Anyone here got chickens???
 

My sister is going to give it a try.
We 're helping her build her coop this weekend, and she'll get het pullets by June.

Hope she realizes that her chickens will be like a half dozen more pets to feed. The only difference is that these pets give you eggs in return and a "dinner" when they stop laying.

Going to be weird naming food that you'll eventually be eating...

Justin. Rhodes has a free webinar this Sunday at 3 p.m. he's out of permaculture.com
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Into it probably 5 years now. Started with 24, added 15 two years later hatched a few, down to 6 now all due to natural causes. Most were lost by demonstrating that "everyone loves chicken" including , hawks, foxes, coyotes, fisher cats.... They slow down in the winter, but I am getting 3 or 4 eggs a day. Now that I have so few, they can go a week at a time between topping up feed and water, just need to get eggs.

he also has a whole boatload of free YouTube videos definitely worth watching
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Chickens will eat anything.....the dumpster behind the grocery store is her best friend :hee:
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i'm setting up because i have enough crickets to feed them for free practically.

just a heads up....might want to check your city or town ordinance...some places only allow 4-6 chickens some places as many as U want others none....sometimes seems when out of towners move in they get annoyed about the neighbors chickens...afew years ago someone complained about a rooster....signs went up, Save the rooster big town meeting, rooster won....recently someone complained about having any chickens....city hall was packed....chickens won...lol...:)

I had chicken years ago. Lot of fun and the eggs were great. Put a heat lamp in the coop in the winter and still got eggs.
My neighbors hunting dogs got loose and broke into the coop. No more chickens but it was a good experience.

got my flock last week
lots of fun ....
one is a very special rooster
we call him goldie
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...1/chicks_1.jpg

One looks like Trump
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How did you tell which one? :hihi:
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Same brain capacity.
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Awesome Craig,,, nothing better than fresh farm eggs. Like night and day difference from store bought....🍳🍳🐣🐣

can't wait to get some ducks.... ....soon

but we heard the shreeking (screaming) of a fox
last night (2 am) with it getting closer and closer to
the homestead... so i have to wire up the
bottom of the hen house real good.

Yeah, I warned my sister to expect to see more nocturnal visitors and maybe a few avian ones as well once she gets her pullets.
She already knows that a rooster in the hen house is a definite "no-no" for her town.

My brother and I are going to wait a couple of weeks, until things have settled down, and drive by her house early one morning :sleeps: and blare a rooster crow at her bedroom window. :rotflmao:

tim,
at a ranch there was this one rooster that would get up in
a small tree right behind my house and crow me awake every darn day
which is normal ....but this pain in the butt rooster would do it
15 minutes earlier every single morning untii it was @ 4 am and still dark out...
so i finally had enough ...and snuck out there real quiet like a ninja with no sound at all

@ 3:45 am and i waited and watched
until.... he ruffled his feathers , filled his lungs,
and then i blasted him with the loudest [[[cockadoodle doo !! ]]]
and literally scared him half to death.
there were people in the next valley over
that heard me that morning it was so loud, heh heh heh :uhuh:

just read a story from FOX25 news site about salmonella and having live poultry.

I hope my sister reads that, cause I'd hate to hear about any problems with her flock.

found some Golden 300's down near Portland

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...b1/goldens.jpg

adult's
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c6...ob1/adults.png

bought the proper metal watering can [ 5 gallon]
only problem is at 5 degrees it freeze's solid
then you have to lug it back inside to melt.

So...checking U-tube for idea's....
i built a lamp inside of a popcorn gift can with the metal shade
then put that inside an OLD Rusty ammo box i salvaged
from the boneyard and then fabricated a metal lid for that.

it's plugged into a special outlet that is temperature controlled
*shuts off at 45 degrees *turns on at 35 degree's

i installed a red light-bulb in the coop overhead to lengthen the day
very next day..........got our first egg

My sister's hens, when they started laying, would lay 1 a day.
Some every other day, but that will slow down during the winter.

She even got a double yolk egg that was almost as big as a goose egg. Must have really hurt popping that thing out!

now i am expecting to find frozen eggs
as the temps r heading to a big FAT 0

It'll sure make them easier to decorate...

If you have a heated hen house (not sauna-like, but warm enough for hens) you should be OK. Besides, considering WHERE they come from, they are usually already warmed up to begin with.

One thing my sister found is that the hens usually have their own "egg-laying song" that they cluck out after laying, as if pronouncing to the others "Look, I just laid an egg!"

sun's out but the icicles aren't dripping

in fact the beef suet (outside my window)
is locked solid to
the house in ice which makes it easier
for the downies to hammer out tidbits

got my first frozen cracked egg today :wall:

the "Look, I just laid an egg!" Song :rotf2:

cool ..... i wonder if Donald Trump will have such a song :soon:

You'll notice if they do lay eggs, particularly in warmer weather, because the "egg song" is just a louder, more pronounced cl#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g.

Picture a chicken cl#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g as it roots around for food, etc... and then think of how people make the same sound only louder.

That's what it's like....louder and more pronounced clucks, probably chicken version of bragging!

Time to look for my old heating pad to put under the straw.no more frozen eggs. just bought a heated dog watering dish for 25bucks. Beats breaking ice.

spent an hour up there sealing the drafts to prevent heat loss with plastic

we've got a 6 inch snow event tomorrow followed by an ice-storm right
afterwards - holy moly

f-ing chickens like to eat the polystyrene board insulation like it's popcorn :hs:

Raven make sure you have some ventilation holes(above)the nest area to get rid of condensation. The chickens can take the cold but the eggs can't. Will crack.

has a cathedral ceiling. horse shed was converted into a coop.
but hey thanks! i'll keep that in mind Old Goat
at - 10 degree's overnight with a Minus 28 windchill
there was evidence of frost bite on their COMBS
so i am fighting Back....Sunday it'll be 40 degree's and
it will feel like spring...