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

[galanie]

I've only ever had toms and they were all superb hunters.  I've always heard that females were better mousers but could that be because females have more of an instinctual drive to provide food for kits and toms do not? 

That's exactly it. Look at other breeds of cats in the wild. The female hunts while the male mostly just eats what she caught. Nearly every female I've ever had or my friends have had were good hunters. The males are more of a hit and miss. Some do, some don't.

 

[Clay Mudd]

That's exactly it. Look at other breeds of cats in the wild. The female hunts while the male mostly just eats what she caught. Nearly every female I've ever had or my friends have had were good hunters. The males are more of a hit and miss. Some do, some don't.

"For the female of the species must be deadlier than the male."

 

[galanie]

That's exactly it. Look at other breeds of cats in the wild. The female hunts while the male mostly just eats what she caught. Nearly every female I've ever had or my friends have had were good hunters. The males are more of a hit and miss. Some do, some don't.

"For the female of the species must be deadlier than the male."

And don't you forget it!

 

[Beekissed]

 

[m.r.heavenlyhens]

I would have to say that here in Texas, we have had a major preditor problem. We have killed many snakes, caged racoons, shot neighbor dogs with beebes, lost chickens to hawks and even shot a skunk.. We live on 3 acres of pasture. There is a stock fence around all. We started leaving our older mixed breed, large dog that barks at his own shadow out in the fields with the chickens. We have not lost a chicken since.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

caged raccoons?? as in trapped lived? and released?

best way to take care of predator problems is to eliminate them. their population must be controlled as well. course there is a line between controlled and brink of extinction. there is a place in Gods creation for everything. but just like everything in life moderation is a must. to many predators is as bad as to few. a predator that has the practice of killing fowl or livestock should be eradicated.

and i believe this includes dogs and cats, even if they belong to the neighbors. IMO they are worse than a wild predator. the wild predator is just trying to survive. pets are doing it for the thrill of killing. course local laws must be followed.............of course.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

Lots of no-nonsense advice here. I have had my own chickens for six years, but have been around them on my grandfather's farm since I was a small child (I just turned 55). If someone wants chickens as pets, I don't fault them for it and don't want them put off by the gruffness of some OTs. Hopefully, they can take what they need from this thread and let the rest slide off their backs.

Mine do get names for ease of ID ("DH, go get Ida" is easier than "go get the BR with the solid black feather on her chest") and most of them do become treasured pets. No, no diapers here. No contagious disease will be treated, either, no matter how attached I am. Tough stance, sure, but can't get caught up in treating stuff like that. No breeds that need pampering can be here. They either are overall healthy or they aren't.

Some OTs do have odd ideas, no matter how many years they've kept chickens. My own 90 yr old dad is one and he was raised on the aforementioned farm. He still tells me that hens are "happier" with roosters and will lay better.

By the way, a crop bra is for pendulous crop, not for bare chests getting cold-it has a medical use to prevent crop stasis in birds prone to crop issues. I just lost another blue Orp hen to that, so wondered if that could have saved her. Probably wouldn't have done it anyway. It's one reason I will not be raising the BBS Orps any longer.

I don't worm regularly, never have. I have done it a few times since I have multiple groups who don't get to free range each and every day. I want to go back to the one big group who can get out all day, most every day again, though. Penned birds need it much more than free rangers.

your 90 yr old pop is correct. now with that said a hen will do fine w/o a rooster. but from my experience a rooster over the yard, its a happier yard, and happier hens are better layers.............now does this make it worth keeping a rooster when just considering the bottom line as in $$$$$??? probably not.

 

[Beekissed]

I find the rooster earns his feed in two ways...and if he didn't I would never keep one. He provides me with replacement stock for my layer flock and he polices the flock as they free range. He couldn't withstand any predator attacks, for sure, but he does take his job as flock master pretty seriously and watches the skies and intruders to the area more closely than the hens, sounding an alarm when danger is near.

He has saved young chicks on quite a few occasions by alerting them to danger and I'm always amazed at how quickly the chicks/youngsters pick up on proper bugout procedures in a flock environment. The hawks in my area are probably too lightweight to pick up one of my big gals but, for the half pints, growing up can be a hazardous thing. I've even had one old and smaller RIR roo stand out in the open and challenge a hawk while the rest of the flock were safely under cover. I think that ol' boy must have had a little banty in him...he was that brave.

If I lived in the burbs and could only have a few hens, there would be no way I'd try to keep a rooster.

Happy hens? I don't believe I've had any of them participate in my standard, yearly happiness polls. They all waddle away grumbling about opposable thumbs and pencils, or some such drivel..I don't know what they want, but they have never really commented on the level of their happiness in regards to roo ownership or not and they've had ample opportunity via these polls. Guess the jury's still out on that debate.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

happy as in orderly. happiness is a byproduct of orderliness course with a rroooster there is a pecking order. but w/ a rooster, he is cock of the walk, and he does keep order. w/o a rooster hens can and will be meaner/rougher in their pecking order. they seem to be here and there coming and going with little rhyme or reason. if enuff observation is used you will notice a rooster has a method. esp. if he is a good one. not all "cock of the walks" are good ones.
a good rooster has sharp observation and the hens no doubt feel safer with him. id say feeling safer creates happiness. and there are other scenarios that lead to happiness, but all these reason for "happiness" causes good production.

with all that said. i dont always have a rooster either. but i like the yard better with one. so i generally keep one. but only one for the layers. no sense feeding a bunch of useless roosters when only one will do the job...............and truthfully not really necessary.

 

[Dead Rabbit]

u are right if i lived in the burbs...............but i dont and plan on never being there,,,,,,,,,,,, and if i did i wouldnt have chickens.

i do experiment occasionally with creating my own layer pullets. generally breeding different breeds of roosters to sex-link hens. but ive almost (almost) come to the conclusion im better off buying replacements pullet biddies and raising them up. and if started pullets were available in my area for under $10 i believe id buy them, and forgo all the problems, time, money raising biddies to 4-5 months of age b4 they start laying.

right now i have a welsummer cock in with golden comets. im toying with idea to hatching me some biddies outa this cross, i like the dark eggs the welsummer lays, and this line lays well, but the eggs are much smaller than the comet eggs. so i may be shooting my self in the foot going this route. i havent made up my mind yet. anything in breeding is a crap shoot unless your using tightly bred lines that have been breed for many generations. so the genetic variables have been narrowed.