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

[fowlman01]

Walt,
One of my favorite quotes. Wish I could remember who said it. "Man is just an animal with manners".
Vickie

I observe the hens behavior too....unless you mean mankind......when "man" comes from a woman, I get a little nervous.

Walt

 

[loanwizard]

Well, where I live, the sheriff doesn't get all that excited when a hippie comes up missing.

(spellchecker thinks that "hippy" is spelled "hippie".)

But think how organically karmic it is to be part of the circle of life that way!!

Besides, I heard that hemp is good for chickens, and you hippies are like 7% hemp.

Since everyone is picking different things to answer I thought I would throw my no sense in. I would give you 2 cents but I am told I have none.

Spellchecker is correct. Hippie is the classic folks from the 60's, free love, psychedelics, the like. Hippy is what you never call a woman, or wider hips from child rearing.

 

[Clay Mudd]

Since everyone is picking different things to answer I thought I would throw my no sense in. I would give you 2 cents but I am told I have none.

Spellchecker is correct. Hippie is the classic folks from the 60's, free love, psychedelics, the like. Hippy is what you never call a woman, or wider hips from child rearing.

When you trust the spellchecker, it;s like selling your soul to The Man.

 

[bruceh]

ok guys your killing me. yes hippy is spelled hippie. what can you expect from a pure bred hiippy from baltimore city md. where water is woder. i was at one time 21 percent. now i just smoke chickens. ( in the smoker)

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I have a question for you guys on breeding. What are your opinions on brother to sister matings? I've heard people talk like if you breed a brother to sister even once you will get poor, deformed birds. I've heard others say that it's fine as long as you don't do it for more than 2 generations or repeatedly. I am interested in hearing from those who have found what's tried and true.

 

[Beekissed]

I think most will find crop impaction by feeding their birds Boss at too early of an age, or by buying to big a seed. Once again how many post have you seen where folks ask how soon can they begin to feed treats to their chicks.............. chicks mind you............ they shouldn't recieve anything but starter feed for many months, without treats. Something that cannot be helped.

On the other hand some birds will just bind up regardless, and crop impaction is a candidate for Walts axe at the first sign. Walt does perform crop impaction surgery, as I do............... with an axe LOL.

Everything in moderation, friend Al...everything in moderation. I give day old chicks BOSS (not in a feeder, just throw a handful down in the shavings of the brooder house) for the sheer fun of seeing their mama start the teaching process of finding bugs....she chuckles excitedly, scratches and steps back...they try to pick up the seed, some manage it, some don't. I've never had a chicken with impacted crop in any of my flocks down through the years.

I don't call them treats, I call them BOSS and they are mainly for my amusement, to see the chicks have something to scramble for and to watch the mama in action. This is not an every day thing nor is it done often....just when I wanna have some fun and get a grin on my face. I also use my BOSS in moderation in my winter feed mix and sometimes will throw some down in the deep litter for deep snow days when the chickens look like they would love some action....it gets my bedding fluffed and they get some healthy competition.


As for receiving nothing but starter feed for months....well, my chicks free range with the flock and partake of big chicken feed and forage after 2 wks on starter with no repercussions. And no bald head issues later in life.....

 

[Beekissed]

I have a question for you guys on breeding. What are your opinions on brother to sister matings? I've heard people talk like if you breed a brother to sister even once you will get poor, deformed birds. I've heard others say that it's fine as long as you don't do it for more than 2 generations or repeatedly. I am interested in hearing from those who have found what's tried and true.

Breeders might have other observations but I've never seen a deformed chicken born in an old mixed breed, mixed generational flock of mine. Brother, sister, father, daughter...it doesn't seem to matter if you aren't breeding for specific coloring, body size/style, etc.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
That's all I ever feed....if nothing else is available I'll make myself buy the pre-bagged commercial feeds but I hate feeding it to my chickens. Get a bag of fresh milled, farmer mixed feed and the leading brand of commercially marketed feed and open them side by side, look at the color, smell them, examine the grain pieces.....what you are seeing is the difference between a small, local mill and a huge, commercial mill, with the feed from the huge mill being stored for week/months in large storehouses, trucked around the nation in trucks and sitting in the storeroom of your local TSC until it finds itself in your coop. The commercial feed is grayish-tan, has little smell that has anything to do with grain and doesn't really resemble anything that has come from a whole grain in the past. It sort of looks like Grape Nuts Cereal....

...mystery meal in a bag.


OR you can go directly to the local mill, get the same percentages of nutrients but it will be fresh out of the mill, tied at the neck that day by good ol' minimum wage farm kids and hefted right into your truck. You open it up and it's golden, it smells like it was just harvested and most of the time it was and it was from a local harvest...it smells good enough for US to eat and the chickens show a distinct preference for the fresh milled grains. The older the grain, the sooner it loses nutrients...and all the more after it's been ground.

Which would you rather feed?

 

[fowlman01]

I have a question for you guys on breeding. What are your opinions on brother to sister matings? I've heard people talk like if you breed a brother to sister even once you will get poor, deformed birds. I've heard others say that it's fine as long as you don't do it for more than 2 generations or repeatedly. I am interested in hearing from those who have found what's tried and true.

There are all kinds of theory's about what is best for breeding. I line breed (father to daughter/mother to son) The reality is that there is a good chance that the birds/chicks you get are brother and sister anyway. Do some reading and decide what sounds best for your breeding plan. My plan is to have my birds look alike but most importantly to perform the role they were designed for.

As beekissed noted, you aren't going to get three eyed six legged chickens cuz they are brother and sister. A large flock on range has a lot of diversity, so they will evolve into whatever works best for them....if you don't try to save the unthrifty birds. The best show birds come from a broody that raises them up. I use broody's more than I do incubators. Just one of the things I think works best for me and I'm also lazy, so this takes some time off my plate.

Walt

 

[Beekissed]

Dangit information overload!!!! I have been following this thread but haven't been taking notes now I don't know where certain information is.....noooooo this needs to be converted into a book so I can highlit certain things I know I need to deal with in my flock ASAP!
Thanks everyone for all the information. This stuff is priceless

I'm on it...give me a little time and I'll compile the OT info into a nice little handbook of OT favorite methods. It won't cost an arm and a leg and it will be priceless, it will have a tough little cover that will keep it safe while you refer to it over the years or keep it in your coop. It won't have a history of the breeds, pics of all the breeds, or even a glossary of chicken maladies and what to do about them.....for that you will have to consult the people who have illness in their flocks all the time for they are the experts on that. The OTs have managed to work around to NOT having weird health issues, so I'll concentrate on preventative husbandry instead of curatives for mismanaged flocks.