The Forestry Forum

Stopped in at TSC today to pick up a couple of big washers.
Started looking around a bit and they have a shipment of chickens and ducks in.
Decided I'm going to get me a couple. ;) The yellow ducks are half off and they have lots of them, but I think I'm getting chickens.

What do I need to know?
Any tips/tricks?
I plan to get a couple of laying hens, no chance I can keep a roster so I need to make sure I get hens.
The signs had discriptions of hens and rosters, but most of those little guys looked pretty much alike. ::)
Any breed stand out as a good one for laying?
Looks like my Mom may be getting a couple as well for the kids to raise, but she really wants some that lay the blue eggs, what kind are those?

My Sister inlaw's Dad had a couple all summer a few years back. They never laid one egg. Don't want that to happen. :-\

You won't be able to tell if you get a rooster or a hen,unless you know how to sex them.Araucana lays the blue and green eggs.Also known as the Easter egg chicken.These are not good layers. Put the chickens in a box with newpapers on the bottom.They like it WARM.Put a clamp light with a 40 watt bulb and cook them critters.But make sure the box is bigger enough so the can get away from the heat.Will take a few weeks to get feathers.I keep mine in the house until they start to smell like chickens,than out they go to the coop.Keep them away from drafts.If you have pets,make sure they do try to kill the chickens.Rhode Island Reds lay brown eggs,a good layer.Need to dip the chickens beck in the water so they know where to get a drink.The book will say to put them in a round place with a red light.I done it with the above 5-6 times and never lost a chicken or a duck. Good luck.

Hey Furby! 
That's good advice from thecfarm.  I'm familiar with Dominicker chickens.  I always purchased my chickens when they were older and ready to start laying.  You can tell their sex real easy by then.  I never had a rooster because some of them can be hard to handle.  If you feed a good laying feed, your chickens will lay eggs.  Dominicker's lay small brown eggs though.  Good luck with your chickens, and keep us posted with your progress!   :)

Good advice so far Furby, I raise many different breeds of egg layers, including the Araucana's, all brown egg layers except them. Chickens are surprising easy to take care of and will eat food scraps as well as prepared feed, we give ours a combination of both and let them roam the yard to eat the bugs and grass. I also raise laying ducks too, kaki campbells and indian runners, they lay more and bigger eggs. I prefer the taste of duck eggs myself, they are sweeter with more flavor is best as I can discribe. There is something very soothing about having hens around, they make a cooing sound, keep the bugs down and provide the freshest eggs possible.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10427/eggmix.jpg)

Duck eggs on the left, Araucana's next and then some brown ones from our black stars.

And what happens when you have your own hens. :D

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10427/eggsaplenty.jpg)

Any roosters that slip through go into the stew pot first time they crow. ;D

Quote

Any roosters that slip through go into the stew pot first time they crow. ;D

I was just reading that again after doing a search.  ;D ;D ;D

I realy didn't pay all that much attention at TSC. It was after I got in the truck that I hatched the plan to get me a couple.
Really like the ducks, and have been considering turning the swimming pool into a fish pond anyways, but I know I can't pass the ducks with my neighbors, they are just going to be too messy and noisy. A rooster's gonna give me trouble as well, but I'm pretty sure I can get away with a couple of hens as my neighbors already know I'm totally crazy.  ;D

As it is now, I buy a dozen eggs, use a few, forget they are in there and end up dumping them. I figure having fresh eggs would be fun, and a few here and there for the neighbors would help keep things cool. ;)

The chicks are about the size of a softball or so, not fresh hatched. How old do they need to get before they start laying?
I plan to go take a closer look at the chicks again either Tues or Wed.

Furby,

  HEY THANKS,  almost forgot about PEEP season coming. Today we will make a trip to our local TSC for veiwing by our three year old. THANKS FOR THE REMINDER.

   REID ;)

Our chickens are my favorite farm animal....after Becky of course.  :) They are really easy to care for. We get ours as day olds, and put them in a cardboard box with a heat lamp clamped on it. You'll know just by watching the chicks if it is too warm or too cold. Get  a little waterer when you buy the chicks, and as somebody mentioned, dip the little guys beaks in the water so they know where to get a drink. That is about all the training they require. They normally start laying eggs in about 4 or 5 months or so, depending upon the breed. I like the black stars for hens, they are good layers and seem relatively smart....as far as chickens go.  ::)  They lay brown eggs.  According to Martha Stewart you can tell what color eggs the chicken lays by looking at their ears. I bet you didn't know chickens had ears, now did you!  :D  I personally have not tried this as I do have some pride left, but I have been known to look at their legs.  :o   Generally the aracona's (the ones that lay blue eggs) have dark colored legs, unlike the brown or white layers that have yellowish legs.  OK, so now you know way more than you ever wanted to know about chickens! Good luck with them, Furby!

Patty, I never could tell anything from a chicken leg for the breading. ;D ;D ;D

Raised on a farm, but didn't know chickens had ears, thought they went the way of chicken lips. Learn something new everyday. :D :D

patty thats a new one on me  :D :D all i ever see when i look at chickens is drumsticks,thighs, and breastmeat. with plenty of BBQ sauce. ;D

blue eggs? robins and grackles :D :D :D

I'm with tnlogger...matter of fact, as I sit here typing away, there's a chicken roasting in the oven.  It's a Tyson.   ::)  I sure would love to try a chicken that came from the farm, with no hormones or anything, but for today, this'll have to do.

Oh, and Furby, if you get those hens laying a lot of eggs, well, consider me your first customer!  I'll gladly take some off yer hands.   8)

I had to feed and water the capons (meat chickens) when I was a kid. To this day, the only good chicken is a dead chicken-on my plate with gravy and dressing ;D

You haven't lived until you raise chickens for meat. Just ask my boys.  :D  The smell of dipping those headless chickens in scalding soapy water is a smell you never forget, but always wish you could. 

As for the taste, well they are tougher than what you buy at the store, my guess is because they get some excersize, whereas the store bought chickens are raised in a 1 foot square box.  But knowing you are eating healthy corn fed  meat is worth all the work. We raise them every other year, enough to last for two years in the freezer. By then you forget how much work it is and are ready to do it again.  :D

We try to keep laying hens all the time. I replenish the stock as needed.

Hey Furby   You might be throwing away good eggs.  They will keep under refrigeration for 3 or 4 weeks.

Tom you are right as always. :P  A a large egg producer I visited a few years ago, said they never even shipped any eggs until they were three days old. They advertised farm fresh eggs, but said the eggs taste better after several days of cold storage.
Bob the stale egg eater

And... how to tell if your eggs are fresh.. or more importantly.. not fresh

Put them in a bowl of water.
Fresh eggs will lay on the bottom of the bowl. Not so fresh, they will stay on the bottom but stand up on their ends. Not fresh, but still OK to use. If they float to the top then they are past the use by date. If they make like a cork... it's ready to blow  :o


Ian

I was just thinking about those half off ducks.  What in the world do you do with a half a duck that's not grown up yet.  I can just picture the little boogers hopping around the front yard, flying in circles and tipping over in the pond.

A customer of mine convinced me that I should look into Dominickers if I wanted chickens.  They are an old breed from Jamestown days that were brought to this country because they laid good and ate good too.  If you raise Dominickers, look into the organizations that are proud that they are perpetuating the breed.

  Maybe ??? I learned sumpin new today. Never heard of scalding SOAPY water for chikin plukin. ??? Hey Patty, What's with the Soapy water ???  We always used plain water ??????

Harold,  I have not tried it, but a small squirt of dish soap is supposed to help feathers come out. 

Will

  I'm from the old country. No soap on my chikins.  ::) ::) :D :D

I bet that soap would make the feathers clean and could use them for a pillow or feather bed. :P  Of course on this side of the Mason and Dixon line we don't need feather beds cause it is almost warm.
Bob in a border state

Bob
One year I had a guy come and butcher mine. (very pricy)  He told about a customer that picked up the feathers after butchering and took them to the local laundrymat.  She ruined a washer. :D :D

Will

Boy do I remmber bucthering chickens when I was young.  My Dad raised chickens for eggs and meat.  We had 2000 laying hens at one time.  Cleaning eggs was not fun anymore.  With that many hens and being that my Dad hatched all of our chickens in a 400 egg incubator we had alot of roosters.  So he took orders and we plucked and dressed them on Saturdays.  I was very happy to see those chickens go.  We still have a couple of dozen for fresh eggs but we let the hens hatch and raise the little ones now.  The extra roosters make excellent fried chicken. ;D

Thanks for the info everyone, I'm taking notes.

Tom, I figure 2 weeks past the use by date is old. ::) I can be real forgetfull!

Ian, I was wondering how to tell. I read someplace once that if the clear white part started to look cloudy after cracking open the egg, it was going bad. Just didn't know if it was true.

Paschale, A friend of my Mom sells fresh eggs. Just off Lk Mich Dr. before you get to the river going to Allendale. I can get you info if you want.

I don't know why we add soap to the water, that is how I was taught over 100 years ago.   ::)

I imagine it is to make them easier to pluck. We have been skinning them to save time the past few years, but I don't think they taste as good that way.   We certainly could use one of those fancy chicken pluckers.....and NO I don't mean me with my Sunday clothes on!  ;D 

  Yer a fine lookin gal to be over 100 years old, Patty !!!!! ;D ;D :D :D :D :D

Patty, your explanation reminds me of something that happened in my family.  My Grandmother taught my Mother to cook, and Mom taught me.  One Easter weekend, I was in Mom's kitchen with her and my Grandmother and I was getting the ham ready to go into the oven.  I cut off the back part of the ham, like I'd been doing for years and years and sat it aside.  I then reached over and picked that hunk of ham up and said, "Why do we cut this part of the ham off before we cook it?"  My Mother just looked at me, and then turned to my Grandmother and said, "Why DO we Mom?"  My grandmother said, "Well, I don't know why you're doing it, but I did it because the ham wouldn't fit in the pan I had."   :D

Fla said" I'm from the old country. No soap on my chikins"
New Jersey is old world :D :D

Don't know why you add soap. Those buggers were hard enough to hang on to :D I still remember the smell of the chickens being plucked too and it aint pleasant

Jeez Louise....don't you guys know anything. The reason we add soap to the water is to clean the chickens at the same time as plucking em.  ;D

I'll always remember when my oldest son was 3 years old or so, I had been out squirrel hunting and was in the garage getting ready to clean them. He showed up and asked "what you doing dad". I explained I was gonna clean up the squirrels for supper. He disappeared and showed up a couple of minutes latter with a scrub brush to help. :D

We really like the Black Sexlink. They lay big brown eggs and are pretty consistent layers. No more of those old weak tasting store bought eggs for us. We started saleing eggs to church members a few years back and now the majority of the church buyes farm fresh eggs. ;)

Everybody Now! smiley_singsongnote02

Gone Country
Look at those boots

Gone Country
new kind of roots

Gone Country
a new kind of suit!! :D :D

I'm not much of a musician.  But you will have these things showing up in the yard that I like to call chicken nuggets and yes they will get on your boots if you don't watch were you walk.

We have 4 hens that we let free range we have 2 rhode island reds, barred rock and a black hen.  We had a golden comet and she was the friendliest she died last summer.  We will probably get some more golden comets.

We do about 400 meat birds a year. We put soap in the scald water. It makes them clean. We have a barrow picker I built. can do 2-4 chickens in about 30 seconds. The scald has to be right. We keep 50-75 for our use and sell the rest.
The secert to cook a tender chicken is a little lower heat and a little longer.Just ate some breast meat, cut it with my fork.
Richard

Hiya!  How long does it take to get your birds up to selling weight?  How heavy do you like them to be when they're ready?  And, one last thing I've wondered.....do those birds give eggs too?   :)

Hey Jason, odd minds think alike, I was just thinking of setting up a coop for a few birds again.  I had one for a long time, but was raising pheasants, quail, wood ducks and partridge back then.  I figured a few chickens would be fun and I need something to keep my 8 year old boy a little busier! 

You can get good feed cheap enough at the farmers Co-op just south of you on M37.  I always bought the high protein blend for the birds, but I imagine che-kens could do with the cheaper stuff. 

One thing I always did when I had young chicks was fill the base of the waterer with marbles.  Does two things, keeps their heads out of the hole so they dont drown themselves (yep it happens believe it or not) and the light reflecting through the glass attracts their eye and they peck at it, and end up drinking more water with keeps em from getting dehydrated.  Dumb little things can die from the craziest things. 

When I had quail mature ones could lay about 30 eggs a day.  I only could incubate about 50 at a time so I had so many extra eggs I started hard boiling them and then making little pickeled eggs out of em.  Break them babbies out at a cocktail party and watch the fun!   A pain to shell though. 

Roxie, We raise chickens for sale from chicks. It takes 2-3 months to get 2 to 3 lb chickens. This is the age they are most tender. If you let them get to 7 months plus they get huge 7 to 10 lbs and need to be roasted or stewed. At that age they have the flavor you may remember as a kid at grandma's. Meat chickens do lay eggs just not as consistently as egg layers. Check out our website www.greenleaffarms.net for more info if you like. Dana

All this talk about eggs brings back memories of riding submarines out of Guam.  The eggs were what the Navy "Sea Service Eggs", they had been dipped in a wax or an oil.  However, after 45 days under water, you sure could tell when the cook started breakfast.  The smell is one that I will never forget.   :o :o :o You looked forward to the power eggs.  Remind me to tell you guys about the green ring bologna after being submerged for 75 days. :D :D :D

subsailor

dana
So how long do you keep laying hens, at what point do you butcher them?
Do you keep any roosters around?
Buzz

 :D :D  That's funny Roxie! I imagine that is how alot of traditions get started....no real reason behind them except for the person who started it.  Our hens lay real good for about 3 years, then they start to slack off some. We don't butcher them, we just let them die of old age.

FDH....yes I do look remarkebly good for being over 100; and don't you forget it either! I have to remind Norm daily about how beautiful I am, he keeps forgetting.  ;D

   :D :D :D :D :D 8) 8) :D :D :D :D :D

Buzzsawyer, we replace our laying hens every other year. The meat bird chicks are a mix of hens and roosters.

Unless you know how to sex for sure which requires a finger in a specific location you can tell 99% of the time by looking at the chickens.

They need to be at the same age and just starting to get their feathers.

In large type birds the females tend to get tail feathers and the wing feathers normall are longer than the length of the body.

The males tend to have no or very short tail and wing feathers.

You normally will also notice that the cone on the females will be short and the male will be long.

This works most of the time but you do need to pick from a group that are within a weeks age of each other.

arthur

Dana, thanks so much for the link to the website!  I appreciate the information!   :D

Get the black sex links, they are hens and lay nice brown eggs.  You don't need a rooster to get eggs. 

Welcome to the forum Camp Run Farm!   :)

Dana  Nice website  I sure wish we could get those prices for our beef in NZ, it's all grass fed.  I just sent some off to the works Slaughterhouse) yesterday  will find out soon what I get for them.

We cross with Wagyu (Japanese Kobe beef)  to increase the marbling score.  Make great eating when killed in the paddock with no stress.

Ernie

Roxie, We raise Carnish- cross. Theydress out 5-6 lbs. at 7-8 weeks. We get the farter growing ones, The slow ones dress out 4-5 lbs. at 7-8 weeks. These chickens don;t lay eggs. I don't think they would live that long. They have some leg problems because they grow too fast. Also heart attact (sp?)
Richard

I have not been following this thread, but thought some of you would like to know that a small flock of chicken notified their owner, late this afternoon, that Mt. St. Helens was about the blow its top.  Sure enough, very shortly oafte they began running around the yard the mountain poped its cork, sending steam and ash about 30, 000 feet into the air. :o

Most of the leg problems and heart attacks in cornish rock cross birds will be avoided if they are put on a restricted diet.  Look at   www.welphatchery.com   They explain the diet.  This is where I get my broilers and this diet has worked well.  I get all males when I order, which I did yesterday.

Will

Ernie, How familiar are you with Red Devons? I have been trying to locate some heiffers or even some young cows here in the upper mid-west and have had terrible luck. It is my understanding that they are very common in NZ Have you had any experience with them? If so what did you think?

Dana

I am not familiar with the breed except to look at but here are some NZ links  you could probably get PB embryos or semen through them, The organic outfit looks interesting.

http://www.tepukeko.co.nz/red_devon.html

http://www.lifestylelivestock.co.nz/Redevon.htm

http://www.geneticenterprises.co.nz/reddevon.html

I still recommend the Wagyu  for top eating, a little slower growing  with small easy calving offspring.  A popular cross here for export to Japan is Wagyu/polled angus  I know a gut who ships planeloads of weaners to japan for growing/fattening there.

I got some particularly good embryos a few years ago from Mark Feist in North Dakote  here is his link

http://www.wagyu.org/members/45.htm

A few more Wagyu links

http://members.tripod.com/~BayGourmet/wagyu.html

http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/wagyu/

Ernie

Got my ducks in a row.................um I mean chicks................better make that both!  ;) ;D
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/furby_chicksopt.JPG)

My Mom wanted me to take one brother and one sister with me to get chickens, as they were each going to get one.
Trying to keep myself out of trouble I said that I would not, and that my Mom had to pick out the ones she was going to deal with.
Another brother really wanted a duck, but we decided not to get one.
Got to TSC and the plan was for my Mom to pick out two and I was going to get two.
Well..............things don't always go as planned. :-\
The clerks were no help with sexing the chicks.
I had decided I really wanted a Barred Rock, and after my Mom saw the pics, she wanted one as well. Now of course they had three left. ::) No chance we were going to take two and leave the other one by it's self. My Mom said she was ONLY getting two, and I really wanted two different kinds, so I decided to get three and take two of the Barred Rocks.
After much playing around trying to decide what to get, and if we really wanted to take a risk on getting a rooster because we could not tell what was what, my Mom picked out a Red Sexlink and also decided to get a Black Sexlink for the brother that wanted the duck, as she was NOT getting him a duck.
My Mom is now up to three chicks, I'm at two trying to decide on a third. Decided to get a Black Sexlink as well. Told the clerk we needed to go get a few things. As we were walking back pass the chicks to check out, a fellow walks over and asked if we wanted a real good deal and would like more. Huh?
Now this guy doesn't look like an employee so we figure he's trying to sell some from his farm or something. After some talking and my Mom saying several times that she already had made up her mind and had what she wanted, the clerk walks up and we talk some more. Turns out this guy is with the store and has lots more info then the clerk did, but still couldn't help us sex the chicks as they were too young he said. They are all under three weeks old. We more or less started over and learned a bit about some of the chicks and ducks. Ended up talking my Mom into getting a duck as well as the three chicks she had already picked out. Gave her the duck at (so Tom can sleep  ;) ) 50% off  even though it wasn't a yellow duck.  ;D

We went in for four chicks and walked out with six and a duck. ::)
And I'm afraid we may also have a couple of roosters in the bunch. We are hoping to find a home for any roosters we may have, as my Mom has issues with eating pets. ::)
We'll see what happens.
I have an auction on Sat. and will be right next to a different TSC, I may be adding to my little flock as that duck sure is DanG cute........now anyways. ::)


If anyone in this area is looking for some ducks or chicks, the Coopersville TSC will give you a good deal if you take a fair amount of them. ;)

They're adorable!   :)  The best part is that now when you are out with your friends and you've got to go, you can say, "I've got a couple a chicks waiting on me at home,"  and it'll be TRUE!   :D

They sure are cute little guys Furby. :) The duck looks like it's a kahki campbell, I have one that's laying right now. They will produce more eggs than a chicken and I prefer the flavor over chicken eggs. As the ducks get older the way you tell if it's a male is by his tail feathers. Males will curl and females don't.

Not a bad idea Roxie! ;)

Norm, I wasn't paying attention when the fellow said what kind the duck was and my Mom don't remember either, but she doesn't think it's a kahki campbell. I just hope it is a layer as it eats a lot, atleast my brother has to pay for it's food.  ;D


I stopped in at the other TSC in the area today after the auction. They had a lot more chicks then the other store and some were even cheaper. After looking at their Barred Rocks, I'm not so sure we have Barred Rocks, but I'm better at tree ID then chick ID, and ya all know how bad at tree ID I am. ::)

Alas.........call me a sucker, I ended up getting two more chicks, they are  Araucanas.  ;D I was going to get a duck if they had some other kinds, but all they had was just like my Brothers duck, so I thought I'd wait and see how big of a problem the duck will be and maybe get one next year.

Ducks are a bit of a pain to care for Furby. They are slobs in the waterers and make a real mess, one won't be much of a problem but get two or more and they can make a pen a pit in a hurry. :D

Yeah, I'm learning that.  ::)
Put the duck in the tub and gave it a couple inches of water while I cleaned the coop. I could hear water draining so I reached down to move the stopper, ended up with a face full of water. Vocal little guy when I sepperated it from the chicks.
The duck is my brothers and will go to my parents place with half of the chicks when it warms up out. That's why I kinda wanted my own duck. I'm just going to see how things work out from here though, if one of my neighbors has a problem with me keeping the chickens, I'll have to move them to my parents place anyways. ::)

My favorite chickens is Rhode Island Red's and Dominiquers.  I used to have a bunch of em.  I got rid of em before we started building our house and since I get plenty of fresh eggs from my dad I just haven't restocked.  I hate them store bought production raised eggs just about as bad as I hate store bought tomatoes.  They don't taste nothing the same as fresh.


For a while I had me some guineas  but I found out real quick I HATE them things and got rid of em.  They ganged up on a rooster I had one time named Ro Ho and I got mad at em and put em outta their misery.

We had a lone pet duck for a long time.  He was one of them that had a top knot on the top of his head, real odd looking.  The wife picked him up somewhere. I named him 'disco' and he hung around a long time but finally somebodys dog killed him.   

Now I do have me a duck that come in last fall and is still camping on my pond.  I kinda hope he stays around cause I like watching him dive in the water and he don't seem to be bothering nobody.

For a year or two we had us some white geese.  They make the absolute best 'watch dogs' and would tell you if anybody was around.  But they're REAL messy and real mean and just a plain general nuisance so I finally got rid of em after they learned they liked to go visiting and started bothering one of my neighbors. 

For a while we had a whole slew  of rabbits that we let run wild and live in the barn.  I both liked em, and 'hated' em cause I couldn't never convince my wife we ought to be eating them rabbits instead of keeping em all for pets!  Kim's kinda funny that way about rabbits.

All's I got now is just one lone Rhode Island Red Rooster.  He was slated for the stewing pan along with 5 more but the dang thing escaped.  I kinda got used to hearing him crow in the mornings so I gave him a reprieve and let him hang around.  I do wish sometimes he'd quit getting confused and thinking daylight was gonna come way earlier than it actually does though!

We had a Bill Mar turkey for a few months. One of those big white ones.
It fell off a truck on the Eway. One or two other ones got hit, but this one survived.
I went out to my parents barn one morning, and opened the door to find the thing standing there staring at me. VERY quickly did a double take and then backed out and closed the door. Went in the house to have a talk with my Mom. Seems she and my brother were on their way home the night before and as they were on the on ramp they say it. My Mom got off at the next exit and made her way back around. It was still alive, so they wrapped it in a blanket and put it in the trunk, and headed home. Put it in the barn for the night and didn't figure it would make it.


We ended up building a pen for it and had lots of fun with it. It started to get meaner and meaner though, to the point the kids and my Mom wouldn't go near it. I didn't have much trouble with it, just a peck here and there but they did hurt! If that thing was going to chase ya, it was going to chase ya! You could swat at it with a broom and it would keep coming. I would just push his head aside and confuse him. Kinda cool trying to "talk" to it.
After a few months it started losing feathers and looking pretty bad, and passed on. We thought it may have had West Nile, but I figure it probly died of old age as I read they didn't live too long due to the way they are breed and raised for meat.
Have a couple pics around here someplace............

I was reading a post that said farm raised chickens are tougher than store bought.  We raise Cornish X
Rocks, you can send away for them and they come in the mail.  The chicks end up being 5 - 7 pounds in 8 weeks, they eat like machines and you have to limit their feed or they will die.  If you butcher them at 8 weeks or there about they are excellent, if you let them go much longer they really get tough.

As far as butchering them we have found that after you kill them and bleed them just squirt them off with a hose before you scald them, 135 degree water for a couple of minutes and they pluck very easily.  Actually we have found a much better way to clean them, we deliver them to an Amish guy alive and pick them up the next day cleaned and in plastic bags, that is the best way to do it!!!!!

Remember don't eat chicken on New Year's day or you will scratch all year......

Ed

For baby chicks we always kept them in a old stock tank with a plywood over the top and a heat lamp hanging safely somewhere in there and a cement block on top the plywood to keep critters out . Newspapers in the bottom . Good luck you chicken farmer   :D

Just had to upgrade their pen today as they outgrew the old one. Was planning to keep them where they were until I got the outside pen built and put them in that, but old man winter has been holding on tighter then planned. Weather is taking a turn for the better, and I hope to get the new pen built and them in it within a week or two.
Sure is a good thing I decided to keep a couple of 55 gallon drums of wood shavings on hand. I've already used one drum. ::)

I was just looking at Marti's Poultry today thinking about ordering some ducklings.  They have some good tips on raising chicks and ducklings as well as offering exotics, with reasonable prices. 
Reason for this post is to say you guys with a TSC nearby are so lucky, Its gotten to where you can't find anything around here.  The hardware stores just don't seem to carry it  Doesn't matter what , the answer lately seems to be sorry we don't have that.  Been trying to find ducklings localy for 2 weeks no luck.  Did some more looking today and decided to go online at TSC sure enough ,as usual, there they were.  Called the store, yes we have them.  They would have to be a three hour drive.  Maybe I can time it right on the way home sometime.  I really hate mail order But I'm getting really good at it lately. ;) :D

Mail order is a way of life when you live in the boonies.  ;)   We order our chicks and ducklings from a place here in Iowa. They ship them all over the country. They arrive by mail, and the post office will call first thing in the morning....come get these chicks! Another option is to have them trucked into a local feed store, and then they will be calling first thing in the morning....come get these chicks! I've bought laying hens locally now and then, but it is pretty rare to find them for sale.  Check out your local FB Spokesman, you can find them in there sometimes. I have been known to just stop at places where I see they have chickens and ask if they are willing to sell a few, that seems to work also; you just can't be too shy.  ;)

We went to the local egg factory. 50 cents apiece. Spent $5 10 hens. Drove 12 miles home had 3 eggs in the crate. They laid till January slowed down till March now back to six to eight eggs a day. only have eight hens left. Had to show a coon what a twelve gauge would do Kind of forgot how hard it is to hold the light and shoot at the same time. Think we have more coons so duct taped the flashlight to the barrel.
                                    Juncyard

Yea, good idea about the egg factory. They like to sell the 2 year olds and replace them with young ones. They feel that after 2years the hens cut back on production. We have found that they will continue to produce for at least a couple years...maybe at a slower rate.

Hey Patty and Junkyard,

What sort of condition are the chickens in from the egg factory???

I hear of all sorts of awful stories about them having beaks cut and so on..  I bet they are happy to get out and scratch around!!!

asy :D

Quote from: Roxie on March 07, 2005, 08:53:43 AM
Patty, your explanation reminds me of something that happened in my family.  My Grandmother taught my Mother to cook, and Mom taught me.  One Easter weekend, I was in Mom's kitchen with her and my Grandmother and I was getting the ham ready to go into the oven.  I cut off the back part of the ham, like I'd been doing for years and years and sat it aside.  I then reached over and picked that hunk of ham up and said, "Why do we cut this part of the ham off before we cook it?"  My Mother just looked at me, and then turned to my Grandmother and said, "Why DO we Mom?"  My grandmother said, "Well, I don't know why you're doing it, but I did it because the ham wouldn't fit in the pan I had."   :D

smiley_clapping smiley_clapping     :D    :D    :D    :D

Please hold your applause until I'm finished!   :D

Turning a quick chicken buck:

Folks want their eggs immediately when they buy chickens.  If you have a livestock auction near you that sells small stock, you can raise up hens to laying age and, around here at least, get $6-7 apiece for them at auction.  Folks think they are saving money by not feeding for 5 months with no eggs.  But if you raise at any level of production, you'll have $3 max in each bird and double your money.  I used to raise 1,000 per month to sell at the farmer's market of the cornish cross and kept 200 layers for eggs to sell there.  I'd start 300 brown egg layer hens as late in the year as I could get them (usually late oct to early nov) and keep 100 of them as replacements for myself and sell the remaining 200 or so at the auction.  I could recover my chick costs and feeding the layers over the winter to the next farmers market year.  I would alternate between buff orpingons and black australorps so I could tell who was 1 year old and who was 2.  The 1 year olds lay more eggs but the 2 year old eggs will be bigger.  After 2, production drops to much to justify feeding them unless they are just for home use so I would butcher them and sell as stewing hens or pet food.  Could get $3-4 a piece for spent hens.

You'll like your auracana (it is to late at night to check spelling).  They'll lay pastel colored eggs ranging from pink to green to blue.  No way to know what color it will be until they start and they will only lay 1 color throughout their lives.  The prettiest eggs, I think, are from auracana crossed with brown egg layer hens.  If you like really dark, dark shelled eggs, check out Mauran's--a dark chocolate brown egg but really expensive birds.

Confession time.   :-[
I did NOT know that chickens could lay any other color than white or brown.  Cowboy Bob has been getting eggs from a friend of his, and I've been throwing out the GREEN ones!  I thought they were bad!   :D
Thank you Robert R for the information.   :)

Quote from: Roxie on March 23, 2005, 02:32:02 AM
Confession time.   :-[
I did NOT know that chickens could lay any other color than white or brown.  Cowboy Bob has been getting eggs from a friend of his, and I've been throwing out the GREEN ones!  I thought they were bad!   :D
Thank you Robert R for the information.   :)

You were right, I held my applause, here it is now      


smiley_clapping smiley_clapping smiley_clapping       :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

That is funny Roxie.  :D   I didn't know that each Aracana lays a different shade of blue egg, ranging from khaki color to light blue. Life on the farm is just full of suprises!


Our UPS driver has a little girl that Norm & I think is a real cutey. We sent a dozen mixed eggs home with him a few weeks ago to show his daughter. She took the blue eggs to school for show & tell. So now, we have been saving our blue eggs this week to send her for Easter.

Patty.....the green eggs that I've been pitching out have been a light green.  Is the blue light, or say the color of a Robin's egg?  I've never seen a blue egg.   :)

OK, get ready for this one :D

Went into Rural King to pick up our chickens tonight.  I asked the guy working there if he knew how to sex the chickens.  He said no but did share with us how to do it based on an old timer that was in the day before.

Sit down for this one :D :D

"You pick up them chicks in one hand and use your other hand to feel there neck.  If you feel two little bumps then its a rooster.  Them bumps are testicles and they wont drop until they get older"

I never laughed so hard in my life.  My ribs now hurt again real bad, my chest hurts again, and I cant stop coughing from all the lefter.   :D

We ended up with 28 chickens tonight.  I think living in the store has wore them out.  Got them home and in there new box and all but a couple went straight asleep. 

No one at the store had a clue what species they were so we grabbed a bunch from each bin.  Tried to get those with the longer wing feathers as I have been told hens grow their feathers faster than the roosters.  We will see. 

If I get woke up in a few months by 28 roosters we are going to have to have a Chicken Roast before the piggy roast! :D

Hi Dana

A while ago, we were discussing cattle in the "Chickens" topic and I mentioned Wagyu's.

Here is a link that may be of interest.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/dietfitness.html?in_article_id=344664&in_page_id=1798

I just got a call from one of the NZ  TV News people to ask me if it is for real.

Ernie

I consider myself a pretty good forester, a pretty good Christmas tree farmer but I'm an expert in raising chickens.  I spent 18 years growing for Tyson foods and figure I raised just over 5.5 million birds.  But, these were broilers and not yard birds.  We couldn't even keep yard birds with the broilers for fear of transmitting diseases.  Those broilers were so stupid and bred for so much meat they lost all their natural ability to fight off diseases.  And, an helicopter going over would cause mass chicken-a-cide.  But when I buy chicken, I buy Tyson!

Hey Roxie,

Sorry I didn't see your question earlier.  ::) The colors of the blue eggs will range all the way from light blue like a robin's egg to blue green, to plain greenish khaki color. Each chicken will have its own individual color. We have only one aracona hen now, and her eggs are all a pale bluish green. All the rest of my hens lay various shades of brown eggs. The duck eggs are kind of a translucent white.

Last year when we ordered these chicks we ordered all aracona, but they must have mixed up our order because we only got 1 out of the whole batch, the rest are a mix of bards & black stars that all lay brown eggs.

So Furby, how how your little guys getting along?  :)

They are doing pretty good.
I moved all but my two hens over to my parenys place about two weeks ago.
Just moved my two hens over there today to stay for a little while.
Looks like we ended up with three roosters after all, they will be sent away in a couple weeks or so. ;)

These are the ones at my parents. I have not had time to finish their pen yet, so they are using an old tree top and a doggy igloo for the time being.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/chicks3.jpg)


The cat that thinks he can catch them through the cage.  ;D He will reach in, but just comes up short.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/chicks2.jpg)

The cat should get use to the chickens.We let our chickens free range and the dog and cat will walk around them and will not bother them.In fact when I throw food scraps to the chickens,everyboby is eating side by side.

I'm not too sure about that, I was out there yesterday and out of nowhere he comes sneaking up on the hunt.
After a couple of trys, he just sat there and watched.
There are two other cats that would cause some trouble if we let the chickens free range. Those cats know what a cage is, and know there is no point in bothering the chickens while they are in it, but I'd be willing to bet we would have chickens disapearing left and right if we let them out and left the area. These cats are GOOD!
Course, maybe we should let the roosters free range, then if the cats do get one............. ;D ;)

I just ran across this thread.  I have Black Australorps, they lay good brown eggs and lots of them and they are a fair eating bird once they get their full plumage.  The CornishX  are my favorite eating, I let them go for three+ months (look like small turkeys) and the are absolutely delicious.  Don't like" pickin" them though.
       HIYA      How about posting how you made your picker (pic's would be nice)  I wouldn't mind letting "old barrel" do the "pickin". :D :D 8) 8) 8) 8) smiley_bouncing_pinky

My cat is good too,he's a barn cat.Only let him in when it's down in the single numbers and some times he doesn't show up then.He got use to them.Maybe one of our roosters taught him a lesson.We have to watch him when they are small,but once they are full grown,he'll walk right by them.But he doesn't walk by to many moles,mice or chipmucks. I thick he got a gray squirrel once.He always drop them off in the garage to show them off.My wife hates that.

Here are my two Araucanas.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/chicks4.jpg)

They were seperated from the others for almost two weeks. Now they more or less do their own thing and stay away from the others.
Mine are really tame compared to the others.  ;D

D-DAY
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/optchickens025.jpg)

As you can see, these critters got big in a hurry. These 6 are in a FULL size cattle water trough and they are taking up half of it.  We put them in there prior to butchering.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/optchickens023.jpg)

This is my better half getting one ready for the chopping block! 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/optchickens020.jpg)

To give a perspective, I have my fist next to the biggest of the chickens after they were skinned.  This TURKEY weighed in at 6lbs!  One breast on this bird is twice the size of my fist!  I cant belive how big they got in 8 weeks.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/optchickens033.jpg)

Out of 6 birds, the total weight was 31 lbs.  Thats over 5 lbs each as an average! 
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/optchickens029.jpg)

Those cornish cross are amazing eating machines.....I am gonna breed mine with a rhode island red and see if they might come out sex link. I am hopping to have a good laying eating bird that can live several years...unlike cornish. 8) 8)

Furby your chickens look like americana aricana to me  ??? The true aricina has no tail. Spelling is off but I almost got in the rare breed buisness but need lots more buildings got three now ::) Buildings that is wife has forty various chickins ???

Could be J_T, the labels didn't say, but the display had the American Araucana on it.
Our Barred Rocks don't look a bit like any pics I can find, so we don't really know what they are.
One of the Black Sex Links has sure looked like a rooster all this time, but we are still not sure. ::)

Should start getting eggs the end of next month............I think. ::) 8)

How many chix do you have again Furby? 

Yep spmetime it's hard to tell we got a chicken that looks like a hen acks like a roster and far as I know has never crowed . ??? Think it's time to take him or it to trade day  :D :D

Total ???
8 chickens and 1 duck.
5 of the chickens are mine, but we belive we have three roosters and those three will be mine.
That leaves me with two (after we find a home for the roosters)...........what I went to get in the first place. :D



Hey ya Kirk, ya making me hungry!

 Furby you should of took em on your road trip :D :D They might of liked the ride. ???

Don't think I didn't consider it! ;)

Well yesterday morning there was something making some pretty strange noises around 5:30 am, I'm told.
After much searching and checking on all the kids, the culprits were discovered. ;D
It seems that atleast one of the roosters had decided to do a little practicing.
While it was not actually crowing, it sure was making a ruckess.
The two that we knew for sure were roosters...now have a new home on a farm a few miles away.
How long will they be around.................. ::) ;D
We still have one more suspected rooster that is looking more and more like a hen every day (the only reason we still have it ;) ), but it was making some noise this morning as well, so it may be bye bye soon too!

Looking forward to some fresh eggs before to long! 8) 8) 8)

ACk! its return of the chicken thread!  My boys chicken is a rooster I am pretty sure.  It didnt want anything to do with the area I built for it to stay, and took up residence on the woodpile next to the patio, next to the hot tub!  Kept making quite the mess.  Wouldnt leave for nothing including the multiple sprayings with the garden hose.   We the received 3 more chickens that nobody wanted any longer that came with a coop house and I set that up where I wanted them to stay.  I carried our original one over there and stuck it in the house at least 10 times to try and give it the idea.  Now it stays on the roof of the house.  The three new ones and the original one dont want anything to do with each other at all.  I got to looking at em all yesterday, and out of the 4 I think I have 3 roosters!  Gonna go find some for sure "chickens" and bring em home. 

Ummm, beer can chicken, delicious. 

Furb, A couple of years ago the wife decided 6 chicks would be nice to have when the grand kids come to visit for Easter. I told her the chicks would grow into chickens, the grand kids would go home, and we would be caring for the chickens. she should think it over. Two days later 6 chicks from tsc were in a large container in my living room. After 45 years of a good marriage I don't argue too much any more, if you know what I mean. The kids went home after Easter. the chickens stayed. 4 roosters and two hens. I built a hen house, and a couple of friends took the roosters. My wife thought it would be fun to incubate a few eggs before the roosters left,yeah sure. so a hundred bucks or so later we incubeted six more roosters for my friends to have and two hens. We kept all four hens. They just run free on our property all day,not much to care for. We throw a little food out and they go into the hen house each night just before dark, we lock them in so fox can't get them, and let them out each morning. It's called free ranging. We get four eggs a day like clockwork, big brown ones, much better than store bought, but keep them off your deck or walkways they don't care where to leave their droppings, and they leave a lot. There are a lot of good sites on the net just search chickens or let me know i'll send you a couple of URL's. You are probably better off going to a state fair, the 4H kids sell them. they are well fed and cheap. and you can buy all hens, whatever breed you want. Let me know if you want any roosters, I'm sure she'll be brewing up another batch someday. Ah well. Don

Here's mine.  Eight weeks today.  In the freezer come Saturday. 8)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamchickens52505.jpg)

Will

Did not happen Saturday but here is Sunday.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamicebarrel52905.jpg)
27 chickens cooling in ice water

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamdrainbagrack52905.jpg)
12 on rack ready for bagging

I had scald issues and a few got skinned in the plucker ::) ::)

Will

It is hard work, but boy those sure are tastey when it comes time for Sunday chicken dinner! Nice job there, Wiam.  ;)

I got a call earlier today from my Mom congradulating me on becoming a Grandpa. :o smiley_headscratch
I said it was an egg, not a chick and if I was a Grandpa, then she must be a Great-Grandma! ;D

The egg!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/chickenegg1.jpg)

It's just a small one and when I took it out of the fridge the brown color was lifting off.
I claimed that my Mom had simply dyed a regular egg, and she kept insisting she didn't. :D

The chickens and duck with their chicken dogs.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10577/chickens1.jpg)

I belive Norm is right about the duck being a Khaki Campbell.

We are trying to break the greyhound of his chasing habits, so the chickens are only let out of their pen under close watch.

I had 11 laying hens last week now 9 !  Set 3 #220 connibear /norwegian havahart traps and 1 fox trap and had me a funeral last night for 3 racoons and 1 skunk !  :D 

I"m with Fla-deadheader. No soap on mine :P.
What do we not know here. Actually, my wife does the plucking, I'll ask her.
She screwed up her nose and said who wants soap on their chicken, but what does it do? Please enlighten us from down under. ;D

all 3 roosters fell to a HUGE fox.  I got off a shot with the 12 gauge one night as we played hide and seek between the apple trees but didnt find anything so I either missed completely or he's got a few pellets in him anyway.  He Hasn't been back either way for my last remaining hen.  Set out a trap but havent seen any signs of anything coming around.  I feel sorry for her, no body to play with!  She wanders around behind me all over the yard and keeps an eye on what I am doing all the time.   My son jumps on his trampoline and she'll watch him from underneath, its hilarious!  I just get riled when she follows into the barage, as she is not exactly house trained. 

It must be the season for chicken and duck eating varmits.  >:( 
So far we have lost 2 ducks and 2 hens. Norm has a bunch of traps set outside the pen, but so far this varmit is getting around them. This means WAR!

When you say, "This means WAR".... and you're holding that chainsaw, I sure ain't gonna mess with ya!   :)
I hope you find out what is gettin your ducks. 

Are you sure Becky didn't just get hungry Patty   :o   :D  :D  :D   ;D

It's a coon doing it MM, I found the tracks this morning along with feathers from one of the chickens it got. It tore a hole in the side of a chain link fence panel so it must be a big one. Smart too, I had a half dozen traps out and it sprung every one of em.

You can tell if it's Becky by the dinner plate size tracks, dead giveaway. :D

My daughter had a coon coming up on her front porch eating the
cat food. We put a live trap out & caught the sucker.  And then fed him a 22
bullet. Problem solved .   A animal going through a fence is pretty easy to catch
with a snare, Made several of them up a few years ago when Fox's  were getting
bad.   

You know, MM, I thought I smelled chickens on Becky's breath the other day, but I think she had just been snackin' on some old chicken bones I had thrown out for the dog.  ::)

Norm...you are a old trapper ..make up a cubby trap with a 220 and a 5 gallon pail.......with some irresistable bait (dead crawfish or fish rotting ) you get the OLD brute!!

  HERSHEY BAR or Peanut Butter. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm ;D ;D

When my son was still at home, we could never keep marshmallow,
He was always using them to bait live traps , catching coons
Your right Harold !!! Peanut Butter works good too !!!  8)
As for Hershey Bar's That would be a killing offense using Chocolate
for Bait  :o  :D  :D  :D

Whacked 4 coons last night!  8) 8) 8) 

No lost chickens or geese yet!

Norm,
You said he made it through a chain link fence panel? 

I have our chicken coop wrapped in Chicken wire top to bottom and acroos the open area on top.  At the ground level we put the wire 18" out from the edge and let the grass grow over it.  If something tries to dig under they hit the wire.

Can them rascles eat through chicken wire?

  Chicken wire is just a warm up exercise for a coon.  ::) ::) ::) ;D

I wish I had a conibear Don, I sold off my traps years ago when the fur market went south. This time of year I'd have to order one and don't have time so I may just set out some poison for him. I tried a snare and he moved it out of the way too, I have a live trap but it's not big enough for large coon.

Kirk he ripped through panels that are used for dog kennels, first time I've ever seen a coon big enough to do that but once they get a taste for poutry there's no stopping em. The chicken coop is at our old house or I'd sit up with the shotgun. Fly bait mixed with coke a cola ought to put a stop to this.

I found out the hard way that bears are a bigger problem than coons.  All five of my large trash cans have teeth and claws damage.   >:( >:( >:(  One bear was able to climb a steel pole and knock the feeder/timer off the bottom of the feeder drum.   >:( :o >:( :o >:( :o We still haven't figured out how it climbed the DangG pole.  The feeder is 17' off the ground.  It's well broken now.

Most farm and homes and suply type stores carry a few over priced traps tucked away in a bin somewhere all year long....they charge 4-5 bucks more than they should.but its a need thing :D

Subsailor

I volunteer my time to help out with bear problems ;)

See them all the time during squirrel season.  BUT NEVER during bear season!!!!!!! :D >:( :D >:( :D >:(  With all the pouching going on in this area, you don't want to kill one out of season.  It would be the last post to the FF you would ever make.  Talk about throw away the key. :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

We've caught lots of coons and possoms (as well as more than one barn cat) in a rabbit gum.  You can make one out of some one inch scrap boards.  We put a solid back in ours because coons (or barn cats)  tear up hardware cloth :D :D

The fun part about having a solid back in a rabbit gum is that you don't know what you've caught :o :o

I'd always dump it out and the son was ready with a shotgun.   :)

Who said anything about poaching?

I give up, what's a rabbit gum

Answer with a pic or two please

I felt bad for a second or two after dispatching the family of coons last night but all you have to do is take one look at these and you feel a lot better!
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10851/Geese%20Knocking.jpg)

Ernie,

A rabbit gum is just a home made live trap.  Maybe someone can post a picture or diagram of one.  Or a search might show one.  If not and you are interested enough,  I'll try to describe how to make one.  We have one somewhere,  but I don't do pictures.

I found a diagram of a rabbit gum (trap) and have atatched it as a .doc file  (I hope)

Ours has a little different door and trigger mechanism,  but it's pretty close. 

Here is portability at its best , very lightweight,very very very deadly like instantly so make sure the pets are inside for the night hours these traps are set. Thought everyone would like to see . Nothing fancy or expensive . You can carry them with ease and they have like trigger locks each side and to set them I use 2 pieces of flat stock steel with a pin in the center so it kind of resembles a big scissors and it squashes the steel spring on each side. Pics going slow but should have them up in a few minutes

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10514/COON%20TRAP1.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10514/COON%20TRAP2.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10514/COON%20TRAP3.jpg)

Oh I forgot to say that how it works is I place a fish or a can of sardines on the ground and set the box over the bait and release the trigger locks on the sides and its ready , no stakes to place in the ground because the nosy intruder peeks his head in the box and its over. Grits might be stinky enough for bait too , not sure , never had grits !  :D :D :D

Ever try it this way uncle?

Quote from: Buzz-sawyer on July 12, 2005, 12:57:54 PM
Norm...you are a old trapper ..make up a cubby trap with a 220 and a 5 gallon pail.......with some irresistable bait (dead crawfish or fish rotting ) you get the OLD brute!!

Never tried that Buzz , I got these from my cousin who traps for money in the fall/winter and its my first time doing it like this with the box . I use to trap muskrat with 110 conibear and took a beaver once with a 330 conibear and then I quit trappin after that beaver . I felt like I trapped my own dog and never quite got over it . Yes I have turned into a critter lover but these DanG racoon aint takin my breakfast eggs .  :D :D  I think the 5 gallon pail would be as effective as these boxes . Now I am going to take heat for slammin grits ! :D

Well our chickens have been laying for a bit now, but it seems every time my Mom hard boils the eggs, it is impossible to peel them.
Now we get this from time to time with store bought eggs, but this has been everytime.

Anybody have any ideas as to what's causing this and how to stop it from happening?
I said maybe it was the way she was boiling them, and I am going to try some myself, but she asked me to ask around, so I am. ::)

do you dunk the hot eggs in cold water after boiling?  that supposedly traps steam between the shell and the membrane

yes, I have modeled a diet solely to make my co-workers cry

Yup, and I have a bit of a trick I do and rarely have a problem. That's why I'm going to try some as well.

Furby, fresh eggs don't peel when boiled...they need to set around in the fridge for a couple of weeks, then they will peel easily ;)

GareyD (ex laying house worker)

http://www.goodegg.com/boiledegg.html

  Right on, GareyD  8) 8) 8) ;D ;D ;D

Cool! 8) 8) 8)
That explains a lot, thanks!
I boil mine fast and hard for at least 20 min. and then cool VERY fast, don't have too many problems.
My Grandma was complaining about the greenish yolk, and I told her she needed to cool them better. She looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about...........she has been doing this longer then me ya know. ::)
Anyways, now I got something to back that part up with and I'll pass the rest onto my Mom.
She'll just love having to try to keep track of how old this egg is and that egg is, rather then come up with ways to use them fast. ;D
They have been eating a lot of egg dishes lately. :D

Number 'em.  Also, don't cook quite so long, and then turn off the heat. Move the pan off the hot burner for a few minutes, and the yolk will be a nice bright color, not dark and greenish. The eggs will continue to cook in the hot water, without scorching  ;) ;)

Mine are always bright yellow! ;)

Went to the web page you posted Garey and it pulls up a blank page. I was able to go to their home page but the link for boiled eggs pulls up a blank page.

So, whats the secret on the peeling issue?

We are now getting about a dozen fresh eggs every day!   8) 8)

Salt in the water seems to help the shell loosen.

Had a forman one time on the top ranger of a coffer that was always breathing down my neck.
A couple of days of boiled eggs, sardines, pork&beans and beer, he stayed a real good distance from me.

Course I'm not sure who suffered more. :D

Glad to hear you're getting fresh eggs Furby, green in the yolk is from over cooking. Bring the eggs up to boiling temp slowly and then boil gently for 12 minutes. I run cold water over em until cool to the touch, or you can put some ice cubes in the water after rinsing em for a while. Fresh eggs will always peel hard, kind of tells you how old the eggs are that you've been buying in the stores.

Nothing like cooking with fresh eggs though....

2 tblsps red whine vinegar
2 tblsps fresh lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1 tsp fine ground salt
1 heaping tsp of fine ground mustard
1/4 tsp sugar
dash of cayenne pepper
1 1/4 cup of safflower oil

Put everything but the oil in a blender or food processor pulse until incorporated. Blend while drizzing in oil, very slowly at first. After it has turned to mayo add 2 tbsp's of Mary's jalepeno mustard and some gray poupon mustard reblend until incorporated. Best salad dressing you've ever had. Make sure to refrigerate it as it has raw egg in it.

Is anyone else grinding their own chicken feed ? If so what is your contents? I grind my own using a equal mix of corn, wheat and oats. Had someone tell me the other day that oats will cause the chickens to molt wonder if this is true.

We bring ours to a boil, then shut them off and let sit for 18 minutes.  Then run under cold water till cool.  They come out very soft and bright yellow. 

Dana,

I was hoping someone that is more current on animal nutrition and more knowledgable about poultry might answer your post,  but I will give it a try.

If I remember correctly,  moulting is caused by the length of daylight-----mother nature's way of telling the girls to take a little vacation and get some new clothes :D :D

Cereal grains provide charbohydrates and make up 70 or 80% of the nutritional requirements of a laying hen.  Corn is most comonly used,  followed by wheat and then milo.  While oats shouldn't be harmful,  they are higher in fiber than most other grains and are usually used in feeds where there might be danger of the animal overeating and foundering.  It is common in horse rations and starter rations for calves.  Oats are usually a more expensive source of nutrients than corn or wheat.

There probably isn't a lot of advantage in using multiple sources of carbohydrates----corn or wheat alone should be fine depending on what is the best buy. 

If you are raising 'free range'  chickens,  a little grain along with some oyster shell for calcium should be about all they need.  If they are running behind grain fed livestock,  very little grain shoul be needed for the chickens ;)

If your chickens are caged,  that is a whole lot different situation.  In addition to the carbohydrates they get from grain,  they need a source of protein,  minerals,  vitamins,  as well as some nonsoluable grit in a separate feeder.  To formulate and mix a complete ration for a few hens would not be practical and to feed a ration that doesn't meet all requirements would invite disaster.

  Oats help with production.  ;) ;)  Can't believe that someone would say they are harmful to chickens.  ::) ::)

  At my Cousins laying operation, I have fed hundreds of buckets of Oats over the years.  ;D ;D

Here is a great egg recipe.

Deviled Eggs

Boil a dozen eggs until they are hard and then cool & peel them.
Cut them in half and remove the yolks and then put the yolks into a separate bowl. I put the whites on a platter and set them aside.

Mix into the yolks a couple tablespoons of Norm's homemade mayo  ;)   (regular store bought mayo will do in a pinch) , a little sugar (start out with a scant tablespoon), a big tablespoon or so of vinegar, and a tablespoon or two of Mary's jalapeno mustard. These ingredients are all added according to how you like your deviled eggs to taste. Spoon this mixture into the egg whites and then set them in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight if you can so all the ingredients can mellow out.

I can easily sit down and eat all of these in one sitting,  ;D, so make sure you have plenty.

Yummy!  8)

DanG Patty, those sound downright addictive. Shame on y :D :D :Dou

We save our egg shells and crush them and feed them back to the source ;D 

I read that was not a good idea as it "could" pass salmonella around ???

It'll cause 'em to peck at their own aigs, too.  :o ;D

F D,  That is why I don't :)

Will

Actually, it doesn't ALWAYS happen, but, it well could. That's why Oyster shells are available for near nothing in cost.

  Free ranging chikens are always the way to go, if ya can.  ;) ;) ;D

The Duck started laying about a week ago.  8)

We have a pecking order problem though, to the point where one of the hens has no tail feathers and they still peck her. Is there anything we can put on her tail to stop them from pecking her?
It's gotten so bad she won't lay in the coop because they peck her while she is laying. She lays out in a corner that is sometimes a mud puddle. ::)

We used to smear something on the area when our chickens were pecking one like this, and it was like a red paint, but had a peculiar smell. Check a poultry supply/ feed store to see if something like that is still available. Or make an area that only the one hen is by herself, away from the others.

It has been a tough year for our ducks & chickens.  :-\

Something got into them this summer and killed 2 of our ducks; so now the remaining 3 haven't laid a single egg since then. I guess they are still traumatized  ::)

We are down to only 5 lazy chickens too. Since we moved them to the farm this summer they have been all upset about where they should lay. Can't make up their little pea brain..".oh should we lay in the nice little nest boxes Patty made...or should we lay out in the field where the dog can eat them...hmmmm?"       smiley_turkey_dancing

Well guess where they lay. I haven't gotten a fresh egg for days.  >:(   I decided last night that it is "off with their heads" and will go buy new hens this week. I know it sounds harsh, but I get a little put out when hens & ducks don't pull their weight around here. smiley_contract 

Furby, I have one little red hen that the others pick on all the time. She is practically featherless, the poor girl. I may just keep her around since I feel so sorry for her. Maybe with the new hens she will get to be the queen this time.  ;)

Our Geese have not laid any eggs yet but were keepiing our fingers crossed.  Now for the chicken, we were getting a dozen eggs a day and they were ALL laying in the nesting box. 

A few weeks ago we had a dog attack in the middle of the day.  Killed one hen and almost another.  The surviving hen did not have a single feather from her neck to her rear end.  My wife has a cage I call the healing pen.  We had a hen that was getting picked on and they pecked her until she bleed.  Once the blood starts the pecking will only increase because chickens freak over the red color.   She nursed one with a pecked eye back to health and then used the haling pen to RE-Introduce her to the other chickens.  She would stay in that pen and the other chickens could see her and get used to her.  After about a week or so we let her out and all was fine. 

The one without any feathers from the dog attack is just now getting exposed to the other chickens.  Its amazing those pea brain birds cant remember each other if there seperated more than a couple days.  We are getting 10 eggs a day now and hope when this plucked bird heals up she will start laying again. 

My wife has been selling the eggs and it is paying for all the feed for both the chickens and the Geese.  Keep in mind, we let these birds free rome during the day.  Far less bugs around our place now  8) 8)

Its kind of funny to see them in the eveneing.  They ALL go right back to the Chicken Coop and roost wihout any problems.  The geese even walk in the pen once its dark.  If you forget to close the gate the Geese go crazy and make all kinds of racket until you close them up for the night.

In the morning we let them out and the first thing the Geese do is take flight and cirlce the barns and land back in the back yard.  It pretty cool to watch.  Just dont want to get in the way on the landing.   My wife got smacked by a wing just yesterday. 

Forgot to mention. The farmer dispatched his dog for what it did.  The other one is still mising?

Ours are kept in an enclosed pen, we simply can't let them free range, it don't work where they are.
I built a coop that attaches to the pen, and the dumb things hate it. They sleep outside on a branch we have laying in the pen.
We have tried locking them in the coop at night but as soon as we stop, they sleep outside.
I figure the cold weather will drive them indoors, but would like to get them to all lay inside the coop so we can find the eggs this winter. ::)

You know, it is funny, folks and their animals.....you gotta wonder who is training who!  :D

Well I went to TSC looking for something to put on the hens that have lost feathers.
The guy I talked to had no clue and we couldn't find anything there.
He suggested a place in the next town over. ::)
Drove over there and looked around without finding anything.
Went up to the counter and asked the girl there.
She looked at me and replied "use a red light".
I paused and said "huh" ???
She handed me a infared heat bulb.
I asked if it was the same kind used on chicks and she said yes.
Well the chicken coop has electric in it and there is a light on a timer to "wake up" the chickens. ::)
I have a few saftey lights, they have a metal grid around them and I used one to keep the chickens away from the bulb.
I also have red glass globes the fit the saftey cage an I plan to install one and give it a try.

The red light thing makes NO sense to me, but I'm gonna try it anyways. ::)

The light in the hen house to lengthen the daylight time will keep them laying eggs through the winter...or so I have been told. As for the feathers; or lack of feathers; I talked to a guy I buy chickens from, and he gave me a powder pesticide called "bug b gone" to sprinkle on my little featherless friend. What I did was catch her under one of Norm's fishing nets, and poured the powder on her pretty thick. She was not at all happy about this! smiley_furious3   

Low and behold, she is growing back her feathers now, just in time for winter! The chicken man thought she had a bug infestation, causing her to lose feathers, but I am wondering if she tasted so bad with the powder on her that the other hens quit plucking at her. :o
Either way, it is working. smiley_turkey_dancing

Furby, if them chickens get to pecking at one another too bad mix some table salt with the feed for a while.  Kim mixes salt and cornmeal and a bit of water to make it kind of mushy or something.  She does this for about three days in a row.

After this which ever chicken they are usually pecking on gets left along.  She also said she broadcast sprinkles some salt in and around the hen house.  And sprinkles salt on the hens. 


My dad is where we got this from and been doing it for years. 


Thinkin is that they are pecking at the chicken that is sore because of a salt deficiency. 

I guess we have been very fortunate to date with our birds.  The wounded chicken from the dog attack has its feathers back and is laying eggs again.  We have 13 hens and 4 roosters.  Amazingly the roosters dont fight and seem to be sharing the hens pretty good.  All of the hens have all there feathers and they seem to be one big happy family. 

We let them out during the day and they free rome all around the farm.  At night, they go right back on there own to the coop and roost. 

I had heard egg production slows down in the winter.  Does that mean it stops or they just dont lay as often as they do druing the summer?

Length of daylight controls all wild animal behavior. Set the lights to come on in the early AM, for aigg production.

  Ever see the " Blinders · " used on chikens, to stop pecking ??  Look like glasses only solid. Hook over the beak and pin goes through the nostril. Put on hundreds of 'em working my cousins aigg operation  ;) ;D ;D

Some soap in the water helps when plucking ducks or geese that have a lot of oil on their feathers.  Otherwise the water doesn't penetrate very well.  Not really necessary with chickens, though.

Yeah, we are shooting for 14 hours of light.
From what I read the light does indeed need to come on in the AM, so that is what it is set for.
Before the light, the hens were laying latter and later in the day, as late as supper time.
We dropped down to about three eggs a day, not counting what ever is getting laid in the mud/puddle. ::)

From what I read Kirk, it depends. Some hens will stop altogether, others just don't lay as offten.

Going to install the red globe tomorrow and see what happens. ::)

That 'red light'  made me remember a little prank we used to play before I knew better ;)

Remember when they used to use red kerosene lamps to warn you of construction sites -----that was before they started using the blinking electric yellow lights that they use now.

Well we thought we were really big stuff when we would steal those lanterns and place them on the front porch of the school marms that treated us poorly ;D

So this "Punkin Head" thang you got goin' on ain't nuthin' new, eh?

Have been following this thread for what seems like months, keep expecting my tip to show up but since it hasn't will have to add it.  When I was a kid we use to raise 200 to 400 chickens each summer for meat.  When it started getting close to the time to butcher we would have to weigh them and in order to do that we had to "hypnotize" them.  We would catch them, with a length of coat hanger wire with a hook bent into the end.  You would fold their head under one wing and hold them out in front of you and move them in a big figure eight.  After about a dozen of these big figure eights you could lay them down on the scale and they wouldn't move for 10 to 20 seconds.  Then they would get up and kind of stagger off.

You can also hypnotize them by marking a chalkline on a flat surface and hold their beak on that line while stroking their head and beak. ;D  I can't remember our reason (if any) for needing to hypnotize a chicken.  Probably the same reason we had for teaching a bull frog to smoke a cigarette :D

Onthesauk
I can remember just pulling (outstretching) their wing  a bit, and then laying them on their side on the scale. Usually they would lay still long enough to get the weight. Do recall some people doing "the 'movement' through the air", but we didn't do it that way. Also did about that many chickens mostly to sell as 'fryers'.
My job with help from two brothers was to deliver them 25 at a time, completely picked, to Mom and Dad who were in the house doing the final singeing of the pin hairs and "drawing' them for cooling and sale to orders.

Well the red globe didn't seem to help, things got worse.
One hen looks like she is ready for the frying pan. ::)
I took the globe back out.
Did teach them to spend the nights in the coop though.
The one with the least amount of feathers was starting to get chapped from being out all night, so we took the tree top out and I added a couple roosts, in the coop again.
Very first night they were all in the coop. ;D
They really don't use the roost though, just sit on the floor or in the nest boxes. ::)
Think we need a little bigger coop to. :-\

Quote from: Bro. Noble on October 23, 2005, 10:02:48 PM
That 'red light'  made me remember a little prank we used to play before I knew better ;)

Remember when they used to use red kerosene lamps to warn you of construction sites -----that was before they started using the blinking electric yellow lights that they use now.

Well we thought we were really big stuff when we would steal those lanterns and place them on the front porch of the school marms that treated us poorly ;D

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Ha!  Like minds.........

That reminds me of a story, but....  I'll spare you.  :D :D

 When them chikens is put into the coop in the beginning, ya gotta train 'em to use the roost  ::)  We have put hunnerds of 'em up on them roostin racks, so you can catch what aiggs they lay and fall through the wire.  ::)

 The red bulb "Should" have made the red color of the blood from pickin, nearly invisible to the pickin chikens.  Can't for the like of me remember what that dusting powder was. Patty has it figgered, though. You can also seperate the picked chiken from the herd and the feathers will start growin back.

 Most of the herd will Molt, and then regrow feathers. Chikens kinda "Go dry" like cows, and then start layin again.

Yup, we are down to two eggs a day or so.
Thing is, in most cases there was no blood.
They just pull the feathers out and keep doing so as soon as new growth starts.
Been thinking about seperating out the top dog, she is the only one with ALL her feathers. One other has kept hers as well, but now has lost a few.
Figuring if we pull out the "queen", another one will take over and then we can put her back in........ doesn't mean it will solve anything though. ::)
My Mom was kinda thinking they might have mites or something that was causing them to loose their feathers, if anyone knows for sure what the powder is, I'll give it a try.

Tried putting them up on the roosts, they don't care for them.
They are made from 1.5"x1.5" with the top two edges knocked off on a 45.

Furby your roosts might be too big around. :P

Will

Really?
They are smaller then the branch they love, but not as round.

 1 X 2 is what made the droppin boards into roostin racks. They had the screen mesh under them, above the droppin boards.  The 1 X 2's were flat across the top. Maybe them 45's is what's makin 'em not like it. A friend of ours, in Ar. made his roosts out of saplings, kinda like a quilt rack, only in a step like pattern. Them feet gotta wrap around something, and a 45 ain't gonna cut it.  ::) ;)

Was thinking about finding some limbs............ actually.......... I'm taking down some small Boxelders that will do the trick! ;D

Furby ya gotta use psychology to get em to roost. Put the boards up high and a frying pan down low. ;D

Now Furb, don't tell us you are havin trouble outsmarting a DanG chicken. ;D

The powder is called "Bug B Gone", made by Ortho.  I imagine most garden places would carry it, it is to sprinkle on your tomatoe plants and what not to keep bugs off. The kind I used is a real fine powder. I got it several years ago. I see now they sell it in granules and spray, too. I liked the powder just fine, and it seems to kill the lice or fleas or whatever is buggin' them.  :D


My little red hen is all better now, and pretty as can be with all her feathers back  :) Sunday, I put her in with my new hens and she blended right in. No eggs yet, I hope to see some soon.

Ugh, I hate the smell of dipping chickens in boiling water before plucking !! I don't bother anymore, I skin them with the feathers on.

Guinea fowl has a good taste as well and has a nice look when roasted with stuffing, surrounded by roast potatoes.

Thanks Patty, I'll look for it today!

Quote from: sawguy21 on November 09, 2005, 07:28:22 AM
Now Furb, don't tell us you are havin trouble outsmarting a DanG chicken. ;D

Have not yet met an animal I couldn't outsmart............ with enough time!
Hey, I did get them inside! ;)

  Furby, the Pied Piper of Chikins.  ::) ::) :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Well.... we can't find any Bug B Gone, except for one place that had some as a liquid.
Had some suggestions of "Sevin" and that's what my Mom used to use on the animals anyways, so we'll probly try that.

Here ya go "Chikin Boy".

  What general precautions should I take to ensure my chickens remain healthy?
Ensure there is somewhere for them to shelter when the weather gets bad - they don't like to get wet and cold and this also puts them off laying good eggs.
Keep an eye out for Mites (commonly Red Spider Mite) in their arks and if found use a spray available from most good pet stores to kill the mites, then clean the ark thoroughly.
Occasional scraps from household waste are fine but they need a regular feed to remain healthy and produce good eggs.

My hens are pecking each other and/or I'm seeing red/sore patches on them and possibly some blood. What should I do?
First of all separate the hen which is being pecked so that it can recouperate. Chickens usually only peck each other when they are bored, there are several ways to prevent this:
Ensure they have a large enough area to range in and if they are restricted try moving the fenced off section fairly frequently.
Use mash not pellets as feed. Mash provides much greater interest as it takes more than one peck to eat. As a guide feed them roughly 4oz of mash per hen per day and split it half in the morning and half in the afternoon.

Deadhead,

I agree with what you are saying about chickens, it is the way my folks did 50 years ago.

Was wondering when you had time to be around raising chickens?

Grew up around 'em, "D"  My cousin had a laying operation, all open houses, meaning no pens. He would "Range" them all summer, after hatching the required amount and Brooding them.  Helped round 'em up, vaccinate, band, put on "Blinders". and feed, water, gather, kill, pluck and eat'em.

  YEP, a country boy FER SHORE.  8) ;) ;D ;D ;D ;D

Otta my chickens this year..we have one red hen left.......and she lats one speckled egg a day for us :)

I didn't read all of this thread but saw where ya'll were talking about how long eggs will keep. If you keep eggs dry, not even washed, put them in a carton & flip them at least once a day. You have to turn them so the yolk doesn't stick to the shell. Keep them in cool, dry place. They will keep 2 months easy. Think about this, A hen will lay 1 egg a day. She won't start setting until she has 15 to 25 eggs in her nest. When they hatch they all hatch the same day. The oldest egg was three weeks older than the last 1 she layed.

One thing is for sure, if an egg is bad, you will know. Ain't no in between. Just like bein' a little bit pregnant.

While we're on chickens, this fellow down the road from me just finish college at Florida State. He went in the chicken business. He got his 1st batch of bitties, 'bout 12,000 I think. He planted all of them & they all died. Called his professor & they recommened planting them upside down on the next batch. Well they all died too. So he called again & now they want a soil sample. ;D ;D

 :D :D  He shoulda gone to a agricultural college, then he woulda knowed to get the soil sample first. ;D :D :D

The proplem was not the soil. Eggs are like walnuts, they need to go through a freeze cycle before they will hatch. He should have put the eggs in the freezer for a few months before planting. :P

I have made a great laying feed mix that I wanted to share with you all. When fall hit the chickens weren't laying too good I started using this mix and the change was 100 %.  If you follow this thread there was discussion of lack of daylight and using artificial lights. I dont know if that works or not but I can say we are past the shortest day of the year and I am getting eggs everyday with no lights. Here is the mix ratio's if anyone wants to try it.
                                  1315 lbs. corn
                                     300 lbs. oats
                                      200 lbs. limestone calcium carbonate
                                        50 lbs. protein concentrate (can suppliment meat and fat scraps if perfered)  135 lbs. wheat

         I mix and grind the above products as the chickens otherwise tend to pick out the things they like best and leave the rest. If you dont have a grinder then your local feed store can grind it for you.

Here are pictures of my new Rhode Island Reds.  They just came this morning.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamchicks061.jpg)


(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamchicks063.jpg)


And here is my brooder.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiambrooder.jpg)


Will

Had to pick up a bag of feed.
Stopped in last week even though we didn't need it just yet, but wanted to get it before they got a shipment of chicks in as I don't wanna see any more chicks.......... might have buy more then! ;)
They didn't have any chicks, but they did have some baby bunnies. ;D
Mommy said no bunnies, so I didn't get any. :-\ :-\ :-\

I'm not getting any this spring as we have too much going on but those little guys are sure cute. When we do I'm going to invest in a chicken plucker. Priced one a few years ago and about stroked out on the price.

Many years ago when the boys were little I thought I'd raise meat rabbits. We bought a buck and some does let nature take its course and soon had a couple of batches of babies. Those little guys with their big brown eyes were just too darn cute for me to butcher. I can harvest any meat animal but rabbits. I ended up giving them away as their wasn't any market for the 400 or so that two does and one buck can produce in a year. :D

I'm reminded of a great aunt who served rabbit for Easter Dinner.  You try convincing kids that it's not the Easter bunny they're eating.

Norm just build one like mine.  After you use a tub style plucker you won't like a drum.  Two chickens about 20 seconds and you can just watch. 8) 8) 8)

Will

Here are some pictures of my homemade plucker.

This was when I built it.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/myplucker1opt.jpg)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/myplucker3opt.jpg)

This is with it running

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamplucker3.jpg)
 

This is the spray ring that I added last summer.  When the plucker is running water needs to be sprayed into it to keep the feathers moving away.  This sprayer is connected to a dishwasher electric valve to turn on with the plucker.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10373/wiamplucker52505-1.jpg)

I will try to find the site where I got the plans.  I think they cost about $20.  Well worth it. 8) 8)

Will

Does it take much to get the chicken to jump in that thing?  ::) ???

beenthere,  they don't ask too many questions when they go in there.  ;) One of my uncles wanted to put a live one belonging to another uncle for the first trip around.  He figured that we could let it go if it did not work.  I bet he would have run around like a ...............

Will

Great job Will, thanks for showing me. :)

Tractor Supply isn't going to have any chickens in the store, like years past. They are worried about the bird flu.

Here is the picker I made.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10509/%20picker0001.jpg)


wiam the man who sells those plans e-mailed me to get infromation on my picker than used it to sell plans. Some place around here I have plans to mine. I also have a bunch of fingers left. Built 2 big pickers and one small one.
Going to cut back this year. Just the two of us to butcher, so will only do 200 this year.
Richard

hiya, the plans came from Herrick Kimbal.  That featherplate in mine was a prototype that Herrick built and sold cheap.  What speed do you run yours.  I am not sure of mine but I think I need to slow it down a little bit.  I use a cut off electric water heater as a scalder.  Without this setup I would not butcher my own chickens.  I usually only do about 25-30 but this year it will be 50.  Do you market yours?
I heard that one of the local feed stores is not selling this year.  Same reason. ::) ::) ::) ::)


Will

Will,   Yes that was his name. I think mine runs about 180 rpm. I will try to remember to measure the pullys.We sell all but about 50-75 we put in the freezer. We usually do 100 at a time, 4 times a summer. I use the same thing for a scalder. We order ours from Pa. They come in the mail. We are getting our first 100 around the 18th of April.
Richard

not to steal the thread, but....

I went out to get the eggs today, and there was a rooster setting in the nest box.  I just looked at him and said "wishful thinking"  :D :D

  Maybe his trying to tell ya your chickens is getting old .  ;D

Man there is a lot of hi tech chicken info in this place. 
When I was at the Allen's in Illinois - they fed me some goose eggs. They were deeeee lishus! Big. Four eggs will feed three people. When you scramble up four goose eggs, buddy you have got a plate full of vittles. They served it up with home-made ketchup. Yummy.
Now if we could engineer a chicken that would lay one goose egg and 3 strips of bacon at the same time .....  8)

We are doing chickens again this year we ordered 50 Vantress (Meat Birds) and 12 Barred Rocks and 16 Buff Orpingtons these are egg layers.

Here are some pics

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11540/chicks1.jpg)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/11540/chicks2.jpg)

Nice looking chickens.  Please do not start them on newspaper.  It is very slippery for them and they can slip and mess up their legs.  This will not heal.  I have read this from many sources and have had it happen.  They should have bedding.

Will

I read that too about newspaper , someone here puts shingles down and I thought that was good , sawdust is good , good luck with your baby chicks stumpjumpers , I know you have grown record turkeys and pigs so I can see about 20 pound chickens at the table .  8)

They're the cutest chookies ever, stumpies!

I couldn't figure out how that plucker thing works, so I looked it up, found a reference HERE (http://store.cumberlandbooks.com/chickenplucker.html) and there's a diagramme...

I still can't work out how it works...  :(

asy :D

An Amish friend that raised turkeys told me that you didn't want to put bedding out for the babies cause some of them would get to eating it instead of their feed and would starve to death.  I don't know if that's true of chickens or not.  We started them on a concrete floor.

asy  I will be butchering in about a month.  Stop by. :D

Will

one of my roosters still goes to the nest box and "sets" every day around lunch time. I'm beginning to think he has issues ::)

Quote from: wiam on May 05, 2006, 11:25:10 PM
asy  I will be butchering in about a month.  Stop by. :D

Hmmm...

Let's examine the options...

I can come to your place, and watch how chookies are deflocked,

OR!

I can go drop in on UBuck, and have full run of his glorious kitchen...

Lemme think on it a while, I'll get back to you.

Nah, didn't take that long...

Tellya what, you plucky the chookie's and send 'em along to Buck's.

I'll be there with veggies and oven a'ready.

(I wish)

asy :D

Getoverit, are you sure it is really a rooster? It may just be a real butchy hen!  :D  One never knows about these quirks of nature.

Re starting chicks out, my wife is a veterinarian and her preferred method is to bed the bottom of the box with hay and straw, as this is similar to what they'd experience in the wild.

It's also cheap and easy, and you can change it out as needed.

Well Patty, the rooster crows, and looks like a rooster, but he may be one of ~~those~~ kind of roosters I'm thinking ::)

Maybe that rooster has learned about siestas?  :D

wiam and UB

I have been raising chics for over 10 years I use to start them on newspaper and straw now I use just newspaper I have never had one slip or hurt its legs.  I do not use the shiny newspapers I only use the duller white or gray color because this is not as slippery.  I will keep them in this brooder about another week and then they will get shipped out to the coop under the bigger brooder right now they are on the back porch.

Every once in a while one of Monica's hens will try to crow all 3 of them had tried to do this one time or another.  I don't know what gets into them.

Delcy

Delcy,

They probably been reading some of those liberal ,  left wing,  articles in the newspaper ::)

 :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
ROFL! :D :D :D

ROFL ??? ???


Naw they don't read the liberal section they just poop on it. :D :D ;D

DanG, those hens are pretty smart Delcy!  :P

Has anyone tried to sell their broilers?  How much would they be worth?

Will

i joined in the fun....

i may have outsmarted myself with my "winter" roof, but I think it will be OK, there's plenty of ventilation up top, and wasn't too hot in there today.

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chickens0018.JPG)


I got seven of black australorps, and some white thing that's a real pain....

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chickens0028.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chickens0022.JPG)

I had to seperate out this little guy, he's in the house!  good thing i'm single, isn't it.... 

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/henpecked.jpg)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chickens0037.JPG)

wow...

now only to figure out which ones are pullets and which ones are cockerels....

Poor fella(?) take a beating?  Appears to be at the rock bottom of the pecking order.  Boy do I know that feeling.... :'( :D

Those australorps get large don't they?  Do you have to start 'em slow to prevent leg problems, like broilers?   :P

I don't know if there is really anything we can do, but I'm asking anyways if anyone has any ideas.

Our duck seemed to have hurt her leg or foot a week or more ago and couldn't get around.
I thought there was a cut on the bottom of her foot, but that seems to be gone and she still can't get around.
She's losing weight and I noticed today that she can't eat.
Yesterday she was keeping her beak open like she was panting, and watching her try to eat today, it looks like she can't swallow.
I opened her beak and looked in, but can't see anything wrong, but don't really have a clue what I'm looking for anyways.
She's also "dropping" really bright green slimy droppings.

Anyone one have a clue what's wrong with her?

Now, I have really no idea, but I just wanted to ask, has she been bitten by anything???

asy :D

Not that we know of.
They are inside a pen inside a chain link fenced yard.
Not a lot of things that can get to them with out leaving some evidence behind.

I can't find anything wrong with her leg or foot either, but she can't walk on it and has a real hard time standing on it.

Sorry to hear about your duck, Furby. Is it a pet or for egg laying? If it isn't already dead by now, you may just want to finish it off in a humane way. If it is a pet, maybe you could try force feeding, but otherwise get rid of it. You wouldn't want to eat the meat or the eggs if it is sick. And if it is with other ducks, you don't want them to get sick too.

New baby ducklings will be at the farm stores real soon with Easter coming in a couple weeks.  ;)

She's a laying pet. :D
Our only duck and pet being the key word. ;)
She'll never get eaten. :)

She must have been feeling better yesterday as my Mom brought her over to the food and she just kept eating.
Before she couldn't get anything down.
She's standing much better as of a couple days ago, but seems to have trouble with both legs now when she trys to walk, almost as if she can't control them.
But she is doing better. :)

You did not say how old the duck is.One of my friends and me bought 6 ducks from the hardware store,he took 3 and I took 3.Then the fox took my 3.He had his for a year and then one took to being lame and he had to get rid of it and the other 2 did the same.Must of been bad breeding some how.Good luck with yours.

Had to go back to page three to recall exactly how long we have had her. :D
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=11636.msg150314#msg150314

Just over two years now. :)
Of our original 8 chickens and one duck, we gave away two chickens that we think may have been roosters and we had one chicken die last fall.

Well today she was running around. :o
Fast enough to get away from me. :D
Don't know what was wrong with her before, but she seems to have gotten over it. :)

She probably heard about Patty's advice. :D

 :D :D :D :D
That'll do it every time eh? ;D

Tough love, Furby..... :D

I have a chit chat with my girls, when they are slacking off on egg laying. Usually if I throw a few legbones in the hen house and mention how I love fried chicken, and we get lots of eggs in no time at all.

Works like a charm.  ;)

I just typed out a long reply about selling broilers and it got lost into the cyberspace.  I sold 8 week dressed broilers for $10 a piece and could sell as many as I cared to raise.  The best info source I am aware of is Pasture Poultry Profits--great book.  So is Chicken Tractor.

Robert, you could go higher.  Mine usually dress about 6-7 lbs at that age and I have been getting $2/lb.  I am going to at least $2.25 this year.  There are 50 in the barn 2 weeks old right now.  Almost 40 are sold when they are in the bags. 8) 8)

Will

Anyone know what may be causing thin shelled eggs?
We also have one chicken that is laying eggs with a crusty deposit that you can brush/wash off.
Just wondering if we need to change our feed or something.
They have been getting a 16% layer mix, and I've tried two different suppliers.
We also give them table scraps and stuff like that.
Any ideas?

Thin shell can be traced to insecticides and mitecides, but you would need an expert to know.

Granddad used to keep ground up oyster shell and old egg shells in the corner of the Coop.  The Chickens ate them.  He said it helped to put grinders in their craw and made their shells strong too.  I guess there is a need for the proper minerals to make egg shell.

put some crushed oyster shell out for them, Furby.  mine were giving me thin shells on the purina layer mash.  they've been better since I put out oyster shells.

I learned something today:

don't chop a chickens head off while wearing shorts  :o

these buggers always seem to dislocate a wing if you let them flop around, one managed to do it today while being held in the air by it's feet.  I guess I need to make a cone.

I get the same thing occasionally Furby. I have been thinking that it seemed odd that one hen didn't seem to have enough calcium (thin shells), while another (the one with the crusty shell like stuff) had too much. I feed them table scraps and layer feed too, just like you are. I assumed the layer feed contained all the necessary ingredients for good eggs. So what do I know!  :D


My neighbor offered to give me some of his chickens, he had so many he didn't know what to do with them all. (he is up to 32 now!  :o ) So if you need more hens I know just the place you can get them.  ;D

I seen the post heading when I was perusing the index and it says "Chickens" then I noticed the last poster it said "Patty" so naturally I thought of a chicken patty.
I have never read this thread or any part of it, but scanning this current page Furby it seems you might solve your problems by making some Chicken Patties.  food3

  Farmer friend of mine told me not to chop the heads off just slit under there tounge with a razor sharp knife. hardly no fuss.

Why can't ya just gas 'em. Take the cuttn torch and fill a baggie with some acetylene (propane in my case) and slip the baggie over their heads while you gently rub their belly to calm their nerves. the meat would be more tender if they left this world all relaxed like instead of flopping around spraying scat all over the kitchen cabinets.

This may be a little graphic for some.  If you don't like to hear about butchering. Stop reading now. :o
I visited a Chicken Plant in Douglas Georgia a few years back when I was a Meat Manager. It was kind of a reward field trip for about 30 Meat guys. :D
Their process had the chickens coming into a dark room. The chickens were taken out of their crates and put into a bin. There, about 6 workers picked the chickens up by their feet and hung them upside down on this overhead conveyor that accomodated each chicken foot. They were all calm and quiet.  As the conveyor went through the plant, about 30 feet from being placed on the rail upside down, a razor knife slit their neck but left just enough meat to keep the head hanging on. Then they proceeded to a timing area that zig-zagged them back and forth in a room for a couple minutes that allowed the blood to drain. Next step was the de-featherer. This machine reminded me of a car wash. You know the old bristle brush type only these probably had alot more pressure. The line kept moving to the chiller, where they are dropped to safe temperature zone within 3 minutes. Then the line moved on to the cutting room where a series of different production lines with hundreds of workers cut parts, boned out breasts etc. The whole process goes from live chicken to packaged at proper temperature in less than 20 minutes. There was a tremondous amount of water being used at his plant. Something like a couple hundred thousand gallons everyday. There were several other processes we visited. The farms, where most of these chickens come to market at 7 weeks of age. The egg hatchery where this room was incubating a million eggs. The smell in that room gave me the dry heeves and I went out the emergency exit because of the previous nights festivities. :D Come to think of it. That was the best part of the trip.

since i pretty much have no idea what i'm doing, is there anything wrong with this:

notice the slight discoloration on the breast bone, this was an easter egger (I think), it was a cockeral.  pretty scrawny, but getting pretty annoying (I wonder why)....

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chicken1.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chicken2.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chicken3.JPG)

(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/12217/chicken4.JPG)

Dan,
I am at a hotel hook up with 2 other Meat guys behind my shoulder and we all three voted not to eat that chicken. :D

that's where i'm leaning....

any idea what the issue is?  the breast bone has a slight green color, and it looks bruised....

more concerning are the discolored nads...  the little jerk seemed healthy...

My grandfathers 4-H group went on a tour of a packing plant, probably about 1934. They got to pick out a pig and they followed it through the plant and watched it made into hot dogs. They then cooked up the dogs at the end of the tour. How many kids do you suppose would go on that tour today? :o :D

The only part I want to do with chickens is eat them as buffalo chicken tenders. ;)


Dave

I get that on some chickens I raise too Dan. It seems like it's an abscess from where they lay on it. I throw those chickens in with the rest of the innards to the burn pit. After all the work to get them to that point I know how you feel but I wouldn't take the risk.

is it a breast blister?

i was also concerned about that miscolored nad, though that may not be a big deal.

I had to look it up but from the definition it sure seems like what I've seen. I've also seen some where one of the innards is diseased or misformed. I get rid of them too although I only see one or two out of the 50 we raise so it's not a big deal.

We're having a predator problem, probably a fox.  We lost a lot of ckickens before we got a hen house.  We've seen a few both day and night.  We left the hen house door open a few nights back and lost one chicken at about 3:00 am.  Our neighbor has lost all of his chickens to predators but he does not have a hen house.  Rodney put out some spring traps for the foxes but only managed to catch two chickens.  We now have two limping chickens...we named one of them Sarah...Sarah(the human Sarah with the broken leg) was not amused.  Our other problem is that the hens are laying and setting out in the woods ( I guess thay got tired of us stealing their eggs) where they are easy pickins for the foxes. I'm considering building a trap similar to the hog traps that we use in Texas.  The foxes seem too smart to go into a small trap.
Quinton

Hey Dan,
Most laying Chickens have some degree of Breast blister but it is usually just a clear mucous membrane that easily seperates from the meat when you prep. That chicken looked to have some sort of disease. Anytime you see the innards like that they tell a story.

the testes look to be swollen and discolored to me, are they?  the rest of the innards looked about normal. 

(i'm not going to eat the chicken. at this point, i'm just trying to figure out what's wrong with it, if anything).

Looks like some kind of deficiency but I am not qualified to say for sure.
The old food safety rule is when in doubt, throw it out.

yeah, i'm not starving, it's not worth the risk to me.  i don't like that I killed the little jerk for nothing :(  however, it's much nicer around here without him!

Well, the good news is that he looks like he was gonna die soon anyway. 

Sorry I had to bump this thread, I'm thinking about getting some chickens for a few eggs and some oven roasters and was doing some searching.

I never thought I'd raise chickens myself because I can still smell the wet nasty smell of plucked scalded feathers from my younger years. But the idea has been picking up steam, along with raising a few rabbits.

Know what you mean about the smell. My stomach wins out. Love young rabbit, gotta get past the grand childs though. :D :D

if you have plenty of room get 25-50 of a heritage breed, and a good house, that should be enough to keep you in chicken and eggs for quite a while.   the broilers are a headache, they all need processed at once, or they start to die on you.  I lost 5 on one hot afternoon once, I gave up after that.