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

[Narragansett]

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 agree that her knowledge of chickens is minimal. Her knowledge of waterfowl is even worse. She's written some very misleading and incorrect information on ducks and geese. Her Chicken Health Handbook is the biggest waste of money and paper in my library. Part of that is the nature of many chicken diseases, but it takes a lot less space, and should cost you a lot less money, to say that many chicken diseases are very similar in appearance, it takes lab analysis, often through necropsy, to tell the difference, and many have no simple or reliable treatment. I will say that she does an excellent job with Rural Heritage magazine, and draft animals. She should stick with what she knows best.

A real charlitan of an author is that Sue Weaver. By many accounts she is a very lovely woman, but she has very little practical personal experience with the animals which she writes about, especially with long term sustainable production and exhibition. She owns one or two of this or that, mostly individual pets. Admittedly, most of her information is rehashed from internet searches which she does from her trailer all day. She advocates the anthropomorphism of most animals, including letting goats visit in the house and jump on the furniture, trying to house break them, diapering poultry to keep as house pets and other unsanitary childish practices. Her Guide to Raising Miniature Livestock preys on the ignorant and the gullible, misleading them to believe that many of the so-called minis are actually pure breeds, when in fact they are nothing more than recent crossbreeds, or naturally small individuals of a breed that may easily produce normal sized offspring. Shame on Storey's for falling for the hype and publishing that garbage.

Not all of Storey's books are bad. Many are quite good, if slightly outdated, but they are gradually working on updating them. Most of their larger livestock books have at least a good grasp of the basics to help get a novice started. Some of their newer color photo books which illustrate most of the breeds are very nice. They actually did it right and went to some of the larger livestock shows to photograph quality examples of many of the breeds, rather than just backyard stock or hatchery birds. Their Guide to Raising Ducks is the most complete and thorough basic livestock management book that I've ever read, and I've read hundreds. From what I've seen of his past writings, they made a good choice in Glenn Drowns to write an updated Guide to Raising Poultry. I haven't read the updated edition yet, but it was in need of a rewrite. Hopefully they didn't include too much of the old material. I do wonder how he found the time, seeing that he's always whining about how little he has, which is obvious if you've ever been one of his customers.

 

[chickiemomy]

I found the emoticons!! - whadda dope - of course they're on the editor menu - whaddya think?

 

[bruceh]

I agree that her knowledge of chickens is minimal. Her knowledge of waterfowl is even worse. She's written some very misleading and incorrect information on ducks and geese. Her Chicken Health Handbook is the biggest waste of money and paper in my library. Part of that is the nature of many chicken diseases, but it takes a lot less space, and should cost you a lot less money, to say that many chicken diseases are very similar in appearance, it takes lab analysis, often through necropsy, to tell the difference, and many have no simple or reliable treatment. I will say that she does an excellent job with Rural Heritage magazine, and draft animals. She should stick with what she knows best.

A real charlitan of an author is that Sue Weaver. By many accounts she is a very lovely woman, but she has very little practical personal experience with the animals which she writes about, especially with long term sustainable production and exhibition. She owns one or two of this or that, mostly individual pets. Admittedly, most of her information is rehashed from internet searches which she does from her trailer all day. She advocates the anthropomorphism of most animals, including letting goats visit in the house and jump on the furniture, trying to house break them, diapering poultry to keep as house pets and other unsanitary childish practices. Her Guide to Raising Miniature Livestock preys on the ignorant and the gullible, misleading them to believe that many of the so-called minis are actually pure breeds, when in fact they are nothing more than recent crossbreeds, or naturally small individuals of a breed that may easily produce normal sized offspring. Shame on Storey's for falling for the hype and publishing that garbage.

Not all of Storey's books are bad. Many are quite good, if slightly outdated, but they are gradually working on updating them. Most of their larger livestock books have at least a good grasp of the basics to help get a novice started. Some of their newer color photo books which illustrate most of the breeds are very nice. They actually did it right and went to some of the larger livestock shows to photograph quality examples of many of the breeds, rather than just backyard stock or hatchery birds. Their Guide to Raising Ducks is the most complete and thorough basic livestock management book that I've ever read, and I've read hundreds. From what I've seen of his past writings, they made a good choice in Glenn Drowns to write an updated Guide to Raising Poultry. I haven't read the updated edition yet, but it was in need of a rewrite. Hopefully they didn't include too much of the old material. I do wonder how he found the time, seeing that he's always whining about how little he has, which is obvious if you've ever been one of his customers.

i never read a chicken book in my life. i use the watch, listen and experience lessons. g-d gave me common sense . i use that. if you let them people. will sell you a bag of chicken poop.

 

[bruceh]

I found the emoticons!! - whadda dope - of course they're on the editor menu - whaddya think?

now you've done it. look out you will be all emotional

 

[normanack]

Y'all don't have carts, baskets, boxes or totes in which to transport these critters?

This method was a big pain in the bum. And I'll never do it again! At the time, the chicken yard wasn't ready, so we put the birds in the fenced vegetable garden -- clear across the property -- every day. Lesson learned: finish the chicken yard before getting chickens. (smacking myself upside the head) p.s. this was before I began reading this thread!

 

[Briezeechicks]

Thanks, all for the answers to the rainbow egg question. I'm relieved. We just hadn't gotten one before, and I sure wanted to make sure I wasn't depriving them of something they needed. After so many people chiming in, I sure feel a lot better. Thanks again!

Brie

 

[darkmatter]

Lordy...

I'm sick and miss a couple of days of checking in and there are 265 unread posts?

Ya'll sure are a yackity bunch.

To whoever asked about turning the chickens out in the rain I can relay this little tidbit. It has been pouring here the past couple of days and I open the pop door every day anyway, regardless of the weather. Most of the time if it's pouring rain the chickens go pouring out... look at the rain and go right back in the coops if it's raining hard. If it's just a light rain they just ignore it. Yesterday I had a young buff hen stand out in the pouring rain until she was soaked to the skin. Too dumb to come in out of the rain.

Had chicken for supper tonight and my flock is geneticly smarter than it was yesterday.

Yeah, I open the pop door rain or shine, most come out regardless of the weather------however mine seem scared of snow.


One year (this pic) I had two Roos of the same age competing on who could be the most stupid. The hens just stayed at the door/ramp and watched.

 

[bobbi-j]

i was going to bee but i was free floating that day. however never again , i got 2 black eyes from going up and down them steps.

 

[Loghousemom]

loghousemom, here;s my 2 cents worth, and that really is all it is worth.....

I use straw because where we are it is next to impossible to get pine shavings - everything around here is oak and if you want pine you have to either go pay a ransom for it or wait and wait until one of the saw mills does pine, which is scheduled rarely.

I use the deep litter method. I've never had a problem with mold, moisture, or anything else, and it doesn't get much more humid than Southern Missouri in the summer. BUT, I didn't just throw some straw down and let it go. Here is what I do:

1. DE - I use it generously. I took a plastic mayo jar and drilled some little holes in the top of it and that is what I use like a giant salt shaker to spread it. Once a week I sprinkle the straw with a bit of it all over.

2. I throw scratch and BOSS in the straw to keep the girls constantly digging in it when they are in the coop.

3. At least once a week I take a pitchfork and toss/fluff the straw a bit and move it around - takes just a few minutes and this keeps the air moving through the straw.

4. If starting with new straw, I put my base down and then add a couple of flakes a week when I toss the straw until I get it as deep as I want it. They work it down, then I add more.


I started with my first ''batch' of deep litter in early July. In mid-September we cleaned it all out ONLY because my Mr. was ready to disc-plow the garden for the winter and wanted to plow in the straw/manure. He was utterly amazed at how much chicken poop came out of that dry, clean-looking straw when we took it out. I don't plan on changing it out again until Spring when it is time to till again.

My coop is clean and odor free, and I think it is a combo of the above, and fermented feed, period.

Thank you for this. I am sort of doing the same thing, adding to it when they start to kick up dust and shovel the poopy parts out under the roost every few days and pitch fresh stuff in there. I have been meaning to pick up some DE but I keep forgetting to check if they sell it at tractor supply. I know the health store has it sold by the ounce for food grade, but I am sure I can find it cheaper if I look around. I will have to make sure I go get it before winter. I will have to also check into BOSS, since I have no idea what that even is! Ha!

I want to be practical about chicken care. Since I spend a good deal of time out here with the kids, the care needs to be doable by myself. My grandparents were off the farm long before I was born, and so I pretty much am self taught with the information from this site. (And I did read lots of those other threads before I found this one)

I did do a lot of reading up for about a year before I brought the chicks home but this is really my first real "livestock" experience. So far so good!

 

[Loghousemom]

Brie, I do love being able to find stuff just by going through the buildings! I sort of wish I would have planned ahead a bit better though. Hen we bought this place there was a lot of stuff left behind and in the beginning we had a large portion of it hauled off for scrap. That was probably not so smart, but now we know if we ever buy another farm. Ha!