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

[Miss Lydia]

Not sure if I should post this here or on Bee's other site but I DIDN'T HAVE TO BREAK ICE IN THE WATERER'S THIS MORNING. 2 weeks ago I bought heated dog waterers and maybe that makes me a sissy, but na-na-na-na-na-na! After all the dancing around, I've used all the energy I would have thawing everything out. It's been warm enough for things to not freeze in the past 2 weeks to know until now. Hubby just left for work shaking his head. na-na-na..........................

I love the heated dog bowls, i am using them for the ff when it get below 35* just went and bought another one yesterday so I can put out 3 bowls instead of 2 and they won't have to wait in line to eat. heated buckets are nice too.

 

[Sally8]

I love the heated dog bowl
Heated ff bowls. Who'd thought! Somewhere in all these pages I thought I read where it isn't supposed to freeze because of all the vinegar. But mine does. This morning, the little I dumped out of the dish looks like a thin Frisbee. Another trip to TS . Thank goodness for Christmas bonus'

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I like big rubber food bowls with a bird bath heater in them.
However, I realize that was partly the cause of roosters' wattles getting frostbitten.
This year I'm putting all the roos in their own coop with a heated fountain waterer so they can't dip their wattles and adding heat to the building when it gets below the low 20s.

 

[Miss Lydia]

I love the heated dog bowl
Heated ff bowls. Who'd thought! Somewhere in all these pages I thought I read where it isn't supposed to freeze because of all the vinegar. But mine does. This morning, the little I dumped out of the dish looks like a thin Frisbee. Another trip to TS . Thank goodness for Christmas bonus'

Mine don't much care for ff Popsicles lol

 

[NanaKat]

So, what did the sparrow have? 

 

The sparrow had a adenovirus infection and infectious bronchitis. I didn't know they could get the last one but it showed up in the necropsy and the agar smear.

I'm still trying to catch up on the thread. Was off the thread for the Shawnee Expo and couldn't participate in the quiz since I've had birds for many years.

I always thought I was a knowledgeable chicken flock master. But I have learned so much reading this thread and the Heritage thread and Bees cult threads. I bought books on poultry and joined another backyard forum back in the 90s that has since died but there were great advisers there and then found BYC.
Here's my story:
Having grown up with chickens my grandmother had in Oklahoma and those my uncle had in Mo (he was a chicken fighter and judge) I had my first chicken in town in 1994 and when we bought the 240 acre farm, I purchased my first chicken from a local feed store in 1996. They were brooded inside until hubby got the corner of the barn enclosed ...it has the plate glass window from the house on the south along with the two side windows. Hubby and his brother welded up a chicken run along the south side of the barn two years later. My chickens have always freeranged around the cattle and in the garden and the front yard and out into the pastures. Because there are only two trees around the house, there is little shade so the long term plan included planting trees. Cows don't always agree with my placement so I use shade cloth over the outside summer pens made of chain link panels...hubby calls it my homeless shelter but it works.

Chickens were for egglaying, meat, and bug catching since I wanted an organic garden. Plus I simply like having them around. I can most food out of the garden, make my own soap, repurpose materials, help tend the cattle including vaccinations and calving. chickens are my escape. I have coffee in the coops before letting the birds out every morning.

My first flock on the farm included Delaware, Australorp and black sex link and a few Rhode Islands. I allowed hens to hatch babies . A friend brought me several hens from a local farmer and I had my first Laced Cochin hen...and was hooked on Cochins. ..didn't know about quarantining back then.
Over the years the flock has had Marans, red sex link and well summers too.
I've built outside small coops for the breeder pens learning to use power tools and I make paper models of my pen arrangements before constructing.

Over the past two years I have purchased from a great breeder both Columbian Wyandottes and Blue Cochins and have added birds hatched from Cochin eggs from Iowa and Oklahoma breeders. I have started breeding a Birchen Wyandotte by crossing my CW rooster over two typey Australorp hens that have a great history of being good layers, great foragers and wonderful mothers. Would like to develope a good dp Wyandotte.
My flock also includes dAnvers and OEGB bantams for the entertainment factor. my layer flock is now rsl, Aussie, Cochin, one old Delaware, Wyandotte and all the pullers saved from the summer hatch. Breed pens will be set in Feb and those pens will rotate in the free ranging .

I purchased a SOP and have been reading and ever learning. I'm a retired school administrator so learning is a life long pursuit and my background is in science, history and art.

Heat has been stressful and I am convinced that the metal roof and sides of the barn are contributing factors in the summer and would like a wooden structure for my girls. Maybe in the future.

Okay I ramble on, but I wanted you to know that I'm in it for the long haul...at 60, I plan on having chickens till the end.

 

[thedragonlady]

This is the best way to keep track of your chicks. The punch itself is very small and if done at hatch, will not bleed. Legbands can fall off and have the potential of injuring a bird if they don't fit properly as the bird grows......it is just a matter of how important it is to keep track of the birds from day one.

Walt

I've also found that toe punched birds teach me a lot more than banded ones. I look for similarity of type in my flock . Using bands the temptation of saying oh, "that's Dolly's chick" with a highly visable legband, was too easy. Now I play a fun game of putting all the juveniles in a group that I think look alike, for better, or worse. Then I look at the toe punches. Interesting that 6 out of 8 pullets are throwing the same type, and they are from 2 different lines. All the chicks are sired by one bird, so I know he's doing his job too. This brings "Chicken TV" to a whole 'nother level.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Breeding question...

I notice that most serious breeders offer breeding trios, being two pullets and once cockerel. But, all the "conventional wisdom" says that you need 8 or 10 females to each rooster. Will a young cockerel in this situation demand too much from two pullets? Should there be other females around to garner some of his attention?

 

[al6517]

Leg bands serve another purpose also and that for me is when they are teens and in the grow out pens it's easier to just squat in the pen's and watch for awhile. This way I can see the bands know from where they came and make some mental notes on their potential, all without handling them. If a band does happen to come off ( very very Rare ) the toe punch makes it impossible to miss ID them.

 

[al6517]

LOL call me old fashioned but when winter rears it's ugly head and the temps dip below freezing I employ a simpler approach. Rubber water tubs, those big black ones you can buy at the feed store, in the afternoon I just go out and dump the big ice blocks out and fill them with fresh water. I have a pasture tap right outside the chicken complex and it works so nice and easy, even though I do have tricity all over the coops and pens, I don't have to mess with crazy heated this or that, my chickens think everything is just hunky dorey.

 

[JeffOeuf]

Yeah, Al... I had a head-slap-moment a couple days ago on this subject. I'm just a little north of you, so we get below freezing most nights, but it doesn't last long into the day. I've got two one-gallon waterers, one in the run and one on the back patio near where the girls congregate under the wild bird feeder. They don't need (or have) water at night, so....I've just started putting the waterers inside at night. I put them out when I let the girls out in the morning, and (so far) it never freezes up during the day.