UNPOPULAR OPINIONS! 🥴

[aart]

Here goes. . . . after raising two batches of hatchery chicks, I now think that the only way to raise healthy chicks is via a broody momma. The six chicks currently being raised by my Ayam Cemani seem to be much happier and well adjusted.
Yes, I just said that chickens are can be well adjusted.

Wait until she weans them.
I'd much rather hatch or purchase chicks and integrate early than watch the chicks go thru weaning from a broody.

 

[HenneryTheEighth]

I can't speak to the anti-crow collars, I am in an area where my roosters (and hens!) can scream their heads off all day and night if they want to, and it just makes my heart very happy.

But as for the mealworms, we do buy them, because they are so useful in making and keeping the chickens comfortable around us. I love having the chickens come running/ flying/ flapping out to greet me because I MIGHT have worms! And I am NOT going to dig bugs or worms for them, lol!

My chickens were following me around ALL summer because I would flip over rocks for them. It got to the point where they'd knock on the french doors.... they trained me well.

 

[HenneryTheEighth]

Wait until she weans them.
I'd much rather hatch or purchase chicks and integrate early than watch the chicks go thru weaning from a broody.

Oh, no. Chicken weening. Perhaps I spoke too soon.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Wild jungle chickens!!!
The will to survive is amazing!! They’ve dodged hawks, drop kicked bald eagles, power bombed 2 foxes and clotheslined 1 rather large coyote.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

But you keep egging it on, like you are trying to get people so mad they’ll cave. (I don’t think that’s gonna happen though.)

How is it that you know sooooo much about “cockers?” Is the majority of your job prosecuting those people? BTW, I had never heard that term before, but like I said earlier, I’m not familiar with that lifestyle or its terminology. And also, I don’t have fighting cocks. I have two of the sweetest boys ever. I breed for love and peace — not war!

Also, just my observation, you could and would be much more interesting if you weren’t so “lawyer-like.” Sorry, I didn’t know how to put it

How am I the one egging it on, when I'm the one sticking to substance, and everyone else is in down low in mud slinging and personal attack mode? The only way I could be egging it on is that my continued refuting of attacks on me aggravates people because simply because I'm not caving. And if that's your definition of egging it on, I can't help you. You'll just have to sit there and be egged.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I was trying to figure out why you hold that belief. I’m guessing you haven’t had them all that long to be able to make your number one statement. You have to be kidding me? What’s so unique about your birds that they can survive any and all predators? Again you’re excited about your new found interest but don’t truly know what you’re talking about based on actual experience.
Yes if I agreed I stated I agreed. Wonderful job Matlock.
I would like to see more people own them too but you know that’s never going to happen. Most people don’t even have enough room to allow birds to run all around without becoming a nuisance to neighbors. That whole idea just isn’t practical anymore. Ive seen this brought up by others who got engrossed in the history of gamefowl in the beginning. They were also full of it.
You’re next point is somewhat valid but it’s really just based on available space and predators. If you allow your birds to just run loose all over you aren’t going to end up with much left over to even breed. Very few people trap anymore which made it a lot easier for those walks to actually have any chance of working. Do you trap/hunt to remove some predators? Again I believe you haven’t had them long enough to know how ignorant you sound. Most don’t lose their first chicken regardless of what kind they keep til after a few years when the raccoons, foxes, mink, coyotes etc find the buffet.
To be clear most of my chicks are hatched 100% free range in my yard or the surrounding woods. Then raised with minimal interference. I know what works and what doesn’t based on experience because I’ve done it for years not because I just decided it was a good idea unlike you.
Matlock you’re on a roll! Yes I agree but I still keep layers for eggs. Why? Because they are better than gamefowl for egg production and that’s what they were bred for.
I do actually agree with a lot of what you stated but not for the reasons you believe. I know you’re just repeating what you’ve heard or read and aren’t basing anything off of actual experience.
There’s tons of people on here that have small yards, are very young, older etc.. that can’t handle or don’t want to handle gamefowl. I don’t blame them it’s a lot of work, time and effort to keep them. Everyone has their own interests and some like fluffy docile breeds. I don’t see the issue with that at all.
I would still like to know just how long you’ve been allowing birds to run wild on your property. How many losses? To what predator etc? Let me guess you haven’t lost a single bird right?

Lots of "you"s in there. Like I said, you actually agree with my points. You came here to attack the messenger. I've documented my birds all over this forum. I've lost 4 adults so far over 2 years. Many more chicks.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Lots of "you"s in there. Like I said, you actually agree with my points. You came here to attack the messenger. I've documented my birds all over this forum. I've lost 4 adults so far over 2 years. Many more chicks.

I agree with what I told you I agree with and refuted the rest of the nonsense.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

You're so wrapped up in your own little thing there @Florida Bullfrog, that you fail to see the obvious. The vast majority of people keep chickens mainly for their eggs and/or meat. They don't care about survivability as much as they do putting food on the table. Gamefowl, although quite wonderful in many other ways, are pretty poor providers of either meat or eggs.
You say that chickens without a purpose should be culled. Which begs the question, Mr. Prosecutor, what exactly is the purpose of your chickens?

The purpose of my birds are to be farm birds, with all of the benefits that entails (meat, eggs, ect.) with minimal upkeep so that they can survive on if the day ever comes when the feed stores dry up, as what happened briefly in some areas during the height of Covid.

This is not just theory. My family in the early and mid 1900s kept hundreds of free range game birds on 100 acres of Florida woods with no upkeep. My grandmother harvested 30 or so a month by hunting them with a .22 and that fed the family. They reproduced faster than predators and humans could take them. Each brood cock had a massive harem of hens that they kept in defined territories in the woods, usually around water sources. My goal is to recreate that.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Since chickens lives don’t matter, why should every farm that has the space have game breeds? Your opinions contradict each other, and don’t make very much sense.

The last point means kill, eat, and cull your birds without remorse. It improves them and at the end of the day its better to have a good breed of improved chickens than happy individuals of inferior chickens.

 

[duluthralphie]

The last point means kill, eat, and cull your birds without remorse. It improves them and at the end of the day its better to have a good breed of improved chickens than happy individuals of inferior chickens.