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

[Gargoyle]

I have been meaning to pick up some DE but I keep forgetting to check if they sell it at tractor supply. I know the health store has it sold by the ounce for food grade, but I am sure I can find it cheaper if I look around.

My local Tractor Supply has a 20 lb bag, food grade, for $12.99
http://www.tractorsupply.com/red-la...s-earth-with-calcium-bentonite-20-lb--1019864

if you let them people. will sell you a bag of chicken poop.

I'll give it to you for free, because I'm so nice. I'll only charge you $13.50/lb for shipping and handling, such a deal!

 

[thedragonlady]

This method was a big pain in the bum. And I'll never do it again! At the time, the chicken yard wasn't ready, so we put the birds in the fenced vegetable garden -- clear across the property -- every day. Lesson learned: finish the chicken yard before getting chickens. (smacking myself upside the head)
p.s. this was before I began reading this thread!

My birds have learned to come when called. Even their tiny little minds can manage that. If they don't come; it WILL rain compliments of a jet nozzle on my hose.100 ft hose is all it takes. I'm not going to crawl under a 1/2 acre of hydrangea and rose bushes to round 'em up. Try it!

 

[galanie]

i am coming out with a new book . it is called ' how to buy and manage a self sustaining chicken farm with no money down "
this book is warranted to save you big money. what i did was use methods taught by Carlton sheets and Joel Salatin and combined them to a step by step guide for the beginning farmer.
chapters include:
 1.where to buy a chicken
 2 how to hatch eggs in your bra
 3. how to recycle chicken waste
 4. step by step instruction on free ranging.
 5. how to properly teach a rooster to mate
 6. how to teach a chicken proper manners
 7. how to set up your in home chicken room
 8 . how to properly diaper your chicken

and so much more


you can recognize the book easily. there is a picture of myself shirtless sporting my new double D's with chicken eggs under them.

also included are coupon discounts for my other books such as the number 1 seller roosters and the hens that love them, when roosters go bad, and chicken on the range

 

[galanie]

I started with chickens almost exactly one year ago, and I always wanted the Storey chicken books but was too cheap/poor to buy them. Finally I borrowed the latest version of her book from the library... what a waste of time! I breezed through it and saw NOTHING of any real value there. I am a nerd and love to research everything, and am SO glad I didn't get her book when I was first starting out. I am glad I found BYC, and particularly this thread. When I first started everything seemed complicated, chickens seemed picky and fragile, and I felt kinda stupid. It didn't take me long to realize that owning chickens is NOT rocket science and that, really, it was mostly just common sense and getting to know some basic chicken facts. I feel fairly confident now in my chicken-wrangling skills and my birds all appear to be happy and healthy. I think the complicated-ness comes about with many subjects though... I've always been into gardening and have worked in that field (landscape nurseries) off and on for years, and it's the same there. People want to take what is simple (say a rose bush, which is just a BUSH that happens to have flowers) and turn it into something where you'd think one would need a Master's Degree to get a rose bush to give even one bloom.

I am one of those idiots that did waste my money on that book. Even at that time, just having had my SWEET LITTLE BABIES only a couple months, I saw almost within minutes that I'd wasted my money. I still have the thing somewhere around here. Probably as a doorstop or something.

 

[galanie]

The info these folks have published has been around for decades, they just re-wrap it and try to make it harder than it is. Chickens on their own can overpopulate a city park in short order.......even eating popcorn and chewing gum, so they have to be sturdy creatures. I am retired from a local university here in Sonoma County. The grounds people would comment on my particularly long stemmed roses that I would bring in ..until they found out how I did it. I have a lot of roses here and it would take forever to trim them to a goblet shape, so I use a gas chainsaw and just trim them down to about 6" twice a year. I have very healthy roses and I do use a sharp chain.

Walt

My mother actually was a Master Gardener LOL. But she grew roses long before attaining that. In the part of the country you live, your method is just fine! I even knew a guy that did the same thing but with hedge trimmers. It's not recommended to prune them severely here like that but he did it anyway and with enough fertilizer come spring, they'll grow and bloom anyway!

 

[galanie]

i am going off the topic here for rose bushes. i bought my home complete with an out on control 6' rose bush/ tree. i know nothing of a roses. so who wants to p.m on how and when and care for this yellow flowered tree.

now back to chickens. anyone can raise chickens. if i can do it that is saying something. i am no M.I.T. grad. in fact i thought M.I.T. was a glove you put on your hand to get something out of the oven.

chickens are self explaining. if you pay attention to your flock they will tell you what they need. as you can all tell by now i am not educated , in fact a high school dropout 10Th grade. however i have common sense. look at your flock and ask the questions. do they have enough space, are they clean, how do they look, are they lively, are the eating,am i giving enough food., is their egg production okay, and any other question you can think of about your management. there is no one size fits all answers. my flock is different from your flock. so the needs of the birds are different. chicken raising is simple. you just have to tweak the management. however most of all let them be chickens.

Bruce: Does it kind of remind you of a weeping willow? If so, just leave it alone, it's supposed to be like that.

 

[fowlman01]

My mother actually was a Master Gardener LOL. But she grew roses long before attaining that. In the part of the country you live, your method is just fine! I even knew a guy that did the same thing but with hedge trimmers. It's not recommended to prune them severely here like that but he did it anyway and with enough fertilizer come spring, they'll grow and bloom anyway!

I do understand that I can get away with a lot here in this area. Luther Burbank called this area "God's chosen spot". Things grow really well here and the climate is temperate........except yesterday was 102.....in Oct! We had a Master Gardener and Rosarian (spl) living across the street and she would call me when she saw me outside "pruning". She had 500-600 rose bushes that she trimmed by hand. I can't imagine doing that.

This is a great place to raise chickens.

Walt

 

[Back2MyRoots]

Prices sure do vary on DE. Do any of y'all have a farmer's co-op in your area? Ours carries a 40 lb bag of food grade (marketed for cattle) for $17.45 . Our TSC has a 10 lb shaker for $24.99. It's crazy!

 

[Back2MyRoots]

My birds have learned to come when called. Even their tiny little minds can manage that. If they don't come; it WILL rain compliments of a jet nozzle on my hose.100 ft hose is all it takes. I'm not going to crawl under a 1/2 acre of hydrangea and rose bushes to round 'em up. Try it!

I have a problem with the chickens following my every move. I know it's just because they want treaties, but it can be hard to get chores done with 8 chickens around your ankles. Though the husband has to chase chickens with the hose every once in a while.

 

[Loghousemom]

Prices sure do vary on DE.  Do any of y'all have a farmer's co-op in your area?  Ours carries a 40 lb bag of food grade (marketed for cattle) for $17.45 .  Our TSC has a 10 lb shaker for $24.99.  It's crazy!

Not yet, but a few of us folks who have been in places where there were co-ops are working to get one going.