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

[Beekissed]

Welcome to the OTs and thank you for the sound advice!!! Good to have an experienced hand on deck and to help others get on their feet with chickens. I hope to see you here often!

 

[seamsewnice]

Beekissed, A few pages back you made a reference to Basic H for worming animals as well as chickens, don't have time to find it again. I was wondering how much to how much water and how often you do it, or do you keep it in the water all the time?

 

[Leahs Mom]

Here's another question:

INFO:
Have 7 wk olds (RIR, BR, EE). Total of 6 right now. They are in hen house only. I have a not very secure 10x10 chain link dog kennel available that I let them go out in when I'm home; it has poultry net over the top for hawks but the base is not well secured yet (in process)...it is just sitting on the ground right now with no enhancements.

Question:
Is it safe to let the 7 wk olds outside in that dog kennel during daylight hours when I'm not there or are they too young? It s/b safe from hawks on the top.

 

[Beekissed]

I think that depends on any other safety nets you have in place. Do you have a dog out in that yard you can trust? Do you live in the middle of suburbs or on the edge of the woods? Do you have loose dogs in your neighborhood? Do you have a fence around your yard?

If you don't have a dog, don't have a perimeter fence, if you live where dogs or preds are prevalent, then it wouldn't matter how old they are, eventually you may have an issue. Some folks just take that risk and do it, some never would.

If it were me and I didn't have a good dog, I'd go buy a cheap fence charger ($25-$30), string me some hot wire at the base of my dog kennel and leave them to their own devices.



Basic H~it really depends on how much water you are adding it to. It is very concentrated so a few drops will do in a gallon of water. I didn't place it in the water all the time, just once or maybe twice a year.

 

[ldutch123]

Hey everyone.... I have a question for ya. I hear a couple of my hens makes a sneezing/ coughing noise. Not all the time just occasionally? Is this normal? It sounds like a squeak or cough. Did they get too much dust in their airway or what could this be. They free range and they all seem healthy and happy and eating and drinking. They are also 10 months old now.

 

[chikenscratch]

I am not an OT, but have heard from one..that the sneezing is not normal. He said that they have dust in their nose and to add drops of water.

Mine were doing this from early on and I refuse to drop water onto their nose. I figure that if it is happening, they aren't sick, are eating well, then they are fine. What I did do, is to make sure that their water is very clean and that they have a deep enough amount of water that will reach to their nostrils.

Maybe the OT's have more advice, but this is what I did. I'm a no fuss kinda gal!

 

[Zany Chick]

I'm new to having chickens. I have 10 that are 6 weeks give or take. My intent when getting them was eggs. I believe I have 4 cockerels that aren't going to give me any eggs, I plan to keep one, not sure how to pick which one. I know t would make sense to eat the other 3, but I don't know if I can do that. I do have a friend who. Said she would take my extra boys so I have that option. With all that being said I've realized that I have the responsibility to be able to kill a chicken if the need arises. If one of my birds becomes injured, the last thing I want to do is be online looking up "how to kill a chicken". I have no doubt that if there is a need I will be able to kill one of my chicken. My question is how to do it. I know there are threads about it , but I've seen some bizzare methods. What is the simplest way? I don't own a hatchet, is that something I should buy along with my other chicken necessities? Is there a less messy quick sure way to do it? I've heard both of my parents talk about chickens running around with their head cut of. I'm a nurse, I've seen some pretty nasty stuff, but I don't think I can handle that. I saw something that you can use to break their neck, but have only seen it available in the UK. I've heard descriptions of nails and cones and trussing and towels and bags and baby socks.

I did search this thread and couldn't find this topic. I would like to hear OT opinions of the best way to kill a chicken so I can be prepared ahead of time, even if that means I need to buy a hatchet. Thanks!

 

[StormyMoon]

How about feeding, y'all? What feeders do you use? What ration types and why? Waterers and why?

I have found feeders a waste of time and money I may get flack for saying this but my chickens eat on the ground. I toss their food out there through the grass early in the AM and they go hunt it up. It keeps them active and gives them something to do. Waterers well I have some that I got from the feed store but the chickens tend to just drink out of the buckets I have around the house for the cats to drink out of. I don't think they care if something is fancy or not.

And I do it the naughty way I know. I use cracked corn as feed. My mother in law is 92 yrs old she has raised chickens all her life and all she has ever fed her chickens was corn. Of course they do free range and get stuff that way too. In the summer like right now the heat is rising so I switch from crack corn to laying pellets. I don't always give treats unless we have a lot of rotting veggies and fruit we will toss them outside and let the chickens and ducks have at it.

I do like to pet my chickens I know this isn't what people would think of as normal but I just love how they feel and I can't help it lol

My mother in law would tell me if you chase after a chicken it will stop laying eggs. Not sure how true that is but it is possible to stress one out enough till it wont lay eggs.
I am still new to chicken raising 3 yrs now but have been around farms all my life this is just the first I have had of my own. I tend to listen more to the old timers than I do to the new way of doing things

My mother in law has never had a sick chick according to her , she has never dewormed or treated any of her chicks for anything.

 

[fowlman01]

Chickens will eat of the ground anyway....it is what they do.

Walt

 

[Fred's Hens]

I feed off the grass a lot, when I have a high quality scratch or complete pellet, which isn't all the time. I'm frugal and some times, pellets and scratch, even the basic 3 grain stuff, is grossly over priced. I also like to toss vegetables garden odds and ends and other scraps onto the ground and they come running.

My basic staple feed for chicks is an 18% crumble and for layers, a 17% complete mash from a local mill. I do wet it and/or mix in any table scraps we've collected during the day. I still prefer the old time trough feeders, pretty much unchanged from when I fed chickens as a boy over a half century ago. I also make low, mounted box trough feeders out of 1x4 or 1x6 scrap lumber. These wooden troughs work well too, but I still love the old, long, metal troughs.