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

[bruceh]

i am not an old timer.my answer 1-10. however i have 16 layers and 1 cockerel .

 

[chicken curious]

Thank you for all the info and advice about the predator attack (versus crazy flock issues) that you helped with last week. I'm still not sure what it was so I'm being vigilant about keeping them locked in the run when I'm not there.

a followup on attacked hen...she is doing surprisingly well. She is almost completely bare on one side under her wing and lost all her tail's underfluff (no idea the technical term) and all the long feathers on the right side of her tail. She still has a slight limp on the thigh that had a laceration on top and bottom, but can jump and fly so she should be fine getting around. I checked her after dark last night and the deep lacerations are dry and healing mostly closed. Her vent seems bigger than the other hens (a few are starting to lay, but I don't think she is yet) so I'm not sure if that's something to watch as a secondary issue. The lacerations radiating away from the vent are clean and dry so I'm going to just leave her alone.

 

[Beekissed]

Question for the OTs:
Is there a particular ratio of roo to hen that you try / like to maintain?
1 to 5?
1 to 10?
1 to 20?
This is assuming no breeding pairs, breeding for specific genetics, or breeding for show. Just curious about a farm flock whether small farm or large farm husbandry practice that has worked for you.
Do you have a roo you rotate between multiple coops of hens if you want biddies for restocking layers or for meat?
Does it depend on the individual roo and hens? Does it depend on the breed?
Really enjoying this thread and remember the few chickens I helped my dad with as a youngster. Not that many chickens, but thousands (no exaggeration) of Bobwhite and coutournix quail raised strictly for meat.

I normally keep one rooster but am comfortable with two when I'm raising up a new one to take over. I keep a ratio of 1:25-30, normally...right now I've got one old fella with 12 hens.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

I wanna ask another stupid question....

For those of y'all that free-range: Do you let your birds out in the rain? I haven't been letting them out of the run when it rains because I didn't want them to get all wet and catch a cold or something. I realize that sounds a little stupid because the goats and cow and dogs all hang out in the rain; it's just that the chickens seem so much more.... fragile? Do you generally assume they are smart enough to get out of the rain? We have had 3 full days of rain here and my chickens have major cabin fever. It's the longest they have ever been all cooped up like this without a break. I want to turn them out, but it is really pouring here.

Most of my chickens and turkeys love the rain. I have one hen that runs into the coop when it rains. The rooster sends them to the coop if it begins to hail, wise move. My chickens are not fragile..

 

[Beekissed]

Mine either...tough as nuts. Tough out on the range, but tender in the mouth.....

 

[armorfirelady]

i am coming out with a new book . it is called ' how to buy and manage a self sustaining chicken farm with no money down "
this book is warranted to save you big money. what i did was use methods taught by Carlton sheets and Joel Salatin and combined them to a step by step guide for the beginning farmer.
chapters include:
1.where to buy a chicken
2 how to hatch eggs in your bra
3. how to recycle chicken waste
4. step by step instruction on free ranging.
5. how to properly teach a rooster to mate
6. how to teach a chicken proper manners
7. how to set up your in home chicken room
8 . how to properly diaper your chicken

and so much more


you can recognize the book easily. there is a picture of myself shirtless sporting my new double D's with chicken eggs under them.

also included are coupon discounts for my other books such as the number 1 seller roosters and the hens that love them, when roosters go bad, and chicken on the range

 

[armorfirelady]

Mine are out every day rain or shine. They love the rain. I figure if they get cold they will seek shelter either under the tent they have in their area or in the coop.
They love to scratch in the dirt for the worms & bugs the rain brings out

 

[ChickChickChicky]

I can get it published for you.

Gail Demarow/Luttmann and I were partners in a printing venture in the 70's-80's and I can tell you that her knowledge of chickens is minimal, yet she churns out all kinds of poultry books. She just takes existing info and puts it in her cutesy way and the books sell like hotcakes. Her poultry management practices are nothing like the books....lol She also does a lot of ripping off of info from others.

Walt

I started with chickens almost exactly one year ago, and I always wanted the Storey chicken books but was too cheap/poor to buy them. Finally I borrowed the latest version of her book from the library... what a waste of time! I breezed through it and saw NOTHING of any real value there. I am a nerd and love to research everything, and am SO glad I didn't get her book when I was first starting out. I am glad I found BYC, and particularly this thread. When I first started everything seemed complicated, chickens seemed picky and fragile, and I felt kinda stupid. It didn't take me long to realize that owning chickens is NOT rocket science and that, really, it was mostly just common sense and getting to know some basic chicken facts. I feel fairly confident now in my chicken-wrangling skills and my birds all appear to be happy and healthy. I think the complicated-ness comes about with many subjects though... I've always been into gardening and have worked in that field (landscape nurseries) off and on for years, and it's the same there. People want to take what is simple (say a rose bush, which is just a BUSH that happens to have flowers) and turn it into something where you'd think one would need a Master's Degree to get a rose bush to give even one bloom.

 

[Beekissed]

Don't you have to be a Master Gardener to get one of those to bloom?

I've never been impressed with the Storey line of books either....just an amalgamation of the same, USDA approved care of animals that is no help at all in a real life situation. Every other livestock book tends to take their cues from these books as well and hold nothing of any real value to the small time farmer folks. Generic and unrealistic and won't keep your animals truly healthy if applied.

 

[fowlman01]

I started with chickens almost exactly one year ago, and I always wanted the Storey chicken books but was too cheap/poor to buy them. Finally I borrowed the latest version of her book from the library... what a waste of time! I breezed through it and saw NOTHING of any real value there. I am a nerd and love to research everything, and am SO glad I didn't get her book when I was first starting out. I am glad I found BYC, and particularly this thread. When I first started everything seemed complicated, chickens seemed picky and fragile, and I felt kinda stupid. It didn't take me long to realize that owning chickens is NOT rocket science and that, really, it was mostly just common sense and getting to know some basic chicken facts. I feel fairly confident now in my chicken-wrangling skills and my birds all appear to be happy and healthy. I think the complicated-ness comes about with many subjects though... I've always been into gardening and have worked in that field (landscape nurseries) off and on for years, and it's the same there. People want to take what is simple (say a rose bush, which is just a BUSH that happens to have flowers) and turn it into something where you'd think one would need a Master's Degree to get a rose bush to give even one bloom.

The info these folks have published has been around for decades, they just re-wrap it and try to make it harder than it is. Chickens on their own can overpopulate a city park in short order.......even eating popcorn and chewing gum, so they have to be sturdy creatures. I am retired from a local university here in Sonoma County. The grounds people would comment on my particularly long stemmed roses that I would bring in ..until they found out how I did it. I have a lot of roses here and it would take forever to trim them to a goblet shape, so I use a gas chainsaw and just trim them down to about 6" twice a year. I have very healthy roses and I do use a sharp chain.

Walt