No Nonsense, chickens are livestock, advise. Tell me like it is.

[navasima]

Darklingstorm: Nicely put!! I must add the ubiquitous X2!

 

[loanwizard]

Toofarout, I feed my Roosters by hand sometimes.... I must have thick skin

 

[spacecowgirl]

Quote:
X 100!!!

 

[toofarout]

Quote:
Well perhaps it is I who has baby skin. I've learned my lesson regardless.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Chickens LOVE freckles!!!

It's a bad idea to go into the coop wearing shorts and flip flops if you have *any* skin anomalies (i.e. freckles, scratches, tattoos or even bruises!!!!)

Do *NOT* get your face near a chickens face, especially if you have a freckle on your eyelid!! You WILL get pecked in the eye!!!!

Did I mention that chickens LOVE freckles?

Goddess

 

[galanie]

The above is why I'm glad I wear glasses. Oh yes, I have been out there without them and gotten pecked in the eye. But even with glasses you have to be careful. Those beaks can try to sneak in from the side!

So far as hand feeding, I've found that they take your skin off at first, but later learn where the stuff they can eat is and don't do that after some practice. I work with my hands a lot so I guess they're tough as it doesn't hurt me much when they do that. I just let them, knowing they'll learn better if I just must hand feed them. I don't do it that often now though. It is good for a chuckle though to offer something to my cockerel and watch him immediately cluck to his girls that THERE'S FOOD HERE GIRLS! then take some off my hand and drop it for them.

 

[kristamarie]

Chickens eat toads, and mice and anything else that moves that they can catch.
Although I have read that it takes 26 hours to form and lay an egg- MY chicken lays like clockwork between 9 and 10am everyday.
It is possible for a hen to lay 2 eggs in one day. This happened for me yesterday

Chickens know where 'home' is and will always make their way back at dusk.

 

[dsqard]

Chickens can and will eat styrofoam.
If you incubate eggs, you will wind up with more roosters than hens.
Never tolerate a bad rooster. There are too many nice ones out there for that.
It is extremely difficult to cull a crossbeaked chick, but humane and necessary if they can not eat. You will cry over this.
Chickens only smell if you do not clean their pens and coops.
Watching a chick hatch is an incredible thing to see.
Raising your own turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner is incredibly rewarding and delicious.
Heritage turkeys fly extrememly well.
Chickens are very entertaining, especially when grasshoppers are out. A game of keep-away will make you laugh until you have tears running down your cheeks.

Chickens and young horses do not mix well. The horses think it is fun to chase down the chickens and sometimes that doesn't turn out well.
Dogs and chickens usually are not a good mix.
Chickens can figure out how to get out of their pen but don't figure out that if they are being chased by a coyote, the safest thing to do would be to fly back over the fence.
The sound of roosters crowing is music to your ears and if you are lucky, music to your neighbor's ears as well.
Coyotes can figure out which cockerel is ready to be culled faster than you can.

 

[GreenGoddess]

Quote:
I can agree and disagree on this one depending on how one takes it... I will give my $.02 (for what it's worth)

A BAD rooster (to me) does NOT mean a rooster that will "challenge" the flock owner or chase a child.... Roosters are for fertility and protection... If he is challenging or attacking you, he is protecting his girls in the only way he knows how.. WE don't see ourselves as a threat but it only takes one wrong move from us for a rooster to THINK we are.. As for children.. Children and roosters do not go well together, PERIOD! I just shake my head when I see a post saying, "My child was playing in the backyard and I ran out of the house to find my rooster attacking him/her!".. I have a 12 yr old son and he is NEVER allowed in the pens/coops without ME! If he goes in there and gets attacked, it's HIS fault, not the roosters! I feel the same about dogs for very young children..

A BAD rooster is one that takes all the food before the girls can get any... He does not warn them when there is a predator.. He does not PROTECT his flock the way he should...

I had a delaware rooster that I absolutely loved.. He was an absolute sweetheart to me as I hatched him out myself... I ended up giving him to a friend of mine because in my mind, HE was a "bad" rooster... My husband's production red roo on the other hand, he and I have gone round many times before and if I am not on my guard when I enter the run, he WILL attack my leg... I've often joked that hes going to end up in the pot one day... However, he is a GOOD rooster because he is an AWESOME alarm when hawks, dogs or UPS are anywhere NEAR the yard....


Goddess

 

[KJ4SGU]

in my experience, dogs can get along well with chickens if they are raised from pup around them..my mother has two bully breed dogs and we wound up keeping one of her pups. we raised her with the chickens and now she makes a great herder and chicken bodyguard so to speak.

as far as cross beaks, we had the fortunate chance, we were able to save him and gave him to ppl we knew would care for him. we see that if he was able to eat and survive, he deserved a chance