# Who's Got Chickens? I'm Thinking Laying Hens



## Dix (Aug 22, 2009)

Like 4-6 hens. I want eggs, I don't want to eat Chicken Little. 

Yet.


Long Island climate, colder on Winter, HHH (hazy, hot & humid) in the summer.


Predators are 'Coons, 'Possum, and a very rare red fox. Local cats, dogs,etc.


One Smooth Haired Fox Terrier, one Dalmation, and 3 outside cats. Usually controlled, cats are inside/outside. One acre of property, I figure it's big enough.


Willing to build coop, etc. 


Thoughts, websites, what ever 


Colored eggs would be kinda  :coolsmile:


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## xrayman (Aug 22, 2009)

backyardchickens.com is a good website.
Rhode Island reds and barred rocks is what i have they lay brown eggs. Ameraucana and Araucanas will lay easter egg colored eggs mostly green and blue. 
4 chicken won't give you many eggs i'd get atleast 8 because they don't lay everyday. they don't take up much space 8 hens would fit in a 5x5 building with a 5x5 pen real easy


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## cjsplitter (Aug 22, 2009)

I raise barred rocks and white rocks. Every year I switch from one to the other. Due to you got to know how old they are. First year you will get one egg a day for the most part. The next year after the molt you will get one egg every other day out of the old ones. Then butcher old and you will have soup chickens.


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## PapaDave (Aug 22, 2009)

Hi dtdeh,
My wife has a bunch of chickens in a variety of styles and colors. I'll have to ask her what they all are, but we get at least an egg a day from 2 of the oldest. I think they take turns. Brown eggs, and very tasty. :coolsmile: 
I have an omelette or a couple fried (in olive oil) 2-3 times a month. Wife doesn't eat many eggs. More eggs than we can use, and the young ones haven't even started laying yet.


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## PapaDave (Aug 22, 2009)

OK, wife just woke up a little bit ago. We have black astralops that are giving us the brown eggs. We had four, and were getting about 2-3 eggs a day. Wife traded 2 of those for a couple silkys (silkies?). Those are good sitters, but the eggs are smaller.
Maryjanesfarm.com has a couple threads right now asking the same questions. Those folks are as rabid about hobby farm kind of stuff as we are about our firewood. That's a good thing.
We had a problem with a predator taking eggs AND chickens. It was a raccoon. One of the chickens may have been taken by a hawk or owl, but not sure. 
Wife says now may not be a real good time get your chickens, but if you have some way to keep them out of the cold while still young, they'll be good.
The silkies do not winter over, and our black astralops (sp?) took about 4-6 months before they started laying.
Lots more info to be had. 
Oh yeah, they LOVE to peck through the compost pile searching for bugs. That really helps break down the piles quicker. 

Good luck on your new adventure,
Dave


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## JeffRey30747 (Aug 22, 2009)

If you have snakes, owls or hawks in your area, you can add them to your list of possible predators.


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## Gooserider (Aug 22, 2009)

Not to be a wet blanket, but before making to many plans, it might be worth checking w/ your local authorities to make sure there aren't restrictions on raising chickens or other barnyard type critters...  Some places do, some don't, some restrict how many, etc...  Note that chickens are NOT something you can raise in "stealth mode" - I have a neighbor several houses away that has 4-5 of the "mini-chickens" - when I'm working outside I can hear them easily on occasion - Not a problem in the least, but I know they are there.

Otherwise, the prior posts match up with what I've always heard in terms of good references and such.

Gooserider


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## Dix (Aug 22, 2009)

Thanks for the input, all of you .

Intersting web sites, I'll do more reading this weekend.

I figured it would be spring before I could get everything together before they could come home. 

We have garter snakes & owls, that's about it.

Town code says I can have up to 6 "ladies" hanging around, already checked, but thanks for that line of thought (I also learned from my research so far that outdoor wood boilers are banned in this township...so much for that idea !). I'm reading now on coop restrictions (if any), etc.

I've been helping take care of the chickens where the maress are now. Kinda like it


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## PapaDave (Aug 22, 2009)

Gooserider said:
			
		

> Not to be a wet blanket, but before making to many plans, it might be worth checking w/ your local authorities to make sure there aren't restrictions on raising chickens or other barnyard type critters...  Some places do, some don't, some restrict how many, etc...  Note that chickens are NOT something you can raise in "stealth mode" - I have a neighbor several houses away that has 4-5 of the "mini-chickens" - when I'm working outside I can hear them easily on occasion - Not a problem in the least, but I know they are there.
> 
> Otherwise, the prior posts match up with what I've always heard in terms of good references and such.
> 
> Gooserider


Good point Gooserider, some may need to do that.
We're either arrogant, or sure enough, or both, to think that since there really is no "town" here (blinking light at the main crossroads), that we can do what we like as long as we're not messing with the neighbors.  Nearest one is almost a football field away. She doesn't mind at all and has told us that. Maybe because we have enough land and own the land directly across the road as well, we feel somewhat secluded. We're a mile north of "town".
We have a goat and a sheep too. Noisy little buggers when they're hungry.
The roosters can be really noisy, and for those who think they only crow in the morning,.............not! Maybe we just got the stupid ones. These things crow at various times of the day when you least expect it.
My brother thinks they need a lead injection.
Dave


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## Hurricane (Aug 22, 2009)

I have had chickens for at least 5-6 years. I let them free range all day and close them back in at night. I have most of the same predators as you and many more foxes. The predators seem  to be worse in the spring when they are also raising young. The kids love collecting the eggs. When the flock starts to get small we just take a dozen or so eggs and put them in the incubator. They seem to be much more vulnerable when they are young, I do have 3 roosters right now, they can be noisy sometimes but it really does not bother me and my neighbors are pretty spread out. I have seen the roosters go after a hawk and chase it. They have no problems sparring with my boxer although they know he is harmless. They can be very destructive to flower beds and gardens in the spring. 
All in all I like having chickens.


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## Dune (Aug 22, 2009)

Around here you can't raise chickens but you can have "pets". My buddy has six pet layers and the board of health is cool with it.


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## Dix (Aug 23, 2009)

Well, life just got interesting.

The SO told me I could not have chickens.

He doesn't live here, this is not his house.

I have to have a tree taken down near the back of the house, that'll clear they way for a nice area for a coop & a run with a mesh cover. We have hawks, too.

Feel free to pray for the SO.


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## BrotherBart (Aug 23, 2009)

Doing The Dixie Eyed Hustle said:
			
		

> Feel free to pray for the SO.



I am wishing him a speedy recovery.


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## Dix (Aug 23, 2009)

He's almost recuperated. Damn him 

Came over this AM, I see him pull into the driveway, and no knock on the door. I look out the window, and he's got the trunk of the car popped, and he's carrying firewood (3" - 6" rounds, dry, too ) to my wood pile that he's taking out of the car. Said he was on his way over, and in his neighborhood, this was in front of someone's house, so he figured it was fair game at 8 AM.


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## Poult (Aug 23, 2009)

Best advice I can give is make sure your predator proof coop is all ready when you get your birds.  It will save a lot of heart ache later on if it's a nice predator proof coop.  Over building is not a problem when you have to deal with dogs and coons.  Remember that chicken wire is to keep chickens in, not keep predators out.  Dogs and coons can get through it if they really want to.  Coons also reach through larger holes and grab a chicken and pull them close and then eat a leg off.  Nasty critters.  The good news is once the coop is built and secure, you should be in good shape for a long time.  Chickens are fun but of course TURKEYS are much cuter and smarter.  

Poult


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## Highbeam (Aug 24, 2009)

I have 5 hens that We have had for over two years now. They are great pets. Hens only make very little noise. We let them out during the day to run around and they put themselves to bed at night, after they are in I latch the coop shut. We have one acre and the egg prodcution is 1 per day per hen at best and about half of that at worst like in the winter, molting, or other extreme weather. Even heat will slow down production. I have a wife and two kids eating eggs and the 5 hens make more than we can eat. When you think of it, 5 eggs a day is a lot of eggs. 

They are cheap to keep too. 

The really important thing is that they are cheap to buy and if you decide you don't like it then just kind of go out there and kill them all. You will be out like 10$. I think you will like them, I've never met anyone that tries it and didn't like it.

We have three rhode island reds and 2 buff orpingtons. All large brown eggs that are much much different and better than store eggs. 

Converting the birds into meat is way too much work. You need to kill them, bleed them, get all the feathers off, get all the guts out, and clean up while trying to beat the price of a storebought chicken at less than 99 cents per pound. Eggs are where it's at. 

Do the turkeys lay eggs too?


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## Poult (Aug 24, 2009)

Some turkeys lay pretty well, with domestic birds probably laying from 60-90 a year.  Good eating eggs, too.  Taste like chicken eggs, but they are half again as big, sometimes double the size of a large chicken egg.


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## pybyr (Aug 24, 2009)

A great bumpersticker that I saw:

"Wherever chickens are outlawed, only outlaws will have chickens!"

http://www.chickenvideo.com/buybumpersticker.html

My ex-wife used to raise laying hens (it was great having the fresh eggs).  It was amazing how they managed to attract various things that wanted to eat them that you'd have not noticed were around (mink, weasels, fisher...)- that got around, over, or under any number of fences, or through small openings in the chickens' shed.

Some friends of mine raise turkeys- and the 'pen' that they put them in at night is not only enclosed with wire mesh on the sides, but the whole 'outdoor' portion of the enclosure is slat-floored and raised off of the ground.  That seems as if it'd be an excellent way to do it- not only does it protect the birds, but it keeps their space clean, and allows easy raking out of the accumlated fertilizer beneath.


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## pybyr (Aug 24, 2009)

Oh, by the way- check out

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/

amazing array of breeds, including heirloom ones, along with various supplies


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## Highbeam (Aug 24, 2009)

It is hard to believe, but true, that you can mail order your chicks. They come in a box.... seriously.


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## timfromohio (Aug 24, 2009)

Good thread - chickens are on the list for next year.  I sent off for the McMurray catalogue and it's neat to look at the breeds.  Plan on building a portable "a-frame" style coop.  I found some place over in England that sold these things and took some pics from the webpage.  I constructed the frame from 2x4's and am using salvaged pallet wood for the sides and floor.  The idea is that the birds roost in top portion and then can roam around in the enclosed region underneath.  You move around the yard so that they are not tearing up one area too much.  We plan on letting them free-range in the garden a lot, but will use this a-frame thing at night and at times I don't want them in the garden.  I've read they'll clean the bugs out of the garden, but will also peck at young tomatoes, etc.


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## Highbeam (Aug 24, 2009)

Rather than build a larger coop for the hens I put up a chicken wire surround for the garden. You won't want the chickens in your garden as they will dig it up and kill everything. One peck on a pumpkin and that pumpkin will be ruined. All of the low hanging apples on my apple trees are pecked to heck too.


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## Stephen in SoKY (Aug 24, 2009)

If you don't want to hatch your own replacement chicks, be sure to look at sex link pullets. Black Stars, Red Stars, Cinnamon Queens & Golden Comets are a few to check out. They're egg laying machines, you'll get more eggs on less feed than anything other than a Leghorn & leghorns are terribly flighty/not friendly. If you order straight run, remember at least 50% will be roosters. Ordering sexed pullet chicks is much more efficient unless you'll butcher the roos. I sell  300+ chicks each spring so I keep Barred Plymouth Rocks & Rhode Island Reds as breeding stock, but for my egg business I keep Black Sex Link & Golden Comet hens. Here's my solid cherry cabinet incubator I built:











And the solid Cherry incubator/hatcher I built sitting on top of the cabinet bator:


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## savageactor7 (Aug 24, 2009)

For quite a few years we'd maintain 6 White Leghorns for our egg needs. And back when we were a family of 6 there was never a shortage of eggs. Some friend recommended that breed cause he thought they were the most hardy to winter over in an unheated shed. The only downside with chickens is that in the winter the feed will attract rodents. There are ways to minimize that...btw stay away from any roosters.


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## Dix (Aug 24, 2009)

Poult, I am glad you checked in, I'm sure I'll have a question or two for you 

I had already figured out I need pullets, no rooster needed here. 

I'm going to keep an eye on Craigs list for some kind of shed, and take it from there. I've got a roll of fencing left over from some forgotten project.

Nice incubator !


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## Tom Pencil (Aug 25, 2009)

Poult said:
			
		

> Chickens are fun but of course TURKEYS are much cuter and smarter.



I must have got a dumb batch of turkeys.  My turkeys are all in the freezer and my chickens are still crowing and laying eggs.

I use 2" x 4" wire mesh and cover the sides of my chickens run and top to prevent wild critters from getting in.  I would get some bantam Japanese or bantam cochins.  Nice calm birds and lay eggs smaller than those in the store but you can raise a few extra hens in the same space as the standard size chickens.

I do not recommend the Silver Spangled Hamburgs or the Egyptians.  Both breeds are flighty and very noisey.  Hens lay eggs consistantly though.  

If you do get roosters only need 1-2 for every 10-12 hens.  My ratio is 50/50 cause I made the mistake of telling my kids that when I was a kid the only roosters that were butchered were the ones that had names.  Next thing I know all the roosters have names.


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## Gooserider (Aug 25, 2009)

Bantam said:
			
		

> Poult said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The trick is to give the roosters the correct names - i.e. Fried, Pot Pie, Roast, Stew (a real tough bird that one...) and so forth...  The GF has an aunt that does that, tells us about the personality of whatever former barnyard resident we are eating...   :coolgrin: 

Gooserider


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## billb3 (Aug 25, 2009)

If you go with a more  traditional shed with a plywood floor, an inch of concrete atop that plywood will help cleaning up the <<mess several times a year.

Red sex-links (not internet sex links) are egg factories. They'll produce eggs at the expense of thier health. Often missing feathers, they aren't the prettiest birds in the coop.

We've done the chicks via USPS before. 
One time you don't mind the post people opening the box to look as long as they  are careful.


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## Gooserider (Aug 25, 2009)

billb3 said:
			
		

> If you go with a more  traditional shed with a plywood floor, an inch of concrete atop that plywood will help cleaning up the <<mess several times a year.
> 
> Red sex-links (not internet sex links) are egg factories. They'll produce eggs at the expense of thier health. Often missing feathers, they aren't the prettiest birds in the coop.
> 
> ...



Gee...  For some reason I never have a problem with the PO people opening the box to look at my honeybees  :lol:  I don't know how the PO is about doing chicks, but there is a certain amusement in the way they react to people mailing honey bees.  Unfortunately though, they have gotten much worse about the amount of care that they take with them, and they are much more restrictive about how far one can ship them.

Gooserider


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## Badfish740 (Aug 25, 2009)

For those of you who have laying hens, have you tried selling eggs?  Some folks in my neck of the woods sell eggs via the "honor system" by placing a cooler filled with eggs, a sign, and a box to leave payment in at the side of the road.  I've never bothered to stop and try to ask them how they make out with it or how much they sell them for, but I'm curious.  I'm not looking to get rich of course, but I figure putting them out for sale is better than letting them go to waste.  By the time we're able to move somewhere we can have chickens (right now we're in a subdivision on a 75x150 lot with neighbors on all sides) it will be more than just the two of us, but hopefully no more than five of us   Anyway, we just want to make sure that we have enough eggs, but not so many that we're overrun.


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## Badfish740 (Aug 25, 2009)

Les Biancat said:
			
		

> salmonella?



Eggs don't need much refrigeration when they're still fresh-a cold pack or two in a cooler can easily take care of them.


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## Highbeam (Aug 25, 2009)

We give the eggs away to greatful friends and neighbors. Even relatives. I've never had anybody turn away real eggs. The risks involved with selling them far outweigh the profit potential. Eggs are pretty cheap at the store. We end up getting treats from the neighbors every so often and I believe it is because we treat them to our egg overage.


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## Dix (Aug 25, 2009)

BF, you should check your local zoning. You might be able to have them on a lot that size.

I've been l;ooking at coops and such. I'd love to get my hands on a used childs wooden swing set, preferably with a turrret of some sort attached. 

Convert it into an A Frame coop. Sheath the turret, add ventilation, nesting boxes, perches, etc, and enclose the bottom for feed storage, etc. Then screen in the rest for a run, with a door at the other end.

We'll see how close I can come to my plan,


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## Stephen in SoKY (Aug 26, 2009)

I had a little dormitory refrigerator out on the front porch, money inside the frig in a coffee cup for several years. I think the entire several years I sold that way I only was shorted on one dozen. Alas about 2 years ago I became lawsuit leary & did away with the frig. I now sell just as many eggs, but they're only sold to people I know & feel more comfortable selling to. I sell about 20 doz/month at $2.50/doz. Doesn't actually make me any money, but it pays the feed bill for the layers & the breeding stock for the chicks I sell. Proceeds from chick sales are profit each year & by not paying for feed I actually pick up some pocket money with something I enjoy doing anyway.


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## Gooserider (Aug 26, 2009)

FWIW, the friend that I work with doesn't do eggs, but does sell firewood and home grown tomatoes on the honor system - and says that he hasn't been shorted in years.

The tomatoes he puts out on a table by the road w/ a produce scale a stack of bags, and a locked mailbox w/ a slot in the top, and they go amazingly fast - he will put out and get rid of 60-100 lbs in a couple of hours - with cars stopping every 2-3 minutes...

The firewood is less obvious, as his "stand" is a couple sets of shelves divided up into 2 bushel "cribs" down in his driveway where they aren't visible from the road, but he still sells several every week during the summer, and considerably more in the winter - I spend a lot of time filling those shelves....

What I have heard that many people do with small surpluses of eggs is to just sell to friends and co-workers.  Many times an employer will be cool about a small scale "lunchroom sales" operation where you let your co-workers know that they are available and take orders or equivalent...  I would tend to say that unless you have a large and predictable surplus, it probably isn't worth the headaches of trying to do a "stand" for the public.

Gooserider


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## Poult (Aug 26, 2009)

Stephen in SoKY said:
			
		

> If you don't want to hatch your own replacement chicks, be sure to look at sex link pullets. Black Stars, Red Stars, Cinnamon Queens & Golden Comets are a few to check out. They're egg laying machines, you'll get more eggs on less feed than anything other than a Leghorn & leghorns are terribly flighty/not friendly. If you order straight run, remember at least 50% will be roosters. Ordering sexed pullet chicks is much more efficient unless you'll butcher the roos. I sell  300+ chicks each spring so I keep Barred Plymouth Rocks & Rhode Island Reds as breeding stock, but for my egg business I keep Black Sex Link & Golden Comet hens. Here's my solid cherry cabinet incubator I built:
> 
> 
> 
> ...





That's nice work!  Beats the crap out of my GQF Sportsmen for looks.


Poult


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## Stephen in SoKY (Aug 27, 2009)

Thanks! I used all GQF parts except the tray turners. My trays are sized to accomodate the tabletop turners, this allows me to set the turner out & hand roll goose/peafowl size eggs when I want to. 7/8 tongue & grooved cherry really holds temp/humidity well. I used the GQF preset electronic thermostat so swings in barometric pressure don't affect it at all. The tabletop is the works out of a fan forced eletronic preset thermostat styrofoam unit placed in the cabinet I built. I had the cherry in my shop and thought why not build my own!


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## savageactor7 (Aug 29, 2009)

timfromohio I really like that shed you built and am curious to hear how your chickens winter over. This thread has rekindled my interest in raising our own eggs...I think we stopped years ago cause the price of eggs cratered so that it didn't pay to raise your own. Hope you keep us posted.


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## pybyr (Sep 10, 2009)

A recent/ ongoing local chicken saga-

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20090908/NEWS01/909080323/0/NEWS01

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ghaT3ew5VTumGfRewvLtFlFuGsTwD9AK102G0


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## colebrookman (Sep 10, 2009)

Highbeam said:
			
		

> We give the eggs away to greatful friends and neighbors. Even relatives. I've never had anybody turn away real eggs. The risks involved with selling them far outweigh the profit potential. Eggs are pretty cheap at the store. We end up getting treats from the neighbors every so often and I believe it is because we treat them to our egg overage.


Great post Highbeam.  It's not like the old days, think liability, lawsuits and lawyers.  Better to give them to friends and relatives or buy insurance and protect yourself.
Ed


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## raven (Sep 12, 2009)

chickens.......iv had to build 3 separate coops and pens
the wife just loves her chickens,they are cool
i had never been around chickens before and just could not help but notice how the roosters had a natural interest  in each other  
for to long i just had to walk into the big red roosters coop ,and not thinkin i left the door open. well at the time the big blue rooster and his flock were out of there coop. %-P . now chickens are cool but roosters are just flat out entertaining let me tell ya.dont get me wrong in about 2 or 3 min i was grabbin the big red one and settin him back in his pen. :roll: 
yep the wife loves those chickens....i on the other hand admire the get up and go in those big roosters. 
i managed to talk her into letting 8 of those roosters stay on around here. things are fine as long as i keep the 2 boss roosters apart. :smirk: 
 oh and timfromohio,chickens and tomatos just dont mix.


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## Gooserider (Sep 12, 2009)

As a couple side comments from my experience a few years back from when I was living at a cousin's and dealing with their yard birds...

1. Chickens CAN fly - not far, not high, but well enough to get over a fence and into the garden...

2. Trimming BOTH wings doesn't really help.  They can still get even lift, and while they have to work harder, they can still get over the fence...

3. Trimming just ONE wing works really well - this causes them to do loops on takeoff, as they are getting full lift from one wing, and not from the other, which really upsets their flight computers...

4. Yardbirds like to roost in trees at night to sleep.

5. Shaking a small tree full of sleeping yardbirds causes them to fall out of the tree onto the person standing under it.  This also causes the birds to be highly annoyed and make lots of indignant noises...

Gooserider


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## meathead (Oct 5, 2009)

If you have a garden going too, consider building two chicken pens side by side with the coup centered outside them and a hatch into each. Use one as a garden plot and the other as the chicken run, and alternate from year to year - great free fertilizer.


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## m0jumb0 (Oct 5, 2009)

raven said:
			
		

> chickens.......iv had to build 3 separate coops and pens
> the wife just loves her chickens,they are cool
> i had never been around chickens before and just could not help but notice how the roosters had a natural interest  in each other
> for to long i just had to walk into the big red roosters coop ,and not thinkin i left the door open. well at the time the big blue rooster and his flock were out of there coop. %-P . now chickens are cool but roosters are just flat out entertaining let me tell ya.dont get me wrong in about 2 or 3 min i was grabbin the big red one and settin him back in his pen. :roll:
> ...



you can HAVE my roosters... I have 2 big black ones that are MEAN.  Next year we're getting all pullets so we don't have to deal with them.  My little boy has what we call a "chicken scream"  LOL  we know when a rooster is after him

and I'll second the chickens and tomatoes thing... they'll peck a hole in each of your ripe tomatoes if you let them in your garden.  next year chicken wire is going around the garden 

I will also agree that you should have at least 2 pens to rotate them between if you're not going to just let them run loose.  They'll turn a small pen to dirt in a few weeks scratching for bugs and worms.


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## SnapCracklePop (Feb 1, 2012)

Eileen et al,

Found this thread when I searched for "chicken." 

Who's doing the chicken thang this year (2012)? I have a small backyard dog boarding kennel, too small to do all that much business. I'm seriously -- VERY seriously -- thinking of converting it to a chicken coop. I'd order some chicks (probably Leghorns and/or ??) for March delivery...

You can see what I'm dealing with (for the coop ) at my kennel website: colemanscrittercamp.com

The building is 12 by 24, with half of it closed in. Room for about 25 birds. There are four outdoor runs, two 8 by 12 and two 6 by 12 feet. None has a roof, but that's something I can figure out later.

My biggest project will be redoing the inside. The floor is a floating vinyl tile that I laid (it has expanded/contracted and would not be easy to clean). Someone suggested an inch of concrete on the floor. Would that work? Would it need to be reinforced somehow? With hardware cloth? I have three floor drains that I could make good use of. Thinking out loud... maybe I could just pour concrete over the vinyl floor? Would that be better than removing the vinyl and pouring it on the plywood subfloor? Can it be one piece or does it need to be scored?

The wire partitions that I now have in the kennel can be configured into a moveable pen to allow the birds to forage in the yard or the garden. Nothing will go to waste...

I have enough scrap lumber to build nest boxes, roosts, feed troughs.

For sure I'll enjoy the eggs and the taste of the meat. I need to get my head around the slaughtering process, though... 

I recall my mother's vivid descriptions of HER grandmother walking briskly through her flock of backyard chickens, reaching down and grabbing a bird by the head, twirling it around and leaving it flopping around dead on the ground. She'd do three or four of these for a big meal. I need to find another way, sorry...

I've rambled. Any comments/suggestions?

FWIW, I do an excellent immitation of a hen laying an egg...

Nancy


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## fran35 (Feb 2, 2012)

I know the downside to having a rooster, but won't having a rooster help deter predators such as racoons, foxes and hawks?


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## heat seeker (Feb 2, 2012)

Somewhat, but our neighbors twice lost all their chickens, roosters and all. The roosters are still just birds, and can do just so much to protect their harems.


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## Gooserider (Feb 2, 2012)

We have a neighbor that keeps a small flock of "mini-chickens" - they are of the strong opinion that having ONE rooster helps keep the girls happy, and makes them behave better, and stay quieter overall.  They say that if the flock doesn't have a rooster, then the hens start getting into rivalries over which one is going to play the rooster role, and you get a lot more fighting between the birds, noise, etc...  OTOH, having two or more roosters leads to battles between the guys.  Just one rooster, and everyone stays happy...

ex-Gooserider


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## SmokeyTheBear (Feb 2, 2012)

The role that is played by a rooster is one of warning of danger (usually but some roosters don't), keeping the hens somewhat in line, and pointing out to the hens the various treats he has found for them.  

Other than that they can be a royal pain in the ears and other parts of your anatomy if you get a cranky one.

It is very rare that a rooster actually wins any fights with predators, a large rooster might scare a small predator away on occasion.


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## smokinj (Feb 2, 2012)

Smokey darn tough at this game....But there very easy to raise. Started with 17 still got 17.


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## JDC1 (Feb 2, 2012)

We have 2 welsummer roosters that my 4yo daughter raised from chicks.  They still will go after her if she comes up on the hens to fast.  They will be going to freezer camp with my first batch of meat birds this spring.

I think for a family 3 hens would be the perfect number.


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## SnapCracklePop (Feb 2, 2012)

I have to make a final decision soon on whether to give up the dog boarding. My license is up for renewal and I won't pass inspection until I redo the floor.

Now I'm leaning toward keeping the kennel for a couple of years, but doing chickens also, just on a smaller scale to begin with. When I eventually close the kennel, it can go to the birds.

Question for current chicken-raisers: If I convert part of the kennel to a chicken coop, I would have chickens close to the dogs, but not inside the same structure. Their outdoor run would be adjacent to one of my dog runs. Do chicken lice/mites get on dogs? Would that be a potential problem?

Thanks,

Nancy


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## smokinj (Feb 2, 2012)

PopCrackleSnap said:
			
		

> I have to make a final decision soon on whether to give up the dog boarding. My license is up for renewal and I won't pass inspection until I redo the floor.
> 
> Now I'm leaning toward keeping the kennel for a couple of years, but doing chickens also, just on a smaller scale to begin with. When I eventually close the kennel, it can go to the birds.
> 
> ...



My dumb dog likes to get in the coop when I let her. (No issues I see yet) Now I treat for them about every 6 weeks though.


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## Gooserider (Feb 2, 2012)

Not an expert on dogs or chickens, but it seems to me that if you are boarding dogs that aren't used to the birds, you might have problems with them upsetting each other - there are dogs that would want to chase / eat / play with the chickens who would be frustrated if not allowed to do so.  On the flip side, I'd expect the chickens might be less than happy about being barked at all the time...

Doesn't sound like an ideal match to my untutored ears...

Gooserider


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## timfromohio (Feb 2, 2012)

savageactor7 said:
			
		

> timfromohio I really like that shed you built and am curious to hear how your chickens winter over. This thread has rekindled my interest in raising our own eggs...I think we stopped years ago cause the price of eggs cratered so that it didn't pay to raise your own. Hope you keep us posted.




So, I'm finally back to this thread.  I did wind up building a "chicken ark" and an attached run.  We got 8 hens, 2 each of Barred Plymoth Rock, Buff Orphington, Buff Brahma, and Americauna.  They are doing very well.  I didn't expect too many eggs over the winter, but we are getting 0-2 on a slow day and 4-6 on a busy day.  

The "ark" I built is open to the ground on the bottom level and then has a ramp up to the "loft" where there are nesting boxes and perches - the hens are pretty crowded up there, but don't seem to mind especially in winter.  

I gave them the run of the garden once we completed fall harvest and they did a good job of cleaning up and depositing fertilizer.  I was moving the ark around the yard, but now have them in their winter semi-permanent location by the wood pile.


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## timfromohio (Feb 2, 2012)

I'm also reading a great book by Harvey Ussery that I highly recommend to everybody here - he discusses a number of ways to make the chickens "work" for you around the homestead.

Curently, I have a modified furniture dolly that I stick under one end of the ark (handles on the other end) to move it around.  For this year, I think I'm going to buy a landscaping-type cart and mount the entire ark on it and make a ramp from the door down to the run.  This will make it alot easier to move the hens around.  I'm also marking off "rows" in the back portion of our yard that I will not mow - they will be the width of the runs (I now have multiple runs that I string together) so I can move the ark/runs around in a more organized fashion.  

If I get around to it, I'd like to build a hoop house to extend our gardening year and also act as a good over-wintering place for the hens.  Also, I'm seriously considering trying some broilers this year.  If not this year, definetly next.


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## timfromohio (Feb 2, 2012)

Here's the book in case anyone is interested:

http://www.amazon.com/Small-Scale-P...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328213089&sr=1-1


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## heat seeker (Feb 2, 2012)

We have 5 hens left, no rooster. Some died over the years, and were replaced. They fussed at each other for a couple of weeks, until they got the pecking order (literally) straightened out, now they get along fine. We take new hens and put them in a cage in with the others for a week or so, so they get used to each other, then let them out of the cage. They sort themselves out, and we keep an eye out for severe damage, as they will really hurt each other sometimes. We've been lucky, they just fuss and take a peck or two at the next hen and work it out; no serious damage so far. We will be getting a few more this spring, and will follow the same routine.

We get no eggs in the winter, due to lack of light. We don't run lights in the henhouse, besides the girls are getting kinda old. They are basically pets, and the eggs are a bonus. They are a hoot to watch, especially when we let them outside to play. There are too many predators around here to let them run loose. Our neighbors have tried that, and lost them all twice.


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## btuser (Feb 3, 2012)

Badfish740 said:
			
		

> Les Biancat said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



An old chef told me eggs will last a long long time even at room temperature as long as they're not washed.


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## SnapCracklePop (Feb 4, 2012)

Gooserider said:
			
		

> Not an expert on dogs or chickens, but it seems to me that if you are boarding dogs that aren't used to the birds, you might have problems with them upsetting each other - there are dogs that would want to chase / eat / play with the chickens who would be frustrated if not allowed to do so.  On the flip side, I'd expect the chickens might be less than happy about being barked at all the time...
> 
> Doesn't sound like an ideal match to my untutored ears...
> 
> Gooserider



Yeah, Gooserider, I've had the same thoughts. The chickens and the dogs would not be able to see each other; they'd be around the corner from each other. But...

Still thinking this thru.

Nancy


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## smokinj (Feb 7, 2012)

First eggs today 10 total! 17 birds


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