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

[Kansas Prairie]

Yes they do. But I don't cut up horse manure and put it in my freezer for winter.

 

[stonykill]

Yes they do. But I don't cut up horse manure and put it in my freezer for winter.

no need. Horses don't poop seasonally

. Fresh supply for the chickens to dig through daily. And a warm meal in the winter

 

[NotAFarm]

Quote:

yeah, they don't worry about the smell much.....

 

[Nomibear]

WE FINALLY ORDERED OUR LAYING HENS!  We've got the nest boxes all re-done so they will be easy to clean, and ordered our laying hen chicks.  The brooder is set up and ready, we have a hundred pounds of chick starter (non medicated), feeders, waterers, ACV, heat lamps in place...we're ready.  They will be shipped Tuesday, and probably be here Thursday.  I'm excited about them. We ordered  25 buff leghorns, and 25 gold sex links for egg production.  I also ordered a couple of Large Cochins, and a couple of BO's,  and a couple of Black Astrolorps, just to see how they do.  That should put us right about spring for egg production, as I understand, and at the beginning of the gardening season, so it ought to be veeeerrrryy interesting. I ought to be an old hand at milking goats by then, too, so they will have lots of whey to help them with their egg production.  I know nothing now, but experience is the greatest teacher - or so they say.
 Brie

Yay!! Another person with Buff Leghorns, and in Tx to boot!! Did you find a breeder or are they coming from Ideal? Did you order all Pullets? Or straight Run? Now that my girls are almost 20 weeks I wish I had just one Buff Leghorn Roo... Maybe in the spring I'll order another batch...

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Five to six months is pretty much considered to be the average POL for heritage type layer breeds...give or take a few weeks. I've had some start earlier and some, but not many, start later. I don't even expect eggs until then and am often pleasantly surprised if they start earlier. It's nice but not necessarily a good thing.

If I had any advice for those waiting for their first eggs it would be this: Red combs and wattles, leg color, squatting, etc. aren't always an indication of a hen that is going to lay....an egg in the nest is.

I know in today's world, six months seems like a long time to wait but it gives you time to get your flock sorted out, settled in, the pecking order settled and your health management perfected. By the time they start laying, everything should be running smooth and you can sit back and enjoy those very first eggs as being the next natural step in your flock's life.

Sorry this is so late, but I missed two days and am playing catch-up. Gotta question.... Do some hens just never lay at all? Of our orriginal 6 pullets (now almost 7 months old), 5 are laying (and have been laying for weeks) and one still isn't. Now the thing is, her comb and wattles are still pinkish and she hasn't started humming or squatting. She is anti-social and causes a little trouble from time to time. I swear if she doesn't start laying soon, I'ma make soup out of her!

 

[Beekissed]

Some hens never lay at all. The longest I've waited for a hen was 9 mo. but I knew when all the other hens of her breed were well into lay by 5 mo. and she didn't that I might have a non-layer on my hands...but hope springs eternal...and I usually only cull once a year, so I fed the barren hen all winter. I'd give her another month but it doesn't sound good....

 

[HallFamilyFarm]

WE FINALLY ORDERED OUR LAYING HENS! We've got the nest boxes all re-done so they will be easy to clean, and ordered our laying hen chicks. The brooder is set up and ready, we have a hundred pounds of chick starter (non medicated), feeders, waterers, ACV, heat lamps in place...we're ready. They will be shipped Tuesday, and probably be here Thursday. I'm excited about them. We ordered 25 buff leghorns, and 25 gold sex links for egg production. I also ordered a couple of Large Cochins, and a couple of BO's, and a couple of Black Astrolorps, just to see how they do. That should put us right about spring for egg production, as I understand, and at the beginning of the gardening season, so it ought to be veeeerrrryy interesting. I ought to be an old hand at milking goats by then, too, so they will have lots of whey to help them with their egg production. I know nothing now, but experience is the greatest teacher - or so they say!

The kids are excited about the chicks too, but more excited about BJ's Doms. They are up Dallas way picking them up this weekend. They should be home tonight, and we are ready for them as well. We are going to build a new coop and run for them because BJ doesn't want them to be in with"those old layers" when they are big enough to go in the layer coop with the big yard.

The d'Uccles and Sebrights are all settled in, and Samantha has had an egg for breakfast from her hens every day this week. Old Sore Toe is looking good, and he ought to get to go back with the others in just a couple of days. I filled the split in the roost where he caught his toe with Durham's wood putty. That stuff is great! I think you could fill teeth with it, it gets so hard! Anyway, we won't be catching any more toes in there. What a fluke!

I do have a question tho...I have looked back to where the ACV discussion was most active, but I can't find how much to put in. I have two of the standard 1 gallon plastic waterers. How much ACV per gallon? Just one more time, please. Brie

You should join https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/295163/breeding-buff-leghorns Lots of neat discussions on using Ideal's Buff Leghorn pullets and exhibition Buff Leghorn cockerels to improve production in the exhibition stock.

 

[Kassaundra]

I don't know if you guys were kidding about the lamp shade "broody hen" but I loved the idea and have eggs in the bator right now, so I made one out of just some things I had laying around the house. I set it on low and it wasn't warm enough, so it is now set on medium, I have a thermometer in the lamp. I put my hand in there and it seems warmer then the thermometer shows. I'm going to play around with it, if it stabalizes before the chicks hatch I will use it in my brooder instead of a light.

 

[Lazarus718]

Alright y'all,
My newbie question for the night comes mostly from my wife's mouth (cause I told her not to worry about it)....we just built our first coop and put the hens in it today. They're new girls only 12 weeks old. She had put them in the hen house initially but I had installed a temp gauge and it was reading 95 degrees so I told her we had to stick them in the run instead so they could get to their water. Well 10 o'clock tonight and it's 53 degrees out there and will probably get down to around 45 or so. So here's the question: How long will it take for them to figure out how to climb the chicken ramp to their coop and to shelter at night? Should I even let them out to range at all right now or wait until they are adjusted to their new quarters? I'm leaving the pop door open for them to explore right now but none of them have braved it so far. We had to (at my wife's bequest) chase them down in the run tonight and stick them into the coop. Will have to do the opposite tomorrow morning at 5:30am when we both get up for work to get them out to their food and water since we'll probably hit the 90's again. Obviously my goal is for the hens to adjust to the temperature differences on their own. Are we crazy for rallying up these chickens to compensate for our temperature swings? I believe so but am worried that I might get something wrong one night and we lose one. My wife is a tough one if you know what I mean.

 

[al6517]

So how long have you had them ?? and is this their first time outdoors full time ?? at 12 weeks they should have been outside and used to the temps for quite a long time now. Is the coop one of those little small closed in types toy deals with an attached little run and is that why the temp was 95 ??. When they are exposed to their permanant housing at normal ages of 3-5 weeks or sooner in the summer they will learn faster and become aclimated quicker and get smarter. Now if you have raised them in an indoor sheltered enviroment all this time and are just now putting them outside, they will be seriously confused and it may take awhile for them to figure stuff out and to learn to shelter themselfs, especialy if they have been pampered for 12 weeks indoors they are at a serious disadvantage now especialy as fall and winter nears.