Texas

[Starfire669]

Feel free to blow up the thread... Though I won't be doing any hatching anytime soon, I'm always down to learn more! (I'm a nerd like that lol)

I love learning too, but others may get sick of us discussing chicken breeding on this thread. Especially since we both write long paragraphs while having this discussion, lol.

 

[mommacassey]

I do appreciate any advice. I originally though to get 3 or 4 pullets but after talking to someone who has lots (50) chickens. She was saying more is better than less. I know 100% that we cannot do more than 6.

Yeah, I was thinking about 3-4 when I got started with 2 young chickens given to me. Then I went to buy those couple more that I wanted, but I picked out 4, so at the moment, we have 6 chickens ranging from about 3 weeks to about 12 weeks old. I still wouldn't mind more, but I'm putting it off for another year. Our city's ordinance will allow us to have 10 chickens (or combination of other small animals, which means that with our two rabbits, even though they are indoors, we're already at 8--technically, we're allowed more than 10 only if we have written permission from our neighbors and pay for a "special use" license.

And... since it turns out one of our rabbits is a boy, when we were told they were both girls... we might be well over 10 within the next month. ACK!

Still, in my mind, if our neighbors were to complain or the city people ever came out to check, all they'd have to know about would be the outside animals, and the rabbits will stay indoors--but now, in separate hutches! So we're going to stick with a top limit of 10 chickens, and try to keep it a little under that so we can always have room to grow the flock as the older chickens lay fewer eggs.

 

[magpiesing]

Wow, what a learning experience haveing chickens. i had so many preconceived notions about chickens. They are as different as people even within the same breed. Our 2 leghorn roos (1 white, 1 brown) are growing so fast. They were hatched on 3-18 and both are already interested in the girls chasing and trying to jump their bones. \

Issac, (the brown) is already trying to crow....he sounds so funny. He hasn't gotten the whole thing down yet only the long errrrrr at the end and he sounds like a badly rusted hinge. LOL. On the other hand...My 5 month old mutt roo Kanga goes thru the motions but nothing comes out but a squawk.

So far my main mature roo Abraham has allowed Kanga to mount and try, but yesterday he came running to a hens rescue and pinched Kanga"s toe enough to make him limp a bit....guess he wasn't doing something right. Thankfully there has been no real aggression. Only time will tell as the leghorn and SLW roos mature as to which stay. Even though Abraham is aggressive towards me he will stay for now mainly because of his large size and he is good at his job...very protective and produces fertile eggs. Gotta love chickens!!

 

[henless]

I don't see how I will ever get caught up on BYC.
My daughter's wedding was beautiful. A lot of hard work. I am pooped. Happy, Happy, Happy. [/IMG]

Looks like you have a very happy bride there!

Don't worry about catching up. I just jump in where I land.

 

[mommacassey]

I plan on slaughtering my extra gander for Christmas this year, so I will let you know how goose tastes.

We bought a goose for Christmas dinner one year--about 10 years ago, now, wow!--and enjoyed it, flavor-wise. The thing was, there wasn't as much meat as we'd been expecting. I knew that for the number of people we had we were going to need a heavier goose than if we'd gotten a turkey, but my grandmother-in-law still complained about not getting enough to eat.

Now, my husband is against ever having goose again. *sigh* But it was good!

 

[Brookshire11]

I'm in the Austin area and would like to learn how to process chickens for eating. Is there anybody within a 50 miles radius or so of Austin who would let me come help the next time they need to do this? Possibly even let me bring a few of my own birds and process them at the same time?

What a good idea.
I can't help you, I don't process yet, but I HAVE watched a few videos on youtube, to get a visual.
Hope you find help!

I love learning too, but others may get sick of us discussing chicken breeding on this thread. Especially since we both write long paragraphs while having this discussion, lol.

But..but..isn't that what this forum is for??

I enjoy it! Chickens and cooking/baking are 2 things I NEVER get tired of talking about or hearing about

Looks like you have a very happy bride there!

Don't worry about catching up. I just jump in where I land.

@hensfortherapy She looks SO beautiful and happy!!
I can tell just by those 2 pictures that all the stress and planning was worth it

Also, I second Henless (with chickens

), I had caught all up, was replying to everyone when my browser closed..I gave up lol


@Starfire669 I'm so sorry about your cat. We lost our sweet boy, Crook, to liver failure last summer. It was very sudden, he was too overweight and I didn't notice the jaundice or weight loss because we were packing for our move up here. He was hiding and I figured it was just the circumstances.
We found out after our vet closed on Saturday, and with the sudden move, we couldn't afford an emergency vet visit. I syringe fed him, bought high calorie gel, he passed late, late on Sunday, on our drive up here from Houston. He was the best cat I've ever had.

@bnjrob Love reading your posts! I always enjoy your advice/experience!

 

[Starfire669]

Wow, what a learning experience haveing chickens.  i had so many preconceived notions about chickens.  They are as different as people even within the same breed.  Our 2 leghorn roos (1 white, 1 brown) are growing so fast.  They were hatched on 3-18 and both are already interested in the girls chasing and trying to jump their bones.  \

Issac, (the brown) is already trying to crow....he sounds so funny.  He hasn't gotten the whole thing down yet only the long errrrrr at the end and he sounds like a badly rusted hinge.  LOL.   On the other hand...My 5 month old mutt roo Kanga goes thru the motions but nothing comes out but a squawk.

So far my main mature roo Abraham has allowed Kanga to mount and try, but yesterday he came running to a hens rescue and pinched Kanga"s toe enough to make him limp a bit....guess he wasn't doing something right.  Thankfully there has been no real aggression.  Only time will tell as the leghorn and SLW roos mature as to which stay.  Even though Abraham is aggressive towards me he will stay for now mainly because of his large size and he is good at his job...very protective and produces fertile eggs.  Gotta love chickens!!

Awesome that you have a good rooster on the job,but it sucks that heis aggressive towards you.

 

[Starfire669]

We bought a goose for Christmas dinner one year--about 10 years ago, now, wow!--and enjoyed it, flavor-wise.  The thing was, there wasn't as much meat as we'd been expecting.  I knew that for the number of people we had we were going to need a heavier goose than if we'd gotten a turkey, but my grandmother-in-law still complained about not getting enough to eat.

Now, my husband is against ever having goose again. *sigh*  But it was good!

Well, if the goose isn't as large as needed it won't be a problem for us. My family does Thanksgiving and Christmas somewhat different. Each subfamily brings 1 meat and its fixings. My mom always cooks the turkey, my brother-in-law does ham cause that's what he likes, and I used to bring whatever meat I wanted. So now this year I'm bringing goose, and next year gonna bring duck. Let's hope that the family likes 1 of the 2 meats lol.

 

[TherryChicken]

Is there anyone here that can't cull their birds for any reason at all? I can't do it. I've culled 2 birds in years.. I just can't do it

 

[Starfire669]

Is there anyone here that can't cull their birds for any reason at all? I can't do it. I've culled 2 birds in years.. I just can't do it

So what do you do with your birds if you don't cull?