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

[Goober1201]

Hi everyone! Its been awhile, but I'm back! The girls and boy are doing better, still a little under the weather but I got my FIRST EGG YESTERDAY!!! I think I might know who it was to..lol Star was a little more happy and show off ish hahaha.

 

[amenfarm]

Bee, I wonder how many people smell their birds' feed before feeding it. I always smell all my critters' feed. When Diamond dog food killed hundreds of dogs, I took one whiff, and did not feed it. It smelled funky. SMELL YOUR FEED!!!

I usually just read this thread, because I have sooo much to learn, it's been a long time since my grandpa kept chickens, I've forgotten alot. But not only do I smell everybody's (dogs, chickens, donkey--grandson's) food--I also taste, a grain or two, whole grain feed-when opening a new bag, i.e. the oats I feed our donkey. Not layer feeds .

 

[normanack]

I was trying to think of the perfect gift for Beekissed, one that she would really like, and I think this is perfect. What do you think?

http://boingboing.net/2012/10/09/186044.html

Neiman Marcus Chicken Coop

Your custom-made multilevel dwelling features a nesting area, a "living room" for nighttime roosting, a broody room, a library filled with chicken and gardening books for visitors of the human kind, and, of course, an elegant chandelier. The environment suits them well as you notice the fresh eggs awaiting morning collection. Nearby, you pick fresh vegetables or herbs from your custom-built raised gardens. You've always fancied yourself a farmer—now thanks to Heritage Hen Farm, you're doing it in the fanciest way possible!

 

[normanack]

But Wait, There's More.


Dawn breaks. The hens descend from their bespoke Versailles-inspired Le Petit Trianon house to their playground below for a morning wing stretch. Slipping on your wellies, you start for the coop and are greeted by the pleasant clucking of your specially chosen flock and the site of the poshest hen house ever imagined. Your custom-made multilevel dwelling features a nesting area, a "living room" for nighttime roosting, a broody room, a library filled with chicken and gardening books for visitors of the human kind, and, of course, an elegant chandelier. The environment suits them well as you notice the fresh eggs awaiting morning collection. Nearby, you pick fresh vegetables or herbs from your custom-built raised gardens. You've always fancied yourself a farmer—now thanks to Heritage Hen Farm, you're doing it in the fanciest way possible!

The details:
The buyer will receive an initial farm consultation and grounds survey and two additional onsite visits from Heritage Hen Farm expert, Svetlana Simon.
Simon will select three to ten heritage-breed hens carefully selected to suit your region.
Installation includes two custom-designed and installed raised vegetable or herb garden beds.
Package includes a multilevel dwelling, nesting area, "living room," broody room, library with books, two Heritage Hen Farm pasture grazing trays, waterer, feeder, and chandelier. All other props and furnishings not included.
Please allow 6 weeks for delivery.
Delivery not included.

For every Heritage Hen Mini Farm purchase, NM will donate $3,000 to The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, a nonprofit organization that protects genetic diversity through the conservation and promotion of endangered breeds. For details, dial 1-877-9NM-GIFT.

About Svetlana Simon:
Founders of Florida's Boynton Beach-based Heritage Hen Farm, Svetlana and husband Marty are on a mission: Bring fresher, healthier, locally driven alternatives to mass, commodity-produced eggs. They educate consumers on how food is produced and consult others on establishing local farming systems, while preserving heritage livestock and poultry breeds nearing extinction.
Click here to see a video of the Heritage Hen Mini Farm.

 

[NotAFarm]

But Wait, There's More.

 

[Gargoyle]

I was trying to think of the perfect gift for Beekissed, one that she would really like, and I think this is perfect. What do you think?
http://boingboing.net/2012/10/09/186044.html
Neiman Marcus Chicken Coop

Maybe we can negotiate a group discount if we order three or four of those.


I mentioned a few pages back that I used to get trimmings and scraps for free from the veggie department of a local grocery store; they stopped because they package the day old and ugly stuff and sell it, so they don't want to give anything away. I always look at the boxes, but hardly ever get anything- they usually have all of one item in a box, not a mix, and the prices are too high ($3.50 for a box of eggplants; I can't use that many; or $1.50 for 5 scraggly ears of corn).

Today I found one that was worth getting- this cost $2.00 and weighted 18 lbs, so that's 11¢ per pound.
I've heard I shouldn't give the chooks to many onions, that it could thin their blood, but they do like onions, so I figure a small amount a day is fine. They only like carrots if I chop them small in the blender. They love broccoli. What about the parsnips, I haven't tried that yet? Is that good for them, or will I be forced to eat it myself?

 

[normanack]

I'm not sure I'd give any of that to the hens.
I'd eat it all myself.

 

[just me]

I just went out about 30 min ago to check on the chickens before their mad dash to the coop when it gets dark and they don't wanna be in the yard anymore, and a few of my chickens were sneezing, some of them were loud, and some of them were soft, but I was stumped as to why, could anyone help me out on this? what should i do? is it a problem? thanks, I would post this in the emergencies section, but i have posted there twice, and the first time, nobody replied, and the 2nd time, 1 person replied with an unhelpful answer.

I'm not an old timer, but mine did that once. I mean, they were sneezing once when I went to lock the coop. That was a couple of weeks ago. Had I not been following this thread, I probably would have freaked. However, I just left them alone I haven't heard or seen them sneeze since. They seem to be doing fine. I don't know if they had a cold, or had gotten into something, or whether they have some sort of disease. But for now, I'll leave them be since they seem to be doing okay.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

There ARE egg eating hens
If you have chickens long enough you may have one! Betty would break perfectly good eggs and eat them. She was bold, we watched her go in nest boxes and break and eat the eggs She had healthy fresh feed, but she liked to eat eggs. We called her Betty Boop, and we'd say Betty Boop is robbing the coop! The eggs were perfect eggs, no thin shells. We tried the mustard in the egg shell, it stopped her for a while, but she started doing it again. Then we called her Yummy Betty Boop and noodles.

 

[Kansas Prairie]

I no longer have emoticons or spell check on this site. Is there something I can do to get it back? I'm running IE. My html codes are very rusty, haven't used them for several years and without typing the html codes my posts are all ran together without paragraph breaks.