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

[fultzie]

a few posts back ..talking about interducing new pullets to the older gals..i wait untill its good and dark out ..slip the new gals right up on the roosts..and in the morning it all gets worked out ..have done this several times now ..and that seems to do the trick for me ..sorry had a few posts to catch up on ..i only get to catch up here when im at work lol .

 

[stonykill]

Bee I would never suggest that. As a matter of fact I think we are in the minority which always confuses me.

When I 1st started keeping chickens I did not have a clear plan. That was 8 years ago and a lot has changed for me. About 5 years ago I came to start raising the way I do now. Similar to your way. But in the beginning I made all of the classic mistakes. BUT I was lucky in1 respect. My 1st 6 RIR's and then my next 7, then my next 5 all came from an old farm. At 1st the farmer was downsizing. Then by the 3rd year he was retiring from chicken farming. Looking back at it all I wish I bought a LOT more of his birds. I paid $2 a piece for a 40 year old strain of RIR that were from 1 to 2 years old and laying really well. I should have bought more. I still have 5 of those same RIR's all these years later. Still laying every other day, huge eggs, the size of my Pekin duck eggs and are just naturally healthy birds. These remaining girls are 6 or 7 and still going well. This is what I shoot for in the rest of my flock. FYI, these RIR's vary enough in color I'm sure some are mutts. Not all SOP hens although a few may be or may have been. But the health and productivity is what I am after.

 

[Beekissed]

Sure would love it if you were close enough for me to dip into your flock genetics! I have 6 yr old birds laying that well too...but I don't have any RIRs left and I want some more.

I would really like to find someone close by that have some real, old fashioned RIRs with the deep, mahogany colored feathering, the larger builds and the good health like the ones my granny always had.

I think you are correct...we are definitely in the minority. With the swing towards people wanting flocks to aid in living more self-sustainably in today's economy, I'm hoping that people start to see that just getting some chickens isn't enough.

If you are keeping chickens for that reason you need to make sure you are keeping them at a profit and not a loss, that they can replace themselves, that they stay healthy enough to live and produce for longer than 2 years so you can have time to sort out good genetics and then reproduce those good genetics. That they are producing enough to actually augment your food supplies...if not, why have them?

You need to try to develop chickens that don't require expensive supplemental feeding and health care rituals in order to live...this isn't considered self-sustainable. In the poor economy, having livestock that require a lot of care and expense of feeding isn't going to help one bit..it can only drag you down and leave one wondering exactly when having chickens will help their situation.

 

[stonykill]

Sure would love it if you were close enough for me to dip into your flock genetics! I have 6 yr old birds laying that well too...but I don't have any RIRs left and I want some more.

I would really like to find someone close by that have some real, old fashioned RIRs with the deep, mahogany colored feathering, the larger builds and the good health like the ones my granny always had.

I think you are correct...we are definitely in the minority. With the swing towards people wanting flocks to aid in living more self-sustainably in today's economy, I'm hoping that people start to see that just getting some chickens isn't enough.

If you are keeping chickens for that reason you need to make sure you are keeping them at a profit and not a loss, that they can replace themselves, that they stay healthy enough to live and produce for longer than 2 years so you can have time to sort out good genetics and then reproduce those good genetics. That they are producing enough to actually augment your food supplies...if not, why have them?

You need to try to develop chickens that don't require expensive supplemental feeding and health care rituals in order to live...this isn't considered self-sustainable. In the poor economy, having livestock that require a lot of care and expense of feeding isn't going to help one bit..it can only drag you down and leave one wondering exactly when having chickens will help their situation.

this year I found myself at the break even mark. Being that isn't good enough I sold off a bunch of pekins and chickens. I still have more than I need to over winter, with more born weekly here it seems. My broody's doing all of the work of course.
I'll be butchering this month, next month after etc for a while. This months will be about 10 which always helps the feed bill.

I also have 11 pullets that should start laying any day now. That helps the bottom line as well.

 

[Beekissed]

Break even is better than going in the hole!

 

[stonykill]

Break even is better than going in the hole!

took a few years to get there. My coops aren't pretty. Well a few are but that is only because the vinyl siding was free. My place looks like a small farm with coops built of scrap wood. But I'm good with all of that.

 

[Beekissed]

So am I...the coop I used for the last 5 years is about 60 yrs old, leans like a drunken sailor with 1/2 gaps between the boards in some places. But it's large, it's solid, it's airy and it works...and I love it! Red with a white door like they kept things back in the day.

My new coop here is cattle panel construction...it ain't pretty but it's sturdy and functional, cheap to make, it was easy to build, portable if you have a truck or tractor to drag it with and it does the trick.

It isn't about how something looks, it's how something works...as many an old farmer will tell you. The best farms I know look like something the cat dragged in and the dog wouldn't play with...but that doesn't affect what is going on at the farm in the way of quality.

 

[stonykill]

So am I...the coop I used for the last 5 years is about 60 yrs old, leans like a drunken sailor with 1/2 gaps between the boards in some places. But it's large, it's solid, it's airy and it works...and I love it! Red with a white door like they kept things back in the day.

My new coop here is cattle panel construction...it ain't pretty but it's sturdy and functional, cheap to make, it was easy to build, portable if you have a truck or tractor to drag it with and it does the trick.

It isn't about how something looks, it's how something works...as many an old farmer will tell you. The best farms I know look like something the cat dragged in and the dog wouldn't play with...but that doesn't affect what is going on at the farm in the way of quality.

I saw pics of your cattle panel coop. Quite interesting.

 

[Beekissed]

It's different than what I am used to...it will take time to see if it is adaptable to my needs.

 

[fowlman01]

to me this is what keeping chickens is about.

Maybe you are the smart one.

w.