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

[Beekissed]

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I think the way your doing it is fine, I do the same but only in moderation. Every Saturday my DW sorta cleans out the fridge and cupboards of leftovers, half filled tupperware bowls of this or that, old hamburger & hotdog bun's, chips and things like that. I put it in a huge pot take it out to the birds and split it between most of the bigger pen's, I just lay it on the ground and they clean it up, sure I do watch what goes in the pot of gold, nothing goes in they can't or won't eat which isn't much. They clean it up and go without any more treats till the following Saturday, they have their feed available and that as they say is that.

One issues I do have is the over encouragement in other populations of folks with chickens, they know who they are, to treat excessively and way to early, I have never ever been a fan of giving treats everyday or to young birds. An example many of you have seen is ................ When can I start to feed treats to my pet chicks ??, can I give my pet 3 day olds treats??, and on and on. Some people feed way to much junk food treats to the birds and some even cook and custom mix goofy treats for them daily. My chickens will go for 6-8 mo before they even get their first taste of some cracked corn, I want them to develop properly before they start to get spoiled with treats. IDK it's just not natural to do so, but most just shrug their shoulders and say SOOOooo I want to anyway, and then ask what to do or what's going on when their birds have irregular poops or some other issue associated with a poor diet laden with excessive people treats. Maybe it's just me or do other feel the same way.

I agree with this, AL. And this is the whole reason for this thread...so that newbies can de-mystify the whole raising chickens thing. Your flocks will not be likely prone to having repeated illnesses, repeated issues with sour crops, eggbound-ness, etc. if you just learn a few simple things:

1. Chickens are not humans.

2. Chickens are not humans.

There...that should just about cover it. Next subject!

 

[Lollipop]

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Start with the best RIR`s you can find. Make sure the rooster is of a different bloodline. Then you can keep the same flock for a good 4 years. When prduction slows down to an unacceptable level, then you hatch some of your own eggs. Keep only the pullets from this hatch and after their production starts to slow (probably in 4 years), find yourself another unrelated rooster. Keep up this cycle and you will always have fresh vigor in your flock. A new rooster every 4 years isn`t a bad deal.If ya wanna stretch it out farther than that, shouldn`t be a problem to go 6 years, but the production will slow a lot.........Pop

Thanks for the info about the RIRs.

I narrowed my layers down to RIRs as well. What hatchery has the "best" RIRs? I just ordered 40 from Ideal. The next state over to me and I could get the chicks in a day or 2. I ordered all pullets, so I will need a rooster from a different bloodline.

Glad that you posted this information. I feel better knowing this and now I know what to do.

LOL, If you are getting 40 pullets and some may be cockerals, you probably have just what you need for a good start. When you decide to hatch some, pen about 10 or so of your best hens with your best cock. That is close to max for good fertility......Pop

 

[kuntrygirl]

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Thanks for the info about the RIRs.

I narrowed my layers down to RIRs as well. What hatchery has the "best" RIRs? I just ordered 40 from Ideal. The next state over to me and I could get the chicks in a day or 2. I ordered all pullets, so I will need a rooster from a different bloodline.

Glad that you posted this information. I feel better knowing this and now I know what to do.

LOL, If you are getting 40 pullets and some may be cockerals, you probably have just what you need for a good start. When you decide to hatch some, pen about 10 or so of your best hens with your best cock. That is close to max for good fertility......Pop

LOL. I didn't think about the "Oops, I got a cockeral with the pullets." I hope I'll have 1 or 2 of them in the bunch.

 

[Beekissed]

Roosts and hawks....not related but two I haven't really addressed yet.

I will use whatever resembles a roost that looks comfortably wide enough for a bird to roost upon. My latest coop had large bean poles left underneath the henhouse by the original farmer's wife~used those. I also used a piece of old fence post too. I had huge and varied roosting possibilities in my coop because I had a flock of 30 or so big gals and roo. I like different levels and plenty of get out of the way space on my roosts. Mostly I utilize round roosts but will throw a 2X2 in there on occasion.

Hawks...I live in premium hawk and eagle territory. I had two pairs of red-tails that frequented the area and a pair of ospreys. Not to mention the bald eagles who feasted twice a year when the local farmers spread chicken manure from the commercial broiler houses..and that manure contained numerous dead and rotting birds.

I had two dogs who were quite active and one of which would jump into the air at crows, buzzards, hawks, etc. But the most important defenses I had were plenty of places to duck and hide, a good and alert roo, and a flock of wily, flighty birds who knew when to boot and scoot when they heard the roo give a warning.

Five years at that place and never lost a bird to daytime prey birds. Did lose one to an owl one night due to the stubborn thing liking to roost by herself in the top of the barn.

 

[mgw]

I have been following this thread for the past few days and have been enjoying the common sense aprroach to chickeneering. the last couple months I have been thinking of breeding some BRs was wondering how many hens should be penned with a Roo for optimal fertility. PoP just answered my questin before I asked. Thank you for a great thread.

 

[Beekissed]

Here's one that AL already answered but seems to be a big question here on BYC: How to cull a chick?

 

[Marthab1953]

Speaking of hawks, brings back memories when I was a kid, we had the BEST Old English Sheepdog in the world or soo I thought. It was his job and he did it very well at watching the sky for Chicken Hawks as we calld them all, He kept them away all day long, and if you would go outside and tell him to sickem he automatically started looking up at the sky running everywhere and barking and trying to find that Chicken Hawk you were trying to sickem him on! Best dog ever!

 

[halo]

Culling a chick...one of the icky-est things a chicken owner will have to do. Now we are talking about whats best for the chick, not whats best for YOU. Because in all the threads asking about the best way to do it, it always comes down to what makes the person doing it feel the best. Its not about YOU.

Its not about YOU.

The quickest, most humane, way is to just snip their head off. I have a good pair of poultry shears that I use to snip the throats of birds I am processing. It takes a nano second to snip the head off. Done.

You may not like it, but its the most humane quickest way to do it.

 

[RHRanch]

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Some I have talked to have found this to be difficult or problematic for them. I have (and recommend) a super sharp hatchet with a bit of weight behind it and a sturdy log with 2 nials to set the chickens head in so it can be stretched out. Its super quick, and the head is off cleanly.

 

[Marthab1953]

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Some I have talked to have found this to be difficult or problematic for them. I have (and recommend) a super sharp hatchet with a bit of weight behind it and a sturdy log with 2 nials to set the chickens head in so it can be stretched out. Its super quick, and the head is off cleanly.

The hatchet and nails trick is the way to go!