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Quote: and the people said this is what...? bad for its health? Said the bird would suck blood into it's lungs as it was dying and, essentially, cause a more slow and inhumane death by drowning on it's own blood.

Yep...some fermented foods are actually good for your chicken's digestion and nutrient absorption. Some people feed yogurt....which is nothing but cultured moldy dairy. I feed my chickens anything I clean out of the fridge and let them and the dogs fight it out....the dogs usually win on the...

The main reason I setup safe free range for my chickens is exactly that....who wants to eat eggs produced in the same manner as the store bought? That variety provided by an acre of free ranging in an orchard can mean the difference to the chicken's health and to mine. A healthier bird puts...

Quote: I had a friend ask me where the rooster's "man parts" were once, and I had to explain how birds didn't work like that. Do explain about cloacal kiss in most birds or presence of an intromittent organ known as the pseudo-penis. Again, lets fully cook otherwise answers, otherwise it...

Yeah...I know. Around these parts we don't use that term.

I worked with women who thought that eggs came out of a chicken's vagina and not from their poo exit. They thought there was another and totally separate entrance and told me that this was fact.

That's pretty lazy. Doesn't take much to make a nest box and it sure is better for the hen...not to mention safer and cleaner for the eggs.

You are puzzled because you haven't had access to a good book on livestock nutrition; once you have it all becomes clear, Grasshopper. And in this lies much of the problems with confusion about how to raise chickens. Most of the books on livestock nutrition have not been written by anyone who...

You could be right...that is one of those qualifiers. To someone of normal intelligence and with the ability to learn, raising chickens should be very easy. Easy is one of those terms that are a matter of perspective, I know, but anyone can understand clean feed, water, shelter, safety and...

As if chickens weren't complex enough That right there is the biggest problem with the half-baked advice on this forum....chickens are ridiculously easy to keep. There isn't much complexity in keeping chickens at all, merely in wading through all the nonsense and finally realizing that anybody...

I agree! It's very much cheaper to buy eggs and chicken meat from the store if one is using commercial methods to raise their layers and broilers. The commercial growers can do it cheaper and provide a cheaper end product on the same feeds and methods, so why not just cut through all the work...

Quote: On this thread, I've concluded that one's perception of the rights and wrongs of chicken husbandry and knowledge can be related to your general experience with chickens, how long you've been raising chickens, and your approach to animal husbandry and the accompanying philosophy therein.

Quote: I agree. I love to let my chickens free range. Last year a stray dog killed three and one was my favorite. I cried for a week. I still let them out, but try to be outside with them. I hate to see them all run to their gate when I go outside to work and not let them out. One can't...

I've been eating unwashed eggs all my life, my mother before me and her mother before her. No need to fear the simple germs of farmyard animals if one has a normal immune system.

Ideally, yes. This should work in this manner...and it does, to a certain degree. But as the egg emerges from that "pink thing" it can scrape past the edges of the an*l opening where fecal matter may still reside. For the most part, most eggs are delivered clean and clear past that an*l...

They do not but the exit door is the same and, at that moment, they do share the same passage...briefly.

Quote: Yay!!! Practical advice about determining sex, pre-laying indicators, and disease diagnoses would be awesome. Something more than "coccidiosis is bad". Oops! My book will not be of any use to you, then. The practical advice to chicken owners I plan to address will be strictly about...

I've always had round roosts and have taken the time to stoop and see if I can visualize any toes sticking out of feathers and have yet to see even one. The feathers don't just lie flat to the chest upon roosting, they tend to fluff out past the feet....just like on any bird on a rounded roost...

You're in luck...I am writing a book this winter that will have a no nonsense section on chicken husbandry that cuts through all the superficial and misleading info and give it to you straight. It will be more like how to raise chickens for food, cheaply and without overthinking it and trying...