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

[City farm]

Well,well,well.. All you OT's.. Depending on how long you would consider a OT's???
10/20or 30 years experience ?? We are newbies and city folk... However with that said
we would love to hang out on a farm, take advice with-out arguing..And What Not..
If you know of anyone near my area send them over.. PM me Please.. I love OT's...
I hope to be a OT someday... I have not read the whole thread yet, but hope to little by
little... I only get on our iPad to check out chicken folk.. Not into the Computor.. It does take
up my out door time... Which is my favorite place to be!! Some of our dearest friends are here
In our community to help that could be considered a OT...
THANK YOU ALL!!!

 

[bobbi-j]

This is a reason to keep this going. This was posted in a poultry thread on facebook.

My 3 yrs old hen has laid no shells or totally deformed soft shelled eggs for months now. She's been to the vet many, many times to the point that I give her calcium injections at home when she's feeling depleted. I've tried all the tricks for increasing her calcium too - but ultimately she just has bad parts. So...the next step is to implant a hormone to try to stop her from laying period. Anyone have any experience with this?

Walt

Oh. My. Word. I am speechless, and that's a hard thing to accomplish. Yes - for this reason alone, the thread needs to be kept alive. That, and I've been enjoying the comedic interludes! I don't post alot, but read every day. If the thread ends, I will miss it terribly, but do understand the thinking behind it. I have learned so much here.

 

[Maven]

I, too, hope the thread continues. It was over 500 pages long when I found it and I diligently read every single page before I posted my first question.

I wish I had taken even more notes than I already did, and I plan to reread the whole thing this winter on long slow days and take much better notes that time!!

I did want to mention - a lot of folks sound like they are in a minor panic over the possibility of the thread getting locked and sinking. If you want to keep the thread for reference, BOOK MARK THE THREAD IN YOUR FAVORITES!!! That is all it takes. Unless the thread gets out-and-out deleted, it doesn't matter WHERE it is in the forum - page 1 or page 5000, if you BOOK MARK it in your favorites it is always just one click away!!

 

[Mskayladog]

I, too, hope the thread continues. It was over 500 pages long when I found it and I diligently read every single page before I posted my first question. I wish I had taken even more notes than I already did, and I plan to reread the whole thing this winter on long slow days and take much better notes that time!!

I did want to mention - a lot of folks sound like they are in a minor panic over the possibility of the thread getting locked and sinking. If you want to keep the thread for reference, BOOK MARK THE THREAD IN YOUR FAVORITES!!! That is all it takes. Unless the thread gets out-and-out deleted, it doesn't matter WHERE it is in the forum - page 1 or page 5000, if you BOOK MARK it in your favorites it is always just one click away!!

Duh!! Thanks I have book marked the thread. Slapping my self for not thinking of that.

 

[thedragonlady]

Trainers select fixated dogs for drug, or cadaver dogs. Getting their toy is the reward when they have done a good job. The reward for a retriever is for you to throw something for him, but he must bring it back. Lots of praise then. THEN you can say, "OK, go play"! You would say, "That will do1" to a herding breed to let them know that they were off duty, and should not chase anything. This works. Keep at it!

.Quote:

I've got a carpenter here....yes working on putting in a big window, I bought for 20.00, in the coop and my dogs just came and laid down when I told them to! Yeah so they can leave that poor man alone to put in the window.Yesterday they had one of the kids toys and when I said "what have you got?" they imediately dropped it and acted like they had nothing. So I tried the advice and told them to bring it to me...After a couple of tries and a lot of confusion the retriever did it! I made a big deal out of it and said good boy and he actually did a twirl flip kinda thing in the air. I cant remember the last time I told either of them they were a good boy. Sounds bad huh? Anyway I am excited about the window because the coop is on the North side under the deck and this will bring in a lot of light and hopefully some passive solar and of course ventilation. The carpenter was cleaning out his out building and had a bunch of Anderson double hung windows for 15 to 20 bucks. I bought the largest one and he offered to install it for 35.00. He just got laid off. So its a bigger job than he thought it would be because we have the galvanized fencing surrounding the building with only about 4 inches to spare so I'm thinking of paying him a little more. I'll post pics when hes done. He said he could really do some nice finishing and make the coop nicer. LOL. I was like can you make it more like Martha Stewart's? DH wouldnt be able to install the window till spring and im impatient. I do have the coop exterior/interior maint room wall painted sage and a framed picture of a french hen hanging there. The outside of the building is painted a raison color so it fades into the shadows (trying to hide the fact that we have chickens) but I am still working on painting the other side. I amusing a sprayer and it tipped over the paint then slipped on it a slid into the gate and put a big knot on my forehead. So I put everything away and havent gotten back to it yet. I will probably not being making liver treats for the dogs. They are gonna have to learn just by verbal rewards and pats on the head. If they chase a bear I'll make them a pork chop though.

 

[Maven]

Ok, here is a sincere question concerning roosters for the OTs.

How early is the earliest you've known a rooster wasn't going to be worth a flying fadoo?

Here's my situation: my 'mystery chick' from the hatchery turned out to be a Splash Andalusian male. He matured early enough and fast enough that by the time he was just 8 weeks old it was OBVIOUS that he was a roo. Now, I know behavior doesn't necessarily mature as quickly as physical attributes so I've been waiting and keeping an eye on him. He is now 14 weeks old - as are all the pullets. Behavior I have observed in the last week:

1) Likes to take food away from the pullets.
2) Likes to chase and pull feathers out of the pullets (the soft down feathers - he eats them)
3) When something spooks the birds, he is the FIRST one to dive for cover, while one or more of the pullets gives the warning.
4) Today, I heard a big commotion around the corner from where I was. I went to investigate. At first, when i saw him on one of the pullets I thought he was trying to mate her and approached to stop him (no mating in front of THIS top roo) but as I got closer, I realized he was flogging/fighting her - he gave her one last hard peck and took a wasp away from her - literally beat her to get her food!

So, I am asking, is this something he will likely grow out of and suddenly one day be the man he should be, or is he going to be a sniveling little twit bullying the girls all his life? He is always perfectly respectful to me and the Mr. - he's been to rooster charm school for that - but his behavior with the ladies leaves MUCH to be desired.

Wait, or cull?

 

[Beekissed]

Cull.

 

[Maven]

And another question for the OTs who are NPIP certified.

Can you please give an overview of your best practices for keeping your certification? What do you do routinely to make sure your place is always up to snuff and ready to pass testing? If anything has ever been brought up to you as a problem that had to be corrected before you passed, what was that problem, and how did you resolve it?

NPIP is a ways down the road for me, but I want to start NOW doing things the correct way and keeping them that way. I've gleaned many, many good tips from this thread and have implemented each one, but if there is anything specifically geared toward NPIP cert that you do, I would really appreciate knowing what it is.

Thanks!

 

[Maven]

Cull.

I had a feeling that would be the answer, but wasn't sure because of his age. But I do NOT like the way he acts with the ladies at ALL. A feisty guy who tried to take me on now and again I could handle, but a little twit is a whole 'nother matter.

Thanks, Bee! I didn't want Andalusians anyway!

 

[Maven]

Quote:

Don't hit yourself too hard - we all have those moments!