein feed (20%) without the added calcium. Tractor supply also sell huge 50lb bags of Manna Pro oyster shell.
I use both products and my girls do very well on it.
I lost my gorgeous Jubilee Orpington "Flashy" to the heat. She was very large and incredible fluffy and just couldn't take the heat wave of multiple days past 110 F. I had misters, shade, and ice in all the waters, but it was just to much for her. She was only 1.5 years old :(
Horses are a HUGE commitment not only in time but also monetarily. If you do decided on getting horses, you need to be prepared to be able to care for the animals for potentially over 20 years (horses can live up to around 30 years).
1.) Horses are herd animals and definitely need at least one...
This is my old man Dude, hes a 24 yr old AQHA. We used to compete in barrel racing, but he's more or less retired now. He got the silliest personality and he's been my best friend for 19 years!
Last week I noticed my Cream Legbar pullet got a pretty nasty peck wound on her ear. So I treated the wound and have been keeping her segregated in a small dog run (12X8) next to my other birds. Two days ago she laid her first ever egg in the pen, which ended up being a soft shell egg and broke...
Its a struggle for sure! I have 5 dark Brahmas, 4 all look the same and the fifth is much darker with lower quality penciling. Of the 4 that look the same, I can distinguish one of them because she makes different inquisitive clucks, the other three I can't tell apart at all. They all had names...
Cats all the way! They're soft, they don't smell bad (most of the time :p), and they make pleasing sounds.
Tiger (orange tabby) and Stinky (tortoiseshell )
My outdoor kitty was really interested in my young chicks too, I have no doubt he would have pounced on one if I wasn't around. But at around 16 weeks when I let the flock out to free range (only under my supervision of course) my little cockerel went up to the cat and pecked him pretty hard on...
My Brahmas! They have the biggest personalities. Remind me of Lab dogs, they follow me around for attention and more importantly treats. They get along with everybody, even the husband :P.
Meyer hatchery's free chicken is refered to as a "Meal Maker", and usually if you are ordering pullets, it will be a pullet. I've ordered 3 times and have gotten, a barred rock, an Olive egger, and a Cream Legbar, all 3 pullets or course. The three ended up being my flock favorites. :D
:welcome
If you're not raising them specifically for meat, then you're gonna be stuck cooking them in the crock pot. The older the chicken is the tougher they're gonna be. But fear not! They will taste amazing, you just have to slow cook them all day.
Meyer hatchery is good, though a little pricey. They have a bunch of bantam options, but I believe they are all st.run. They can ship as few as 3 from April to November. I've ordered from them 2 times, and had great experiances. All chicks arrived alive and healthy.
Thanks for the info! I would love to have them free range, but we have a lot of predators that could potentially go for them. Would using a tractor be a better route? If its moved daily/every other day would it still need to be pretty sizable for best results?
My husband and I are thinking about raising some BBW turkeys for meat next year. Neither one of us have any experience with turkeys, but we have raised Cornish X's the last couple of years and have a layer flock of hens. Just how much space should we provide for 4 or 5 toms? We currently have a...
Hey there NorCal peeps :) Is there anyone in the redding/shasta county area that would be interested in a 12 week olive egger cockerel? I've tried putting him on craigslist, but I'm only getting weirdos replying. He's a real cutie, and isn't aggressive so far.