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

[dfr1973]

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Brings to mind an old Will Rogers quote about how some folks will listen to the advice of others while others just have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves. Despite being warned by our uncle, me and my cousins just had to play with the electric fence ourselves as kids ... I like to think I've gained a little sense in the three decades since that summer.

I am loving this thread - whole lot of practical advice on keeping chickens. Please, OTs, keep it coming.

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
Brings to mind an old Will Rogers quote about how some folks will listen to the advice of others while others just have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves. Despite being warned by our uncle, me and my cousins just had to play with the electric fence ourselves as kids ... I like to think I've gained a little sense in the three decades since that summer.

I am loving this thread - whole lot of practical advice on keeping chickens. Please, OTs, keep it coming.

LOL - Pretty sure that's happened more than once on this farm... DH grew up here (our boys are the 5th generation raised on this very farm) and convinced his city cousins to do it!

I could about imagine their reactions!

 

[bobbi-j]

Those Brahmas are great birds, I use to raise Brahmas and to this day they are one of my all time best birds to have, they are calm and very striking to look at. They make decent table fair but take just a little longer to mature. Just a tip............ go back through your BYC menu and have your page option changed to 75, it makes a huge difference in how fast you can go through post. I think you can't go wrong by getting more of them, as a hint when judging size you have to handle them, get your hands through all that fluff to the flesh to really get an idea of threir true size.

Thanks again, Al. My roo is pretty fluffy, but does have some meat on him. That's why I want to keep him. I wouldn't be opposed to getting hens of a different breed and mix and matching for what I want. Those chicks, of course, would be for my use only. How are brahma hens for laying? I'm glad it's only December and I have plenty of time to think about it.

 

[rarely bored]

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If I lived in your area I'd look you up! A physician who admits this is rare in my neck of the woods.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Brings to mind an old Will Rogers quote about how some folks will listen to the advice of others while others just have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves. Despite being warned by our uncle, me and my cousins just had to play with the electric fence ourselves as kids ... I like to think I've gained a little sense in the three decades since that summer.

I am loving this thread - whole lot of practical advice on keeping chickens. Please, OTs, keep it coming.

Just don't "jerry rig" it to your house electricity!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Gparents did that I grabbed for the handle and accidentally got the wire it caused my hand to clamp down on the wire and I couldn't get it off even trying to pry it off w/ the other hand, that one would then get stuck. It nearly killed me (literally) I still have the scars on my hands and an extreme fear of electric fences. My Gma heard me screaming and was able to flip the breaker off before ...........................

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Brings to mind an old Will Rogers quote about how some folks will listen to the advice of others while others just have to pee on the electric fence to find out for themselves. Despite being warned by our uncle, me and my cousins just had to play with the electric fence ourselves as kids ... I like to think I've gained a little sense in the three decades since that summer.

I am loving this thread - whole lot of practical advice on keeping chickens. Please, OTs, keep it coming.

Just don't "jerry rig" it to your house electricity!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Gparents did that I grabbed for the handle and accidentally got the wire it caused my hand to clamp down on the wire and I couldn't get it off even trying to pry it off w/ the other hand, that one would then get stuck. It nearly killed me (literally) I still have the scars on my hands and an extreme fear of electric fences. My Gma heard me screaming and was able to flip the breaker off before ...........................

Yep that's what fence chargers are for. The pulse gives you a moment to let go. And they are easier on the electric bill too.

 

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Bee or Al - Have read on BYC on how to trim wings. Is it as simple as it shows?
Thought we lost one of our BR this morning, hubby went to let them out of the coop, and was standing & watching them in the run, and was doing his head count, and only counted 14. So he did the color coding 6 yellow BO, 2 white Light Brahmas, 3 EE, 1 roo & only 2 BR, he recounted, and when I got home from talking the girls to school, he said we needed to look for the escapee.
Very foggy this morning, checked the neighbor's yard, checked under the shed, the deck, the front of the house, NADA.

Came home from the dump, checked again, nothing. Went to a job site, picked up child from school, hubby said not to say anything to child. Went to see how many eggs we got today (6 as of 12 noon), and there is missing hen roaming the yard, he** if I know where she was.

So from the BYC picture/drawing. Spread open the wing and clip off about 3 inches down, the first three biggest feathers on one side only. I know this will be a two man job, lucky for me, our hens have been handled a lot & I only need to do 3 of the 14 hens. 1 BR & 2 EE, everyone else is too fat to fly that high.

 

[In His Service]

I made it...all 56 pages in 3 days.

Thanks to all for sharing their wisdom. I will continue lurking to glean more.

 

[Beekissed]

It's simple, but it may not solve your problem. Chickens don't actually fly over a fence unless it is extremely low...they generally hop to the top, hop down on the other side. Hopping doesn't take many wing feathers...I've had them hop successfully up to 5 ft. roost pole with one wing clipped or even both wings clipped~and that is with the primary and secondary flight feathers clipped(I call that the prison cut).

If you have persistent escapees, you can watch where they are getting out...if it is over an obstacle, you need to make the solid surface on which they hop up to, not so solid. Some extend their fencing materials about 6-8 in. past any hard surface, some string wires to block this hop, stop and drop landing area.

 

[ThePigeonKid]

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