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

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I have to disagree. Start with birds that meet the Standard of Perfection (SOP). Your breeder will stand with you as a mentor. It cost just as much to feed hatchery birds as it does quality SOP type. I have both SOP and hatchery Buff Orpingtons. Our SOP type will out produce the hatchery and are much larger. They are also less aggressive than hatchery type.

I believe that rare birds or good quality SOP birds should go to someone who knows how to properly use them to better the breed, not newbies. I remember my first months as a chicken owner and am very glad that I didn't have rare birds or those that were worth anything. I was ignorant and fed my birds yard scratch, didn't put enough ventilation in the coop, didn't have proper roost for them, etc. An SOP bird will not necessarily be any different as far as utility goes in my opinion. What matters is how and where they are bred and I agree that the temperament and quality of hatchery birds can and does suffer. However, SOP often has more to do with "Is his fluff the right color?" or "Is there the proper number of points on his comb?" than it does with how well they lay or their temperament. That's just not what a newbie needs in my opinion.

 

[Zanna]

Thanks Al for the feed discussion! Most Vegetable oils on the shelf in the stores in my neck of the woods is soy oil which I have been adding to my breeders feed. You have to really search to find corn oil. What is the general thought on soy oil?

 

[fowlman01]

Anyone's chickens have a fear of large shinny things?

I think mine are afraid of my large shiny ax.

Walt

 

[bruceh]

ok i am very jealous. i would love to have heritage breed birds. i would gladly pay for them. i agree and stated that hatchery birds suck for what they are supposed to be. however with the laws changing in my area all the time i am afraid i f i trade my hatchery birds for great birds
they would outlaw them. i sell the of eggs of my chickens to offset the cost of feed. i am limited as to what i can do.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I think mine are afraid of my large shiny ax.

Walt

Haha!

 

[Minchi]

NM

 

[Lacy Blues]

I think its going to take me a couple of months to read all 415 pages of this thread. And by then it'll probably be up to 600 or more!

I'm just putting this note in here to myself so I can find the thread again and remind myself where I finished reading.


Just finished page 11. Start on page 12.

Wonderful posts! Looking forward to more from the OTs.

Ok, now I've read through page 25.

 

[canesisters]

Anyone's chickens have a fear of large shinny things?

I used to take care of the animals on a little farm in exchange for boarding my horses there. They had a HUGE turkey who wandered off on a regular basis. I was always having to chase her back out of the woods - until I got mad one day and grabbed one of those 'lollipop' driveway markers (you know, the round reflector on a stick). My intention was to poke and prod and swat instead of my usual crab walking with my arms out trying to 'drive' her back home. She freaked out! From that day on, all I had to do was stick the reflector out on the side I wanted her to turn away from and wiggle it and off we'd go.

 

[thedragonlady]

I am speaking of store bought processed lard, I haven't had that problem ever, yes perhaps with homemade self rendered lard, but not the store bought stuff. If that makes you uneasy just use some corn oil.

Corn oil in a spray bottle lets you really top dress feed so everybody gets some. I also feed Calf Manna as a supplement to growing birds, or birds that I am conditioning for show. It helps put a sheen on them too. Whole grains fed to youngsters as soon as they are able to eat them, will put bigger bodies on them too, not to mention healthier organs. I learned this from Herb Holtz years ago. He ran an experiment with two sets of SLW LF. One group got cracked grains (scratch), and the other group got whole grains: Whole oats, wheat, and corn. The difference in body size, and particularly organ size at slaughter, was enough to convince Herb.He bred and showed tremendous birds.

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

Quote:

But I prefer using one of these Ratcheting PVC cutters