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

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Great thread, Bee. Was happy to see some of the oldtimers posting to it. Hopefully more will chime in.

As a less than a year guy at raising chickens, I have learned to look for Bee, Al, MFB and Fred to get solid, practical thoughts on this board.

Overall, I have done well, I think. Made some mistakes, did some things right.

Got one to one with a very experienced person. Read what I could here but sometimes it's hard for the new person to separate fact and fiction.

At one point had five males in a flock of ten. Let it go too long. Managed to rehome one, culled two in a trade for a home made red velvet cake and just outright shot one, not proud of that but he was mean.

Heating, I don't see the need. Lighting, mine are laying just fine, meeting expectations for their breeds. Averaging about 14 or 15 eggs per week, these are pullets and will do well this first year. If I added lighting, it would my for my convenience, not to increase egg laying. I leave for work at 5 am but so far haven't seen the need.

I totally agree with what has been said about culling.
 
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I know a person who has had chickens for over 20 years !!!!!
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And it is not me
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My First Flocks- I was just a boy when my Dad and Mom would come home with day old chicks from the hatchery. 200-300 straight runs. Mostly White Leghorns because my mom love to make fryers out of them at 19-20 weeks. I was taught how to hold the chicken in one hand and deliver the hatchet chop with other hand. The rest were White Rocks and they were my favorite as they would become our new layers. I did all the chicken chores. Brooding, cleaning the ground corn cob litter out every Saturday, with a wheel barrow, dumping the manure on the rows of berries or around the young orchard trees. I was assigned the chickens. Farm families understand the concept.

I learned by age 8 or 9 that over crowding or boredom led to cannibalism. I learned that red light was calming, but white light riled them up. I thought the word "brooder" referred to the big hood we'd hung a foot or two over the coop floor. We just brooded on the floor of the huge coop. I learned by observation that chicks "piled up" when cold and spread out when warm. Never saw a thermometer nor the particular need for one. I loved spending time with my grandmother, who was born in the 1800's and who was a premier flock keeper. I was perhaps the first male flock keeper in our families history. I am grateful for the women who taught me their treasured art and shared their wisdom.

I have firm memories of being a 50 lb weakling and learning that having a water bucket, half filled, in both hands was easier to carry than just one filled. Although I faithfully filled their metal fountains, chickens liked drinking from mud puddles, pans that caught rain water, anything, just as well.

We have long, long metal feeders with divider wires that allowed the chickens to slip their head into feed but prevented the flicking motion of feed wasting. I learned by observation that a chicken's instinct is to pick through feed, finding bits the "right size", but would eat the rest later. Those "antique" metal feeders fetch big prices now at the estate sales.
 
Been raising poultry on and off for 25 + years now. Everyday is a learning experince filled with many joys and often times just as many sorrows.
 
Is it possible for the old timers to post pics of the "old timer's" chicken feeders, waterers and nesting boxes for everyone to see? Sometimes I can't figure out some of the feeders that look like NASA space shuttles and the waterers that look like fixtures from an amusement park or water park. Can we just get some plain and simple old fashion functional things to see?
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Corn makes chickens heat up.

Corn is worthless feed for chickens.

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Corn is the major ingredient in most all poultry feed. Farmers have been feeding corn to chickens as long as there has been corn, and chickens. However, way back when, chickens were free ranged, able to eat all the good stuff that keeps chickens healthy and happy. Thousands of backyard flocks were kept very happy and laying lots of eggs on just free ranging and cracked corn. If you keep your chickens locked up, corn will not be a complete feed, and you'll need to feed a complete feed, with added vitamins, minerals, and protein. That doesnt make corn a bad feed, just an incomplete feed. It can be a great component in scratch, along with oats, grains, and seeds.

I live in Florida. I feed my chickens corn every single day. I have yet to have one chicken heat up and explode from feeding corn. In Florida. In July.

My neighbor, who has had chickens longer than Ive been alive, feeds his free range chickens cracked corn and oats. He supplement that with a pelleted horse vitamin and oyster shell. He has bucketsfull of beautiful eggs every day.
 
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