Chickens

Anyone here raise chickens? I'm getting 25 layers now and will get 25 broilers come spring. Looking for tips and tricks.

 

I got about 14, used to have 78.

Ya need a layer box for hens. If you're getting chicks then I suggest a book on raising chickens. Get some chick starter in water and pay extra for any meds before they're shipped out.

 

Check, check, and check. The farm/estate that I manage has a coop all ready to go. Including electric for poly netting. I've always been around and helped with chickens, just never bought and raised any of my own. I'm looking to make a "chicken tractor" out of an old aluminum topper for a mobile pen this spring. Got my chicks vacinated and already recieved my Gro-gel, get my chicks tomorrow. They are actually part of the girlfriends birthday gift. We'll see how that goes over.

 

You've got more experience than I thought,
Have ya got a brooder lamp?

 

you are ready grasshopper.

my first attempt, i brought home a dozen chicks, put them in a box and asked myself, "ok..now what?"

i had NOTHING! i didnt lose a bird. they are easy.

now..i am about to cull my entire flock. been searching "old hen" recipes..hahha.

i need to put my backyard back in. lawn, flower gardens..fix my fruit trees. chickens jack shit up!! i am over it. eggs..meh. you get too many. mine had quit laying anyways.

 

i got a few chickens. love 'em! . . . keep them in a safe place at night where they can all roost, keep roosters away from newborn chicks, don't let hens sit on eggs that don't need sitting on, feed and water them daily, don't make them live in their own poop very long. especially when it's warm outside.

also, save money and use woodchips as their bedding in the laying boxes and on the floor of the coop. they don't care what it is, and when it gets to poopy you shovel it out and can put it around your plants!

 

http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa344/jgwheeler17/?action=view&current=1023111047.mp4

 

I thought about it, as well as my brother. I am not sure I want more responsibility. Maybe I will just help my brother out and get from him what I can.

 

In my experience, chickens are pretty easy. All set up with a coop with boxes, brooding lamps, waterers, and feeders. Heater for the water so I don't have frozen water all winter. Have chips for nesting boxes and access to all the straw I need for putting on the floor for the poopin in the coop which I'll just shovel out on the garden. They will tear shit up if given a chance, but I'll keep'em coraled with the electric polynet which is nice cause I can rotate where they scratch. I'm more looking forward to the meat birds this spring. Once you grown and butchered your own chicken meat it's hard to go back to buying it. Big difference in taste. But this will get the ball rollin so we can start gettin some eggs.

 

I couldn't even get my broilers to fit in the rotisserie.

 

I have 4 chickens in my suburban backyard. They've fucked up the yard, and my dad hates them because of that - but it's kind of a cool conversation piece more than anything. They're very simple to take care of.

 

Alright. Let's see who's redneck. Show your roosters!

 

Big fat fatties!

 

I don't have any chickens, but if I did....I'd use one of these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCD70TA7eis

 

They work pretty good, but you have to be carefull as they will bruise the meat.
Nobody wants your meat if it's bruised.

 

meat birds? any breeds in specific?

i can get behind that..eggs? meh. i wouldnt mind raising some meat birds for half a year, and taking them out.

i can pluck a bird pretty quick..grippy nitrile gloves help. you kill enough wild turkey, a chicken i like a vacation.

 

Cornish cross. I got mine from mcmurray hatchery.

 

yep, what he said

 

I like chickens and maybe some day will have some. We actually have two pet ducks. Called Rouens and look like mallards but are 3x bigger. Mostly raised for meat but I love mine too much to do that. I think we've finally figured out they are both females so we should get some eggs eventually. I'm hoping they don't taste extremely different than chicken eggs. Maybe at least bake with them.

They are so much fun with tons of personality. We take them for walks and they follow us. We have a large creek in the yard too that's perfect for them.