Chickens in the backyard
 

I�ve recently become obsessed with chickens since we started building our flock 2 months ago. Chickens are great carefree pets with tons of personality, and it is very rewarding to raise them. Apart from the obvious (fresh eggs!), they also eat tons of bugs (mosquitos & larvae, ants, termites, grubs, etc�), and consume lots of kitchen scraps and produce good fertilizer. I would highly recommend them for anybody who is sufficiency/survival minded, health-conscious, or just interested in having a fun and unusual pet. They are also very relaxing to watch. I spend most of my free time chicken watching now, and don�t miss the TV a bit!

I started this thread to share the joys and tribulations of chicken tending with other GIMers. I�m pretty new at raising chickens, and I�ve gotten tons of useful information from http://www.backyardchickens.com. I�m sure that there are many here on GIM who can offer advice or just good chicken stories, and I would love to hear them! Here are my girls:

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/DSC_2974.jpg
http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...9/DSC_2946.jpg
http://i37.tinypic.com/2mfgnwp.jpg

Let�s see your chickens!

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

nice looking critters!


thanks for sharing

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Aww! Pretty girls! We can't have them here due to zoning laws. My sister just started raising them out at her place, though.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

My wife and I were just talking about getting chickens last night. We're going to get some after the beginning of the year. Thanks for the info!

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Nice looking ladies!! We have had chickens for a couple of years now. The BYC sight was the first site that I found before we actually pulled the trigger on getting some (barred rocks, Rhode island reds, and buff orpingtons). Very soothing way to de-stress that's for sure. and there is nothing better than fresh eggs! Once we move (from Nev desert to Very rural Ohio) we are taking it to the next level with adding some meat birds. We are thinking of 2- 3 cycles of abt 50 birds each. As well as some turkeys, well, just cuz i LOVE turkey.

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We started with 20 one-day old chicks in Spring 2007. We now have 14 laying hens. We gave away the rooster because he was too ornery. We lost several hens to the hawks and raccoons. But the rest are doing fine. They are a joy. Whenever I come out with table scraps they come running as fast as they can from all corners of the yard. They come running when I don't have scraps too. We still get more eggs than we can consume. It is nice to be able to give away dozens of eggs to friends and family.

We have two leghorns that are identical in every way except which side their comb flops over, so I named them Righty and Lefty. We have an Easter Egger with a crooked beak we named Ashley (inside joke). Then there is Blacky, Baldy, and Bumpy. The other 8 have not earned names yet. They all free range on our 3 acres, but mainly stay around the house.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Arrgh!

I just trapped another skunk in my hen house. I haven't had an egg in 2 weeks, the skunks and snakes are eating me out of house and home!

I love the barred rocks, best layers IMO. I haven't had any luck raising chicks to production age, so I got rid of the roosters and I buy or trade for young layers.

No need for meat birds when you have beef!:eating::biggrin:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

For any in the N. Fulton county area of Atlanta, check out the pet chicken meetup http://www.meetup.com/chickens/
I've got 5 rhode island reds and it's great fun.

buck buckaw
:15_1_70v:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

beef, I used heavy hardware cloth everywhere a critter might squeeze in like eaves, because of previous losses to snakes and the uncanny flexibility of various rodent types. They slip in through gaps that just don't look big enough.

Everything seems to like eggs!

Lovely flock, Cassandra.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Gorgeous. The last hen looks like my silver hamburgs. We have coyotes and sparrows. Coyotes eat the birds, sparrows eat the bird food. I've got a 10x10 steel shed mated to a kennel of about 8x8 with the recent addition of an enclosed run of, oh, 8+x20. No hawks can get them, sparrow intrusion is minimized and I popped a 'yote last thurs night when it tried to bust in the shed door. HA! LOCKED!
I keep a rooster for every 10 or so gals, the 6 I hatched last late spring made 5 roosters. 2 have met their end, 2 to go.
I don't let them out anymore, the last "hit" by yotes was on a sunday at noon. High speed.
I processed 82 eggs yesterday-a week's production. Much goodwill comes from egg distribution.
Glad you like your birds.
I got mine...

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Chickens are such great animals. I never knew!

Predators have definitely been the main challenge for us, and for most people from what I've read (including dogs). We got the first 10 of our birds when they were 12 weeks old from our neighbor who gave up after more than half of his original 25 chicks had been picked off by hawks and skunks. We went crazy building a secure run, but still lost one more presumably to a hawk; it just vanished. We picked up 4 more birds from a farmer who was relocating, and 4 more from a suburban family who decided they didn't really want chickens. So we have 17 altogether. I joke that we're a chicken rescue home. We let them free range now that they're bigger, and haven't had hawk problems since we put up the fake owl and added some spiderweb wiring across the orchard in hopes of discouraging them.

I'm not totally certain about all of their breeds, but I think we have 3 buff orphingtons, 3 barred rocks, 1 light brahma, 2 silver laced wyandotts, 1 rhode island red, 1 white leghorn, 1 black sumatra (the last picture in the OP; my favorite!), some easter eggers and ameraucanas, and the rest I'm not sure of. One of the four we got from the suburban family is almost certainly a rooster, which would require a permit if he's allowed at all, but Butch is still pretty young so we'll ignore it until we get our first cock-a-doodle do.

There is a topic on the BYC forum on local chicken laws & how to change them. It's a good source of info on how to get around the laws, or network with others to get them changed. I find that going up against my local city hall is a nice relaxing break for those days when I'm just too tired to fight the Fed or the global PTB.
:biggrin:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Your birds are gorgeous! I really wish that I could have mine outside, but I can't, as the original owner of our farm has a Golden Plump barn at the end of my driveway. My ladies (and a few gentlemen) have to stay indoors at all times. We are currently bringing in about 90 eggs per day... way too many. We have decided that we need to find new homes for 20 or so of the girls, so if you are in the central MN area, let me know.

When we first got our chicks last spring, we had a little incident. Abby (our black lab) got into the room that they were housed in. Not a pretty sight... you can imagine... 6 survivors out of 100. We replaced them a couple of weeks later. Abby now loves to go in and see "her birds". She goes into the chicken house with me daily. She leaves the birds alone. She has been accidentally locked in with them for hours, and hasn't hurt one! Wish a good scolding would work like this on my kids!

Anyway, here are a few pics... not as pretty as yours, Cassandra... but I love them, just the same.

(sorry, they aren't the clearest, I have to take my camera apart and clean the INSIDE of the lens.)

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

They're adorable! My kids and I are amazed at how many eggs there are in those nest boxes. We're only getting 1-2 eggs per day from the 4 of ours that are mature. The 9 that were hatched in May should kick in and start laying any day now, but between moulting and the short days we've resigned ourselves to still having to buy eggs at the store every so often. Do you keep their coop lit up after dark? Do you sell your extra eggs?

We're lucky to have a great yard for them to forage in; they get the orchard, which is about 1/4 acres totally enclosed w/ 6' fencing, and we and our dogs have a separate backyard. It's a good thing that mine get to go out, because their coops are pretty small. One is an old shipping container (4x4x10'), and one we made that is just a bit bigger. The kids can go inside them, but I can't. I want a chicken house next time! Maybe next spring :bear_w00t:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

We do keep the coop lit until around 9pm. It makes a huge difference. The building that we house our 120 or so birds in is pretty good sized. I couldn't give you the dimensions, but the original owner housed 700 in there!

We do sell our extra eggs... but now that everyone is laying, it is getting harder to unload them. I can only eat so many eggs... I am actually quite tired of them... hubby can eat them all the time!

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You have no idea how much I envy you folks that can live around farm animals.

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This is Amadeus, my biggest, smartest, most eggtastic hen. I don't know what the heck breed she is. :bear_rolleyes:

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l.../Amadaeus1.jpg

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Here's me holding Barny, the Buff with a Polish bonnet.

I call this image "The Chicken Thief."

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...ickenThief.jpg

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I've a small flock of young hens, 26 hens 3 roosters, the rooster may not last past Thanksgiving, well 2 anyway. I've two barred rock roosters I've been keeping for that purpose. The RI red I may keep just to have a rooster around.

My hens have slowed down with the shorter days, but I still had 12 eggs today.

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From the photo, she could be aracauana. Do her eggs look greenish blue or pinkish?

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when I am not watching, my chickens sneak into my closets in the house and lay eggs among the cloths or fly over the fence & poop on the lanai.:bawling:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Nope. Big brown eggs. I've got some Aracauna or rather Americauna and she's not one of them. In fact, my Avatar is one of my Americauna's.
She's probably just a big ole mutt, but she's consistently ten hops ahead of every other bird I keep, as well as very friendly and sociable.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

if i wanted to raise some chickens in Texas, what would be a good type?

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The damn kids keep leaving the back door open and then I've got chickens running all over my house. Thankfully I do not have carpet, only tile or this would not be funny. Also, why is it that with a whole back yard to poop in they insist on saving it all up for the concrete patio??? Just wondering. :confused_ma:

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

You guys and gals are making me so envious... I wish I could buy some property and get started already! I have big plans for gardens, and keeping egg hens and meat rabbits, among many other things. But alas, I am stuck in an apartment for at least another 6 months, maybe a year :(

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Black Australorpes. In spite of the color seeming bad for heat, and all hens needing shade in hot climates, they did the best the year of more than 30 days over 100, many over 110. Hens are at risk over 95 without deep shade and a fan or many breezy hadware cloth windows in the night housing. Days they dig themselves cool holes to nap in in the shade when it is very hot. I think being from Australia may be why they take heat well. My next flock will be single breed for breeding true. You can get back to low production in just a few generations otherwise, though the first cross is often very good.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Oh yes. My type of thread.
I recently got started into chickens this last spring. I built my own coop and now keep six birds in the back yard of my suburban home. I just got my first egg this last weekend. Chickens are very rewarding and fun. Those that have the space and ability to keep more than me, make me a little envious. I do plan to move sometime next year and expand the flock to 50+.

If anyone is interested in where to start in raising chickens, I have to agree with Cassandra, backyardchickens.com is THE site to visit. The forums there are great. I did about three months of research there before getting my birds. It is truly a great resource.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

We live in a climate where it regualrly hits 120+ in the summer months, As I said earlier, we have buff orps, RIR's and B.R's..and they did quite well. This is what I did to protect from the heat. When I built the coop I made it so it sat abt 3 ft off the ground. This was to create a nice shady spot for the girls to get out of the hot sun during the hottest part of the day, and to promote air movement for em. I also made vents that were on hinges at the top oin all side, and were adjustible Via the use of simple dog chains that were abt 8 inches long i guess. Then I made a simple water mister system, that helped alot. I also had one of those Pans that you would put under your water heater, Its abt 4 inches deep and maybe 16 inches in diameter, they could then get in and out so they could cool off, plus it added another water source for them as well. And then we did little things like occasionally giving them such things as frozen chunks of watermellon. All in all they all made it with out even one problem.

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What is your purpose for the chickens? Meat or Eggs? (Do you prefer your chicken solid, or liquid?:biggrin:) My experience is only with layers. I try not to get hungry enough to want to eat poultry!:aetsch:

I've had the best luck with Barred Rock, as they lay the biggest, and most, eggs for me. I've also had good luck with Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds.

I'm right on the coast, it normally doesn't get over 100 for very long, but humidity is 99+% for 9 months out of the year. My coup is 7+ feet tall, and I don't have any special cooling (no fans or misters). They do fine.

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Wow, she does look smart. Too smart, maybe, with that gleam in her eye. Good thing she's friendly!

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Just this morning I caught her running around with a big toad. Thinking about how dogs foam at the mouth when they eat toads, I took it away from her. Probably an absurd and futile gesture, but since we recently lost some rabbits due to them eating avocado leaves, I didn't want to take the chance it might make her sick. The idea that animals instinctively know what to munch or not munch is somewhat out the window for me.

I love tending these winged critters.

One thing to consider during a possible SHTF scenario when power becomes precious or even nonexistent,... is the broodiness characteristics of a breed. Don't bother with Leghorns if you can't incubate the eggs. I don't know enough about other specific breeds to comment but Leghorns have had the drive to brood pretty much bred out of them, and I suspect it may be the case with other specific bred poultry.
If you don't know what a broody hen is, it's a hen that sits on a clutch of eggs. Certain hens become broody, but most as far as I can tell just don't.

I've got three in my flock that go broody at the drop of a hat. I consider it fortunate, even though they stop laying when they do go broody.

Broody hens are really funny. Their hormones go whackadoodle and all they want to do is sit in the nest. Sometimes they won't eat or drink or even crap unless you take them out of the nest and make them act like regular chickens.
It's funny when you take them out of the nest because they puff up like beach balls and growl at you and anything else that gets near them.

Anyway, the only method I've found to get the broody hen back to egg production is to make an anti-broody hen cage with a cold grated steel floor so they can't retain the body temp. necessary to keep the broody hormones flowing. Two or three days in the cage and they're back to normal.

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Count me as one of those who really likes the idea of having some chickens (and rabbits) on my 1/2 acre but who has no practical experience to work with. And talk about my wife getting bent out-of-shape, I mentioned rabbits a while back and she is 100% against it. Just thinks it's a waste of time and effort.

I really need to get in touch with a local community agriculture farm and get some exposure to the reality of food production. Maybe that will cure me of these crazy ideas :)

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Wow, sounds just like my wife :36_3_12:

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This is great, it looks amazing. Building a coop looks fun and having fresh eggs to eat and give away also looks great. You are all great people in my book : )

Just so I can contribute, the "Possum Living" paper does mention that she raises chickens for eggs as well as meat.

http://www.f4.ca/text/possumliving.htm

I believe they did it in a cellar for the first few years, as well. Interesting : ) They also raised rabbits and made sausage from them.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

Chickens might be a good choice, since they will pay you back in eggs for your efforts. Apart from that, they're just nice pets and you can de-emphasize the "crazy ideas" like survival aspects. I would especially recommend them for anybody who has ever considered getting a caged bird like a parrot or cockatiel, which are expensive, mostly cage-bound (sad!), and quite useless. Chickens are pretty independent, provide relaxing bird-watching, and you can grab them and pet 'em like a puppy.

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If I raise chickens do I have to eat them? I plucked a chicken once when I was a kid and I couldn't believe how much work it took just for one meal.

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No, you don't have to eat them. I haven't with any of mine, but mine are still young enough to be still producing a good amount of eggs tho. Some people do eat em (it kinda depends tho) after their good egg producing days are behind em (about 2 yrs or so).

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I think my kids would disown me if I tried to feed them one of our chickens. Besides, I can occasionally find chicken at the store for $.69 / lb (whole, but plucked!), and I stock my freezer when it's cheap. Many people do eat their chickens because they don't like all of the hormones and antibiotics that are fed to factory chix, and/or because they don't want to contribute to the ill treatment of the factory farmed birds and/or because they can raise chicken on a large enough scale that it is economical for them. But that's not us. We just have fun, egg-laying pets. And cheep insurance in case TS does HTF.

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Funny and true. I've got one bird named "Tool" that wants to be held all the time. If I have the audacity to hold another bird she gets jealous?? and jumps all over the other bird when I set it down. Interesting that "Tool" is at the bottom of the pecking order... except for her relationship toward me. In that regard she thinks she's the top bird.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. 99% vegetarian as well. Although I've had a few moments with Mr. Rooster, where I damn near wrung his ornery neck, he's learned to keep his opinions about me to himself.
I like keeping him around for egg fertilization and he's just so entertaining.
He's good to the hens and kind of watches their backs.
When I feed them scraps, he won't compete with a hen for a morsel. If one of the girls wants it, it's hers.

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If you do decide to eat them after 2 years, you really only want to stew them and make soup. They do get tough. I agree, they are a lot of work, it is best if you have several to do at a time and have a few helpers around. I'll never forget my first experience with this... person teaching me had never "gutted" one, so I had to figure that out on my own. Took me 3 months before I could convince myself to eat one. Waiting now for the guy I bought the farm from to teach me how to easily skin a bird. Lots less work! I'll let you all know how it goes.

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Man it's a shame that my timing is off. I just got a fish house that I'll be converting into a chicken coop and my plan is to get some birds in the Spring. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I'm gonna do it, but I'd like to get a few hens and also some for meat. I'd love to be able to free range them in the woods a bit so that they can feast on wood ticks. :ARMS1: I can't have them there in the Winter as its in the woods and there's no power... I may run something out there in the Spring.

Re: Chickens in the backyard
 

I read somewhere of using a tire pump to skin chickens/birds. I guess it'd work best with a pump that had the various attachments that look like large needles.

You just insert it under the skin and inflate the bird. The skin pulls away from the meat taking the feathers with it. I guess if you want the skin then plucking you will do.

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Banjo, when you are ready, let me know. If I am able to help, I would be happy to. It's not like you are far away or anything! Sorry it took me so long to reply, but I took some personal time away from GIM to get caught up on some other things... now it is taking me forever to get caught up on what I missed here!

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When my Black Australorp hens get broody I place an order for a load of chicks to arrive in 18-21 days. When the chicks come in, I put them in a warm place and give them some food and water, and when they're fed I take a few of the strongest and place them under the broody hen (she has to have been sitting long enough on the fake eggs for them to have theoretically hatched).

In a day or so her hormones have changed from brooding to mothering, and she's off the nest tending the new chicks. Then I give her the rest of the chicks. My Black Australorps are great moms. One of them we call "Big Momma" and she can manage 25 chicks, no problem. With so many chicks though it has to be a season when they're not going to get chilled.

Next year we should have fertile eggs (saved two roosters from the first brood this summer), so we will let them hatch the eggs out instead.

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Thank you, that's very kind. We'll see what the Spring brings. I've never done this chicken thing before but I'm kinda excited about giving it a try.