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

[Courts Clucks]

well i was alive befor there was color tv ...that might make me ot lol ..we had chickens growing up as a boy ..it wasnt untill just this year me and dw bought a place out in the country and ive got about 150 birds ..sadly but i DO have to many roo's and will have to cull..now grandma would always grab the chicken by the neck and give it a swing or 2 and snap ..off comes the head ..me .well...i perfer the cone or hatchet...if you raise birds for meat .or pigs or what ever ..rabbits ..you just have to tell yourself .this is what you raised it for ..and just do it ..yes some folks just dont have the guts for such things ..and that is ok..nothing wrong with admitting you cant cull your pets if you will....its not for the faint of heart ..my wife will not watch me butcher anything ..but see will eat it if she doesnt have to watch ..and i do not make her ..so yeah ..it helps if you make up your mind what your gonna raise and stick with it ..well..breaks over ..back to work lol

Glad you don't make her. I am a softy but i know the purpose of our animals. My husband knows that if he is the butcher, i will help clean it and cook. Doesn't mean I don't bawl while dressing the critter but a gal's gotta eat.

 

[galanie]

As for the child with the hen, I too would claim a hawk killed it so now it's dinner cause we had to do something and that's what chickens are for. And then don't make her eat it if she doesn't want to.

 

[chickletteSarge]

Well I reminded her that the baby chicks that were ordered are hatching today and that they will be here in the morning! I also told her and her older sisters that we will eat their older chickens in a few months. They cried that they didn't want to kill their chickens and such. I told her that miss "Belle" is mean and evil! And that we must clense the evil from her and eat her to make it go away forever! Ok that was a bit of an exageration.... lol the look on my girls faces when they see their new chicks will be awesome and they should forget about their old ones in no time! I just hope I don't have to buy a new flock every time we have to salughter one of their chickens....

 

[Leahs Mom]

Questions:
Any OTers read The Small Scale Poultry Flock by H. Ussery (http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Home.html ) and if so, do you recommend it as worth reading?

 

[SewChaos]

I'm only on page 35. I'm enjoying reading all the common sense information here. I did a bunch of research and reading before getting my first birds. My favorite part of this thread is the "In My Experience" I am so tired of the "ONLY way" attitudes I find in books and in other threads.


Thank you!

 

[fowlman01]

I'm only on page 35. I'm enjoying reading all the common sense information here. I did a bunch of research and reading before getting my first birds. My favorite part of this thread is the "In My Experience" I am so tired of the "ONLY way" attitudes I find in books and in other threads.


Thank you!

There is a lot of that around and most of that is written by people who don't really know chickens. Chickens are tough little animals and they can thrive with little care as long as they have some of the bare minimums. I am not saying that you should only give them the minimum care, just saying that they are a lot tougher than most folks think. Keep in mind that there is a ton of mis-information about chickens.......and on this site if someone has "Educator" under their name it does not mean that you will receive correct information........unfortunate but true.

Walt

 

[ChickiesInUtah]

they are a lot tougher than most folks think.

Walt

I've had my first chicks for 2 weeks. They're nearly fully feathered & can flap around so I'm guessing they're older than that. I've gone from rushing home from work to stick a thermometer in the brooder to leaning over it casually to see if they look comfortable.

I love this thread and made it up to page 65. Is there an easy way to go back to that page or do I need to just click my way back?

 

[fowlman01]

I've had my first chicks for 2 weeks. They're nearly fully feathered & can flap around so I'm guessing they're older than that. I've gone from rushing home from work to stick a thermometer in the brooder to leaning over it casually to see if they look comfortable.

I love this thread and made it up to page 65. Is there an easy way to go back to that page or do I need to just click my way back?

That is like when I had my first son. We were looking at him every few minutes to be sure he was ok. The second son arrived and no one ever checked on him.....hahaha

I don't know how to get back to selected pages. Maybe there is a way.

Walt

 

[ChickiesInUtah]

That is like when I had my first son. We were looking at him every few minutes to be sure he was ok. The second son arrived and no one ever checked on him.....hahaha

I don't know how to get back to selected pages. Maybe there is a way.

Walt

That is hysterical!

No worries, I'll just click back.

To click back I clicked the "......" and you can type a page number in. Sweet!

 

[hoorayfortulips]

I love this thread and made it up to page 65. Is there an easy way to go back to that page or do I need to just click my way back?

Look up in the URL - the number at the end is the post# at the beginning of the page. You can type in the number you want in the URL and it will take you back. At least that's how I've been doing it.