bad or half-baked chicken advice you've received?

[chickenman2k3]

they will tell you you have to close a coop up tight in cold weather. this is the total opposite of what you need to do. they need ventillation. both the keep the dampness out and to keep down the level of ammonia. dampness is one of a chickens worst enemies.

 

[CheerioLounge]

Even after watching me collect 4-5 eggs a day from my 5 hens, my 80-something year old neighbors (brother & sister) who claim to have grown up on a farm in Michigan, still insist that if I get a rooster I will get more eggs!

 

[DDRanch]

Not advice, but misconceptions......surprising number of people think that a hen cannot lay an egg unless there is a rooster around.

 

[Beekissed]

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 just let chickens out and give them a kiss for luck and expect they will be alright. Free ranging takes planning and providing for the birds' relative safety. I don't consider letting chickens out of a run now and again truly free ranged.

People who do this for generations do it with the bird's welfare in mind....guardian animals are provided, roos to call alarms are added, perimeter fencing that keeps out stray dogs or your own dogs that kill stray dogs, are a must, hides and cover under which a bird can duck from attacks from the sky....all these things provide optimal free ranging experiences.

This example is akin to me stating that if I place my chickens in a run that is not built to guard against obvious predators that chickens just must not be safe to be in runs. How many threads do you read that state the results of people doing that very thing....help~ a raccoon pulled my chicks through the wire! The neighbor's dog just bit off my roo's comb through the wire! A rat got in the brooder and ate all my chicks! A hawk snatched a bird right out of my run!

It's all relative, really. Wherever you place your birds for the majority of their living experience, it needs to have safety features that insure a low level of risk to place those birds there. In my yard, free ranging has a very low level of risk because I have taken the time to provide safety measures.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Medicated chick feed contains antibiotics. (Wrong.)

Home flocks don't need to be immunized for Marek's. (Wrong.)

Free range is healthier (Wrong. Exposure to wild birds can mean parasites and diseases and here it means they will likely be eaten by predators. I'm on a local chicken list where it seems October has been "my chicken was eaten by a hawk month.")

Give them lots of greens and snacks. (Imbalances the laying ration and puts them at risk for deficiencies - no more treats and greens than they can clean up in fifteen minutes per day.)

Heritage breeds lay longer than hybrids. (Wrong.)

Heritage breeds are "better". (Maybe if you're showing; not if what you want is high egg production or an economical meat bird unless you find a good utility strain.)

Start with a variety of different breeds and decide what you like. (Wrong. When you're getting chickens, decide what you want to do with them. If you want eggs, I recommend that beginners go with utility Barred Rocks or Black Stars for brown eggs, and California Grays for white eggs. These breeds are gentle, quiet, easy to handle, and very hardy. I have had too many people looking for a home for a Brown Leghorn that acted like a Leghorn and was flighty, noisy, and avoided people, and too many other people who want to get rid of exotic breeds that weren't productive layers.)

Clean your coop and sanitize all of the dishes every day. (Forget it. I deep litter the coop, clean the trays that go under the roost once a week and add more wood chips to them, clean the dishes when they need it, rinse out the waterer every day or two, and rake the yard with Dolomite whenever it gets smelly. I also toss down a layer of coarse cedar chips in the yard in the summer which keeps odors down.)

Cedar is toxic to chickens. (Well, commercial pastured poultry operators use it, and so do commercial yarded poultry operations. Oregon State University's Animal Science Department says it is perfectly fine. If you think cedar is causing your problem, check for inadequate ventilation and wet litter. )

Chickens can get all of the nutrients they need by free ranging. (Not unless they are ranging in a barn yard where lots of nice maggots are growing in the other animals waste, there is lots of spilled grain, and plenty of mice to eat. Chickens love to eat mice in old fashioned barns.)

Chickens are vegetarians and can live on grains. (Chickens love meat, including other chickens, mice, insects, etc. They also like grains and greens and vegetables and some fruits. Chickens are omnivorous and inclined to eat anything that can run away fast enough.)

And the biggest omission that no one tells beginners - different breeds of chickens have very different temperaments. Some of those pretty living lawn ornaments will spend their entire lives avoiding you or flying into the neighbors' yards and annoying them, and some of them will make as much noise as a banshee.

 

[The Yakima Kid]

Another omission by the people who give advice. They advise using a thermometer for brooding small batches of chicks - but don't tell people how to evaluate the chicks behavior to see if the heat is right.

I take an old guinea pig cage that has a plastic bottom about four or five inches high. I hang a light bulb over one end. If the chicks are all bundled under the light and complaining, they are too cold. If they spread out a bit and tend to sleep at the edge of the bright portion of the circle of light, it's pretty close. If they are getting as far as possible from the light, or lying around panting, they are too hot. In other words, this is another case of one of those crimes of omission - observe the chickens to see how they are doing!

 

[Beekissed]

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.

 

[chickened]

Cages enclosed in buildings and closed flock are the absolute best protection from disease. Serious breeders keep thier foundation stock in such a manner. You must use the proper wire for the floor. I prefer dirt floor to be available but does increase disease risk.

 

[Blue]

My dad has told me that my chickens didn't need different varieties of feeds, like layer, just scratch because that's what a farmer we know feeds his birds, scratch and whole corn. That may be fine for that guy's chickens; they free range 24/7 and probably get the majority of their nutrition from foraging. He never coops them up unless they're brooding or are new birds that haven't been there long enough to recognize his place as home. The scratch and corn are just supplements to their foraging. However, my chickens don't free range all the time, so I feel that they need a bit more than scratch all the time. My chickens get scratch, layer, and scraps (including crushed eggshells), and that's the way I think is best for my chickens. The do eat less when they get to free range, but I like to have it on hand for days when they're in their runs or there may not be that much to forage.

 

[speckledhen]

I'll just address two of your statements:

Quote:
Some statements are just too broad-sweeping in this thread. Many should be qualified by "it depends". Not all statements are true all the time for all chicken keepers, all breeds, all situations, etc, etc. Things can become a bit trickier when dealing with living creatures as opposed to machines.