Hi folks, I'm an old chicken fancier from way back. Just have a few girls (2 Barred Plymouth Rocks, 2 White Rocks, 1 ISA Brown, 1 Buff Brahma, 1 Rhode Island Red); and one RIR x Buckeye roo as I now live with my daughter on her small 1.3 acre town lot. She's into sustainable gardening, but my flock has free roam privileges and don't do enough damage to hurt. I've hand raised every chicken I've ever had so not even my young roo Reuben has been able to lure this last group away from under mama's feet when I'm outside.
I may free range them daily, but I do still also cook/ferment warm mash filled with high protein commercial feed (I like Nutra and Dumor) grains and seeds plus added show-bird vitamins and chick grit to make certain they get everything they need and can digest it well. They get that every morning, but have feeders filled with crumble and pearls available too.
I used to give every chicken it's own pet taxi sleeping box in my climate controlled garage (which I highly recommend!) for their night time safety, and egg laying comfort, but now have to keep them outside in a standard coop (a gift from my daughter) at night. My present flock is not yet laying, but are about to start. I've made a review of that pre-made Chicken Coop Company's RIR XL henhouse on Google for anyone thinking about dropping that kind of money on saving time and effort. There are a lot of pros and cons let me tell you.
I was a founding subscriber to Backyard Chickens magazine and since it's discontinuance have been happy to see a web community of the same name pop up. Sharing our experiences with poultry, both good and bad (I, too remember losing chicks back when I was a beginner and it never gets easy) can only help us all, including our beloved birds; whether we keep them as companion pets with benefits, enter them at fairs and shows, or use them as an egg or meat food, or income source.
My girls have always been all of the above, but this year I've been especially interested in grooming up my first roo. The BYC community has been an irreplaceable help with that.
Yep, in 44 years of keeping chickens, I've never kept a rooster; and I acquired him at 12 weeks of age. He was not hand raised.
It's a learning curve, but he's both a source of comical entertainment as well as frustration because he's convinced, or at least thinks, he's in charge. With the help of BYC member's advice I've established he's not the boss without killing him, but because he's basically a teenager now, he keeps rebelling behind my back. It's a mixed blessing, especially since I don't want to breed him. But you can't neuter a roo. He is gorgeous, though, and is a great guardian.
Unfortunately, my MSA dog hates him. My daughter's cats are terrified of him. The local raccoon has had to learn new thievery tricks to raid the food dispensers without being pummeled by him. The owl just moved away. The mockingbirds are going insane just to see him.
He just finally learned to crow.
He practices a lot.
Happily, the neighbors don't mind it.
So it looks like he won't be a pot pie any time soon.
Loving chickens is a lifestyle.
I may free range them daily, but I do still also cook/ferment warm mash filled with high protein commercial feed (I like Nutra and Dumor) grains and seeds plus added show-bird vitamins and chick grit to make certain they get everything they need and can digest it well. They get that every morning, but have feeders filled with crumble and pearls available too.
I used to give every chicken it's own pet taxi sleeping box in my climate controlled garage (which I highly recommend!) for their night time safety, and egg laying comfort, but now have to keep them outside in a standard coop (a gift from my daughter) at night. My present flock is not yet laying, but are about to start. I've made a review of that pre-made Chicken Coop Company's RIR XL henhouse on Google for anyone thinking about dropping that kind of money on saving time and effort. There are a lot of pros and cons let me tell you.
I was a founding subscriber to Backyard Chickens magazine and since it's discontinuance have been happy to see a web community of the same name pop up. Sharing our experiences with poultry, both good and bad (I, too remember losing chicks back when I was a beginner and it never gets easy) can only help us all, including our beloved birds; whether we keep them as companion pets with benefits, enter them at fairs and shows, or use them as an egg or meat food, or income source.
My girls have always been all of the above, but this year I've been especially interested in grooming up my first roo. The BYC community has been an irreplaceable help with that.
Yep, in 44 years of keeping chickens, I've never kept a rooster; and I acquired him at 12 weeks of age. He was not hand raised.
It's a learning curve, but he's both a source of comical entertainment as well as frustration because he's convinced, or at least thinks, he's in charge. With the help of BYC member's advice I've established he's not the boss without killing him, but because he's basically a teenager now, he keeps rebelling behind my back. It's a mixed blessing, especially since I don't want to breed him. But you can't neuter a roo. He is gorgeous, though, and is a great guardian.
Unfortunately, my MSA dog hates him. My daughter's cats are terrified of him. The local raccoon has had to learn new thievery tricks to raid the food dispensers without being pummeled by him. The owl just moved away. The mockingbirds are going insane just to see him.
He just finally learned to crow.
He practices a lot.
Happily, the neighbors don't mind it.
So it looks like he won't be a pot pie any time soon.
Loving chickens is a lifestyle.
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to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!
