Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[al6517]

Good Mornin OT's............ getting ready to go and visit a buddy to do what else !!! mess with chickens LOL.

OT AL's Bio.
Instead of putting it in my sig line I thought I'd share how long long I have been messin with birds. As a young boy in the mid 1950's I stayed with my Aunt during the summers because she lived in the country and I always loved it there on the farm. She let me work with the chickens where she taught me the basic's of raising chickens, and many finer points.

I didn't have a flock of my own till the early 1990's due to the fact that I was traveling the world in defense of God & Country, so after retiring from a 25 yr Army career, I started my own Construction Company and settled on a farm of my own and began raising Heritage breeds.

I keep anywhere between 50-100 birds and many more at times if you count hatching and raising chicks. I have been concentrating on breeding and showing the original LF Cornish in all 3 varieties, So now I am just breeding, showing and raising them as they take up all my time. Over the years I have been involved in many things concerning chickens, I have organized some very large Chicken events, My Birds and I have been featured in a few Magizine articles, and I even authored a few including 10 pages on Cornish in a upcoming publication in an 365 page full color International breed book, geared towards the betterment of Heritage breeds.

I do enjoy sharing all things chicken and may come across a tad bit edgy at times, I just don't mince my words so you allways know where Ole AL is coming from, like it or not. I hope to be a loyal participant in this thread.

AL

Here I am auctioneering off some chickens at a large Oklahoma Chickenstock.

 

[southerndesert]

Fred's Hens :

Bee, you're gonna us in all in trouble!!! We "massage" most everything we say on here, being sensitive in this new era and all. LOL. If we talked straight like we did back in the day, you're gonna get us all in trouble.

Got that right.....

I guess I just gotta say what my signature says since most of the other things said sum up my puzzlement over the "new" chicken....er....pet keeper.

Don't over think your chickens as they are already equipped with what it takes to be a chicken all on their own by ma nature. Much of the extra gizmos and hub-bub only will lead to more issues in some cases one could of avoided.

I simply shake my head and am glad earlier generations taught me how to properly feed my chickens when I read some of the food and treat posts.

Now we are raising our birds as producers and not pets so our way it that way....

But we seem to see much fewer problems with keeping our birds raising them with simple proven methods handed down over the years.​

 

[galanie]

I'm no old timer by any means when it comes to chickens. I have just about 2 years exp with them is all. BUT, I'm throwing this out there: Watch them. You'll learn a lot. If the flock is unsettled and always fussing, you'll be able to spot the source and remove it. Don't try to rehabilitate anyone, just remove the problem.

If this isn't acceptable due to my relative lack of experience I'll remove it.

 

[Beekissed]

I am grateful for the women who taught me their treasured art and shared their wisdom.

Isn't it funny...but this was so in my family as well. My grandma, her grandma, my mother and now me. Unfortunately, I had no daughters to pass on the tools of the trade to but my boys got a dose of knowledge whether they wanted to or not. Again, take it or leave it!

Galanie, I have learned many a thing on this forum, though I have been around and owned chickens for much, much longer...and probably learned it from people who only kept chickens for a couple of years. All knowledge is of value, one way or another....even misinformation has a way of teaching us that, just because one person says it's so, trying it and seeing how it works first hand is always the proof in the pudding, so to speak.

If anyone with less than 20 years chicken keeping experience wants to give advice, all I ask is that they clarify first how many years of experience they DO have so that newbies can see....that was one of the issues a newbie brought to our attention. They wanted us to post our years of experience somewhere so that it shows in our profile display~which I promptly did. It's a good idea....and from a newbie!

I can only ask that we do that out of respect for the original idea/theme of the post as I wanted this to be where OTers got together and gave their basic, no-frills advice on keeping chickens....as we all know, number of posts on the forum clearly does NOT indicate experience with chickens and it tends to fool newcomers into thinking these folks have the ultimate 411.

If we don't sort of try to keep to this basic concept of OTs giving and newbies receiving...well..then it's just like any other post that will die under an onslaught of folks who think they know more than the OTs who actually DO know what they are talking about!

How's that for offensive and politically incorrect?​

 

[darkmatter]

Okay, twenty plus years of keeping chickens and having grown up with most of the relatives also keeping chickens for eggs and meat. When I started my plans for getting chickens in B.C. (Before Computers), I read everything I could from both the traditional and latest Agriculture extension advice. So, you want 5 things I’ve learned and recommend from a Crusty Curmudgeon viewpoint:

1. Get off my lawn you lousy kids----oops, wrong thread, let’s try again.

1. Build your coop for durability and ease of maintenance with resistance to predators. I went with a Coop on a brick foundation to keep the wood above ground and a sub-ground level deep litter composting pit for ease of cleaning (once a year) with the ladder roost pivoted for lift up. (see my BYC page)

2. A garden and a chicken coop are both feeding operations. If you can integrate the two to feed each other you save half the work from both.

3. I’ve found a fenced run and garden both essential for predator resistance. Free range is nice for reduced food costs but not if you lose your flock to predators. Plant fruit trees and other feeding sources in the run to minimize overall costs. In the Midwest, I’ve planted the Illinois everbearing mulberry trees along with Apples and Persimmons to extend the free food season from June to November. I’ve also planted annuals like tomatoes and squash in cages to grow up and drop fruit from a trellis into the coop. In the winter they get let into my Garden to glean/clean/till/fertilize the area until spring. I’ve planted Mangels (sugar beets) to leave in the garden ground just for them to pick at all winter long.

4. Chickens as a domestic animal have lived for thousands of years without electricity and lights/heat run to the coop. They don’t need it and neither do you for the coop. The natural cycle of egg laying with day length\\molting gives them a break and they live longer with more overall eggs then forcing them to maximum production and burnout in two years. You want more eggs in the winter time? Get a few more chickens of different breeds to accommodate that.

5. Be observant, read, and think about what you see in your flock. Thin eggshells? Maybe they need supplemental calcium or a different source of food. Feather picking and beat up Hens? Maybe too many roosters or overcrowding. Drop in egg production? Maybe stress from predators, overcrowding, or other factors----check it out.


P.S. If your artsy craftsy coop is up on silts painted periwinkle and topaz to match the neighbors and home owners association expectations with daily poop board scrapping and sand raking, then you shouldn’t be reading my posts.

 

[JMidJr]

"this basic concept of OTs giving and newbies receiving...well..then it's just like any other post that will die under an onslaught of folks who think they know more than the OTs who actually DO know what they are talking about!"

Sounds like the academy in its most basic (and useful) form. I'm an old geezer but new to keeping chickens, and I am honored to lurk about in the background and learn at the (cyber)knee of the masters.

My thanks to those willing to share the lessons of their experience.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
Isn't it funny...but this was so in my family as well. My grandma, her grandma, my mother and now me. Unfortunately, I had no daughters to pass on the tools of the trade to but my boys got a dose of knowledge whether they wanted to or not. Again, take it or leave it!

Galanie, I have learned many a thing on this forum, though I have been around and owned chickens for much, much longer...and probably learned it from people who only kept chickens for a couple of years. All knowledge is of value, one way or another....even misinformation has a way of teaching us that, just because one person says it's so, trying it and seeing how it works first hand is always the proof in the pudding, so to speak.

If anyone with less than 20 years chicken keeping experience wants to give advice, all I ask is that they clarify first how many years of experience they DO have so that newbies can see....that was one of the issues a newbie brought to our attention. They wanted us to post our years of experience somewhere so that it shows in our profile display~which I promptly did. It's a good idea....and from a newbie!

I can only ask that we do that out of respect for the original idea/theme of the post as I wanted this to be where OTers got together and gave their basic, no-frills advice on keeping chickens....as we all know, number of posts on the forum clearly does NOT indicate experience with chickens and it tends to fool newcomers into thinking these folks have the ultimate 411.

If we don't sort of try to keep to this basic concept of OTs giving and newbies receiving...well..then it's just like any other post that will die under an onslaught of folks who think they know more than the OTs who actually DO know what they are talking about!

How's that for offensive and politically incorrect?

THanks, Beekissed. Like I said, I'm not an OT but I've learned what I posted the hard way these last couple years. In fact I just got rid of a problem yesterday. Everyone is happy again and i don't have to stress over one stupid bird. I love this thread. I'd much rather be told point blank honestly than hear pitty pat around it. And I talk that way too. Probably that's why some poeple avoid me LOL.

 

[gardendufus]

Hi again. Been trying to quote just a part of Beekissed's last post (Thanks for reiterating that it's important us newbies know who might have some experience) and I had a thought (doesnt happen often) but I'll be darned if I can figure out how to quote just a portion of your post.

How hard would it be for BYC to have a field in your profile "how many years raising chickens" or something like that that would automatically show on the left side?

Thanks to all you OT's for your wisdom. Makes me feel good that even as a newbie, my ideas follow your advice so often.

 

[Beekissed]

Maybe we should ask Nifty for such a thing? I think it would be a worthy request! And thank you for suggesting it, I've often wanted to know this about folks but daren't ask for fear of being....confrontational.

Not that I feel newbies don't have valued info, as I've mentioned...I've actually learned a lot from folks who have been in chickens less than I. I think that is the core value of a forum like this...the information isn't just regional and limited to what your family, friends and neighbors tell you.

gardendufus, you can just highlight whatever part of a post you wish to quote, hit your Quote button at the top of your screen and place your cursor right between the syntax markers...if you get it anywhere except the middle, your post won't post due to syntax error. When you get your cursor positioned, just right click and paste....SHAZAM! You have a quoted piece of OT wisdom...worth about as much as an equal amount of chicken sugar!

 

[navasima]

Question from a newbie: How much room do chickens actually need in the coop? How high should a coop be?
When I see my birds roosting - what will "comfortable" birds look like? Spread out...close together 'cause they like it.....?