What questions would you want answered?

[cackydoodledoo]

I am certainly not saying to scare them but if you can't handle culling a chicken then you shouldn't own them IMHO!!! Are we supposed to sugar coat it and make it seem like it's this beautiful wonderful experience absolutely all the time. NO they need to know that this is reality and in the case of a very sick or hurt chicken they will need to do this! It's not scary it's reality!!!!!

 

[mamabahre]

Quote:
I don't mind culling myself...But I totally disagree a family who wants 3 chickens for their kids and a few eggs does NOT need to know how to cull a sick bird, it's called picking up the phone calling a vet and having it put down by the vet. Simple.

A LOT of people can't handle culling a chicken, on these boards that OWN chickens successfully. It is not a matter of sugar coating it is a matter of keeping in mind the audience you are teaching too.
and while it may not be scary to you or me to many MANY, most people it is freaking inconceivable.

 

[HennyPennyHenHouse]

As a first time chicken mom of 6 chicks who are 13 days old, I didn't realize how fast the chicks would grow and what I thought would be an appropriate brooder for 4 weeks will only last for about 2. In the process of coming up with another plan before the coop is done. Wish I had known my original cage would not work for all that long.

 

[cackydoodledoo]

Quote:
I don't mind culling myself...But I totally disagree a family who wants 3 chickens for their kids and a few eggs does NOT need to know how to cull a sick bird, it's called picking up the phone calling a vet and having it put down by the vet. Simple.

I disagree. It's not necessarily that simple. A lot of vets don't do chickens and if you can find one that will come all the way out to your house to put one down at 3 in the morning when it's attacked by a predator and in severe pain then you got a darn good vet!!! Don't forget the vet bill that will come with it too. If they are not gonna cull then they need to make sure their vet is willing to provide this type of service and be aware that it won't be cheap. Even our vet here that does farm animals wouldn't do it I don't think. He would just tell a person how to humanely cull it and leave it at that. The vets here charge $100 plus mileage for a ranch call so if you add that to after hours and the euthanasia you are looking at a couple hundred dollars for a chicken that only cost you a few bucks to begin with.

 

[mamabahre]

Quote:
I don't mind culling myself...But I totally disagree a family who wants 3 chickens for their kids and a few eggs does NOT need to know how to cull a sick bird, it's called picking up the phone calling a vet and having it put down by the vet. Simple.

I disagree. It's not necessarily that simple. A lot of vets don't do chickens and if you can find one that will come all the way out to your house to put one down at 3 in the morning when it's attacked by a predator and in severe pain then you got a darn good vet!!! Don't forget the vet bill that will come with it too. If they are not gonna cull then they need to make sure their vet is willing to provide this type of service and be aware that it won't be cheap. Even our vet here that does farm animals wouldn't do it I don't think. He would just tell a person how to humanely cull it and leave it at that. The vets here charge $100 plus mileage for a ranch call so if you add that to after hours and the euthanasia you are looking at a couple hundred dollars for a chicken that only cost you a few bucks to begin with.

once again think about the audience...you are ignoring that point. We aren't talking about ranchers out in the middle of nowhere or people who are raising 300 meat birds. maybe a separate lesson on culling or basic info on emergency culling but people don't get a dog knowing how to kill it in the middle of the the night if it is attacked...you go to a vet..even a vet with no chicken experience, can and will put it out of it's misery...Chickens are backyard pets to A LOT of people so no I don't think they have to be tough enough to cull their own bird under any circumstance. We don't ask that of any other BACKYARD pet...A chicken as livestock is TOTALLY different in regard to how you handle/raise it. Someone on a ranch already knows or did their homework on what to do with a chicken..I hope at least.

This is a beginning class covering chicken ownership not an intensive seminar on all things chicken. I think it is weird to make people who might want 2 chickens as pets watch one be slaughtered so they can prove to you that they are "tough" enough to own a chicken.

 

[schellie69]

I got my girls for egg laying, and my 1st year I had to cull a hen for a really bad infection. Thanks to a couple of wonderful members of BYC and my DH the deed was done. I think it is important to let people know that most vets will not handle a chicken they will have to handle most medical problems on their own. I would cover
Feed at each stage
Housing as chicks all the way up to laying
Not having to have a rooster for eggs just chicks
Free ranging
Predators
First aid/culling-----make sure to include things like bumble foot, worming, respiratory infections
Web-sites to help
The different placed to buy chicks or hatching eggs
Quarantining new birds
How to wash and store eggs

That is all I can think of right now.

 

[mamabahre]

Quote:
To be clear, I don't think culling should be ignored! it is important to know about it and at least be directed to where you can learn more, at the very least.

I think starting a class with a live demonstration and killing a bird in front of a bunch of people who don't even own any is unnecessary and pointless unless you are trying to see how "tough" people are.

Ahh, the egg bits is good! People who I just talk to casually know so little about eggs in general but they eat them almost every day...I'm sure they eat them every day actually considering egg products are in so much processed food.

 

[N2Shown]

I think that the topic of culling including reasons why it would need to be done and the methods of doing it would definitely need to be a topic for the class. Not sure a live demonstration would be necessary. I am new here but have been raising livestock for a long time and no matter what your reason for raising them you always have to cull some. JMO.

 

[donrae]

Is it general chicken keeping or chick raising? I guess you could cover both.........

For chicks
Correct brooder temp and not to fry the little nuggets

What to feed them.
You'll need a bigger brooder than you think
That baby chicks fall asleep standing up, it's okay
That chicks get a large crop when they gorge themselves

For general
What to feed, cover grit and oyster shell
Cover dustbathing, no you're chicken's not having convulsions lol
Predators, as mentioned, everything wants a chicken dinner
Basics of egg-laying and reproduction--no roo to get eggs, broodiness
Appropriate housing and fencing
The fact that if you let them range in your backyard they will destroy your landscaping
General pecking order issues
Cover the range of "weird" eggs it's possible to get, it doen't mean your hen is dying


How long did you say this course is?

 

[rynegold]

Uh... as a rural Okie, and raised as such, I'm going to raise a simple thought. More often than not, I join/post on forums of various sorts to glean information about a topic in which I'm poorly versed, and to the note, find that the people on these forums usually represent only a fraction of the fancy/interest in question.
I'm on everything from Civil War ordnance, astronomy, medieval history, to yoga forums and, find in most, much good information. However on this forum, though I have already learned a great deal, I can safely bet, that this forum population represents probably less than .25 of a single percent of the coop keepers of our good ol' USA.

The majority, by and large are non- computer using, common country folks which posses a ton of knowledge on this subject of poultry/animal husbandry (yes; that's right, thats what we're doing...) that will never come your way because lineally, its just not possible. We here are in a lineal "cell" if you like, and by way of a lack of participation, so are they. The two shall never converge save the odd instance yet both are literally in the same boat. A shame....

Take for instance my grandmother Babe W. She served me and my Granddad squirrel brains and eggs for breakfast. I didn't eat mine.... but she knew how to cook and serve'em. Keep chickens for all the time she was here on earth save a few years and died before computers ..... and forums.... were all the rage. She knew how to can anything and I still remember going to the cellar for a jar of "Sunday Peas".

So when I read such as this...

"I don't mind culling myself...But I totally disagree a family who wants 3 chickens for their kids and a few eggs does NOT need to know how to cull a sick bird, it's called picking up the phone calling a vet and having it put down by the vet. Simple."

I can't help but think; are you kidding??? call and pay a vet? to come kill a chicken? surely not. Its part of the bargain. I intend to eat the occasional bird, kill the sick ones humanely and go on with business. What the heck does that teach your kids?? ahmmm, so when your sick and the vet shows up... beware! That's what I'm think'n.

Our grandparents and those behind'em would roll in their respective graves at such talk as this.

m