Eastern Tennessee Thread

[NellaBean]

Did I mention I currently have 4 more broodies? A fricking production red hen (my first chicken ever! this is her 2nd time broody) and 3 mottled cochins. I need to break the cochins for the show next weekend.

 

[bairo]

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I dont like RIR's at all...so wrong person to ask about those

RIR will give you about 240 eggs a year and the sussex near the same at about 250 or better.

The Sussex have everything: they are great layers of light brown eggs--and they lay right through the coldest weather. They are dual purpose birds, though fat-bodied and not prone to flying when mature, so they are easily fenced. In England, they used to be THE standard table bird, before the modern Cornish Crosses came along.
They forage well and are economical eaters that are friendly and easily handled. Their curious nature means they will often follow you around the yard if they think they can beg a treat from you. The "speckled" variety tend to get more speckles after each successive molt, so they just get prettier with age. Seriously, what more could you ask for in a chicken? LOL, can you tell im partial? but seriously.. there are a lot of good choices out there (buff orps would be another) look for higher production with lower broodiness for your situation it sounds like. Have you tried the chicken breed selector on here? I think it is fairly accurate.

 

[tennesseeckn]

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See what happens when I leave for a week? I was DESPERATE to find homes for the last six girls from my McMurray order. I would have loved it if you had taken them. Two buff orps, a partridge rock, a gold laced wyandotte, and a columbian wyandotte. I gave them to someone else and it ended horribly.

I ended up giving them to a lady I go to church with. She had chickens before and had built a brand new coop. My husband dropped them off while I was out of town and called me and said that their setup was completely unsecure. They have two giant labs tied up outside that were lunging at the girls with mouths watering. The run was just chicken wire with a 4 inch gap. It was a recipe for disaster. I was so frustrated! I was out of town. My husband didn't want to press his luck because he said he lectured them for thirty minutes about the changes they needed to make to the coop and run. Well, three days later they called to tell me that a neighbor's mini Dachshund got into the run and killed five and injured the sixth. She didn't think the sixth one would make it. The only good news is that she took me up on my offer to take the survivor back to try to nurse back to health. They aren't the run-to-the-store-to-buy-medicine-for-a-chicken-type people.

So, now they are wanting to buy chicks or fertile eggs from me. Am I completely wrong for steering them somewhere else? Should I treat this more like a business? What would you all do?

Well, did I tell you about what happened with my speckled sussex? Not the one I got from you, she is here all fine and dandy. The 6 I had prior to her....sold them to another BYCer down in the carolinas....apparently 1 week after I sold them to her, her dog broke into the coop and killed them all.

Sigh.

I feel your pain. I would be willing to sell fertile eggs but not chicks.

I think I could live with letting some eggs go. I might even be able to avoid doing the "So exactly WHAT do you plan on housing my little babies in?" conversation. But just barely. The only thing that would stop me would be the hypocrisy of me asking something like that after letting my roosters out during prime fox hunting time.

 

[tnchickenut]

"prime fox hunting time" is right. Had one that was fearless today... tried to stalk and bite Kim (for those who know Kim) and she climbed a bantam coop to keep it from getting her. She said "I bet those bantams where wondering what I was doing getting on top of their house like that" She kicked at it to get it to go off. It came back and I shot and missed, went to shoot again and "click" no more bullets!!! And it was just standing and staring at me like "dare you to do it again".

Anyways, long story short... it was drawn in by the smell of blood from a previous dog attack that killed 7 (just today's count) and now I'm officially out of Coronation Sussex and Dutch Barnevelders. I'm nearly out of XW Barred Rocks and nearly out of Delawares.

Don't worry to all those who have given me pullets and chicks... all the BYC birds are fine. Just my Morrow Dels, my line Dels, the Barnevelders (LF), the Coros, and some layer girls.... oh and ducks... have been killed in the last three weeks. I'm emotionally beat and yes the cops were called now that I had a witness to the massacre.

Sooooo if I seem distant in my PMs or take a long time to reply to one... I'm just not feeling like talking chicken lately. I will talk about hunting now, though! (LOLOLOL)

 

[tennesseeckn]

That is AWEFUL! I can't even imagine.

I'm glad you are going to court. I wouldn't have any recourse here in Anderson County. Are these neighbors going to be responsible for replacing your flock? I know nothing makes up for the time and care you had already invested in them. But they should have to pay market price for the birds at the very least. If you need someone to vouch for going prices on the breeds or if there's anything else I can do, please let me know.

Stupid, stupid dog owners...

Daphne

 

[bairo]

A few pages back I made a comment about "Chickloosa" and associated it with the wrong person. My sincere apologies :

I meant to ask tnbarnqueen about it.

 

[bairo]

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Stop touching them!!! We need to get you some rubber gloves, LOL
It must be like estrogen heaven around your place

 

[tnchickenut]

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Thanks for the offer Daphne... I was told by the cops to go to "whatever website you chicken people have" (LOL) and print off the most expensive auction for each breed. He was clearly on my side of this... not playing sides at all because he was screaming at the neighbor and we could hear them clear as a bell. So I guess I will print off kathyinmo's BR auction (winning bid $205 - and that is the same line I have - for 10 eggs) and print off Greenfire's prices on a started pair of Coronations... I lost a trio. Those two losses alone will show the court I was being nice about $350.

But in all actuality... I just want her arrested. She deal and does drugs, hoards and abuses animals, she has violent attacks on people (including me) and the dogs are the least of it to be honest. And, yes, I have called the law on her before. They respond very quickly to my calls now. lol

 

[SandraD]

OMG, I've never heard of a story like this, how horrible.

 

[SandraD]

Another question, doubt that I would ever want to eat my chickens bc I'm thinking eggs only, n once I'm attached, forget about it. but if I did want to, what about butchering? Is there any place near Johnson City that does that?