post your chicken coop pictures here!

[gpeters3]

They arnt just chickens at my house they all have names and they stay until they die and there house has a pad lock on it

Hesitated to say that, whish I hadn't now but I do understand how you can feel that way. I was raised around a farm and participated in all the normal farm things including butchering chickens so it's less traumatic for me, sorry if I hurt your feelings :-( I've had pets I cried over too.

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

It's fine the only time I put down an animal is to put an end to its suffering but I don't like to eat much meat bough so I have no reason to butcher but even if I did I wouldn't be able to eat it because I know it was my pet and i was the one who had to take care of it feed and water so I can under stand how u can feel different about ur animals than I do we even take in strays heck I was chasing around a chicken at tractor supply parking lot because I didn't want it getting hit on the road

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Hey I have problems too. As long as its not all caps I am good with the size.... Most web browsers have a place to change the wepbage size. All of it right now I have my page set to 120 percent. Sorry about the browsing tutorial... I wasnt awake. The totally embarrased when I saw what I had done. Sigh.

Easter egger (my feed store called them Americanas), Ameraucana, Auracana...

why do they do this stuff to us.

Auracana= Tail less bird in US they have tufts on thier cheeks. Very low hatch rate. originate in Chile from the Gallina Mapuche. They were the foundation stock for many blue egg laying breeds.

Ameraucana= Bearded with tails and lay Blue or blue green eggs. They breed true so no surprises.

Easter egger= Any breed crossed with a blue egglaying breed so eggs will be varying color from the foundation stock influence.. Ranging from pink to blue green.

For what its worth Blue egg laying chickens Gallina Mabuche went to Spain before they came to the US so blue egg laying breeds are found all over Europe.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

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I got attached to a few chickens too and had to let go when they were taken or lost. I know how you feel but they are still just chickens and when they get a little older and no longer lay well you will probably butcher them. That's what raising chickens it all about. If they are just pets then you may have different feelings about it but even so, for about $2 you can go the farm store and get another one and enjoy raising it all over again. We all enjoy watching puppies and kittens and chickens play and grow from babies, that's the way we are made. I don't have any other pets and the chickens will eventually be eaten but, in the mean time, I will enjoy them as pets

Kind of half way here. I will raise meat birds and dual purpose birds specifically for the table. I am a softie though and a hen that lays for several years probably would go out to the mutt flock. or retirement flock. I tend to adopt ones that need a home so no expectations from them.

I am not retired yet but will soon and my paradigm may shift when I am on a fixed income.

deb

 

[ShrekDawg]

I'd like to think that I'm the same way, that I could raise meat birds and still have pets, but in all honesty I don't think I could... i mean one time at a party at my uncles the neighbor brought ham and supposedly it was the best ham anyone had had so i took one bite size piece off after dinner and tried it and spat it back out. Couldn't eat it. Reason being was they raised him and a while before they had showed us pictures of him and he was the cutest piglet you ever saw and they had named him Kevin Bacon. So when it came time to butcher him and they brought him over I didn't think of him as ham, I thought of him as Kevin Bacon the cute piglet. And that wasn't even my pig, never even met him, so i imagine it's the same if i raised meat birds or any animal. My chickens I specifically got as pets who also lay eggs so they will stay for life.

 

[TJordan]

Well by now u are probably wondering what else can go wrong but it's not ur fault things happen u learn from mistakes and I am sorry for ur losses but once u get that coop built u will be able to set back and sun tan in the nice summer sun by the pool without a worry

You buying me a pool?!

Husband wants to build a 8'x8' box coop 4' tall and to have a peaked roof that half folds down for easy cleaning. I'm going to suggest 1/4' hardware cloth for the bottom for cleanup and it will sit on 6 cinder blocks for air flow.

I saw a picture where someone had a peaked roof that opened like that and had installed the nest boxes in the other side. That way you can collect eggs, clean up and refresh bedding easily.

 

[TJordan]

Quote:

 

With only the crude start of a coop begun my fears were realized a min ago. My dog got off her chain and pushed the run access open. Several got out. I was able to get all I could find inside but I missed one. Just heard her squall from next door. When I looked a big dog had her in its mouth.

I'm depressed now. Both kids are home as well. Son showing signs of crud and my daughter has a sore thought.

 

I feel ya,  My wife's niece threw up all over my van last night, came from nowhere and my wife and i are always sick because we babysit all our family and friends kids.

 

I got attached to a few chickens too and had to let go when they were taken or lost.  I know how you feel but they are still just chickens and when they get a little older and no longer lay well you will probably butcher them.  That's what raising chickens it all about.  If they are just pets then you may have different feelings about it but even so, for about $2 you can go the farm store and get another one and enjoy raising it all over again.  We all enjoy watching puppies and kittens and chickens play and grow from babies, that's the way we are made.  I don't have any other pets and the chickens will eventually be eaten but, in the mean time, I will enjoy them as pets

They are working birds. Not pets as my husband says. I butcher the roosters when they go mean. I cull my hens after 3 years and this hen that I lost today was a young lady. Just started laying good.

 

[Sylvester017]

Went to the Giant thread and pictures there looked exactly like mine. Ausralorps looked dull rather than shiny and the body shape was longer, more like the isa. Pictures can be hard to interpret i guess. My black one is very shiny, no white in it at all and the same size and shape as the others. All 5 are about the same size. The barred rock may be the largest. I guess i could bring a bathroom scale out and try to weigh them you just put them on the scale and command them to stay, right?

Get on the scale and weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself holding the chicken. The difference in scale number will be what the chicken weighs. Crude -- but gives you a general idea of the chicken's weight. Of course, a baby scale is best to weigh a chicken but regular people scales will do in a pinch.

 

[gpeters3]

I'd like to think that I'm the same way, that I could raise meat birds and still have pets, but in all honesty I don't think I could... i mean one time at a party at my uncles the neighbor brought ham and supposedly it was the best ham anyone had had so i took one bite size piece off after dinner and tried it and spat it back out. Couldn't eat it. Reason being was they raised him and a while before they had showed us pictures of him and he was the cutest piglet you ever saw and they had named him Kevin Bacon. So when it came time to butcher him and they brought him over I didn't think of him as ham, I thought of him as Kevin Bacon the cute piglet. And that wasn't even my pig, never even met him, so i imagine it's the same if i raised meat birds or any animal. My chickens I specifically got as pets who also lay eggs so they will stay for life.

My stepson raised Flemish Giants for FFA project. Supposed to be for meat but they were all pets and I had to butcher them. He wouldn't eat them. You have to know Jeff to understand, he was just that kind of guy. He had his favorite doe in his bed playing with her and she jumped in an awkward position and broke her back (Flemish giants are very long and heavy). I took her to the vet, paid way more than she was worth to get his opinion and then to euthanize her and he cried for a week. He was 16 when that happened

 

[gpeters3]

Get on the scale and weigh yourself. Then weigh yourself holding the chicken. The difference in scale number will be what the chicken weighs. Crude -- but gives you a general idea of the chicken's weight. Of course, a baby scale is best to weigh a chicken but regular people scales will do in a pinch.

First I have to catch them, They eat out of my hand but won't let me approach them so that I could grab them. My stepson catches them by the legs and hangs them upside down. Once he has them hanging they calm right down. That seems a little harsh to me so I just won't worry about weighing them