Ric and I use to have chickens many years ago. Just a dozen of hens for fresh eggs but there haven't been chicks here for many a year. Until now!
Here Chickie, Chickie
My youngest son Jamie and his family have started raising chickens much like we did for fresh eggs. They thought I might like a few hens so for Easter they gave me 3 hens. If I get tired of taking care of them I can send them back to their house, so far they are a whole lot of fun.
There is a Barred Rock, Buff Orpington and the one with the bell bottoms (Miatablu's description) is a Partridge Cochin.
We put up a temporary chicken coop out in the garden and we have been letting them run lose a little.
I know that there are several of you that have chickens could you post a few pics of them.
I don't have any newer ones. Here's one of my Ameraucanas named Fussbudget.
Chicken choir
Brawwwwwwk brawwk brawwk
Oh Hart, I was waiting for you to post a few pics. They look great. Are you getting many eggs?
LOL "bell bottoms" :) Holly and hart, don't they destroy your beds? We used to have free range chickens and I can't count the times I shooed them out of the gardens. They loved the soft soil for cleaning themselves and on more than one occasion I'd find a plant sitting on its side hanging on for dear life! Of course they were nowhere near as bad as the big 'ole fat turkeys :) Between shooing them out of the beds and running off the fox who visited regularly for lunch, I'm glad "those" days are behind me! I'll just be content to look at your pretty chickens :)
So far they haven't done any damage but I know they can and once the tomatoes come in I think they will be banished from the garden as they will eat them. I did have to pen them up the other day as they were out along the road edge and one was across the road in the neighbors yard. I'm headed out to do some weeding so I will turn them loose for a while and see if they are on good behavior.
Yes, I'm up to my eyeballs in eggs. I get anywhere from 5-9 every day from after moulting in the spring until they stop laying in the winter. Everybody I know gets free eggs and they're so tickled to get them because they're beyond description better than what's at the store.
Debbie, allowing your chickens to just range around all the time is asking for disaster. I've lost too many to neighborhood dogs. My chickens have a nice big fenced area, completely fenced and with plastic deer netting over the top to keep out hawks.
I let them out every now and then to peck around in the yard but only when I'm there to watch them. BTW, the FDA definition of free range only means they have access to a chicken yard and aren't kept in a cage every moment of their entire lives. So those free range eggs you buy at the store just means the chickens might have had a half hour a day outside of their cages.
Let's see, I have a picture of the yard somewhere.
Yes, My son Jamie was hoping to let his roam the yard but lost several early on. A couple to hawks. So he built a nice large pen for his too. Picked up some free chain link fence and I had some bird netting that he used over the top. He was hoping to at least leave his guinea hens run loose but they wandered too far and one of the neighbors complained. He has about 2 acres with his wife's GF on one side, her parents on the other and then a great aunt beyond that. None of them cared if the guineas roamed and actually enjoyed watching them. Which gave them a good 8 acres to roam on. You would have thought that would be enough, nope had to go to the one neighbor that didn't think they were cute. LOL So now they have a pen, too.
I just built a frame of 2x4s and stapled chicken wire to it. Built the door out of 2x2s and added hinges and a latch.
Marshall built the hen hut and rigged up a rope from the side that pulls the bottom hen door/ramp up to close it at night. We used a wooden closet pole with closet pole holders for their roost inside the hut but then I inserted screws on the ends from the outside so in won't turn in the holders.
There are so many people, including me, who have learned the hard way that allowing the chickens to just roam all day is a good way to lose your chickens in a very cruel way. Maybe if you have an electric fence around your property that keeps out the dogs and other critters it would work but otherwise, forget it.
BTW, Holly, chickens probably won't hurt your vegetable plants once they get big enough to withstand their scratching around. Mine even when they roam are nowhere near the vegetable garden so I never had that problem, but I know a lot of people purposely let the chickens loose in the garden to kill bugs.
I've been reprimanded (hanging head in shame). Jamie and Deb have informed me that my Chicks are not as tame as theirs and that since I only have 3 there is no excuse for it. I must hold each one at least twice a day and pet it. Here I thought I had friendly chicks, but I guess I must do better. (head still hanging). They came over for a bit and we were down in the garden with the Chickies and they were appalled that my chicks would not come to be picked up. So we spent a good half hour or more holding them and feeding them worms. LOL
Hart, While I was weeding down in the garden today one of the weeds had some kind of bug infestation. They were only on one of the larger weeds along the edge and they weren't aphids but some kind of similar sucking insect. I pulled that and dropped it in the chick pen and they just loved it. So did I lets get those nasty bugs. I was wondering if they like slugs, I always have slug issues and one of the places they are a problem is my stone wall. You know all those nooks and crannies for them to hide away all day. Well the chicks are always up there picking around.
It's a lot easier for you if you get them used to being held. There will be times when you will want to be able to pick them up to check them out or put on bug stuff or something.
Some breeds never do like to be handled, though. My brown leghorns have always gone bananas when you pick them up.
Mine don't really mind being held and they follow me around alot. But when I go to reach for them they move a step or two away, just out of arms reach. I will say that Jamie and Deb have the tamest chicks I have seen. She would go out and sit with them when they were small and hold them and hand feed them. Jamie would do the same when he got home at night. When I was over there taking care of their hens, I could barely walk though the pen as they crowded around me so close. I wouldn't have had any trouble just reaching down and picking up anyone of them.
Then I wouldn't worry about making them any tamer. I don't think it matters if they take a step back for goodness sakes. LOL
My Barred Rocks at one day old
Oh they are so cute, barred rocks are one of my favorites. How many do you have?
This message was edited Jun 3, 2009 8:09 AM
Adolescents
Running for dinner
We only have three hens right now. We started with 15 straight run from Mt. Healthy hatchery. Most of the boys ended up on the dinner table and the hens have slowly dwindled in number. We came through winter with six hens, lost one to egg-binding, another to a mystery predator, and gave another to a friend. We gave away our last rooster, too. He was mean-- like homicidal!
We're expecting chicks from McMurray next month. We're getting Black Stars, Light Brahmas, Silver Spangled Hamburgs, Mille Fleurs and a Polish Crested cockerel.
Here's the flock this winter
My hens are not as tame as I would like them to be. Only one of them lets me pick her up without any sort of protest and then she starts to get squirmy after a minute. There was a good stretch of time while the rooster was here that I couldn't get within 10 feet of the pen most of the time without him going berserk. And he definitely wasn't going to let me handle one of his girls! He drew blood on me one time when I came in the pen to tend to a sick hen (the one who was egg-bound) and had my back to him. Now that he's gone, I'm working on getting the girls to be less flighty around me but they're a little hyper.
My rooster has been trying to flog me too. He's fine when the weather's cooler and I have long pants on but my bare legs are apparently some kind of red flag for him. I carry a plastic garbage can lid in with me. He's terrified of it and runs to the other end of the pen and hides. LOL Chicken! LOL
I love Brahmas. They are such placid, easy going hens and you'll find it will tame easier than any of the others. I wish I had gotten more than one because the only hen I've lost was my Buff Brahma and she was such a sweet hen. The Barred Rocks are very sweet too and the Gold Laced Wyandottes and the Australorp. My Barred Rocks are named Lucy and Ethel because they're such characters. They gossip a lot too.
LOL at your rooster, hart! They can act so big and tough, but the simplest things can really freak them out.
Sad news here. I lost a hen to a fox-- in broad daylight while I was standing 25ft away! I like to let the chickens out in the afternoons when I know I'll be out there with them, but the other day they were scratching happily in the backyard when a fox came out of the woods and grabbed one. I grabbed a stick and ran after him waving my arms and shouting and the hen managed to get away, but the damage was already done. She passed the next day.
So today I drove up to Harrington, DE and picked up two Golden Comet pullets. They seem to be bright, friendly little things. They're on the deck right now terrorizing my potted plants, but after sunset I'll take them down to the coop and slip them in.
I still can't believe that fox had the nerve to come so far out of the woods in broad daylight and with me right there!
Oh, Kuby. I'm so sorry about your chicken. I'd be worried about that fox being rabid too. They normally don't hunt during the day, even when they have babies to feed.
The rooster is getting to be a pain. SO wants to eat him but that to me would be like eating one of the cats. Yeah, I know, they're chickens but they're my chickens I've raised from day old babies. I'd be a terrible farmer.
Oh I am so sorry, too. No you don't usually see foxes during the day but I have from time to time. Crossing my pasture or the field on the other road. Usually early or mid-morning Must have been pretty hungry or maybe just getting more use to human presence as the area developments more.
Here's some of the chickens and Buck the rooster, lined up this morning waiting for their breakfast.
Oh Hart that is a great pic and they are so cute, too. I have had mine out the last two days while I was working in the yard, they love sitting under my clipped yew. Must be some tasty bugs under there.
I was thinking about letting mine out for a while this evening if it doesn't storm again. Besides giving them a chance to get some more protein in their diet in the form of bugs, it gives Buck something to worry about. He frets when his ladies are all out running loose. LOL
Oh, I miss my chickens! All were picked off by foxes or racoons or - on one occasion - an eagle that happened to be hanging around our property.
I really have not had the heart to try again. My favorite, and the last to go, was a funny little hen; she was all white and had a big sprout of feathers on the top of her head. I cannot recall her species (very samll eggs). Does anyone know? I never would have expected a chicken to be as bright and affectionate as she was.
You all are making me think about trying again. We tried to 'do it right,' but we don't like to simply pen any animal up all the time. Is there some safe and happy middle way to keep them safe and happy?
Yes, pen them up all the time. Make them a nice fenced yard and they'll be happy as can be. I personally think it's cruel to let them wander around to get torn to pieces by dogs, foxes and other critters. I let mine out once in a blue moon but only if I'm sitting right there watching them the entire time they're out. Half the time, they peck around a bit and then head right back into their fenced yard.
Your chicken sounds like it was a Silkie, but it could also have been a Polish, which is also a bantam breed with a topknot.
Sissystars, We let ours roam loose for a few hours everyday when we are out working around the garden area. But I wouldn't let mine run loose all the time. Their pen is in my opinion a bit small. It is a temp pen until I decide where and if I will put up a permanent pen. It is approx 6ft square with the coop on the outside of the pen and the coop is maybe 2ft square. They were an Easter gift from my son and dil given with a "If you get tired of them you can send them back to our place" tag. Right now they are a lot of fun but I may just decide to send them back come winter, we will see. My son and DIL Started raising them last summer. They had really wanted to let theirs roam free but it didn't work and they lost several before they finally decided to build a net covered pen. They had hawk issues and something else as well got a few before they penned them. They had also picked up a few guinea hens as well, and had continued to let them roam but they strayed too far and now they are also in a large run.
We had had chickens years ago when we still had horses, and I let a couple roam loose in the barn. They would clean up the dropped feed and were kind of cute. Until I got tired of cleaning chick poop off the horses and then one got stepped on and that ended loose chicks in the barn.
Gosh, I didn't know what entertainment I was missing by passing over this thread until today. You sorely tempt me to try chickens. The 'chicken tractor" sounds like a good idea for a yard like mine. Sort of moveable coop with some fenced space under neath.
Eyeballs full of eggs. Are they cost effective? Course, considering they're organic and much better...probably so.
LOL, Sally, I was up to my friends house yesterday, we did a tour of Master Gardeners gardens yesterday. Guess what? She just got chickens too. She had them years ago like I did and then her daughter got some earlier this year. Now she has a dozen, too. Her daughter had bought one of those chicken tractors, not sure how many hens she had in it but as the hens grew it was too small for all of them. They found someone on Craigslist that was getting rid of their chickens, the house and chain-link fence. Daughter wanted the house and chain-link yard but not the extra hens. So my friend ended up with the hens in her old coop. Chickens, chickens, everywhere. LOL
The book Chicken Tractors has instructions on how to build your own. It's mainly useful if you want to use the chickens to fertilize and debug different areas of your yard. A few chickens really don't require a very big house or a huge yard. If you get bantams instead of standard sized chickens, they require even less space.
Sally, you won't believe the difference in the eggs you get fresh from your own chickens. You'll never want to eat those nasty, old, tasteless things from the store again. They don't lay in the winter, but I get eggs probably 9-10 months of the year. You can force them to lay all year by tinkering with lights but I don't do that.
This is an excellent book that might help:
http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-Facilities/dp/158017325X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
And two sites that have a ton of information.
http://www.feathersite.com/
http://www.backyardchickens.com/
http://www.mybackyardchickenfarm.com/ This looks pretty good too.
Some really good info here on backyard chickens. They also sell chickens and supplies but are pretty expensive. http://www.mypetchicken.com/aboutChickens.aspx
Some people use the Eglu for raising only a couple of chickens. It's basically a very expensive doghouse retrofitted for hens.
http://www.mypetchicken.com/Eglu_with_Chickens-c7.aspx
Thought I would post a few more pics of the girls.
Here they are keeping Ric company and helping reduce the bug population. This bed is filling in pretty nicely.
Hanging out near the front porch. Hey that is NOT a chickie roost. LOL
And helping Ric out with the newest project. Come on Sally wouldn't you like some help laying all that stone. LOL
