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

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

Gypsi wrote:

Chicken book? Do they have those?

A year before we moved to Texas from Calif. I knew I wanted chickens. Went to the local bookstore & found "Chickens for Dummies"
It was my day away from the kids, so I found one of those massage chairs, sat in it & read about 1/2 the book in 2 hrs. I wanted to know what I was getting into before we even moved. And because we did not know where in Texas we were going to live, I also checked out all the city ord. about how many chickens one could have in the city limits.

Lucky for us, we found a place in the country & it had a already built greenhouse on the property too. I even made my list of the types of chickens I wanted (the chicken breed selection tool) on this site was GREAT

I was able to pick & choose what I wanted in a hen & got my wish list.

The only thing I did not do before getting the chickens, was putting the smaller mesh netting on the lower 2 ft of the run. So while they were in the brooder, I was outside sewing the mesh onto the welded wire.

A lot of what I learned has been researching online, books and talking to various people who have/had chickens. I took what would work best for my situation and used it, other info I tried & modified. I wish my Nana was still living, she raised chickens, goats & rabbits when Torrance, CA was still rural. She was a no non-sense woman, could cook something from nothing, sewed like a dream, and was spunky as all get out.

Again, Thank You OT for your years of knowledge & wisdom, if all of us who read your posts & take one thing from it, we have gain new incite & can continue to grow in our learning of chicken rearing.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Is anyone else a gardener? Then you already know that if you live near the Canadian border that you cannot grow Bermuda or St Augustine grass for a lawn or plant southern Azaleas bushes, citrus trees, or grow some of the vegetables that southern gardeners grow. It wouldn't do any good for me to plant 140 days sweet corn, or peppers that need a certain heat to produce well. I accept where I live. We are professional, market selling, organic gardeners and I know which varieties I can grow well, which are risky, and which I should never even bother with, considering our 100-105 day growing zone.

I am not going to keep dainty chickens this far north. I'm not going to be running a heat lamp on them for pity's sake. If I bring home and try to raise certain breeds, shame on me. I would consider myself irresponsible. My grandparents kept chickens in this state in the late 1800's and their parents before them in the mid 1800's. No one could have imagined Thomas Edison's future invention of the light bulb, to say nothing of an electric heater of some kind.

I can whine, worry or fret about the climate in which I choose to farm and keep a flock, or I can accept it, gain some wisdom, practice a lot of common sense and succeed as our fore-parents did before us. This is a state of mind, for the most part, a world view and I've found it helpful over the years.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
LOL Or cheese for me.....

Water IS important I Like to keep 100 gallons out for the horse, and 80 gallons for the goats, and about ten gallons out for the chickens. Here in the summer I keep it either shaded or deep to keep a cool layer underneath. The chicken water is always shaded. I learned that one day when I went at midday to dump chicken water and realized the water was too hot to touch. Poor girls. After that I kept a plastic chair over the top or set them under a shelf.

 

[JMidJr]

I just learned this thread is again open. My thanks to the staff. I can't imagine how challenging administration of BYC is, and appreciate the investment you make. The value of this thread for me is the relevance of the OTs advice to a newby (me) trying to establish a small dual purpose flock - old fashioned homestead style. Such chicken keeping seems to get easily lost amid the conversations not only about other perspectives on chickens (e.g. As pets), but also the social media aspects of games etc. The recent history of this thread also reminds me of the danger of "oughts" and "shoulds". There's nothing wrong with all the topics that are of no interest to me, or the ways of doing things that don't fit my setting, style, or inclination. Frankly, we are enriched by the variety of views. You 'ought' to make your own choices and 'should' do what you think best.

So, back to the thing we DO share - chickens. I'd like to add a dual purpose white egg layer or two to the flock. There aren't many such breeds & none seem readily available. Any suggestions (including, "forget it" if that's what your experience suggests)?

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I saw one of my hens once after a tussle over who was going to eat it swallow a whole mouse..... the last thig I saw was its hind feet and tail disappearing down that gullet.....

but I am glad they did it because we need all the help on that front we can get.

 

[BWKatz]

Quote:

to Beekissed, ain't that the truth!

Aren't u retired? Why wait. If Whoppi can go w/o, so can I. I only put that contraption on if I go in public.

 

[toofarout]

Quote:
Contrary to popular belief it is advisable to get a coop first and all the nessesary items before getting chicks, be well prepared for getting them. It works easier than bringing home birds and then not having the set-up to care for them, rushing around trying to get all the info you need and pretty much doing it backwards. After all how many post have you seen that say I have new fluffy butt's from the feed store now what do I do ???. It pays to be organized, have all your ducks in a row, have some inkling as to waht is invovled and then get chicks, it's just the way smart folks do it.

It's the only logical way to begin any undertaking. You may be able to learn to swim by being thrown into the deep end of the pool but most swimming instruction programs start at the shallow end.

I learned to swim at a young age by being thrown into the deep end of the pool, under protest I have to add. The method was *very* motivating for me. It's that "sink or swim" option. However, I wouldn't recommend it as a preferred training program.

 

[gardendufus]

Quote:
Oh great Bee! First it was a glug...now it could even be a glorp!? How can a kid like me keep up!!?? I may just discount all this and throw in a sploosh!

Sheesh I was getting so confused I had to go to the kitchen. Officially a glug = a glorp = 1 Tbsp. A sploosh, however was 4 tsp.

 

[seminolewind]

perchie.girl :

Quote:
I saw one of my hens once after a tussle over who was going to eat it swallow a whole mouse..... the last thig I saw was its hind feet and tail disappearing down that gullet.....

but I am glad they did it because we need all the help on that front we can get.

That is really gross, but I can believe that!​

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Fred's Hens :

Is anyone else a gardener? Then you already know that if you live near the Canadian border that you cannot grow Bermuda or St Augustine grass for a lawn or plant southern Azaleas bushes, citrus trees, or grow some of the vegetables that southern gardeners grow. It wouldn't do any good for me to plant 140 days sweet corn, or peppers that need a certain heat to produce well. I accept where I live. We are professional, market selling, organic gardeners and I know which varieties I can grow well, which are risky, and which I should never even bother with, considering our 100-105 day growing zone.

I am not going to keep dainty chickens this far north. I'm not going to be running a heat lamp on them for pity's sake. If I bring home and try to raise certain breeds, shame on me. I would consider myself irresponsible. My grandparents kept chickens in this state in the late 1800's and their parents before them in the mid 1800's. No one could have imagined Thomas Edison's future invention of the light bulb, to say nothing of an electric heater of some kind.

I can whine, worry or fret about the climate in which I choose to farm and keep a flock, or I can accept it, gain some wisdom, practice a lot of common sense and succeed as our fore-parents did before us. This is a state of mind, for the most part, a world view and I've found it helpful over the years.

Just curious Fred.. What crops do you grow there?
I'm in the deep south, so we have very few things that don't do well here. Citrus and other tropical plants we can't grow without a greenhouse and some cool weather crops like sweet peas seldom make here unless planted in late fall or very early spring and even then it's a gamble.​