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

[Briezeechicks]

Yup, if one is not careful, that is what kills marriages.

I just tried 1/4 cake of suet, after a couple minutes of cautiously staring at it they are now really ganging up on it. With only 5 chooks and a household that doesn't use lard, it will be easier and just as cheap for me to just buy the suet cakes when they are on sale than to buy ingredients and make my own.

How right you are about the marriage thing...Every time I see Bryan, tho, my heart skips a little beat and the corners of my mouth turn up...don't know what it is. Some "affliction" I guess. Must be incurable tho... I've had it for 15 years!

One thing about it, if you buy a 50# bag of all these grains, which we did, you are set for quite a while! We keep them in a chest freezer, which keeps the weevils out of it. We bought a bag of layer pellets that came with weevils! I took it back and the "evil feed store guy" didn't want to replace it. He said the chickens would love the bugs! Maybe so, but if it's been on the shelf long enough for weevils to hatch, he can keep his feed!

Brie

 

[Gargoyle]

We bought a bag of layer pellets that came with weevils! I took it back and the "evil feed store guy" didn't want to replace it. He said the chickens would love the bugs! Maybe so, but if it's been on the shelf long enough for weevils to hatch, he can keep his feed!

Some business just don't get it. By resisting an exchange he might save himself a few dollars or a little hassle, but he also stands a good chance of losing a steady, long term customer.

Customers who never have a problem can be loyal, but customers who had a problem that was quickly resolved in a way that makes them happy are generally MUCH more loyal; they know the business will have their back. That feed store guy really blew it.

BTW, my chooks devastated the 1/4 cake of suet in about ten minutes.

 

[Celie]

Thank you so much! I have been hearing "BOSS" but no one said what it meant, so I tried to look it up elsewhere to no avail? I went all the way to the end of the net

and everyone just wanted to talk about a TV program by that name!

It was very frustrating! I even asked somewhere, on one of these threads, if I should grow some sunflower plants for seeds for my flocks, since I plan to plant some for my rabbits. I use olive oil for cooking, because we do not eat pork (for health reasons), but when I harvest my extra roosters and turkeys, I render the fat and save it for the chickens.

So I guess 7 years of trial and error with chickens has not all been in vein. I do have a question, if anyone will advise. Are acorns good for chickens and turkeys? Seems to be like a nut, good for hogs, I have read, and whenever I harvest ducks, their craw is full of them. I have a big white Holland Turkey in a pen right now, fattening it up for Thanksgiving dinner.

It's gettin pretty big and fat, about 40++ pounds, I'd say. Is there anything special I should be feeding it? My husband says, because I give the animals treats, that I'm preseasoning them.

Can anyone pull an old trick out of their hat on how to make a juicer, tastier tenderer Turkey?

Thanks in advance....

 

[chickenlover89]

question for old timers: all my chicks have been acting jumpy and scared today, as if there's a hawk watching them, and that there's no way they will live, is there something wrong? there are currently no hawks around, i couldn't find any.

 

[Gargoyle]

Thank you so much! I have been hearing "BOSS" but no one said what it meant, so I tried to look it up elsewhere to no avail?

In the future when you see strange acronyms or abbreviations here (and we have LOTS of them!) check out the BYC glossary at:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/byc-index-of-abbreviations

BOSS is hidden deep in the "Bees" there.

question for old timers: all my chicks have been acting jumpy and scared today, as if there's a hawk watching them, and that there's no way they will live, is there something wrong? there are currently no hawks around, i couldn't find any.

Where are you located (what part of the country or world)? What is your climate? Are you rural, urban, suburban, or other? What sort of predators do you have in your area, or have there been any sudden weather changes?

I live under an approach path to Chicago O'hare airport, and when my chooks are in the garden and planes route overhead, they jump and look around. Odd things like that can set them off.

 

[chickenlover89]

In the future when you see strange acronyms or abbreviations here (and we have LOTS of them!) check out the BYC glossary at:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/byc-index-of-abbreviations

BOSS is hidden deep in the "Bees" there.


Where are you located (what part of the country or world)? What is your climate? Are you rural, urban, suburban, or other? What sort of predators do you have in your area, or have there been any sudden weather changes?

I live under an approach path to Chicago O'hare airport, and when my chooks are in the garden and planes route overhead, they jump and look around. Odd things like that can set them off.

I live in southwestern CT, and I am suburban, and our predators are hawks and the neighbors cats (for the cats we are planning to just put up a mesh fence that is about 6-7feet high. thank you for your help.

 

[Gargoyle]

Your weather forecast looks pretty stable this afternoon, so I don't think that is it.

 

[chickenlover89]

Your weather forecast looks pretty stable this afternoon, so I don't think that is it.

thank you maybe it's just the clouds and on and off rain?

 

[Kansas Prairie]

Quote:
Double check their food and water. Sounds can make them jumpy, one hawk sound and mine get jumpy and scared. Shadows, check for a moving shadows, bird shadow or a plastic bag on a fence can stir them up. Is the weather different? They can sense incoming weather changes.

 

[chickenlover89]

Double check their food and water.Sounds can make them jumpy, one hawk sound and mine get jumpy and scared. Shadows, checking for a moving shadow, bird shadow or a plastic bag on a fence can stir them up. Is the weather different? They can sense incoming weather changes.

thanks, the weather was sunny for a while. and it has now been rainy and cloudy? what should I check in their food and water?