NY chicken lover!!!!

[vmdanielsen]

I like pizza. just saying.

jlaw

I LOVE pizza!! It is my favorite food. I bake it regularly. My homemade is the Best. Lately I have been making fig and bleu cheese.....YUMMY!!

 

[Cass]

Quote:
Been to Stony's house a couple of times. To say it is "rural" is understating it's location. I am not surprised at the number of animals he has around. I'm sure he would have that many without any livestock around....human waste (trash cans) would draw it in. Like Stony, I take losing one or two birds a season (or 4 this year so far) in stride. I can't be home 100% of the time and I can't stop hawks from taking a shot at the bird that decides to wander around alone on the property. I love my chickens but I am not going to lose sleep over a predator taking a meal from my yard....it happens. Like the old farmer said "if you have livestock you are going to have dead stock". Like Stony I have a LOT of undeveloped land around my place. (Over 200 acres I am aware of and I am not counting the road out back that is all farm land/fields) I have bears, wild cats, cougars, coons, possums, hawks, falcons and rat or black snakes. If they choose to break into my coop I will not be amused, but I won't stop having chickens. I will just start again. And I will have to allow them out because I can't afford a larger run and I can't get people to help me downsize my flock.

 

[Lynzi777]

I don't have any neighbors for my chickens to roam to, other than one across the street and my cheeps have yet to go anywhere close to the 55mph state route we live on. My neighbors chickens come up onto the road from time to time but the folks around here slow down when they see them or the birds hear them coming from a mile away and clear the way. If I had a larger runs then yes I may keep them cooped up depending my location. But I knew when I first got started with chickens I wanted them out in the yard. If we were living elsewhere then, I would probably would have a different outlook. We're out in the sticks and love it. I also love the fact that everything has been staying clear of our property so thank you all for jinxing me! Lol

 

[Cass]

Got all the eggs set under the broody bunch. Set the chicken eggs on a day that has them hatching the same time as the duck eggs. Now to cross my fingers that they all hatch. Stuck a couple of my own eggs (that I don't care about) under a D'uccle that insists she is broody. If she sits on them consistently I'll grab a couple from under the broody bunch and let her actually hatch a chick or two.

What I want video of is the third or fourth chicken getting into the broody twin's box and laying an egg. I plucked 4 chicken eggs out from under the two of them today. Put them in the basket and then the large broody went wild and tipped the whole basket over, breaking all the eggs. Grrr.....

I plan to move all the broodies and chicks to the small side of the coop after they hatch. I figure to have about a dozen chicks and 4 ducks plus 4 mommas. That is about how many the small side can hold. Once the Mommas give up on brooding their chicks I'll put the big birds back in the big side and let the chicks grow out until I can tell gender. All roos go in the freezer, all hens get sorted out and hmm....well, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. This is one time I am hoping for a lot of roos.

What I need is a larger coop. I don't seem to be able to stop myself from accumulating chickens. Where did someone say they got the shipping crates? I need a dozen of them. I'll make chicken condo out of them.

Edited to add: This post was typed as 4 paragraphs. The software is malfunctioning and squishing it all together. Sorry for how hard it is to read.

 

[stonykill]

My birds are in the coop and run most of the time. We only allow them out when we're going to be around, mostly because of the neighbor dogs and kids, potential predators that can't be dealt with very easily. Also, we don't want them getting onto other people's property, as it's our choice to keep them, not theirs, and other folks shouldn't have to deal with them eating their plants and scratching up their gardens. Other people's mileage may vary, of course, but it's what works for us.

I have seen posts on BYC (not in this section, but elsewhere) that imply if not outright state that keeping chickens in runs is cruel, and that no one who can't or won't free-range constantly should be keeping them. As far as I'm concerned, that's utterly ludicrous. My birds are hardly abused by being in a large run instead of free-ranging in the yard, and anyone who believes otherwise can feel free to stick it.

There - off MY soapbox.

agreed. We ALL have our ways that work for US and OUR birds. Having someone even mildly suggest that I "take no effort to prevent individuals from being taken" ............. well I can't really say what I want to to that statement. From someone who has never met me, seen my land, or my birds or my set up. ................. where the sun don't shine is all I'll say.

Rancher as for the tree's. I don't have 35 foot ladders to get them down. When I got these birds FIRST thing I did was pen them. Before dark the FIRST night I had them (6 years AGO) they escaped the pen and went 30 feet up a tree. 6 years later many of those original birds are still alive. Just like the wild black ducks that live in my back field, the wild turkeys that live in the woods, the woodcock that live right behind the house, the grouse I see regularly etc. They are birds. And Sumatra's like to "walk on the wild side" UNLESS pen raised from day 1. And these birds were adults who slept in tree's BEFORE I got them.

 

[rancher hicks]

Much as I'd like to be a farmer I guess I'm somewhere in between.

A while back I gave away, five marans, 4 hens, 1 roo. By Green Fire price that was $250.00 if they they were unsexed chicks but they weren't.

Today had a lady here who was going to take a Lav orp hen I paid $20 for as a chick. The hen was too big so we agreed to another smaller hen in the future.

I recently gave a friend marans and EE chicks for free. Total 18 chicks. $?? Who knows.

Gave away BM hatching eggs where as others would charge at least $30 dz.

If someone is willing to pay I'm a happy camper, if they can afford it. If not, such is life. I sell eggs and give eggs away.

No brag just fact. This is a hobby to me. I'm a "back yard" chickens person. That's what I came here for. If some folks want to look down their nose at me, so be it. I'm old and just don't care.

In two weeks I'll be a year older than my favorite brother when he passed. Planned for his retirement and what he and my SIL would do. Three weeks later he dropped like a box of rocks in the yard while cutting a tree branch. Took nothing with him when he went. No money , no trophies from winning pigeon races, not a thing.

You don't agree with how I do things or my opinion and I'm still gonna love ya. I don't agree with how you do things or your opinion such is life.

Seems to me we all want the same thing. To be accepted for who we are.

I'm doing the best I can,

Rancher

“What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal.”

Albert Pine quotes (English author, d.1851)

 

[Tough Old Bird]

Where are those Pictures of the new babies ?

Gramma...I am amassing lots of photo's. Just don't have the energy to post them by the time I get done with everything I have to do here at 10:30 at night or later! Plus, last time I had trouble; not sure why. I wonder if there's an easier way to post pics. How do you do that here on BYC? I usually upload to another file and then copy the image. But last time, it didn't work. I remember someone said there was an easier way...

TOB

 

[stonykill]

Gramma...I am amassing lots of photo's. Just don't have the energy to post them by the time I get done with everything I have to do here at 10:30 at night or later! Plus, last time I had trouble; not sure why. I wonder if there's an easier way to post pics. How do you do that here on BYC? I usually upload to another file and then copy the image. But last time, it didn't work. I remember someone said there was an easier way...

TOB

the toolbar at the top of the reply box. hover over the little images until you find the one that says "insert image" Then upload right from your computer to BYC. It is in the row with the smiley face

 

[Tough Old Bird]

I haven't smelled a skunk in quite a while. I also haven't seen any Turkeys or coons. Just the rabbits.

I thought last year was like "Year of the Skunk"...they were everywhere, including plenty around our property...not so many this year, at least not yet.

Plenty of turkeys.

Saw a coon the 1st night I got my birds. Sheesh.


TOB

 

[Tough Old Bird]

the toolbar at the top of the reply box. hover over the little images until you find the one that says "insert image" Then upload right from your computer to BYC. It is in the row with the smiley face

T H A N K Y O U S T O N Y ! ! !

I will get to those pic's soon. Girls are doing very well -- so far, so good!


TOB