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

[ThePigeonKid]

Will this: http://www.burpee.com/gardening-sup...ye-bye-birdie-reflective-tape-prod001223.html work for chickens?

 

[GreenGoddess]

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I absolutely LOVE mine... The best way I have found to prevent leaking is to NOT use milk jugs... I use the large gallon gatorade jugs and just use large wire ties to attach them to the fencing... To put the hole in the bottom of a jug, I couldn't find a drill bit so I heated up the end of a scissor blade and put it into the plastic a little bit and then spun it around to create a perfect hole.. this not only put a hole but it shaves off any extra plastic so no clean up necessary... If the hole it not big enough, I do it again but a little bit further.. Always go a tad bit smaller than you need it because you can always make the hole bigger... Unfortunately, you can't make the hole smaller if it's too big...

The biggest question I have about them, with going into winter, how do I keep the jugs/nipples from freezing!

Goddess

 

[scottcaddy]

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I agree <BG> I used to have that job a long time ago, in a forum far far away from this one. I THANK her very much!

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Again I agree, this is too good to lose over little stuff.

 

[southerndesert]

Wile E. :

All right. I'm a newbie with chickens.

So here's a question. Do I have to be paranoid about handwashing after handling eggs? I don't even worry about it, but the missus thinks I am a biohazard when I bring in an egg. (So far only one chicken is laying.)

Next, something my OT uncle told me. If the chickens have mites, you can hang a bananna peel near the roost. The mites will crawl onto it and you can throw it out.

Also, I was told a lot of parasites like lice, etc come from barn swallows. I suppose pigeons carry them too.

I don't worry over it myself, but do if poop is involved

Never heard the banana peel trick before......​

 

[southerndesert]

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If you mean to deter them (chickens) from your garden, no it will not. May spook them at first, but not for long I am afraid.

 

[Beekissed]

Hey! Glad to see everyone on the thread again!

If you wake up tomorrow and it is gone, please do not attempt to start another like it...it is against the rules. Do not start a thread to ask why or where it has gone, it is against the rules.

What we CAN do is enjoy it while it lasts, not dissolve into who knows more~the newbie that had one hay impacted crop or the OT that has raised chickens on hay for 50 years and has never had one? If anyone is wise enough to read the thread, it is easy to discern experience over anecdotal and isolated incidents.

I'm so thankful for those who participated in the spirit of the thread and the newbies who quest for practical, working advice. No one here claims they know it all and most of the OTs have made a point of starting their original postings with that fact and their knowledge they too are still learning...but what they have learned has stood the test of time.

If you will notice one thing~and that was the thing I had wanted to show when I started this thread~that the OTs are from all walks of life, from all areas of this nation and from all levels of experience~but they seem to have VERY similar techniques in their husbandry methods. They didn't read the same book or weren't raised by the same grandparents...they just learned over time what works. And what works for the many different breeds in many different areas and climates seems to be pretty much the same. I don't believe for one minute that this is coincidental in nature~wisdom gained from actually doing something for many years seems to be the right thing for keeping chickens alive and thriving, no matter what. And that, my friends, you can choose to take along with you, or leave behind...

Good luck to you all and I hope your efforts have been helped by what you learned here on this thread!

Now..back to your regularly scheduled programming.....

 

[CheekyMare]

So not an OT with chickens, but I think this story fits here.

Yesterday the farrier came, horse pooped in the aisle and I went out for a shovel. Saw my pigs stomping all over a black thing. OMG it's my NN hen!

She was very dead and they had had her for a while, but they're pretty well fed so hadn't tried eating her, were just playing. I looked her over and not a puncture to be found but she was very bruised looking and floppy. Didn't really think the pigs did it but it was rolling around in the back of my mind while I was holding the horses.(ok, sitting there watching the farrier while the horses were tied)

I worried. I fretted. What killed the hen? Was she sick? Did one of my dogs get her? Was she SICK? Did my kicking horse get her? WAS SHE SICK???

Three hours later I had my answer. My two junior staff dropped a roundbale on her and were too scared to tell me.

I was fuming at that point. Because they didn't have the balls to go find someone to translate(I do speak spanish, but this would have been complicated) I sat and worried and fretted. When if they had come straight to me with the dead hen we could have bled her and used her. Then she would have been worth SOMEthing instead of only being a hen that I had raised to laying age but had just started last month. Instead they just left her laying in the yard where the dogs and pigs could get at her. Morons.

I'm pretty mad about the waste. She was young healthy and fat. She would have made a nice soup or tamales and instead she was thrown out with the trash.

Accidents happen but stupidity is no accident.

Anyhow, moral of the story is: Don't freak out first thing about illness. Sometimes it's something else.

 

[al6517]

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well said Bee.

 

[centrarchid]

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Do not discount possibility hogs killed chicken. Mine used to whenever they got opportunity. Opportunities where when chicken on ground in pen after dark, chicken sick or damaged, deep snow and sow sees chicken in it and it is unable to get away by flying or running effectively. Most hogs will eat much more then acorns and snakes and can be surprisingly predatory.

 

[bobbi-j]

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Very well said, Bee! And it's good to see you back. I'll enjoy the thread while we've got it. I'll have to say, I got alot more done yesterday when the thread was gone...