[Food] Production - Poultry (was Backyard Chickens)

[DomusAlbion]

Henrietta II is now out with her chicks. She only hatched 5. The revised count for Henrietta I is 11 chicks. She's a real champ and is protecting her brood from other hens and cats.

We moved Henrietta II from the garage to the chicken yard. There was some fussing with H I and H I actually took H II's chicks for a time. All became sorted out and seemed to be running smoothly.
However, several hours later came H II with her chicks back to the garage through a gauntlet of curious dogs. There is little to eat in the garage. Why is she going back there? Stupid chicken.

One of our cats is exhibiting stalking behavior toward H I's chicks. I have the Ruger 10/22 at hand and may be forced to send kitty home to Jesus.

[mystiek]

What type of chicken lays pale green eggs? I have seen brown and white, but today one of my patients brought me a dozen eggs-some white, some brown and some pale green. They also raise berkshire hogs and brought me some sausage. I was so excited to receive these wonderful gifts, but my husband being the ultimate city slicker is questioning the green eggs (I heard comments like "green eggs and ham"??). I reassured him that they were edible and they were from a chicken, I just don't know what breed of chicken. Perhaps once we buy our farm I'll raise that type of chicken to help desensitize my husband to eggs other than white ones!

[DomusAlbion]

Update on the Henriettas.

Mothers and chicks are doing well and have settled into a routine. We have NOT lost one chick. The hens keep all comers at bay, including our killer cockapoo, Monk.

Final count for H I was 11 chicks.
For H II the stupid garage chicken it was only 5, however Laurelei our oldest dog and a German Shepard has adopted H II and her chicks and carefully monitors their comings and goings. I've added the old apple tree by the garage to my feeding rounds in the morning so that she and her chicks have enough to eat. This is a good place anyway because we have 5 bird feeders in this tree for the local wildlife and seeds are always getting spilled from the feeders.

The orange stalking cat mentioned earlier was dispatched by the middle son a few nights ago. It was a clean shot to the head so there was no suffering.

[Ludi]

Final count for H I was 11 chicks.

Outstanding! Congratulations.

[DomusAlbion]

Final count for H I was 11 chicks.

Outstanding! Congratulations.

I thank you for H I. She had four other eggs in the nest for a total of 15. I was amazed that one little Red could sit on that number eggs and hatch so many with success. Of those left in the nest one chick died in the shell and 3 eggs were infertile.

[mystiek]

Thanks for the green egg advice. We used them last night and noticed they had a little bit stronger? egg smell than the white ones we normally get at the store. They were delicious and nobody turned green from them. My husband ended up eating a bologna sandwhich. I'll show him your post to reassure him.

[CarlinsDarlin]

That's just because they were fresher. Most of the time, the eggs you get from the store are about a month old by the time you get them to your kitchen. Farm fresh eggs are generally a bit stronger, and the yolks are more orange. If they're less than a week old, it's difficult to boil and peel them cleanly - simply because they're still full - the liquid inside has not started to evaporate yet.

Just wait till he eats some. Once he tastes the difference in farm fresh eggs vs. store bought eggs, he won't go back
K

[Ludi]

I need to share a turkey tragedy.

Yesterday I let out the turkey moms and chicks for the first time to forage in the yard. In the evening, the moms had not returned to the coop and were being difficult to catch so I waited until after dark. When I picked them up, the 2 babies were nowhere to be found. I looked for them for about an hour and finally gave up. They disappeared with no trace - no feathers, no little body parts. Just gone.

[mercurygirl]

Sorry to hear about your turkey babies, Ludi.

I'm going tomorrow to look at a small chicken house I found on craigslist for $100. We have a friend who always has chicks and wants to give us some, yay! So I will have chickens soon.
I don't have a lot of room, so how many should I get? We go through at least a dozen eggs a week, sometimes more. I'm thinking 3 is not enough, maybe 5?

[Ludi]

5 is a good number to start with. That will give you an average of 3 eggs a day if they are decent layers.

[CarlinsDarlin]

Sorry to hear about your little turkeys Ludi Maybe a hawk carried them off? That's what usually happens around here if one just up and disappears. Hawks don't go for our full grown chickens, even the banties, but I have to carefully watch my babies and Junior chickens. We've had several carried off - a couple right in front of me

Mercurygirl,
A chicken will, on average, lay an egg about every 24 hours. Some breeds are better about being on time. Some breeds will almost quit laying on you in the winter. If you're just wanting eggs, then white leghorns are about the best choice. They're light breed birds, so they eat less and they're prolific egg producers. However, there are many dual purpose birds (both meat and eggs). Depends on what you want them for.

As for housing, you need to have about a foot of roost space per adult bird (more is better). If you're wanting a dozen eggs a week, you could get away with just three birds. If you get 4 eggs a week from each bird, that still gives you a dozen. When I started we bought four chickens. Now I have about 100. Chickens are kinda addictive lol.

Oh, don't be surprised if, when you bring your birds home, they don't lay eggs for a while. Moving chickens upsets them. Sometimes it will be a week or two before they'll start laying. Sometimes a move will put them into a molt. If that happens, feed them crushed red peppers. It'll help bring them out of it faster. And always keep out free choice oyster shells to help with their calcium.

You're gonna love having chickens. Be sure to let us know how it goes
Kathy

[Ludi]

We heard screech owls in the woods while we were looking, but screech owls seem too small to have gotten the babies. I just don't know. Thank you all for the sympathy.

[mercurygirl]

Hey Shanny. I'm from extreme western NY. Isn't NY pretty in the summer? Very long, cold winters, though. I have a plan B there.
My source with chickens swears by their portable solar electric fence to keep varmints away. Of course, they lock them up at night.

Thanks for all the info on chickies, ladies. I actually have a to-do list that may delay them for awhile, but I'm still checking out the little house. It looks homemade and very sturdy.

[careinke]

Well Glisten hatched her eggs today. Six of the seven managed to make it. This is the first time I have had a hen hatch eggs. She seems to know what she is doing. Hopefully everything will work out. Here she is making sure I don’t mess with her babies. I can take a hint!!

[img][img]http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll211/careinke/IMG_1043.jpg[/img][/img]

Cliff (Start a rEVOLution, grow a garden)

[wisconsin_cur]

yes they do seem to know what they are doing.

We let our mothering hens free range and I watched the other day as the 18 month old was watching the baby chicks. I knew what would happen, having a good idea what would unfold and knowing that no one would get hurt.

Child approaches chicks, hen warns child but child does not read the signs. mother hen knocks child down.

what I did not expect, however,was,

terrier comes to child's rescue and almost attacks hen.

Luckily the terrier is very responsive to verbal commands and while he stood between the hen and his boy, did not attack the hen.

boy learned that mothers protect their young,
I learned that the terrier will protect his boy.

five more hens are setting on clutches of eggs... I hope this is a banner year for hatching.

[CarlinsDarlin]

careinke,
Yes, she does look serious, doesn't she Beautiful chicks

Homesteader,
Feed prices are going through the roof for all of my critters. Thankfully since it's summer, and there are bugs everywhere, I've been letting the chickens free range and thus, am feeding them less grain. I have stopped buying laying pellets for now. I'm just buying scratch grain to supplement their bugs and such. This winter, though, we'll be buying pellets again... if we can afford them!
K

[Ludi]

We buy whole corn for the chickens, and cracked corn for the turkeys. We've never fed layer pellets - too expensive!

[Ludi]

I have a turkey question:

So far, my turks have been very bad about learning to return to their house in the evening. I'm afraid to let them out for this reason. Has anyone else had this problem?

They were not let out at a young age, I think this might be the problem...

[WisJim]

I also have a moveable electric fence around the area of the orchard where the new coop is located. We do have fox, bear, coyotes, hawks, eagles, etc., in the immediate area of the house and coop, but haven't had any trouble with any predators except skunks and possums. We are far enough from our creek that the fishers don't bother us, and the black bears make rare appearances that close to the house.

So far, so good.

[gnm]

WisJim, is this fence around turkeys? Do you string the electric on the top? Inside? Outside? I am trying to design a coop/runs for chickens but I have considered having turkeys as well.

Thanks,

-G