NY chicken lover!!!!

[Chicken girl 15]

Just some thoughts?  

So you can't sell chickens or eggs?  Can you barter?  

How much is a farm policy?  

As for the barn is it a proper barn?  Got pics?  If so you might find some help as there are organizations geared toward Barn preservation.  You also might look for someone local who would donate their expertise on how to repair/restore the barn.  You also might advertise for donated or reduced cost restoration help. I have no doubt you could find folks who would donate help in painting it.  Check CL for free lumber.  I have a friend who had a bunch of usable lumber on CL a while ago. 

Look at it this way. You can ask for help with the barn OR go it alone. If you don't ask for help, as my daughter says, the answer is always no.  

Every year more and more barns are torn down in the name of progress.  

As for renting?  Having rented and all that, I'd choose owning of course, but it too comes at a price. Anything breaks you pay to fix it. While property taxes are deductible, it only means you don't pay taxes on those taxes at the federal level.  The money is still gone.  I've had good landlords and bad. I've learned never to rent if you want a dog. What a pain that was.  Even cats can be hard if you need to find a new place. Some places charge extra.  Point?  There are drawbacks to both situations. 

All that said I hope you get your barn fixed.  Maybe pay to get it fixed and donated painting or vice versa. 

I wish you well, 

Rancher

Thank you for your well wishes. The barn only needs a bit of work to be up to par. Needs 6 4×4×12ft and osb board . Its nothing we can't do quick and easy it's just the driving to town that sucks. Its noisy , smelly and there are to many people.

As for selling , nope not one at all. No bartering no trading , no nothing. Broome Co says it's a no no unless you are a farm. Animals, plants , anything edible you grow or raise can only be consumed by your family unless your a farm or business.

 

[LuvMyChicks1491]

No note mine.

I'm considering a Cochin hen or Silky to use for hatching. Poor buckwheats eggs were duds except for the EE. I don' tknow what i will do if I can't get more Birchens to hatch.

Did I just read this correctly that you are considering getting a cochin..or...a slikie?

Been having a rough couple days here and know you guys would understand. Made the decision to put down one of my horses. The grey Arab mare in the profile pic. She was kicked in the knee, so we bought her to save her from the auction house and certain slaughter truck fate. Had her for 13 years. The calcification has spread from her shifting weight off of the bad leg. All 4 knee/hock joints are calcified. And up her shoulder of the bad leg from the angle of her knee. She hides any pain well, which makes me constantly question my decision. But we don't want her to suffer in the cold weather and worry that she will go down this winter, then rendering truck would be the only option. Going to have her euthanized and buried here in the next couple weeks. Working on lining up the vet and a backhoe.
It sucks. Let my 5 year old daughter know last night. Lots of tears around here.

I'm so sorry

 

[jmdarrow]

Hi everyone! The 3 silkies that I stashed in the husbands car are doing very well. They are being integrated with my flock in a wire cage, in the coop, the problem I am concerned about now is...I have way too many roosters.
The 3 I recently purchased wound up to be 2 roos instead of one. My original 8 turned out to have 5 roos.
I don't want to be the noisy neighbor, as those roos are loud! All. Day. Long. Uggh. Watch me be the one responsible for a chicken ordinance in our town....yup. Me.
So this I ask of you my fellow BYCrs for your helpful advice.
I am keeping one, need advice on the others on how to handle this. I do love them all but want to do the responsible thing.
Any and all advise would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Calamity jane

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Been having a rough couple days here and know you guys would understand. Made the decision to put down one of my horses. The grey Arab mare in the profile pic. She was kicked in the knee, so we bought her to save her from the auction house and certain slaughter truck fate. Had her for 13 years. The calcification has spread from her shifting weight off of the bad leg. All 4 knee/hock joints are calcified. And up her shoulder of the bad leg from the angle of her knee. She hides any pain well, which makes me constantly question my decision. But we don't want her to suffer in the cold weather and worry that she will go down this winter, then rendering truck would be the only option. Going to have her euthanized and buried here in the next couple weeks. Working on lining up the vet and a backhoe.
It sucks. Let my 5 year old daughter know last night. Lots of tears around here.

The grey Arab mare in ur profile pic probably thought she landed in horsey heaven 13 years ago, the first time u saved her. She's a lucky horse & she knows it. It's a true testiment to your heart & humanity that you can know when it's right to let her go. Such an important tho difficult lesson for ur daughter, too. Hugs.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

If I were to breed another color in there it would means years and hundreds of chicks and I'd never be able to the new color out.  As it is I'm dealing with breeding copper out.  So far I'm doing okay with that but the hatching is the problem. With an incubator they're hard to hatch.  This past hatch I got one chick and that one had to have help getting out. 

Keep in mind when you buy from "breeders" who are selling eggs here and elsewhere that they are not really "breeders" but "hatchers".  Of course too when someone says "show quality" the term is pointless since no one can guarantee you will get "show quality"  chickens. This is also true even in dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. etc. 

It may not take as much work as u think to get from BCM to Birchen. Especially w the gold/silver sex linkage. But u know the breed and whatever ur time & space limits are. Are u a member of the Marans of America Club? Someone there might be able to help you.

That being said, I look at my own flock and wonder if I could drop back a few more birds. Maybe I have too many projects going on, maybe I don't need so many. Idk. Love them all & their potential. None of them are perfect as far as breed standard, but that potential, ugh.

 

[PhoredaBurds]

Hey hey. Newer chickener here (started in... July?), on Lake Ontario. Getting a rooster soon to help warn about, ahem, two legged predators. Probably going to end up with the unintentional side effect of chicks in the not so far future.

How goes?

Welcome!
If ur looking for a feathered alarm system, you might consider geese, either Chinese or Africans are the loud ones. Good luck!

 

[Pyxis]

Welcome!
If ur looking for a feathered alarm system, you might consider geese, either Chinese or Africans are the loud ones. Good luck!

I'm going to second this. Geese are fantastic watch birds. Roosters don't make noise to alert you to any danger they see. Chickens have a quiet sound they make to alert the flock that they see danger without drawing any attention to themselves. Then the rooster might try to fight off the danger while the hens run for cover, but if you're trying to protect your flock from two legged predators, you'd need a human aggressive rooster - and the means he'd be aggressive towards you too, which you do not want.

Geese, however, will very loudly announce anything they see that's out of the ordinary. I have three, and they are quiet most of the time, but the second they see something they don't like I'm aware of it. This includes people they don't know as well as other predators like unfamiliar dogs, etc. Plus, for some reason, a lot of people are scared of geese and won't even want to go near them. Roosters, they aren't as scared of.

If you don't want geese, you might also consider guinea fowl. They also loudly go off about predators, although they are loud almost all the time, and mine don't care at all about people, so they might not be the best for your situation.

 

[2Fast2Curious]

Welcome ....you have problems with people Stealing chickens ?
or other stuff ? Not sure a Rooster will help with that ...a dog might ?

Unfortunately, both my partner and I are allergic to dogs and we aren't dog people.

Welcome!
If ur looking for a feathered alarm system, you might consider geese, either Chinese or Africans are the loud ones. Good luck!

I would love geese, and we plan to get some at some point, but they're explicitly prohibited by town code. When we can finally upgrade to a farm, though!

I'm going to second this. Geese are fantastic watch birds. Roosters don't make noise to alert you to any danger they see. Chickens have a quiet sound they make to alert the flock that they see danger without drawing any attention to themselves. Then the rooster might try to fight off the danger while the hens run for cover, but if you're trying to protect your flock from two legged predators, you'd need a human aggressive rooster - and the means he'd be aggressive towards you too, which you do not want.

Geese, however, will very loudly announce anything they see that's out of the ordinary. I have three, and they are quiet most of the time, but the second they see something they don't like I'm aware of it. This includes people they don't know as well as other predators like unfamiliar dogs, etc. Plus, for some reason, a lot of people are scared of geese and won't even want to go near them. Roosters, they aren't as scared of.

If you don't want geese, you might also consider guinea fowl. They also loudly go off about predators, although they are loud almost all the time, and mine don't care at all about people, so they might not be the best for your situation.
The guinea fowl are something we'd like, though there's two current complications:
1. They seem really, really expensive, and
2. Pretty sure our neighbors would make a stink.

Would there be any other animals that would help to protect (or alarm about) our birds? We looked at emus, but again they're fairly expensive both to buy and maintain. Swans are also expensive, not to mention we have no water nearby.

The chickens also make the "land predator" sound when this guy comes around. He's... done some ****ed up things to them, after which he puts them back. (It's an ongoing case.) Would a laidback (we're getting an australorp this weekend) rooster go after someone the hens identify as a threat?

 

[Beer can]

The chickens also make the "land predator" sound when this guy comes around. He's... done some ****ed up things to them, after which he puts them back. (It's an ongoing case.) Would a laidback (we're getting an australorp this weekend) rooster go after someone the hens identify as a threat?

Trail cam.
Shotgun.
Maybe one of those three foot tall roosters, Malay or Asil.
Growing up we had a RIR rooster that would put the fear into visitors, kept the electric man up the pole, mom had to beat him with a broom, dad fed the chickens with a garbage can top as a shield, we kids didn't play outside when they were free ranging, I DON'T recommend it....

 

[Pyxis]

The chickens also make the "land predator" sound when this guy comes around. He's... done some ****ed up things to them, after which he puts them back. (It's an ongoing case.) Would a laidback (we're getting an australorp this weekend) rooster go after someone the hens identify as a threat?

Sorry to hear about your problems As Beer Can said, a game cam to collect evidence will help, especially if you have an open case against him. And if you get an aggressive rooster, as Beer Can also pointed out, they don't just attack some people, they attack ALL people.

I would suggest an LGD but I see you are allergic, unfortunately.

Emus are on my wishlist, too. I'll be hatching my own when I am ready for them.

Guineas shouldn't be too expensive, at least not any more than chickens are. But they are loud, so if you have close neighbors that might be a problem.

A Black Australorp rooster that's laid back towards people probably won't attack a human bothering the hens. I have some hens that don't like to be picked up and scream bloody murder and make the "I'm being killed" sound when I grab them. All my roosters just ignore it.

Can you perhaps do something like a fully enclosed run and just keep them locked in with a padlock when you aren't around? That way he'd have no access to them whatsoever.