Here is a new thread about birds. There are lots of good sites out there and most are low-tech but we pearkers like to stick together right?

Anyway, as I’ve mentioned on other threads, I have a few birds; Buff Orpington and Speckled Sussex. I’ve only had mutts before and paid a huge amount for these, but they are both supposed to be dual purpose, good sitters and good mommas. The Buffs are fairly common but the Sussex I could only find at McMurry.

I’m keeping them in moveable pens, one for meat and one for layers. I’ll eventually have a permanent ‘brooder house’ for the best mommas as well.

So what do you know about chickens?

They make a hell of a lot of noise, preferably at very inconvenient hours. The smell of their cages must list among the most horrifying in the world. They attract flies like nothing I have ever seen. If they escape they can destroy a newly planted field in a matter of minutes.

Other than that they make a pretty good soup.

If you plan to have chickens make sure you have enough distance between you and them. If you value your relations with your neighbors make sure there is plenty of distance between those two.

They give tasty eggs most of the days,are good to forage for bugs and give a lot of fertilizers ! Oh,yeah..they are easy to feed almost for free when you use worms to do your composting ...

Schneider
French-Canadian

They are small creatures which are particularly adept at turning bugs into fertilizer, eggs, and very tasty meat. If you actually get up in the morning, then their crowing is kinda nice. I think they're GRRREAT.

Keeping them out of the garden is important though, and roosters aren't ideal in the city.

I love chickens! I like them to eat and I like them as pets. I don't eat my pet chickens. I don't mind the crowing, and I have three mature roosters currently. They are noisy birds, but not as annoying as guineas, in my opinion. It's not necessary to keep a rooster unless you want to produce baby chicks. Chickens are easy to care for and not stinky if you either keep their pen well supplied with fresh bedding, or keep them in a moveable pen. I have both setups.

I presently have one Buff Laced Polish Rooster, one Buff Orpington rooster, one Black Australorp rooster, one Speckled Sussex hen, three Dark Cornish hens, a white hen of unknown breed, one Black Australorp hen, one Light Brahma hen, 20-something Dark Cornish cockerels and pullets, and one white mystery pullet (or cockerel).

A small question popped out of my head today : how many chickens and males do you need to have to have something genetically viable !??

Schneider
French-Canadian

I know that when you crush up the used egg shells to feed back to them (cause it gives them extra calcium so they form harder egg shells) they should be crushed and baked first. Baking them gets rid of any salmonella that might be in the egg shells.

We always used to bake them cause we had a fire stove then an electric but I bet you could boil them or whatever.

My grandma also used to use wooden eggs to put under the chickens, its basic chicken psychology I guess, they lay more when theres something to add to.

We have about 18 or so, mostly barred rocks and RI reds and a few of unknown lineage.

We keep them in an old fashion chicken coop with a large fenced yard for them to run in, although most of the time half of them manage to fly over the 6 foot fence and spend a lot of time in the yard and pasture. But at least we don't have many flies around the house.

I don't know if it is just us, but do any of you that have chickens have a problem with your dogs or barn cats getting along with them?

We have a Beagle who's dog house is on the outside of the chicken yard. This winter 3 or 4 of the chickens began using her dog house instead of returning to the coop at night. The Beagle seems to enjoy their company and curls up with them at night in the dog house, she even shares her food and water with them.

And our barn cats are the same way. Sometimes the cats come up to the house looking for food. They lay near the house on the sidewalk and the chickens walk right by them and even lay down next to them. The cats never bother them or their chicks and these cats are hunters, I have seen them catch mice, birds, young squirals and even some of the Toms have gotten rabbits, but they ignore the chickens.
In fact, when we do feed the cats we have to chase the chickens away or else the chickens chase the cats away from the food.

I have even found cats in the chicken coop sleeping in the nesting boxes.

Has anyone else had an experience like this or are we just wierd?

RidgeRunner, while I've never found my chickens sleeping with the other animals, they are never bothered by my dog & cat. When we first got our dog he killed two of my hens within a month. Everyone told us we would have to get rid of the dog, but we worked with him instead, and now he just lays on the porch and watches them. My cat likes to walk along the top of the coop fence and harass the blue jays that steal food.

I have learned that roosters can get mean, no matter if you have babied them, petted them or hand feed them. (puberty maybe?)

Chickens do not like change. They are visably upset if anyone is with me whne I feed them. They like to be talked to (and will "talk" back). They are great at keeping my compost pile turnned.

Carla

Geese suck. About the extent of my knowledge.

Riverside: how did you work with your dog? What approach did you take?

Spec_op I'm with you on that one, when two geese went after my 1 1/2 year old son I decided they weren't worth the time of day. they are fat and greasey too.

Tame geese can sometimes be nasty, depending on the breed. But the wild ones can certainly be a prime food source if you're near an area that is infested with big flocks of Canada geese that seem to take over park areas that have ponds/lakes near a town. There's nothing tastier than a fat Canada goose, and a mature goose will weigh 12-15 lbs. or better.

UE, when we got our dog (lab rotti mix) he was 9 months old, so still a puppy, but not as rambuncious. When I found the first carcass I just scolded him and burried the bird. The second time I left the bird in the yard and took him to it, made him sit there, kind of like he was a toddler, lol. I left the bird there for several hours, and walked him over several times.

The next day we started walking him to he chicken coop on his leash, making him sit every time he got excited by the hens. We repeated this until he could walk there without us correcting him. Now we have him trained to stay on the other side of the gate (it's always open). The first few times we let the chickens out we watched the dog closely, but he hasn't chased them since. It took almost a month of "training", but he was such a sweet dog that we wanted to work with him before we gave him away.

Carla

Nice observation. Must be why I keep coming back here. After the D&G, I need something to keep me from going. Still dreaming of my first chickens...

Well yesterday my little chickies gave me a surprise. When I went out to gather eggs yesterday afternoon, I found the teeny tiniest little egg in with the bigger eggs in the nest boxes . Seems one of my babies (not quite 10 weeks old!) has laid her first egg! I wasn't expecting any eggs from any of them till at least July, so this is a nice surprise. It's about the size of a cherry tomato.

Then when I went to another box, I found an egg so HUGE I wondered if a goose had gotten into the henhouse lol. It's got to be at least a double-yolker. It was so big, it wouldn't fit in any of my egg cartons - even the ones for extra large eggs. So, I have the little one and the big one in a basket for now.

Don't know what I'm going to do with the little one, but the big one might just turn into an omelet .
Kathy