Let's try this again from Alabama - turned into a story

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John Sanders

John Sanders

Songster
Jun 15, 2017
149
177
136
Minooka, Alabama
Hello!! I was on a pad and was not in the mood to "one finger" my intro after I started so I just bailed.

My name is John, I'm married to a great woman, Amy, who does her best to encourage and support me in my homestead/self-sustainability quest. We work together in the vegetable garden, blueberry patch and just keeping up with 13 acres. I am learning to can which is a story in itself! I'm 58 and my mother was a home economist and teacher. I also lived with my grandmother for a few years in Rockmills AL, a very small country town. Both of those women chased me around trying to teach me how to can and I avoided it like the plague.

Guess what I need to know now...

I waterbath canned for the first time last week, blueberry jam, and am in the market for a pressure canner. I wish I had listened to those two women but it's not too hard.

I had 10 hens a couple years ago but the hawks got them and due to some other things I just never got anymore but I missed them and always intended to get started again. So here I am. I have a lot of work to do to get the coop in shape, I'll probably take it down and rebuild somewhere else closer to the house and garden. I have some pics I'll post later in another thread.

I don't know what breeds I'll start with. It's late in the season so I don't have as many choices around here. Any ideas would be great. I want large eggs and hardy birds. I plan on different kinds of fowl, guinea fowl, ducks, chickens, things like that, and making this a big part of the farm.

I am also going to add a couple donkeys and some goats. I've done my time with goats but my neighbor wants some so the new baby can grow up learning all this stuff. I guess I'll start making soap again!

Anyway, that's mostly whats happening around here and in my life. It's good to be back and I look forward to getting to know you guys.
 
Hi John, welcome to BYC and chicken keeping (again).

Many of us have taken convoluted paths back to our childhood, me included. My grandmother owned a chicken ranch. At one time, I swore I'd never own chickens when I grew up!

Now I love my backyard flock.

Others have pointed you to great videos, I'll focus on your chicken breed question.

If you want large, plentiful eggs, and something available in nearly every area, look to Red Sex Links or Black Sex Links.

They are prolific for the first couple of years, then taper off in the third year, to be pretty well done by the 4th year, so you do need to refresh the flock regularly. I find BSLs to be productive longer, but lay slightly less prolifically. I've also had BSLs go broody on me, which I personally use. It is a great way to get chickens for the next generation without a lot of work.

Mine have been hawk savvy enough, and their coloring (depending upon your ground type...I'm predominantly on bark and mud...wet Oregon) blends in well.

Avoid white birds, which eliminates the productive White Leghorn, due to the hawks.

New Hampshires make a very nice dual bird, if you want really large eggs and the ability to have some meat left on the hen and good eating on the cockerals. Hatchery NH are okay, but a good line is hard to find but possible with breeders....who may be a better choice since most feed stores supply in spring and do a smaller samlping in fall (at least in my area).

Rhode Island Reds are a standby. Mine have been noisy and somewhat aggressive, but that is good for hawks too. They lay very well, large brown eggs.

And finally Brown Leghorn. Not as prolific as the White Leghorn, but the coloring is much better suited to avoiding hawks. BL are flighty like their WL cousins, which also helps prevent hawk strike.

Whatever you decide to get, I suggest a sturdy coop, built with predators and clean out in mind, and lots and lots of hawk netting. Free range is a sweet idea, but you have to accept loss that way which means you keep numbers up or provide some netted ranging areas. I find that I lose more when hawks figure out there is easy pickings, so I've had to make effort to net. You don't have to hang your whole property (obviously, at 13 acres), but some key areas can really help.

Good luck with your new ventures...and the canning. Another thing I swore I'd never do again after childhood. (But nothing beats home canned pears and plum jelly).

LofMc
 
Lady of McCamley said:
Hi John, welcome to BYC and chicken keeping (again).

Many of us have taken convoluted paths back to our childhood, me included. My grandmother owned a chicken ranch. At one time, I swore I'd never own chickens when I grew up!

Now I love my backyard flock.

Others have pointed you to great videos, I'll focus on your chicken breed question.

If you want large, plentiful eggs, and something available in nearly every area, look to Red Sex Links or Black Sex Links.

They are prolific for the first couple of years, then taper off in the third year, to be pretty well done by the 4th year, so you do need to refresh the flock regularly. I find BSLs to be productive longer, but lay slightly less prolifically. I've also had BSLs go broody on me, which I personally use. It is a great way to get chickens for the next generation without a lot of work.

Mine have been hawk savvy enough, and their coloring (depending upon your ground type...I'm predominantly on bark and mud...wet Oregon) blends in well.

Avoid white birds, which eliminates the productive White Leghorn, due to the hawks.

New Hampshires make a very nice dual bird, if you want really large eggs and the ability to have some meat left on the hen and good eating on the cockerals. Hatchery NH are okay, but a good line is hard to find but possible with breeders....who may be a better choice since most feed stores supply in spring and do a smaller samlping in fall (at least in my area).

Rhode Island Reds are a standby. Mine have been noisy and somewhat aggressive, but that is good for hawks too. They lay very well, large brown eggs.

And finally Brown Leghorn. Not as prolific as the White Leghorn, but the coloring is much better suited to avoiding hawks. BL are flighty like their WL cousins, which also helps prevent hawk strike.

Whatever you decide to get, I suggest a sturdy coop, built with predators and clean out in mind, and lots and lots of hawk netting. Free range is a sweet idea, but you have to accept loss that way which means you keep numbers up or provide some netted ranging areas. I find that I lose more when hawks figure out there is easy pickings, so I've had to make effort to net. You don't have to hang your whole property (obviously, at 13 acres), but some key areas can really help.

Good luck with your new ventures...and the canning. Another thing I swore I'd never do again after childhood. (But nothing beats home canned pears and plum jelly).

LofMc
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info. I never thought of white chickens being hawk bait. I have lots to learn. I'm with you on the sturdy coop. And waiting till it's all done right before getting the chickens.
 

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