The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Gramma Chick]

Ouch ! huge egg
http://www.natureworldnews.com/arti...-china-half-pound-shocks-villlagers-video.htm

 

[delisha]

Quote: Imported English Orpingtons that are grown out a bit to assess quality usually go for $500.00 + for a trio. Right now adult Mottled English Orpintons are going for $1000.00 a bird

 

[delisha]

This is NOT my bird

This is a Mottled English Orpington

I am working on this project and making my own

I have F1


Here are a few of mine

I will breed these to each other and my Black Orp.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

Imported English Orpingtons that are grown out a bit to assess quality usually go for $500.00 + for a trio. Right now adult Mottled English Orpintons are going for $1000.00 a bird

If I paid that much for birds they'd be living in the master bedroom and the cats/dog and I would be sleeping in the coop.

I have seen some photos of birds here on BYC that make me wish I had that much money to invest in birds, but

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

You are making hard but excellent decisions. Knowing what you really want to keep and enjoy rather than collect a bunch of different kinds and have troubles with them. I wish I could breed and raise every known color of Silkies but it would be folly. I am already counting down the weeks till we process the turkeys. They spend most of their free time chasing my flock and though there is no stomping yet, I know it's only a matter of time. My pullets are already terrified of the turkeys as it is. They look like five velociraptors chasing them all around the barn yard.

I've decided now is a good time to start processing the turkeys we're raising this year -- they eat so much and I'm starting to want their coop/run for other things. They are Broad Breasted Bronze, and the toms are already getting kinda big to manage in a kitchen. We processed one last weekend and I cooked it yesterday ... as plain as possible (for me that meant rubbing it in butter mixed with lots of spices, stuffing it loosely with onions and garlic, and putting sprigs of fresh rosemary everywhere), so no brining ... as a test. It was definitely smaller and had less fat than the ones we let grow until Thanksgiving last year, but the smaller size was easier to manage and it had *plenty* of meat and was moist and tender and *delicious* even without the brining. A fantastic result!

I *really* love turkeys. Their personalities are so much fun, and they are great at guarding the area and are easy to let range during the day, and they make such entertaining noises. They are constantly talking to me, even through the windows. But they do eat a lot and I don't really have customers lined up who are willing to pay enough for the birds to cover the cost of the feed.

It makes me sad to think of not having the turkeys around, but it is always worth it to make the hard decisions.

 

[lalaland]

Somebody posted a link to a temporary fence made from 2x4 lumber with a cross brace at the bottom and a wooden turn latch at the top to just hold the fencing material against the wood. It is being sold by a company, I believe. I cannot find it again, to save my life, so I'm asking in every thread I subscribe to. If you posted it or saw it, please direct me to it, again. Thanks so much!

it is the same place that had that treehouse coop that I posted a link to a couple of weeks back. I'll look tonight when I get home to see if I can find my post.

 

[jockeyeba]

I'm going insane My husband brought a load of hay from our horse barn around to the chicken yard but he picked it up off the ground I put it in some nesting boxes & under a hen that just hatched chicks. I felt something & looked at my hands, their covered in tiny,tiny critters MITES of some kind Now I keep finding them crawling on my face I think their in my bathroom on clothes I took off & my hairbrush had some when I knocked it on the sink edge to see if any were on it We picked up all the hay & put DE down everywhere. What else can I do? I keep finding them crawling on me I am going crazy

 

[aoxa]

Imported English Orpingtons that are grown out a bit to assess quality usually go for $500.00 + for a trio. Right now adult Mottled English Orpintons are going for $1000.00 a bird

I thought I was crazy for paying $300 for my pair of geese. I feel less crazy now. Especially since they frequently take grand champion (or reserve) at our shows here. Both shows I attended, and the past two years before that they have been Grand Champion of show (2012 & 2011) and Reserve Grand Champion (2010).



I bet you'd be really sick if one passed away. :S

Not trying to criticize you by the way, just think the prices are too much. It would be hard to make that back with chickens. No one here would ever go for it.

 

[lalaland]

ok, Delisha and everyone, here is one of the unidentified roosters, about 12 weeks old. There are two roo's, looking very similiar but with different combs. The first two is of one of the roos, and the last two are of the other guy. Except for comb, and the difference in amount of white on the back, they are very similiar. .

and another:

 

[aoxa]

ok, Delisha and everyone, here is one of the unidentified roosters, about 12 weeks old. There are two roo's, looking very similiar but with different combs. The first two is of one of the roos, and the last two are of the other guy. Except for comb, and the difference in amount of white on the back, they are very similiar. .

and another:

Definitely Icelandic!