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

[loanwizard]

Quote:
Let us not let the thread derail, deteriorate, denigrate etc.....

I liken this thread to a throwback to olden days when I was a child sitting around my Grandfathers yard while the old wise ones were speaking.

Back when I was a child, I wasn't allowed to speak, even when I knew the adults were wrong.

Fast forward to today, the internet, children that think they're adults, adults that act like children, people with thin skins, etc.....

Everyone needs to be aware that internet chat, forums etc.... have no tone, inflection, or body language to their speech which leaves every word open to interpretation.

I have been misunderstood many times, even on here. SpeckledHen and I have gone around many times on the ability of chickens to process bacterias... molds.

That doesn't mean I dislike her. She may dislike me, I don't know, I have never met her. I have looked at her farm and deduced solely by the look of it, that I would like her.... I am guessing that she is a she.

Just because you have a difference of opinion with someone on one particular point, doesn't mean you wouldn't get along on others. Anyone married? Anyone agree with your spouse 100% of the time?

Anyone want to discuss politics or religion? See how fast THAT conversation goes south lol!

Lighten up guys and gals.... the person that ticks you off the most here COULD be your neighbor.... or Mother in Law lol!

I have NEVER seen a post on here that has made me feel unwelcome, but I am a landlord and a used car dealer so am rather used to haters.

BTW, I have a cochin hen that is brooding 1 egg. Does that mean that I know anything? Nope..... As someone here posted before, it's just IME, or in my experience. I have an incubator that is ALWAYS broody.

 

[Gypsi]

perchie.girl :

I am not an OT but have had chickens since 1989. As a hobbyist, enjoyer, dabbler, I will never be raising more than enough to feed me and possibly sell a few eggs in a farmers market. What I knew of chickens prior to BYC came from reading books and talking to my dad who learned from his mom and dad who were Sharecroppers. I will NEVER have the knowledge the OTs have. I am too old. But I can learn enough to make my own husbandry skills better. I do have good things to offer with regard to construction and locating free or nearly free building materials. been doing that all my life.

OK, I'm all ears on the free building materials. I wormed all chickens yesterday. I added my pullets, age about 9 - 10 weeks today, and the pecking order adjustment is going rough! I am flat broke until who knows when, depends on my insurance company and weather-break for work. I need stout 2x4 wire. I'm on freecycle, haven't checked craigslist yet, but any more clues? I can scrape together the wood for a coop if I have to build it from last year's pallets, but the wire is an issue.

Gypsi​

 

[al6517]

Construction sites are allways a good place to find new materials that will allways be thrown out, after mis cuts and scraps that are great. Leave your mind open when it comes to looking for a barrier and wanting it to be free, you may be surprised as to what you can come up with using a little creative thinking.

 

[RWD57]

perchie.girl :

Fred's Hens :

No trick. However, most hens do lay by noon, with the stragglers laying later.

If a hen doesn't "learn" to lay in the box, she's gonna get probation and not be allowed outside. If she does it again, she'd be culled. I've not had such a failure in many, many years. It all starts at POL in my estimation. They need to learn about the boxes and practice laying in their boxes during those first few weeks of laying. My point of lay pullets are not allowed to free range until I am confident. I don't do easter egg hunts.

Another tidbit Just learned....

going to try to apply this to my Guineas. I walk with a cane and cant go hunting for a female deciding to go Commando. And yes I may just be wishing. got to try though.​

I've learned that if i keep my pullets penned up in thier laying pen for a month before i let them free range that they will always return to the pen nite to roost and they always laid there eggs inside. It even works for new hens/birds. Once the roost, feeders and waterers get imprinted in thier heads it's home.​

 

[Ridgerunner]

I do it a bit differently, but maybe not that much. I have hens laying when I have POL pullets and I let them all free range together. I've only got one flock once they get old enough to be together, which is a lot younger than a lot of people seem to think.

Almost always, the pullets learn to lay where they see the big girls laying. I'll go so far as to say practically always. But occasionally one will change and start to lay somewhere else, even after she has been laying in the coop. When I see this going on, I lock them all in the coop and run for about a week to break that hen's bad habit. I also break up the other nest to discourage her from going back. Sometimes a week is enough and sometimes I have to do it for another week.

I do eat my chickens. If one volunteers to be next, I take that into consideration.

 

[Fred's Hens]

We're blessed with 6 awesome grand kids. Whenever they come to visit, the chickens and all about the chickens, the hay loft, the gardens, the Kubota tractor, the tree swing, the night time fire ring with a roaring fire, the creek we live on which means fishing in the summer and ice hockey in the winter, the big hill to sled down, all make for an experience for them that is beyond anything they get in their suburban/metropolitan lives. So many of my pictures here include the kids. Why not? The initial timidity is often there, but soon, they are asking a million questions, participating in the feedings, helping gather eggs, and the like. They help dig potatoes, water trees, and share in other farm chores. I'd almost have this stuff as much for their sake, as for my own, at this point.

The modern kid is pretty far removed from the rhythm of life I grew up with. My speech is peppered with "your great grandpa used to....." or "my grandma, your great, great grandma used to ......." A sense of continuity. Pretty hard to beat.

Frankly, it is much easier to discuss these things, here, with my grandkids. It's a lot harder on a forum to begin to form the right words and communicate the ideas.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
OK, I'm all ears on the free building materials. I wormed all chickens yesterday. I added my pullets, age about 9 - 10 weeks today, and the pecking order adjustment is going rough! I am flat broke until who knows when, depends on my insurance company and weather-break for work. I need stout 2x4 wire. I'm on freecycle, haven't checked craigslist yet, but any more clues? I can scrape together the wood for a coop if I have to build it from last year's pallets, but the wire is an issue.

Gypsi

2 x 4 welded wire? Can you substitute Chainlink? You can pretty much get Chainlink for free on Craigslist. You just need to make Sure its stretched well when you put it up. It can be stapled top and bottom too. To cut for length just cut one wire at the twist and unfold the end and unscrew the wire at the spot where you need to split the chainlink. The reverse is applicable for splicing. Check with fencing companies and chat them up tell them what you are doing and ask them if they have some stuff they have pulled down during demolition. Check with demolition companies as well. You might be able to pick up some gates that need a little tlc but they will have the wire on them already.

One of my best places to shop is down the ally where big trucks make deliveries. Go on a sunday. I also paruse the neighborhoods that are more ""affluent"" on garbage day. Youd be surprised what you find on the curb marked FREE. I have gotten everything from firewood to Childrens play structures (for the goats) to Office furniture. One fellow came out and was helping me load up some landscape timbers and found out I was taking them to use for a grooming area for my horse he went in the back and brought out about six rolls of chicken wire and support posts from a garden his wife decided she didnt want any more.

 

[Lorimary]

Beekissed]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/img/smilies/big_smile.png[/IMG] I see you have your years of experience clearly listed in your display!

Maybe it will catch on? I hope so!
I could not find a place to post years of experience in the profile page.

 

[loanwizard]

I could not find a place to post years of experience in the profile page.

Update Profile, City State Years Chickens

 

[galanie]

Perchie.girl thats a great idea about the chain link! I never thought of that before. I go "shopping" on heavy trash pickup day myself LOL. That's probably why I feel like I need a few acres, just to have a place to put all the junk I pick up!