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

[al6517]

I do hatch and I do hatch allot most of the year round, I do it mainly because it just helps me manage my birds better and smarter. I do however don't over think the process or freak out and fret over a hatch gone wrong or little chicks that can't make it for one reason or another. I also cull even day old chicks, if they have issues any issues I deem unworthy, I can't use them and won't raise them or give them away or put inferior stock back into the system. I don't have the time nor the inclination to do so, Hatching can be easy if use a little common sense or it can be hard if you over think it and constantly mess with stuff. I candle only One time, when they go from the bator to the hatcher and that's it, I don't feel the need or the sense to candle incessantly........... for what ?? once is good enough.

 

[johnsons-r-us]

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Excellent description of practical handling of chickens. When dealing with large numbers and a big chore, it's best just to use methods as described above, get the job done and get the chickens where they need to go with a minimum of fuss.

I also have carried chickens upside down for one reason or another all my life...as did my mother before me and so on and so forth. I chuckled the other day when someone stated quite emphatically that it would kill a bird to carry it upside down....IF ONLY. How neat would that be to just hang all the culls upside down, go have some lemonade, come back out and carry on with the gutting?

 

[riane'smimi]

Quote:
Gosh, why didn't I read this first before I put up with 5 weeks of chick babies in the house. And I dusted EVERY DAY. After 2 days, the chicks ran away from everywhere it was 95F in the brooder box. So I had to keep mind of the temp & keep it at 85-90F.
Keep it up you OTer's. I love this topic.

Tell me about it ! I still have 6 babies in my laundry room ,two weeks old now . I have raised these little boogers all year in my home .get them feathered out and put outside.Why have I done this ? Because everybody you ask says :Oh my goodness chicks will die if put outside before 2 months of age and not then if it's cold or chilly outdoors. I have searched the internet for a year to find some good ole chicken sense from oldtimers.Even put chicken raiseing 1800s early 1900s . I have been raiseing chickens for a year and a half now and I AM SO GLAD YOU started this thread!!!!I know good and well Grandma didn't brood chicks in the house but she always had them running around.

 

[al6517]

You will certainly hear your share of that sort of stuff givin 90% of forum folks are pet chicken folks and they just do there things differently and it kind of cascades to the point where normal folks think that sort of thing is normal. I know there have been some of those folks that have been here to this thread and think wow ain't this cool, like we OT's all of sudden just came to this planet LOL.

 

[Beekissed]

Well....some of us did....

 

[al6517]

Quote:

 

[riane'smimi]

Well I am glad you all are here

Beekissed ,I was able to get 5 leghorns as you suggested to me on another forum

They should start laying this month.

.Thanks

 

[Beekissed]

That is precisely why I started this thread. I finally had reached my BS limit and, in a fit of pique, decided to let it all hang out in a thread about things you won't find in all the cute little books with glossy pics of chickens in them.

I am writing a book this winter about just such things as this, so this thread is a little preview of the kind of tips, advice, and info that you will find in my book...good, old-fashioned, no nonsense things that your grandma knew and probably told you. The book will talk about making do in a poor economy and how to do it with grace, raising your own foods~animal and vegetable, etc. And guess what? It won't have one line about the pH of the soil, how much Wazine to give a chicken, how to clip coupons or how to create a gas chamber in a tupperware bowl to kill a chick.

It will be called What Mama Told Me...I'm working on the webpage now that will discuss the book and display excerpts, pics of our homesteading days, how to skin a deer, process a chicken, etc. I'll post a link in my siggy line when the website is up and running.

 

[Beekissed]

riane'smimi :

Well I am glad you all are here

Beekissed ,I was able to get 5 leghorns as you suggested to me on another forum

They should start laying this month.

.Thanks

That's great!

You'll have to keep us posted as to their progress and productivity. My grandma's and mother's flocks were primarily leghorns and RIRs and they are hardy, tough little birds that will outlay the next bird 2 to 1.​