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chickens!

Started by ozarkgem, May 12, 2014, 08:40:26 PM

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ozarkgem

I bought 20 Cornish Cross chickens today. They were getting pretty good size at the feed store . Already loosing their down and getting feathers. Bought a bag of feed and in about 6 weeks I will have a nice chicken dinner and freeze some for this winter. Now I need to find a few layers.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

yukon cornelius

congrats on da birds! we haven't gotten ours yet this year. as busy as we have been we may just skip this year. im sure we would regret it though. one of these days id like to be able to produce nearly all our food.
It seems I am a coarse thread bolt in a world of fine threaded nuts!

Making a living with a manual mill can be done!

KBforester

It's a lot of fun! I hope you plan on buying more than just the one bag of feed ;)

We do about 50 a year, for us (a family of two) and our friends (a family of three). They are actually Cornish roasters, 6-9 lbs @ 10 weeks. Fewer leg problems, and they walk around a lot. It's all the chicken we can eat. Actually, at this point we don't buy any other meat except bacon. Our appetite for red meat comes from wild game (not my efforts though, I'm a lousy hunter).

We have about 14 laying hens too.

Here's a shot of our setup.

Trees are good.

glassman_48

ozarkgem,
I built a "chicken tractor" for my daughter last spring, she loves it, she moves her chickens around every day in the back yard.  I built another for her young meat birds, I was rushing to finish it, and did not put a latch or lock on the hinged roof.  Something killed all 6 chicks that first night, I still dont know what got in there, my guess is a coon.  I figured they would be alright for just one night, she had been keeping them in a box next to the house and they kept getting out.  I had looked for something trying to dig under the other chicken tractor, but could not see that something was trying to get at them.  We enjoy those eggs so much, I hope she will try some meat birds again this time with a latch on the roof. 

ozarkgem

I built a chicken tractor a few years ago and put some little chicks in it and the coons would reach through the chicken wire and got everyone of my chicks. Had to put rat wire on it. You only have to forget once. I have lost them twice because I forgot to shut the door. I will get some layers in a few weeks from the Amish. I figure 20 Chickens will get me through the year. Then a little wild life this fall and shouldn't have much of a grocery bill. Got a small garden going also
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

ozarkgem

Quote from: KBforester on May 13, 2014, 06:23:33 AM
It's a lot of fun! I hope you plan on buying more than just the one bag of feed ;)

We do about 50 a year, for us (a family of two) and our friends (a family of three). They are actually Cornish roasters, 6-9 lbs @ 10 weeks. Fewer leg problems, and they walk around a lot. It's all the chicken we can eat. Actually, at this point we don't buy any other meat except bacon. Our appetite for red meat comes from wild game (not my efforts though, I'm a lousy hunter).

We have about 14 laying hens too.

Here's a shot of our setup.


14 layers. Not short of eggs are you. nice set up.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

ozarkgem

Quote from: yukon cornelius on May 12, 2014, 10:01:06 PM
congrats on da birds! we haven't gotten ours yet this year. as busy as we have been we may just skip this year. im sure we would regret it though. one of these days id like to be able to produce nearly all our food.
It would be a challenge to see how little store bought food a person would have to buy. I was just at my friends garden and he planted 150 lbs of seed potatoes. She said they planted twice that  many at their previous place. Lots of spuds. How have your ads on CL been doing? Been seeing them. Nice stuff.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

red oaks lumber

i let my egg layers free range during the day, then close the coop up at dusk. it's quite the site seeing over 100 brown hens moving thru the yard and woods scratching for bugs.
my meat birds are kept confined for better growth rate, i run 2 coops for them 50 birds per coop.
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

ozarkgem

Quote from: red oaks lumber on May 13, 2014, 08:48:14 PM
i let my egg layers free range during the day, then close the coop up at dusk. it's quite the site seeing over 100 brown hens moving thru the yard and woods scratching for bugs.
my meat birds are kept confined for better growth rate, i run 2 coops for them 50 birds per coop.
I had to put a net over the top of my coop. The Hawks would get the chickens and they don't taste near as good as the chickens.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

thecfarm

I never had a hawk grab a chicken. I had guinea hens and a hawk landed in a tree to check out dinner. Those guinea started to howl. My dog and I went running to see what was wrong. I've seen a fox come out of the woods and grab a chicken. I saw a chicken,fox and my dog run across the woods road too. A guy up the road has chickens and don't have any problems with critters eating his chickens.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

KBforester

We have no shortage of ground predators. We frequently see coyote scat around our electric netting fence, but (knock on wood) nothing has penetrated the fence yet. Our only predator problem (with the fence) has been an owl.

I highly recommend the fence to anyone who is into chickens raising as more than a one time experiment. I've heard of people using traditional chicken tractors, with the fencing, just to add extra security.

Quote from: ozarkgem on May 13, 2014, 08:11:43 PM

14 layers. Not short of eggs are you. nice set up.

That's the idea! We sell what we don't eat, roadside, in a cooler by the honor system. You would be surprised how badly the supply dwindles when they molt, 10 chickens will get you through any dry spell though. We usually have replace 5 a year.
Trees are good.

luvmexfood

Every spring I think about getting some chickens for eggs but never do. Course I live alone but could give some to my sister that lives close.

Not that it would be any cheaper but who knows what goes into the chickens that lay the eggs we get in the store. Was actually online last night and went to the website of a large egg producer in the next county. They average getting 680 thousand eggs a day. You know they probably have to give some kind of "treatment" in the feed to keep that many chickens healthy.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

chevytaHOE5674

Have 70 some layers that free range from sun up to sun down and then get closed in at dark. Only predator issue I've had is hawks and the chickens are too big for the hawks to carry away so they just sort of try and drag them across the yard. If you get the .22 out quick enough the chicken can survive this kind of attack... ha

Our hens like to go out and range with the cows and are quite commonly 1/8 of a mile away from their coop so fencing them in with expensive electric netting is impractical.

ozarkgem

I had one Hawk went through a small opening in the top netting  and got caught inside. I had to catch it. I have a video of that somewhere.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

glassman_48

ozarkgem,
I could not believe that those chicks literally ran free in and out of that box for those weeks, my daughter had the box down a foot or so below her porch and walled in by the house.  They were starting to jump up on the box and getting out so I got the chicken tractor done.  Very first night they were in there too.  My buddy has over 100 chickens, he built a 40 by 60 cloth covered quonset hut and fenced a little extra in.  The hawks were having a field day, so he got 2 geese and put in the yard, the hawks have not bothered them since.

ozarkgem

Quote from: glassman_48 on May 14, 2014, 07:08:04 AM
ozarkgem,
I could not believe that those chicks literally ran free in and out of that box for those weeks, my daughter had the box down a foot or so below her porch and walled in by the house.  They were starting to jump up on the box and getting out so I got the chicken tractor done.  Very first night they were in there too.  My buddy has over 100 chickens, he built a 40 by 60 cloth covered quonset hut and fenced a little extra in.  The hawks were having a field day, so he got 2 geese and put in the yard, the hawks have not bothered them since.
Geese! Never heard of that. But if it works it works.
Mighty Mite Band Mill, Case Backhoe, 763 Bobcat, Ford 3400 w/FEL , 1962 Ford 4000, Int dump truck, Clark forklift, lots of trailers. Stihl 046 Magnum, 029 Stihl. complete machine shop to keep everything going.

luvmexfood

Was setting on a treestand one day and this big fox squirrel was over behind me. Heard a big racket and turned to see what it was. A hawk had flown in to grab the squirrel and the fight was on. Fox squirrel got away and the hawk just flew off. Not many squirrels can say they were so lucky but we have a lot of fox squirrels some as big as a smaller cat. Pretty too.
Give me a new saw chain and I can find you a rock in a heartbeat.

jargo432

We started off with 6, then 3, then 2.  Finally gave the last 2 to a lady that has a better chicken coop.

Our problem was coyotes.  I built a chicken tractor and felt bad keeping them inside, so I would let them out to free range.  (that's when the trouble would hit) 

I'd like to get some again, after I build a bigger, better coop.
Jack of all trades.

Tam-i-am

Here is the hawk on the one and only chicken I ever lost to a hawk. We were able to walk right up to it, couldn't scare him off as he was not going to give up its dinner.



 

For many years that was the only bird I lost until last spring I found all but one chicken dead with holes in the back of their heads.  It was a very sad day!  We figure a weasel or fisher cat got into the rafters and into the section of the barn my chickens were in for the night.

After about a year without eggs we decided to start over.
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coxy

how do you keep the hens from sitting we have one that will try and take eggs out of the other nesting boxes to put in the one she is in  ??? took a few days to see why there was broken eggs on the floor but I seen her do it or my be trying to just get rid of the other eggs    she is mean when you try to get the eggs from her she makes all kinds of noise puffs up and pecks the day lights out of ya      my 7 year old girl told me she was going to put the shock collar from the dog on her and have fried chicken  :D :D :D

chevytaHOE5674

Sounds like she's gone broody, and when they do they actually get a sort of fever. We usually pluck them from their box and put them in a wire cage out in the daylight with no bedding. This allows airflow to their chest and bottom and breaks the fever. On occasions when that doesn't work we have had to dunk them feet first in some cool water several times to break them.

Or you can let her sit on eggs and hatch some chicks for you.

goose63

Is that hawk still alive ?
goose
if you find your self in a deep hole stop digging
saw logs all day what do you get lots of lumber and a day older
thank you to all the vets

thecfarm

chevy,that is interestering. Never knew about the fever. I only had a couple that wanted to sit on the eggs. Seem like it only lasted a few days.
Model 6020-20hp Manual Thomas bandsaw,TC40A 4wd 40 hp New Holland tractor, 450 Norse Winch, Heatmor 400 OWB,YCC 1978-79

beenthere

Quotehow do you keep the hens from sitting

Your 7 yr old has the correct answer...
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

coxy

Quote from: beenthere on May 23, 2014, 09:32:50 AM
Quotehow do you keep the hens from sitting

Your 7 yr old has the correct answer...
:D :D  that's what I was thinking my self :)

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