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

[normanack]

Now just a cotton pickin minute! My chickens are quite tame. I have trained them to know which pocket holds which treats. They know my left front pocket is off limits, that my right front holds chocolate and marshmallows, and that my left breast pocket is the maggot pocket. I carry rotten meat around for that express purpose.

Y'know, I always did that too! Until one day I reached into the maggot pocket instead of the chocolate. Now I'm addicted to the little squirmies.

 

[Beekissed]

Now just a cotton pickin minute! My chickens are quite tame. I have trained them to know which pocket holds which treats. They know my left front pocket is off limits, that my right front holds chocolate and marshmallows, and that my left breast pocket is the maggot pocket. I carry rotten meat around for that express purpose. They will jump through a hoop to get the treat. I also have them trained so that when I make the egg motion, they lay their egg right then and there. I don't like to wait on my eggs so I developed my own trademarked Egg Motion, that indicates squat and pop out an egg. I had some white leghorns, but they were too flighty, so I culled them. My buff (Blond) Orps were the hardest to train, but after I get them to lay, they walk home... to the roost.

I know, I know...I'm militant and fanatical about my chickening. I'll try to lighten up!

 

[stonykill]

Beekissed I agree with everything from the last 2 posts. I am only subscribed to a few active threads on this site. It has honestly gotten to the point that this is the only one I enjoy anymore. I'm tired of people for instance having one lousy broody hatch where only 3 chicks hatched and suddenly they are experts giving out bad advice. I'm tired of the cute cuddly petting my chickens posts and the stupid diapers

.
My flock does as well as it has since I came to the conclusion it was survival of the fittest. (If I said that on ANY other thread on this forum I'd be turned in for animal abuse

). What I mean, and you know what I mean. Sick birds are killed. Yes killed not culled. I don't "save" chicks that can't hatch on their own etc. All the things you practice. All of the "my pet chicken" posts just make me want to wrap my head with a roll of duct tape so it won't explode.

And I do love my chickens and ducks. I spend probably more time than I can afford just observing them be chickens. Marvelling at the broody's with their young, watching with a smile as they kill a snake, just sitting and watching youngpullets getting ready to lay, and yes watching young roo's to decide when they go in the freezer. I will say this. And I mean it from the bottom of my heart and stand behind it. Those of us who let our chickens live natural chicken lives are better chicken keepers than the diaper toting, chicken hugging bunch.

I need a roll of duct tape. Nah, I hear a broody outside the window. I'll sit for a minute and watch her and her young feed. That will relax me. NO I won't try to hold and squeeze them.

 

[Nomibear]

Whenever I post such ideas, I usually am hit with posts implying that I just don't spend quality time with my flock or I would notice these special things about chickens. One doesn't raise chickens for this long and not spend quality time with the flock....not if they want to maintain a healthy flock. I'm also a student of animal and human behavior...I love to watch them interact and try to interpret their actions.

But I park my sentimentality at the door when I observe and try to view these beings from an objective standpoint. As much as I love chickens and mine in particular, I love creatures being able to be their natural selves. I love my dogs being able to live outside,not on a chain or in a kennel. I love that they wrestle, smell the various outside scents, patrol for predators and intruders, eat nasty things, have their natural body smells, dig when they want....all the things that make them truly dog is not being impaired by my emotional need to have them close, in my house and on my lap in adoration of me, within constant touching range of me.

These animals have a natural life span and do better, IMO, when allowed to live without constant interference from us humans....how would we like it if someone changed our life so drastically to fit their own? You may tolerate it, make the best of it, but you sure won't feel free or content to be who you really are.

To me it's such an oxymoron for animal lovers to profess this deep love for animals but then proceed to trap them indoors, bathe them constantly so their odors won't offend(removes their natural oils and scent...you might as well just slap them around in a dog's mind), pour poison on their backs so that a single flea won't be introduced into the human's box/trap, don't allow them to adapt their fur coats to seasonal changes in weather, never let them stay outside at night~the best time in life for a predator..ever~won't let them enjoy being outside for the change of the seasons, the change of scent patterns in the air, for interaction with their natural outside environment, for hunting, for exploring, for playing, for rubbing their backs in a fresh fallen snow, for sunning themselves and smelling simply everything that goes on outside. How could they do that to the very beings they profess to love?

Same thoughts I feel when I read about chickens in diapers. How in the world could someone DO that to that poor animal and call it love?

Sorry....just had to come out of me today.

A friend of mine has a tiny little dog (not a big fan) and she cleans it's butt and paws after taking it out for a dump

I live in the country and only have large outdoor dogs. On one hand i agree with you. All dogs deserve to be able to run and play, at least in a good back yard. On the other, that dog would never survive out here. Even if it grow up out here, it would become dinner for some cyote or maybe even a raccoon.
Just like some dogs have been breed to be unable to care for themselves in the wild, are there chickens that have been breed to be lap pets?
*This is an actual question. I don't know almost anything about chicken breeds...

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Use an ace wrap stony! The duct tape will rip your eyebrows off when you want to remove it! It's true though, the amount of conflicting opinions and advise is astounding. This is a good thread for rational common sense...beware lurking elsewhere, insanity is contagious I say. I have to read here to see what real chicken breeders have to say...I mean I always thought chickens pretty much did whatever with little help from people, not rocket science, thankfully, my mil is a rocket scientist - no really and she's the one who crowed at my rooster and got clobbered. I had Nothing to do with it. I swear. This is one of the few places I'd bother to ask advise for anything.
Btw, that kid was me the other night trying to remove a young rooster from the nest box, I must have had butterfingers cause I got a leg, then a wing, then a neck, then upsidedown, then squash him, then flip him...I bet he isn't roosting in the nest box tonight.

 

[Beekissed]

I do get a chuckle when I read about folks hugging their roos....I feel sad for the poor guy!

My main roo~whichever one is holding that current position~ is always treated with the utmost respect. He is never handled(would definitely be handled a little more abruptly if he roosted in my nestbox

) unless I have to and then I pick him up firmly but gently. As a result, he doesn't flap or fight me, though he is vigilant. I can't afford to have him fighting mad while I'm holding him because he has simply huge spurs and weighs a metric ton(current roo, Toby)...I look like I'm holding an ostrich when I have to pick him up. He's six now and he has only been picked up maybe 3-4 times, only at night and only for brief periods.

You could say we have a mutual respect but he knows when to submit~I don't mess with him, he doesn't mess with me. I find that to be my idea of a perfect rooster(or a man, for that matter)....masculine, dignified, active, handsome and virile...but still wise enough to know from whence his supper comes.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Yes, I really don't handle my mature roos either, unless good reason, like something wrapped around his foot....the younger chicks are all trying to find their place in the coop and i guess wide open nest boxes look good to them, my solution is to go in before dark and take out the offender and pet them! This usually cures them from roosting in this spot, they get set on the roost or stuffed on a different spot. This was the second time for this roos, he was slippery...it was pretty funny.

 

[Fred's Hens]

The squatting thing, in my experience, is also somewhat breed related. Some red sex links are often squatting fools. Have no idea why.
The Barred Rocks and other breeds and strains we have never once exhibited the tendency.

 

[stonykill]

The squatting thing, in my experience, is also somewhat breed related. Some red sex links are often squatting fools. Have no idea why.
The Barred Rocks and other breeds and strains we have never once exhibited the tendency.

the only hen I ever had that squatted when I came around was a barred rock

 

[Beekissed]

The squatting thing, in my experience, is also somewhat breed related. Some red sex links are often squatting fools. Have no idea why.
The Barred Rocks and other breeds and strains we have never once exhibited the tendency.

See, Galanie? It DOES happen and I don't know everything...or anything, for that matter!

Just never happened in my world yet.

Fred, do they just squat when you walk by, like bowing to the king or what?