Texas

[jajeanpierre]

Can we get back to talking about chickens and not the break down, real or imagined, of society?

Crime--in all categories--has been dropping steadily for 20 years. Check the FBI statistics. There are a lot of reasons some want society to be fearful and think things are getting worse but they aren't getting worse.

 

[mandaleigh1981]

Anyhow, I posted earlier that I was buying some new chicks this evening and wanted advice on socializing them into the rest of my flock. Any takers? The flock is 7 mo olds, and the new chicks are 1 mo old. Thanks.

 

[Italia]

Do you eat chicken? If you eat chicken, I really think you should look at slaughtering your own. Factory farming is just really, really horrible. Your chickens' meat will be healthier for you and they will have a good life until they have one bad day. If you do it right, the bad day is not as stressful as you would imagine. (As an aside, you have to really be prepared so you don't botch the process.)

Those roosters you "rehome" are slaughtered, and not always as humanely as you would want.

I always believed that if the world came to an end, I would die of starvation/malnutrition rather than be able to kill for food. After researching factory farming and processing, I've decided that I don't want to support that kind of cruelty so I am going to slaughter my own. I was having a lot of trouble finding a backbone to actually do it.

I've done everything I can to put it off. I've researched, I've bought the equipment but until two days ago I hadn't actually done it.

Actually no, I do not eat chicken as it does not provide enough fat for the very specific diet I am on. I buy all my meat from organic pasture raised farms. I do start off every morning with eggs. All of my adopties have actually gone to homes that children wanted them for pets. Mostly silkie and polish.

I am glad you have gotten to the point that you are able to do this. I have not, yet. That is why I have not started raising my own pigs because they will end up with names and maybe some pink tootoos. lol

I did not post this to talk about how pathetic I am but to let others know that someone in Texas has an adoption/processing plant that can help wimps like me. If it was not for my health I would eat a rabbit diet.

 

[LBejaran]

My father in law works on a large ranch in Falfurrias. Lol, I do speak a little Spanish, just because I lived in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood growing up. I understand more than I can speak if that makes any sense! You definitely are in the Deep South. It stinks that no one else around you is into this. If it makes you feel better, I live in a very rural area as well, and barely know my neighbors even though we have lived here for 6 years. People just tend to keep to themselves. Luckily I have DH around most of them time or I would go insane. We are actually considering a possible move to the Hill Country just because the oilfield has overtaken our little town and it is very overcrowded right now. Then I would be even more isolated. I am a pretty simple girl though, and as long as I have my husband and the kids I am happy.

Spanish is just a language I never picked up. I'm trying to learn it now, but every time I speak it aloud, my sister laughs at me because I sound like I'm 5 years old. It's hilarious to her.

The other people around here with livestock tend to prefer larger animals like cattle/horses/sheep/goats/hogs/etc. I think someone around here has emu as well. Of course, I would be the one who owns chickens in a place where a good avian vet is hard to find. I think there are others around here with chickens, but they tend to be fairly isolated or have been raising them for so long that they are more of a fixture than a flock. One girl I met in college had chickens but didn't like to talk about them. And the other kid I knew who had them asked if I was going to fight mine. That conversation ended fast.

The Hill Country is lovely! My Tio & Tia live up there. Definitely a nice place. We used to live in a fairly rural place, but then it became overrun with city people. One of our neighbors is absolutely horrible. They threatened to call the cops on my brother for being in the field behind our house (the owners of that field said we could be back there). Punks.

I think I just crave some socialization. I don't go out and party or get down with friends, so I substitute a social life with chickens. I guess at this point, I just want to socialize with people who love chickens, too. Oddly enough, the people I originally knew who loved chickens were vegans, so I couldn't understand the appeal. She had...like 8 roosters. She got straight run chicks, beautiful, well-bred birds and ended up giving me three. It was hilarious and I just didn't understand why she was so silly.

Sigh. If I moved away to a more isolated spot, I know what I would do. I'd go crazy. I'd buy five more turkeys, ten more chickens, a dairy goat, bees, and meat rabbits. I'd go nuts because of the solitude and eventually, I'd just be the crazy animal lady who brandishes an axe whenever there are too many roosters. Oh, the horror!

 

[Italia]

Can we get back to talking about chickens and not the break down, real or imagined, of society?

Crime--in all categories--has been dropping steadily for 20 years. Check the FBI statistics. There are a lot of reasons some want society to be fearful and think things are getting worse but they aren't getting worse.

sure. Imagined?

 

[wlhtx]

Anyhow, I posted earlier that I was buying some new chicks this evening and wanted advice on socializing them into the rest of my flock.  Any takers?  The flock is 7 mo olds, and the new chicks are 1 mo old.  Thanks.

Is your set-up one where you could put them next to each other, but separated by hardware cloth or something else see through? I did that we when first introduced some 6 wk old chicks to our adult flock. I actually just put their big brooder, which was mostly made out of hardware cloth, into the adult pen. That way they would be separated but could still see each other and get over the initial curiosity before letting them totally interact. I think I left them that way for 2-3 weeks before starting to let them free range together during the day. That also helps, if they have a lot of room to roam around so that the younger birds have some running room if the bigger ones get too rough.

 

[mandaleigh1981]

Is your set-up one where you could put them next to each other, but separated by hardware cloth or something else see through? I did that we when first introduced some 6 wk old chicks to our adult flock. I actually just put their big brooder, which was mostly made out of hardware cloth, into the adult pen. That way they would be separated but could still see each other and get over the initial curiosity before letting them totally interact. I think I left them that way for 2-3 weeks before starting to let them free range together during the day. That also helps, if they have a lot of room to roam around so that the younger birds have some running room if the bigger ones get too rough.

Our runs are right next to each other and separated by just chicken wire. I was thinking about keeping em totally separate for a couple of weeks and then moving a few of my more docile girls over a couple at a time every few days until they are all together in an open run. I know some pecking will happen; it already does, and it isn't even the roos that are mean its a couple of hens. I just don't want dead birds!!

 

[wlhtx]

Can we get back to talking about chickens and not the break down, real or imagined, of society?

Crime--in all categories--has been dropping steadily for 20 years.  Check the FBI statistics.  There are a lot of reasons some want society to be fearful and think things are getting worse but they aren't getting worse.

I think the references to the break down in society was more in regards to the increasingly apparent lack of manners and morals and ethics nowadays. You don't necessarily have to to on the FBI's crime statistics list to be considered a degenerate and/or a drain on society...

 

[Jungleexplorer]

Did you know them?? Hearing stuff about break ins pisses me off. Nothing worse than someone who takes something they did not earn from someone who works hard every day.

People can be such trolls. This seems to be a growing trend, too. More and more people feel entitled to things that they in no way earned, and that breeds the mentality that it is ok to take from someone else who has more than they do.

The mindset of believing that you deserve something you did not earn is called "Entitlement minded". The mindset that justifies a person to aggressively take that which they believe they deserve but did not earn is called, "Arrogant Entitlement". Unfortunately, this is a mindset that is growing by leaps and bounds in this country as a result of the leaders constantly preaching that the rich should be forced to pay more of their hard earned money so it can be given to those who did nothing to earn it. Oh that our country could return to the values that made it great and the philosophies of Abraham Lincoln.

"The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor ---property is desirable --- --- is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built."

 

[wlhtx]

Our runs are right next to each other and separated by just chicken wire.  I was thinking about keeping em totally separate for a couple of weeks and then moving a few of my more docile girls over a couple at a time every few days until they are all together in an open run.  I know some pecking will happen; it already does, and it isn't even the roos that are mean its a couple of hens.  I just don't want dead birds!!

I think that sounds like a great idea! I think that slow introduction is the key. And once they get used to integrating with the more docile adults them they will be more prepared to stay out of the way of the bossy ones! I also noticed that it helps if the younger ones are introduced as a group. This Spring I introduced different groups of 7, 15, and 3. The poor little group of 3 by far had the worst time of it...