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

[Pony Trotsky]

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I know what you mean. A dear friend had Animal Control show up because somebody'd reported that her horses were wandering around with "blindfolds" on, and were in danger of being hit by cars.

I'm sure you can imagine the thunderous LOLZ when it turned out that the animals in question were safely behind a three-strand electric rope fence, and were, in fact, wearing . . . fly masks.

The New Yorker did give up on the Percheron idea eventually, but a couple years later bought a pair of those weird spotted designer cats that look sort of like ocelots. They hated human beings with a passion, and promptly ran away the minute they could sneak out a window. This must have cured her, I guess, because she never did move on to designer chickens or "Clydesdale Mules."

 

[harveyhorses]

I got the 'You don't need to buy them feed, they eat dirt' (DIRT? REALLY?? I just told the guy I like to spoil my hens, he wandered off muttering about city folk. He was REALLY lucky I didn't throw something at his retreating back.
Mine can only free range while I am hanging out in the yard, or at least in and out. Right now I am hoping nobody calls animal control, they are ALL molting, and a more pathetic lot you have never seen.

 

[Daisy8s]

Here's the weirdest thing that has happened to me. When I told someone I was getting chickens he warned, "Watch out for the fleas--your whole family will be covered in them in no time!"

That's ridiculous, I thought, my chicken coop is far away from the house and I have no plans for the chickens to be visiting inside the house. But, this summer/fall has been the worst season for fleas we've ever experienced! Our dogs are miserable and I'm going to great lengths to keep them at bay in the house.

Part of me keeps wondering if this guy knew something, but then I remind myself that this year I went cheap and bought flea meds from one of those discount online sources. I'm pretty sure I got bad meds. But still, I just keep wondering...could this be bad advice that wasn't so bad after all?

 

[sambia62]

I got some advice when i was building my coop I was worried about the birds getting out over the top as well as hawks swooping on and carting my girls off I was told to weave fishing line back and forth to prevent this so i figured hey its cheaper than a roof i tried it and thus far it has worked my girls dont fly out and hawks dont fly in this has worked for over a year now

 

[speckledhen]

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Then, that wasn't half-baked at all, was it?

 

[Blue]

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Then, that wasn't half-baked at all, was it?

I actually thought about doing that, but ended up going with wildlife netting. I've also heard that you can hang foil pie pans from the fishing line and/or netting as extra deterrant to flying predators. I haven't tried this, so don't know if it's half baked or not, but it seems likely to me that the sun reflecting off of the tin could serve to effectively blind aerial predators, making them not want to risk trying to swoop down into the chicken run. Anybody tried this?

 

[CupOJoe42]

Some things I've heard:

Roosters crow in the morning. (Yes, and in the afternoon, and in the evening, and any time in-between)
Roosters have combs and waddles, hens don't. (Boy are you in for a surprise!)
My dog got sick from eating chicken poop. (You should see the things my dog has eaten and she's still kickin'!)
Chickens have lice and bugs - you can get them too. (Too many comments to list here.)
You can't eat the fertilized eggs. (Yes, you can.)
Chickens are dirty. (So are people, you have to work at keeping clean. Poop happens!)
Medicate, Medicate, Medicate. (Medicine in a PRACTICE, so is chicken keeping. For every question/problem, you will get at least 2 different answers, but probably many more!)
I'll only buy eggs from you if your chickens are free-range and only grass fed. (This is not possible. Have you seen my yard? If I didn't have weeds, I wouldn't have a yard, never mind the bugs, leaves, poop, etc. Would you really be able to tell the difference in eggs?)
Cats, dogs, and chickens don't get along. (Not all do. Thankfully mine do!)


And the TWO BIGGEST MYTHS:
1) You have enough chickens.
2) You don't need a bigger coop.

Not to mention chicken diapers, saddles, harnesses, curtains, and how some of us decorate the inside of our chicken coops... some things are not necessary, but fun, interesting, or aesthetically pleasing to us neurotic chicken people.

 

[chickendude]

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Awww Crap!!! oh wait, thats just chickens right????

 

[moodlymoo]

Is this one true? Its almost as bad as the feed your chickens styrofoam to make them lay or you have to have a roo in order for them to lay....(I copied from the post) I've suggested this before to others, because this is what I found out quite by accident: Make up some coffee, with cream and sugar, and offer it to the hens. At first, they kind of spit it out! Then they get to like the taste, and they want the coffee. I believe this stimulates them, and they start laying again. My old hen started with coffee by stealing it from my cup on the patio. At first I was annoyed at losing my coffee, but then peased that it started her laying again, after about 2 yrs of no laying. She was over 5 at the time. She kept laying until she died at 9 yrs old.

Others use cayenne pepper in their feed, it is supposed to stimulate them as well. And apparently they can't taste the pepper. Either one is worth a try!

 

[Blue]

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I don't know about stimulating them, but I've read of people using cayenne pepper in the feed to keep other animals, like mice, from eating it for the same reason you mentioned: that chickens can't tell when something is spicy. I've also heard of cayenne being used as a natural wormer, but I've never tried it.

I never knew there was a saying about styrofoam. If that's true, then my cochins and wyandottes should lay up a storm when they mature! And here I just thought they were trying to commit suicide by foam.

They've been quite determined in their attempts to try and eat the packing foam I used to insulate their coop, so determined (and annoying

) that all the nice, white foam lined coop walls they originally had are now almost totally covered by junk like old cardboard, tar paper, and leftover floor padding - plastic covered side facing out - to keep them from getting to the foam. Consequently, it looks terrible, but at least now they can't eat their insulation, and as my dad pointed out, the coop is now even more insulated than before.