New to the Forum and new to chickens

Date sort Score sort
ldawntaylor

ldawntaylor

Songster
May 23, 2015
413
525
161
Arkansas
Hi,

I've owned goats for about 8 years now, at the moment I have 10 but that changes frequently.

Keeping chickens has been a "someday" project. Well, "someday" happened rather unexpectedly. Two weeks ago a neighbor showed up on my doorstep saying they were moving and did I want their chickens?.

Since that day I now have 5 laying hens. All, I can say for sure about them is that I was told they escaped a Tyson chicken house. The owner gave them away instead of just butchering them. That recipient gave them to me a few weeks later. Those birds have gone from chicken house, to a small pen, to my goats night pen.

I guess it is no surprise they are having digestive issues and not laying very many eggs. With two weeks to adjust I am regularly getting one brown egg every day and their poop has gone back to the normal consistancy. But, I still feel like I've jumped into the deep end of the pool with only having been in a wading pool until now.

So far, the chickens seem to be doing okay sheltering with the goats at night as long as I feed the birds before letting the goats in. The six foot fence and rocky ground keeps land bound preditors from being a problem. The dogs help discourage the larger preditors and the airborne ones. These birds don't seem to be inclined to fly at all.

For the moment I seem to be set.

Sincerely,

Lisa
 
If they are from Tyson, I have to imagine they are meatbirds, meant to be processed at an early age. Meat birds eat constantly if given the chance, and don't move around much. They mainly eat, poop and die in not slaughtered early enough. They have explosive growth which burns out their organs, and generally the feet go first because they can't handle the weight.

They do no generally live long enough to lay eggs or be any kind of pet. I'm sorry if this was not explained to you.
 
Hi,

Does Tyson even sell eggs?

I was pretty sure going into this that they are meat birds or hybrids of some kind. Since they are used to chicken house conditions I cannot even be sure they will survive the summer with the conditions I've got. I can offer plenty of water, shade, and shelter if it does rain. But, I have no way of setting up a fan or anything like that.

For now all I am really looking for is experience with the birds, any eggs I get are a bonus. If I start seeing signs of pain or serious problems I will find the best way to deal with it. I do have a couple of options. One reason for accepting these birds is the realization that if I dislike the chores too much they likely will be for only a rather short duration. One aspect of these birds, I am getting at least some eggs but I do not have to deal with a broody bird just yet. For one person an average of an egg a day really isn't bad.

Well, chore time here so I'll close for now,

Lisa
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom