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

[Rhoise]

That reminds me Al, I have a silkie with a straw stuck in it's foot. Do I need to remove the diaper to treat it?...

 

[Beekissed]

Wouldn't it be interesting, if this life turned out merely a platform from which, you can show God exactly how you'd like to be treated by how you treat the sick, the injured, the stupid, you come in contact with? At what point is an animal suffering too much and needs put down, at what point is treating it merely too inconvienent for you. From the rabbit comment bee, I thought you most likely to be eaten by lions in the next life...maybe you've had a change of heart. Maybe your just joking sideways about the broody substitute, but even orphans like a mama. Here is how I teach the orphans to nest up at nighte

I think God will know just what to do with me in the next phase of my life!

He knows I'm a good steward to the animals He has entrusted to my care. I keep and care well for the ones that need keepin' and I kill the ones that need killin'...and that is all one can expect in this life.

I wasn't really joking about the baby rabbits....they are excellent cat food and the chances of keeping one alive, then returning it to the wild to live a normal, wild existence are practically nil. Rabbits are for eatin', even the baby ones. If you don't let nature happen, we are soon overrun with a scourge of rabbits...they mate and produce like...well..like rabbits!

I don't normally have a change of heart....my heart is pretty much the same as it has always been, solid as a rock.

I've been like this since I was a little girl and haven't changed much since....my mama said I was born with an old soul.

I usually use a broody to brood my chicks but it sure would be nice to have a substitute when you don't have a broody....yes, even orphans need a mama.

 

[Nancygardens]

I love reading this thread I've learned SO much
thanks a bunch every one for all that you share.
I'll read something and think oh I was wondering about that and it would answer a question I had!

The guy that does the ordering at the W-mart store here
said the chicken feed flies out the door even after he tripled the amount he ordered.
They had some this morning we've been there at night it's gone so the early shoppers get the feed.
Light bulb moment here! LOL!

I got oyster shells & for when we have hens.
...
The phone just rang my book is in Building Chicken Coops for Dummies is in.
Figures we are about done building ours!

Any one got a shopping list of things for a first aid kit for chickens to have on hand meds. ect. ?
Some kind yellow powder used for the water I forget what it's called we used to use for rabbits as I recall.

 

[Beekissed]

Mother vinegar, Nu-Stock and bag balm. That's my whole list.

 

[MagicChicken]

Mother vinegar, Nu-Stock and bag balm. That's my whole list.

You forgot the axe.

 

[Beekissed]

Don't use one!

 

[bruceh]

here is my $0.02 worth. i was raising my first batch of meat chickens.. at 3 weeks i had one go lame on a leg. before i culled it , i had a thought. i remember from personal expirence on how to build muscle. so i tokk this chick and exercised it leg up and down 10x at 3 x per day for a week.. after that week the little chick was fine.

after that episode of working with the chick. i watched her for a while. when i came around she would limp to get attention ( picked up ) when i watcher from a distance she walked and ran just fine. she dubbed the name faker chicken.

at the end of 10 more weeks she got eaten.

so yes we tend to the animals that can be saved. we do not let them suffer in any way. however, that bird had a purpose and the purpose was to be food.

i am doing the same thing with some freedom rangers i held over for layers. these birds are starting to limp. should i wait to see what happens. imo no way because there will come a day that these birds will go down on there legs. why wait ? let them go to butcher with dignity, not lame, ill and suffering.


bee just in case you read this. i am not doing that cockerel. . i spent 2 hrs with the flock today. that cockerel is just way to good and so proud to serve his flock. just can't waste him. i feel it would be an injustice . i wonder if i mate him to the best black sex links what i would get. those are his favorites i am betting a larger prolific layer.

 

[bruceh]

that is it folks . i am calling dr. phil. the episode should be called "when hard farmers go soft "

 

[Beekissed]

No I don't want to call it rehab or rescue or anything like that, seems way to warm & fuzzy for me

Just not wanting to see them go to waste or die a painfull long death. Just want to do what is right for the right reasons, then have a BBQ LOL. There is a side of me that when the world goes to hell in a handbasket and the huggers are starving and want to eat, I would say sure I will make you this nice big juicey chicken dinner, so here it is.......... now chop it's head off and gut it out then you can eat. I just want to see the look on their faces when forced to confront reality or starve.

Me neither, Al....wouldn't want folks to think we are warm and fuzzy.

I prefer to call it "reconditioning"...sort of what you do when your paint job on the car is fading or worn. In the livestock world, an animal that has become poorly and skinny due to birthing, nursing, breeding, etc. are considered to be in poor condition, so when farmers want to feed 'em up and get them shiny and fat again, they call it "reconditioning". Will that term make you feel more...uh..um...er..less warmandfuzzy? (Had to get those words out quick...I vomited a little in the back of my mouth

)

We are reconditioning chickens...sounds very business-like, don't it?

 

[normanack]

Mother vinegar, Nu-Stock and bag balm.  That's my whole list. 

 

Okay, mother vinegar is for the food and water,
Nu-Stock is for scaly leg mites,
I moisturize my hands with bag balm. Where do you put it on a chicken?