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

[jvls1942]

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this is the type of blanket statement that is misleading.. I have four game roosters mixed in my flock of Delawares, hens and rooster, Barred rocks, hens and rooster, and a Bluelaced red wayandotte rooster and a dozen mixed breed hens , all together. abou 45 chickens.. there is no fighting..

Years ago, I had a light Brahma rooster kill a large Wyandotte rooster.. does that mean that you should never put two of that kind of rooster together ? NO ! it all boils down to the individual rooster..

It is an individual rooster thing, but all roosters and hens can and will fight under certain conditions. Most chickens just need to find their place in the pecking order. Games and orientals are a bit different. Your game roosters may not bother any of the other birds, but my Shamo's or Asils will kill them all. My females will kill roosters and each other if I don't take precautions. I haven't trained them to do that, they just have that in them. The babies will kill each other at 3-4 weeks if I am not careful.

Each situation is different and each strain of chickens is different in how they will react in groups. Some of my other breeds I can run males together without problems and some I can't.

Walt

again , I say.. it boils down to the individual rooster..

 

[MedChicken]

Well, let me start out by saying that this thread is AMAZING!!

I started out really practical with my chickens. I got 3 Marans pullets age 3 mos from a local farm last August, built them the largest coop I could out of a single sheet of plywood and stuff I had around the house, fed them layer feed and leftovers, let them free range on our 1/4 acre, and hoped for the best. They are now plump, shiny and friendly. I'm only getting one egg a day, 6 days a week from those original three right now, but I suspect 2 of the 3 aren't laying yet. The dog keeps the crows, hawks, cats and raccoons away - the only the big challenge was adjusting the coop design so he can't steal the eggs!

Last week, I expanded the flock, building a new coop and adding 9 new hens (age 8-10mos) and six 5-week chicks. I was reading the forums and started freaking out that I was going to kill the chicks because I was brooding them in a big cardboard box inside without a heat lamp - even though they were outside in a tiny coop with a broody hen at the farm where I got them! I was sure I was going to poison them because I was out of chick feed for two days and fed them hardboiled eggs and finely chopped carrots and oatmeal, and they were going to freeze to death in the 63-degree brooder. I was amazed that my current girls (yes, I'm sorry, I do call them girls) had survived so well!

After reading this, I was relieved to find that I was on the right track after all. Both coops are well-ventilated and sturdy. I use the deep litter method - I shred junkmail into litter, and it works just fine. I don't think I've ever cleaned out the waterer, but it's never gotten slimy. The chicks have moved outside into the old, smaller coop as of yesterday morning and are happily flitting around.

Thanks so much to the OTs for sharing so much of your wisdom! It's great to get so much information in one place!

I just have a few questions, if I may.

I saw several people recommending ACV in the water, but I'm still a little unclear on what it does.
Is it to keep things from growing in the water supply?
As a general health tonic?

The other questions are about the cayenne pepper trick for hens who aren't laying. My new girls have been with me for almost a week, and none of them are laying. Their owner assured me that about 2/3 of them were laying for her (the other 1/3 are finishing up their molt and still looking a bit ratty). All are eating well and seem perfectly happy in their new home. The pecking order was established on day one and there have been few squabbles since.

Will cayenne pepper work, even though stress from moving is probably the reason why the others aren't laying?
Is the pepper safe, even though some of the girls are still molting?
Should I wait until the molting hens are finished?
Should I just wait and let them start laying on their own?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for sharing so much wisdom here!!!!

 

[jvls1942]

Quote:
this is the type of blanket statement that is misleading.. I have four game roosters mixed in my flock of Delawares, hens and rooster, Barred rocks, hens and rooster, and a Bluelaced red wayandotte rooster and a dozen mixed breed hens , all together. abou 45 chickens.. there is no fighting..

Years ago, I had a light Brahma rooster kill a large Wyandotte rooster.. does that mean that you should never put two of that kind of rooster together ? NO ! it all boils down to the individual rooster..

then you do not have a "true game" rooster. a true game cock can not be mixed in with any other rooster. either the game cock will kill the rest of them, or he will make their life miserable by chasing them esp. if they are in a small area.

"game" is used loosely in the world of fowl. alot of so called games are just games by name sake. but that does not make them a game rooster. its not an individual rooster trait, its a breed trait.

I bow to the more superior chicken man who knows more than I do.. without even seeing a picture of my four roosters, he can tell me exactly what I do or do not have.. I will still stick to what I have been saying.. It all boils down to the individual rooster.. I am not going to argue about it.. that is my stand, and you have your opinion.. I can respect your opinion even if you cannot respect mine.. just FYI,, my roosters are purebreeds..

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
It is an individual rooster thing, but all roosters and hens can and will fight under certain conditions. Most chickens just need to find their place in the pecking order. Games and orientals are a bit different. Your game roosters may not bother any of the other birds, but my Shamo's or Asils will kill them all. My females will kill roosters and each other if I don't take precautions. I haven't trained them to do that, they just have that in them. The babies will kill each other at 3-4 weeks if I am not careful.

Each situation is different and each strain of chickens is different in how they will react in groups. Some of my other breeds I can run males together without problems and some I can't.

Walt

again , I say.. it boils down to the individual rooster..

Part of this centers on the vague use of terms for male chickens.

Rooster - Cockerel / Stag / Bull Stag - Cock

Male stages of stag - bull stag - and cock clearly have an impact on how males interact with other birds. The use of the terms are far from standardized with people on this forum and need to be spelled out from time to time. I will also stress stage in moult cycle and breeding status are variables influencing how males interact.

 

[RWD57]

Hens won't set (get broody) till there is a clutch of eggs, usually a dozen.

 

[jvls1942]

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Is this a fact ? what reference book/source ?

 

[flocksalot]

Wow just saw this. Yeah yeah got my head in the sand. Ok so how do you decide how long you have been a chicken keeper? I'm 48 and have been in and amongst chickens most of my life. My parents used to raise meat birds. I grew up having to take care of a flock of my own. Each kid (there are 8 of us) was responsible for feeding and watering, letting out and locking up, and letting my father know if they needed a wing clipped. My mother says I would have been 4 when I got my first flock of 50, and then it would increase if you did well. we got to keep some of the money from the sale of the chickens. Of course feed and bedding were deducted. Of course with meat birds we only had them over the summer, so two batches each. If you wanted to have some money to purchase treats or gifts you needed to do well. I remember when my parents gave me the extra 20 chicks we got and told my brothers and sisters that I would take better care of them. When I was 6 the lady that my mother got her eggs from asked if my parents had a kid that would like to earn some money helping her clean coops and do daily chores. I volunteered. She was only a mile away so I could walk or bike. My how times have changed I wouldn't let me son go that far by himself. I learnt so very much from her. From how to handle a nasty roo to how to keep the girls laying through the dead of winter. I also learnt some about nutritian from her, but most of that I learned from my parents and grandparents. Much of what I know is from those formidable years. Sometimes people will tell me what I know or do is wrong, but I'm still going to do it the way I grew up with.

There was a time in my life that I didn't have chickens. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, at the age of 39, I was injured at work. As I was flat on my back for over 2 months My chickens were given away. I took a few years for some of the injuries to heal enough for me to be able to enjoy chickens once more. Now my youngest son gets to have the same joys as his much older brother did when he was growing up. The nice thing now is that I have room to grow my young sons chicken explosion. We started again with 6 hens and four roos, three of which we ate. We now have 146 chickens and a broody just got sat with 9 eggs. Gotta love that son of mine. His whole world is chickens. I was much the same way. Read every book and listened to everything anyone at the grain elevator would talk about.

I still raise meat birds every year along with turkeys, ducks and geese besides the horses and a pig here and there. I have to keep my hand in some where or the 8 year old will take over the farm.

So again how do you decide how long you have been a chicken keeper?

 

[Cass]

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I have used Ivermectin on my birds with no ill effects. It is a pour on wormer, meaning you put it on the back of their neck, like Frontline for dogs. I used a needleless syringe to draw up the right dose (1 ml for LF and .5 ml for banties or juviniles) and just went down the roost putting it on the skin on the back of their neck.

 

[Fred's Hens]

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I don't think there is an auditing department. Sounds like you have a life time of great experiences.

 

[Cass]

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Really? My D'uccle went "broody" on 2 golf balls and she was NOT going to be moved off them, so I got her 4 large fowl eggs. She hatched 3 chicks (which were taller than her at 6 weeks

)

My silkie (which may or may not be considered a "real" chicken on this thread

) went broody on NOTHING. She made a nest in the corner of the coop, in the sand. I moved her every day for a week and every day she was back there, so I slipped 4 mutt eggs (of my own this time) under her. I have no idea what she hatched and only one survived the D'uccles "helping" mother them....but she didn't even have an egg to sit on but was broody...turns out she is a good momma too...who knew a dustmop could protect her baby from 3 roos?

So again, I say "really?", cuz that hasn't been my experience. As I understood it, broodiness is hormonal and has nothing to do with how many eggs the hen has around. A broody hen will steal eggs from another's nest (if the boxes are of the open style) or get off her own nest so the other hens can lay their eggs in her nest and hatch them as her own, no problem.

Perhaps you are thinking of ducks? It is a true statement with regard to some species of ducks (not all) and "a dozen" isn't an absolute...ducks decide based on the available food in the area.