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

[14lbHen]

Hitting 17 weeks. Setting up nest boxes for birds. Doubt it matters much in my dry climate in CO, but any preferences to hay, straw or shavings for nesting material?

thank you
Michael O.

 

[Briezeechicks]

i will probably have to get more chicks for her.

BRUCE!!! And you were razzing ME about chicken math??????

Brie

 

[armorfirelady]

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.

 

[Gargoyle]

After getting ready to do this I gently pulled it taught while my DH held the scissors. When I pulled it a little tighter it just sort of popped off. There was no blood and the inner vent portion it had been attached to just pulled back into her.

Sounds like perhaps prolapse and some of the cloaca or intestinal lining came out with the egg?

 

[bruceh]

Excellent, Bruce! You will be so glad she is doing this...she will teach them so much about avoiding aerial preds and such. You should get some pics of it all and post it on your meat thread. I had a rooster that did that but..you know roosters..he didn't quite get the mothering thing down right and had to be killed.

yes bee. i am very happy. i was just out there to check on them being it is raining hard. the big hen taught them to scratch the dirt and get in the dog houses. i showed the chicks the dog houses 2 x and no avail. the hen jumped in the dog houses and the chicks followed suit.

someone posted about chickens and rain. all mine are out running around in it. they look like wet feather dusters

 

[armorfirelady]

Trying to catch up on posts & was laughing to myself as I saw a post about letting the hens out in the rain. This morning it was clear but by late morning it had started to rain harder. While the rain was misty I quickly put up some higher fencing around the veggie garden because I wanted to let the hens into it to forage yet keep the dogs out.

By the time I got it done & ran to pick up my dog at the groomers the rain was coming down much harder. I went to see if the hens realized they could get into the garden area & was pleased to see 4 happy hens going gangbusters on all the fresh soil, bugs, tomatoes, etc that they found. They could care less if it was downpuring or not lol There was new bugs to be found!!! And funny they were not eating the tomatoe plants just the fruit. But they do love to eat the leaves of the gourd plants

Their outside giant run area is at least 50x75 now......and I am guessing when I start dumping leaves in the garden they are going to be even happier. For now they can work the garden leaving some fresh compost until then. I cant wait to see how good my garden does next year.

As for the rain they go in the coop or under the chicken tent if they dont like it but I rarely see them inside unless its a thunderstorm or very windy. But thats ok with me I want hardy birds who can deal with weather changes & survive.

next up is new roosts in the wooden run.......apparently the girls have put on some weight.....the tree limbs I have in there wont support them anymore. But since its their winter extension area I want several roosts for them since they like to use them

 

[bruceh]

BRUCE!!! And you were razzing ME about chicken math??????

Brie

yes brie, but i give my chickens a bath. i bath them in barbecue sauce, rosemary, garlic and butter. i dry them in an oven at 300 degrees.

 

[Beekissed]

I recommend 350 or 375, Bruce...get a much deeper heat to the birds and they are more comfortable in the long run.

 

[Mountain Momma]

Sounds like perhaps prolapse and some of the cloaca or intestinal lining came out with the egg?

Well, I looked up your comments and I think you must be correct. This is what I found...

"The proximate cause for cloacal prolapse in most cases is straining and/or loss of normal cloacal sphincter tone. Factors that potentially lead to cloacal prolapse include poor nutrition, obesity, cloacal papilloma, cloacitis, constipation, diarrhea, peritonitis, abdominal mass, abnormal egg, chronic egg laying, and behavioral abnormalities."

She had the combined possible causes of poor nutrition followed by over feeding which lead to obesity and an abnormal egg. There were also possible behavioral issues associated with her former home. After finding this out I am surprised that all of the Cori's kitchen chickens didnt get some sort of problem. As it is I learned a valuable lesson about over feeding and only lost one poor old girl to the education. I also learned that if someone needs to find a home quick for a flock it is better to see them before you say okay. They were a sorry bunch that day we picked them up. Now the ones I have and the ones I gave to a friend are in great shape for the most part. I still have two old girls left from that rescue and one is moulting and the other has always had a pale comb. The younger ones bounced back fast and look like they have always been here, plump with clean butts and shiny feathers. Thanks for the info!

 

[Mountain Momma]

Hitting 17 weeks. Setting up nest boxes for birds. Doubt it matters much in my dry climate in CO, but any preferences to hay, straw or shavings for nesting material?

thank you
Michael O.

I am also in Co. I tried them all and found that wood shavings smell better longer, stay dry and if they do get wet they dry very fast. My chickens also love to roll around in new shavings.
Another consideration is that at the moment hay and straw are about 15-16 dollars per bale while shavings are only about 8.50 for a bale sized container. Straw was the worst for me. Very messy. Also dusty and irritating on my eyes to work in the coop. I ad about a quarter bale of Alfalfa and that smells very nice and the chickens eat it and peck around in it. In the spring I plan to try pine rakings from the yard. Two uses, fire mitigation and chicken bedding. A lot of people all over the country use the pine -needles and all- so I want to see what I think. My only raised eyebrow on that is the sap will mix in and maybe make a messy situation. Congrats on your endeaver!