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

[gabrielle1976]

LOL Sorry , I wish I had learned to spell and write properly actually but schools defently arnt what they use to be. I feel for my son I dont know how he will learn anything .

Ok if you feel that way its most defiantly your choice. There are ways to make roosters or any top pecking order bird change there attitude and from what I have read pretty quick. But We dont all have the time or what not I was just wondering I havent ever had any chicks older then my nine week olds chickens and my Quails are just funny when they attack me it dosnt even leave a mark so I was definatly not speaking from experiance just curious.

 

[Beekissed]

Because I am the Queen. No one attacks me on this acre of dirt. Thousand pound horses bend to my will and so will bantam roosters. I do not want my roosters to be sweet and love with me--I actually hardly ever touch my birds-- but by golly they will respect me and stay out of my way.

I hate to say it...but that's exactly the way I feel.

I provide feed, water, shelter and safety...and every creature that lives under that banner best be aware of it in their own little furry/feathery/hairy minds. Anything that doesn't learn it and learn it quick is subject to a quick, humane end....but it is most certain they will indeed end/depart if they cannot learn.

 

[fultzie]

Quote:
Wait...wait..... what kind of trap on the fence post?
?????????

What can I put on my fence post?

we had wood fence posts and just any coil trap ..4" perhaps ..something just big enough to fit the post ..works every time!!

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I'm curious...what is the typical price of a chick/chicken from a breeder and are they that price as straight run?

You know.... In retrospect, before placing my order, I should have asked...... I figured a couple $bucks$ each, maybe a little more? Perhaps I should call back....... I was just happy to find someone reputable in the area. He even e-mailed me copies of his state papers and breed stock vaccination! I was impressed by that alone.

 

[Beekissed]

I bet a plain ol' mouse trap on top of the posts would work as an aversion therapy type thing to repel hawks instead of trying to trap them(which is illegal, BTW..can't really say that enough). That is, if you only have fence posts from which they launch an attack....around these parts they use the trees.

When I was young we accidentally caught an owl in a leg trap that had been baited for a possum. It was horrible to see that beautiful, wild thing with a broken leg. My dad didn't kill it but did cut the skin that was holding his leg on and it flew off. I often wonder if and how it survived after that.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I know I should be able to cull my own birds, but I just can't do it! I read all your suggestions and just cringed the whole time!

SO, I called the man that I got them from and asked if he would take the one back. I explained what had happened and before I could even say that I didn't want my money back, just for him to take the bird, he flew off the handle and said there was nothing wrong with the bird when I took it and that I was NOT getting a refund. I reminded him that the one had a limp that he knew about AND let him know that I didn't want a refund, just to off-load the bird. He settled down and offered to give me another chick, anything I wanted to keep the remaining chick company. I politely declined and took the chick back to him this afternoon. When I got home, I dumped the brooder again and scrubbed it out with disinfectant. And in the morning I am going to bleach everything else, just to be on the same side.

 

[Back2MyRoots]

I meant safe side...... It's been a long day!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

LOL Sorry , I wish I had learned to spell and write properly actually but schools defently arnt what they use to be. I feel for my son I dont know how he will learn anything .

Ok if you feel that way its most defiantly your choice. There are ways to make roosters or any top pecking order bird change there attitude and from what I have read pretty quick. But We dont all have the time or what not I was just wondering I havent ever had any chicks older then my nine week olds chickens and my Quails are just funny when they attack me it dosnt even leave a mark so I was definatly not speaking from experiance just curious.

Maybe if you are lucky. In my experience, cockerels can be put threw a little schooling and turn out to be gentleman. I've done this with two cockerels recently. I've tried and failed to succeed with a full grown rooster. I'm to a point where I don't think it's worth the effort. There are too many good roos out there to put up with a human aggressive rooster. It's sort of like how a dog that kills a chicken will (usually) keep coming back for more. Once a roo attacks you, he's likely to try it again. Keep in mind, this is all IME.

 

[fowlman01]

Here in these parts, you can get birds from a backyard breeder for $4-$8 as pullets at POL. Now, when I think of breeders, I have two separate pictures in my mind.

One kind I have personally met and this kind is just the equivalent of a puppy mill but it's for chicks/chickens. These are folks out to make a few bucks on chickens because you can load up an incubator and try to recoup feed costs that way. Just because they only deal in one type or breed of chicken, doesn't a true breeder make...this is a person who is just out to make a buck.

The second kind is the kind that I rather think our OTs here are....they are actually proud of their breed lines, work to perfect a certain breed or breeds so that they have a quality product to sell. This perfecting and injecting of good genetics into existing lines can go on for years and years, with the quality in full evidence when you see the birds.

I think we have more of the former on BYC than the latter and that's where all the confusion comes in. They can be certified and even have won local shows, but this doesn't mean they are actively breeding for quality more than they are for mere profit.

For the the latter kind of breeder, I imagine that profit comes as a good side effect of their hard work and continued efforts to develop their flocks. They don't fill up their incubators until they have something they feel is worthy to perpetuate the standard of the breed and that only comes after careful selection of the breeding pairs and their eggs.

Am I right on that? I'm checking because I could just be in the area of Unicorn and Rainbows in my summation.

So, in light of that standard...what would one expect to pay for chicks or pullets from a quality first~not profit first~breeder?

There are very few real breeders. The people you find online are propagators. They buy some birds that they think will sell and then hatch and sell as many as they can to make some money. They don't pay any attention to what they are doing.....they just crank birds out. Most, but not all of the breeders I know do not try to sell birds. Personally I only sell birds to people I think will do something worthwhile with their birds or to 4H kids. The rest I sell at a local feed store for $10 or so. I am not interested in selling birds unless they come here and pick the bird they want....but I would rather deal with the feed store than get more money, but have to deal with chicken buyers. I don't ship birds and don't care if I sell any or not. Everything here is for sale....if you have a big fancy truck with a lot of horse decals you might end up paying more than the average person and if I have to listen to you talk about how much money you have, you will certainly pay 3-10 times more than anyone else. I make them pay for listening to all that stuff. Taht;s just the way I roll.

Fred....the average young person txts 80 times a day .....but usually more. I worked at a university and the only sure way to reach a student was by texting. They didn't pick up their mail or check their email. It is a different generation..I had a student that didn't know that he had to pay for stamps...they were always just in the drawer at home. If you want to see how messed up things are and why...work at a university.

Walt

 

[Beekissed]

I know I should be able to cull my own birds, but I just can't do it! I read all your suggestions and just cringed the whole time!

SO, I called the man that I got them from and asked if he would take the one back. I explained what had happened and before I could even say that I didn't want my money back, just for him to take the bird, he flew off the handle and said there was nothing wrong with the bird when I took it and that I was NOT getting a refund. I reminded him that the one had a limp that he knew about AND let him know that I didn't want a refund, just to off-load the bird. He settled down and offered to give me another chick, anything I wanted to keep the remaining chick company. I politely declined and took the chick back to him this afternoon. When I got home, I dumped the brooder again and scrubbed it out with disinfectant. And in the morning I am going to bleach everything else, just to be on the same side.

I know we joke about this on here a lot..the whole softy newbie not being able to kill a chicken. Sometimes we get a little preachy about it all, I realize. But this is a recurring problem that we see on this forum from new chicken owners that is one of the more disturbing issues. No, we don't expect everyone to be born with an innate ability to go out and kill an animal when they have never done it before.

I'm not directing this whole issue at you but we get this a lot, so I'll address it again if you don't mind~ not just for your benefit and that is the sole intention here, to benefit all new chicken owners.

I feel strongly that it not only is your responsibility as someone who owns animals to be able to kill them if you need to do so, but it is also your responsibility to work on your mindset...this is something that really needs to be changed in today's world. This may not be the case for you, but for some reason there are people who think that a person is mean and heartless, with no feelings towards animals, if they can just go out and lop off a chicken's head.

Nothing could be further from the truth, particularly in my case.

Some people think that isolating a chicken, bringing it in the house, doctoring it when it is clearly wounded or sickened almost unto death is an act of extreme compassion and shows their heroic side. It may make the human feel dandy but the chicken has been taken from her familiar and her family structure, placed in isolation in a strange place and is submitted to things that hurt or do not make her feel better....and most of the time she dies anyway. The threads are full of just such incidents. The chicken cannot rationalize that they are just trying to "help" her and all she does know is pain and distress.

When dealing with animals like chickens, one has to develop a certain skill set in order to keep them in a healthy and humane manner. Along with knowing about giving them water, the proper nutrition, safe and healthy housing and environment, is the imperative need to understand how to kill a chicken, even if it is to put it out of its misery. Some things just come along with the territory and the only difference between back in the old days and now is that we were taught this basic principle as children then and now no one teaches their children these things. Chickens still need killin' whether we like it or not.

Most of the people participating on this forum are not children, so they can learn and be mature and responsible about doing things that are hard to do.... but still need to be done, nonetheless.

Sorry if that sounded like it was directed at you personally because it wasn't.

It just gave another opportunity to stress that very important point to all newbies. I encourage you to weigh this information before getting any more chicks because this situation or one like it will always come around again if you keep chickens for very long.