Maintaining a small flock of free range (pastured) chickens really makes economic sense if you have a half acre or more of available pasture. They're a heck of a lot easier to keep than most probably suspect, and not only pay for themselves, but then some.
I started in the early spring. Initial investment setting up (including the price for the eight hens, one lost to a hawk) was about $1500.00 all told (you can start up a lot cheaper, of course). I save on the price of eggs that I normally consume (which is about seven and a half dozen per month), then take in an additional $30.00 per month from sale of the excess eggs. That $30.00 fully takes care of the cost of the organic layer feed (and other expenses) which supplements their feed off the three quarter acre pasture (bugs, grubs, wild greens, etc.), which pasture they're on from dawn till dusk (Naturally, my house sits on the acre too, so I subtracted the space taken up by it as non-pasture). Considering what I save on my own eggs consumed, they'll pay me back for the start up cost in four years (see PS).
Then there's the factor of superior eggs, far superior nutritionally to anything available at the grocery store. Even those eggs labelled "free range" there don't come close. All that's required for that grocery store label is that those chickens have access to a small plot of grass for an hour or two a day. The rest of the time they're kept enclosed, even if not caged. Yard hens, in contrast, are free to roam your property (mine's pesticide free for seven years now) searching for their own natural foods, all packed with the best nutrition a hen could possibly get (which goes right into the eggs), from dawn till dusk.
PS Factoring in the fact that in the winter they will probably stop laying till spring (which comes early here), this pushes back the time it will take for them to pay for their own start up cost a bit, so let's call it (for me) five years instead of four. During that time (here in northern Florida, it shouldn't be a long period of time, I wouldn't think), the economics of the operation dips into the red for a bit. But since most of the year it's in the black, this is no drawback in the big picture. It's an operation that more than pays for itself. Additionally, you get to look out your windows and see chickens happily wandering around, which does a heart good all by itself.
7.5 dozen eggs a month is a LOT of cholesterol....
Glad ya lost only one to a hawk... A neighbor here started with chickens, lost all 15 of them in about 2 months, then went to Guineas and thats been 12 or 15 of them, and down to 3 or 4 last time I saw, in about a month or so now.... hawks eating really good so far.
Production will certainly fall off in the winter, but it likely won't stop completely. Think about adding the correct type of lighting to mimic the light given from the sun and put it on a timer in their coop to give them more "sunlight". Add a bit of light to both ends of the natural daylight and it should help a bit.
Gotta get a few chickens myself. My wife buys organic eggs from the store and who really knows where they actually come from and how old they are? I do know that they are a bit pricey.
Got plenty of room for chickens here, just a matter of building an insulated coop and running power to it. On the down side, we've got a lot of hawks, raccoons, weasels and coyotes. Bears too, though I haven't heard of bears ever being a problem for chicken owners.
These aren't meat birds. Did you know that meat bird chickens ("broilers") are a fairly recent development? Prior to the 1950s, chicken meat was considered a rare delicacy, because of its price. Hens were considered too valuable as egg producers to slaughter, so that only left young roosters for meat, and there were no real meat specialty birds.
7.5 dozen eggs a month is a LOT of cholesterol....
Glad ya lost only one to a hawk... A neighbor here started with chickens, lost all 15 of them in about 2 months, then went to Guineas and thats been 12 or 15 of them, and down to 3 or 4 last time I saw, in about a month or so now.... hawks eating really good so far.
My girls have gotten real good at spotting hawks since they lost their buddy in the late spring. They run for cover at the slightest hint that a hawk might be about.
7.5 dozen eggs a month is a LOT of cholesterol....
That's outdated dietary science, my friend, especially as applied to truly free rang pastured hens' eggs. It's been decades since they've discovered the fallacy in the egg restricted diet. As it turns out, cholesterol in foods you consume doesn't end up in your blood, and has zero adverse effect on your health. It's only the cholesterol that your body produces that can do that, and even then it's only a problem if you're on a poor diet otherwise, e.g., one high is refined and starchy foods.
Additionally eggs from free range, pastured, hens are loaded with omega 3 fatty acids, which is a huge boon to good health.
Well, I typically have two for breakfast every morning, then between one and three are involved in some aspect of cooking the remainder of the day, as I cook almost all of my own meals. When you do that you're always dipping something in egg batter, or incorporating eggs into something or other.
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Production will certainly fall off in the winter, but it likely won't stop completely. Think about adding the correct type of lighting to mimic the light given from the sun and put it on a timer in their coop to give them more "sunlight". Add a bit of light to both ends of the natural daylight and it should help a bit.
Sure, that's an option, but my understanding is that this shortens their productive lifespan quite a bit. That dormant period is actually necessary for their health.
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Gotta get a few chickens myself. My wife buys organic eggs from the store and who really knows where they actually come from and how old they are? I do know that they are a bit pricey.
Got plenty of room for chickens here, just a matter of building an insulated coop and running power to it. On the down side, we've got a lot of hawks, raccoons, weasels and coyotes. Bears too, though I haven't heard of bears ever being a problem for chicken owners.
I highly recommend you do. Really very few if any down sides. Very easy to keep them. They seem to know their own property line and rarely if ever spend any time off it.
Hawk, my daughters chickens lay year around and they too are free range during the day.
Does she do any light exposure manipulation, or do they lay year round with only natural lighting? Does their egg laying slow down in the winter at all?
I love mine. Bought a crap load of chicks this past spring to supplement the adult hens because I can't keep up with demand for my eggs. I really enjoy watching them tear around the yard catching bugs and stuff. Even with selling off a handful of momma raised mixed breed chicks, I think I'm still at 55. Gonna increase my hen numbers to 20 (at 13 now) and slaughter all but one rooster.
Prior to the 1950s, chicken meat was considered a rare delicacy, because of its price. Hens were considered too valuable as egg producers to slaughter, so that only left young roosters for meat, and there were no real meat specialty bird
Your history don't quite match up with mine. While they did not eat chicken every day, people that lived on the farm and in small towns ate a lot of chicken. It was the go to meal when company came and was on the menu nearly every Sunday. They kept hens setting and had birds of several sizes on hand. My mother said that when she was a girl (born 1913) they started eating them when they were the size of quail. Skin them a fry them. Big city's where you had to buy everything was probably different, but down on the farm, chicken was et often. miles
I love mine. Bought a crap load of chicks this past spring to supplement the adult hens because I can't keep up with demand for my eggs. I really enjoy watching them tear around the yard catching bugs and stuff. Even with selling off a handful of momma raised mixed breed chicks, I think I'm still at 55. Gonna increase my hen numbers to 20 (at 13 now) and slaughter all but one rooster.
Prior to the 1950s, chicken meat was considered a rare delicacy, because of its price. Hens were considered too valuable as egg producers to slaughter, so that only left young roosters for meat, and there were no real meat specialty bird
Your history don't quite match up with mine. While they did not eat chicken every day, people that lived on the farm and in small towns ate a lot of chicken. It was the go to meal when company came and was on the menu nearly every Sunday. They kept hens setting and had birds of several sizes on hand. My mother said that when she was a girl (born 1913) they started eating them when they were the size of quail. Skin them a fry them. Big city's where you had to buy everything was probably different, but down on the farm, chicken was et often. miles
Yep, that's what I meant. On the farm, chickens were more available, because folks always had a rooster they could slaughter. I should have specified that I meant what was available at the grocery store.
Many is the time Grandma handed me the hatchet and sent me out to get a chicken for supper.
My mom often tells me about my grandmother going out back and wringing the neck of a chicken she was going to prepare for dinner. Apparently, she was very "matter of fact" about it. During the Great Depression, my grandparents (Southern Virginia) kept chickens and ducks, planted most of their half acre with veggies, kept a grape vine, and canned everything.
Back in the 50's, our local feed store gave away baby white leghorn cockrels once every spring. They were the left overs from pullet layers. If you bought 50# of feesd, it would give you 50 baby chicks. 100# = 100 chicks. There was a semi truck, and folks standing in line. I think that it was sponsered by Larro. We would usually get 100 chicks, raise them, butcher at home, and take them into the locker. There were always a few pullets that made it through the culling. They got to remain on the farm.
My son lived SW of Wichita in wheat country on a farm. When the wheat was combined, the grasshoppers would move into his yard. So many that you could hear them crunch as you walked. He got guinas. They would ease across the yard in a line eating grasshopppers. He later got some hens and had eggs. He converted an old round metal grain bin for them with roosts and boxes.
My grandma would wring their neck. My mother used a broomstick across their neck and a pull.
Thats the problem with kids today. Most have never seen their mothers kill and cook their food or had to take part in the process. I was brought up on homegrown veggies and meats and am working on getting back to it slowly but surely.
Back in the 50's, our local feed store gave away baby white leghorn cockrels once every spring. They were the left overs from pullet layers. If you bought 50# of feesd, it would give you 50 baby chicks. 100# = 100 chicks. There was a semi truck, and folks standing in line. I think that it was sponsered by Larro. We would usually get 100 chicks, raise them, butcher at home, and take them into the locker.
My son lived SW of Wichita in wheat country on a farm. When the wheat was combined, the grasshoppers would move into his yard. So many that you could hear them crunch as you walked. He got guinas. They would ease across the yard in a line eating grasshopppers. He later got some hens and had eggs. He converted an old round metal grain bin for them with roosts and boxes.
My grandma would wring their neck. My mother used a broomstick across their neck and a pull.
Amazing what can be converted into suitable housing for hens. All they need is protection from cold, rain, and predators, adequate ventilation, fresh bedding, something elevated to roost on, and a suitable place to nest and lay eggs (preferably, with human access from the outside for convenient collecting). Lots of people convert old play houses (that their kids outgrew) into hen houses.
There just ain't nothing like the feel of chicken s**t squeezing up between your toes on a cool morning either.
BCR
Well, there is goose s**t. Having those things wandering around is like having somebody with a grease gun spending his whole day randomly squirting blobs on the ground.
Thats the problem with kids today. Most have never seen their mothers kill and cook their food or had to take part in the process. I was brought up on homegrown veggies and meats and am working on getting back to it slowly but surely.
More and more Americans are doing the same lately.
My mom often tells me about my grandmother going out back and ringing the neck of a chicken she was going to prepare for dinner. Apparently, she was very "matter of fact" about it.
I heard my Mother talk several times about how her Mother would not kill her chickens. Her dad had to do it. She said that her Mother would send her or her sisters down to wherever her Dad was working with the chickens and he would kill them and then the girls would bring them back. Mother said that she figured out very young (age unknown) that it was easier to go behind the barn and kill the chickens herself and save the long walk to her dad. She did not tell her Mother for several years what she was doing. Mother was practical. miles
I doubt that production will drop off too badly, but the good news is, that if you crack some into a freezer bag, you can freeze them. Best to scramble them up first, then let them sit in the bag to let the air rise out of the eggs for a bit before sealing and freezing.
French toast with real Maple syrup in the morning with some bacon and tators on the side.. m m m....
Interesting side note... A girl I was talking to last week about her food allergies/weird dietary problems, and who has been a vegetarian since she was 16 wants to buy a few of my chickens after I slaughter them this fall. It's really funny how often I meet vegetarians that are down with hunting or home raised meats. I've got to believe this particular person's problems are because she doesn't have enough good quality proteins in her diet.
I am thinking about the out buildings on our farm in the 50's. We had an out house, a brooder house, a smoke house, a hen house, a garage, and a barn. And a two story, 4 bedroom, farm house.
He got guinas. They would ease across the yard in a line eating grasshopppers.
When I was in high school, and pheasants still existed in Iowa, we would hunt them with an older fellow on his place. One time we drove into the yard, being careful to avoid the white ducks that were warily breakfasting on the feed that he had thown out. We eased up and watched them while we waited for Louie. They were the most nervously breakfast club imaginable, constantly looking around and checking things out. We soon found out why. Suddenly a squad of guineas came roaring from around the corncrib. The ducks fled en masse, but were no match for the guinas speed-wise. Loud quacking and white tail feathers filled the air. When things settled down, the ducks were all wandering around on the safe side of the car, muttering about how things "would have been different if the rest of you cowards had had the courage to stand and fight like me", while the guineas ruled the breakfast table.
We butchered 2-3 hogs a year and a couple of beeves as well. Pop en in the forehead with a .22, drag em up to the garage(dirt floor) and butcher them out there and then process them in the basement.
My cousin and I were the delegated diggers in the garage, would dig a 2 foot deep 4x4 hole and fill with sand, when the butchering was done dig out the sand and put the dirt back. Spread the sand in the garden before plowing/tilling it.
I doubt that production will drop off too badly, but the good news is, that if you crack some into a freezer bag, you can freeze them. Best to scramble them up first, then let them sit in the bag to let the air rise out of the eggs for a bit before sealing and freezing.
Yeah, that's something I've considered. Also pickled eggs. We'll see how much production falls off this winter.
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French toast with real Maple syrup in the morning with some bacon and tators on the side.. m m m....
Hawk, the real reward will come when your chickens catch a small snake, say less than 15 inches, depending on body mass. That is pure unadulterated redneck entertainment.
When I was a kid mom always kept somewhere between 100 and 300 layers/Sunday dinners. The old retired birds became the base for chicken and noodles - and you have not lived unless you've had homemade egg noodles, by the gallon....
I keep a few, on and off. Depends on what I'm doing for a living at the time.
Truthfully, what is considered a meat chicken today is an abomination. Way mutant compared to what we had as kids.
Just curious on your economy, what does a dozen eggs go for in your neck of the woods. People around here only get $1 or $1.25/dozen for good country eggs. 'Coarse, I'm out in te middle of nowhere.
Stupids birds but they are kinda fun. The kids went through the whole chicken ranching routine as an educational thing, I'll have to dig up some pictures.
Hawk, the real reward will come when your chickens catch a small snake, say less than 15 inches, depending on body mass. That is pure unadulterated redneck entertainment.
I bet. I've already witnessed them in a frenzy over a good sized skink (it's like a lizard). They all grabbed a part and pulled it to pieces in a second. I imagine they've done that quite a bit when I didn't happened to be there to witness it, too.
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When I was a kid mom always kept somewhere between 100 and 300 layers/Sunday dinners. The old retired birds became the base for chicken and noodles - and you have not lived unless you've had homemade egg noodles, by the gallon....
I keep a few, on and off. Depends on what I'm doing for a living at the time.
Truthfully, what is considered a meat chicken today is an abomination. Way mutant compared to what we had as kids.
Absolutely. They put on meat so fast that if they're not slaughtered when just a few months old either their legs break under the weight or they die of a heart attack. Totally unnatural birds.
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Just curious on your economy, what does a dozen eggs go for in your neck of the woods. People around here only get $1 or $1.25/dozen for good country eggs. 'Coarse, I'm out in te middle of nowhere.
At the farmer's market, farmers get between $4.50 and $5.00 per dozen for them. I sell mine for $4.00 a dozen, and have no trouble at all selling all my excess. I have people begging for them at that price. People who understand the nutritional superiority of eggs from truly free range, pastured, chickens are willing to pay for them.
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Stupids birds but they are kinda fun. The kids went through the whole chicken ranching routine as an educational thing, I'll have to dig up some pictures.
Not as stupid as I used to think they were before I started keeping them for myself. They get an idea in their head, and they can keep it in there for a while without being distracted. Quick learners, too. I've trained them to come running when I ring a bell. Only took a couple of times ringing the bell when I put food out for them to learn this response.
Hawk, my daughters chickens lay year around and they too are free range during the day.
Does she do any light exposure manipulation, or do they lay year round with only natural lighting? Does their egg laying slow down in the winter at all?
My chickens lay year round as well, but egg production does slow in the winter. No artificial light. I do keep the big girls (egglayers) in a pen and let them out for about an hour a day. I keep Bantams in the yard just to keep ticks, and other insect down. Got a batch of turkeys coming up now, as I heard from an old-timer in the area that they are good for keeping snakes off the property. Small investment to find out.
One thing to consider is that I have heard egg layers only produce for about 2 years. So I have bought more chicks as the older girls approach 2 years of age.
Just thought that I would throw this out there. Duck eggs are good too, as long as you keep them away from fish/crawfish. I prefer them to chicken eggs. miles
One other bonus of running a few hens is that they are very good at keeping the weeds/brush down in an area. Not a bad deal when they give you eggs, entertainment, some fertilizer for the garden and keep the bush at bay!
when i was a kid i had a rooster that caught a 4ft long snake he walked around for two days swallowing that thing. he'd chit some out swallow a little more.
Several winters ago there was a less than desirable sort living down the road who had chickens that he maintained somewhere just this side of starvation.
A couple of them moved in to the group of outbuildings next door where I was feeding either calves or sheep. In the absolute dead of winter one of the hens started setting right next to my waterer. On about the coldest day of the year they started hatching, honest below zero temperatures. By the time I found them several had already frozen, but I was able to rescue some number - 8 sticks in my mind.
I moved them to my unheated shop, put them in my usual brooder - a wooden box about 6'Lx2'Wx2'H with a wire lid that I'd made previously. I used two heat lamps - one for the birds and one for the waterer. I may have built a fire in the wood stove for the first day or two. All survived; actually, I've never lost a chick in that wood box brooder. The bad news is that chickens can create a lot of dust, even when using cedar shavings for bedding. I did not raise these to layers, they became fryers at an early stage.
One thing to consider is that I have heard egg layers only produce for about 2 years. So I have bought more chicks as the older girls approach 2 years of age.
I've heard they slow down a bit, but keep laying for their life span, fewer as they get older. I will probably buy some pullets as this happens, too. Can't keep a rooster (neighbors), so have to buy replacement hens when needed, but they're cheap to buy.
when i was a kid i had a rooster that caught a 4ft long snake he walked around for two days swallowing that thing. he'd chit some out swallow a little more.
I think I chopped my first chicken's neck at 4 y.o. Then again, I was often given an old Winchester .22 rifle to play with (no ammo, of course). (I think it was an '07, single shot, with the curlicue trigger guard.) Chickens in Missouri lived a hard life. Hawks, skunks, coons, foxes (and later, coyotes) mink, weasels, you name it, everything was after 'em, including us. My uncle kept some guineas, to warn them about foxes in the area, guineas are about as good as a dog for watching out for varmints. Everyone had dogs, chickens, hogs and few cows in those days, and we didn't buy much at the grocery store, either, canning most of the vegetables from our own gardens. Missouri was like Appalachia, without the coal money to take the edge off.
About 70 mi from where I live in KS is an "egg factory". I have seen the complex from the road, but have never been up to it. It is said to have 1000 & 1000 of hens in cages stacked high with conveyor belts beneath them to haul the eggs away. All automated.
About 70 mi from where I live in KS is an "egg factory". I have seen the complex from the road, but have never been up to it. It is said to have 1000 & 1000 of hens in cages stacked high with conveyor belts beneath them to haul the eggs away. All automated.
Yep. That's where those $1.25 per dozen grocery store white eggs come from. You can see smuggled images from inside those places on the internet. Chickens are covered in sores, missing feathers, and can hardly move. Live their entire short lives that way, without rest, till they die of exhaustion, and then are usually left in the cage till they rot and disintegrate next to the survivors. Fed the worst crap possible. Gave up on those sort of eggs years ago.
I have seen a chicken or two in my life. We are looking to get more right now. We are down to around sixty. We sell to our local food Coop for $4.30 a dozen and they want as many as we will give them.
our chicken coop is an old horse trailer converted to roosts and nesting boxes. We move it around out pasture with the sheep and llamas. The har true free range having around ten acres to roam. It works out well as we feed about 1/4 of the recommended feed per bird for a caged operation and the forage for the rest.
The llamas keep the coyotes away so about all we have to worry about is the darned eagles.
Maintaining a small flock of free range (pastured) chickens really makes economic sense if you have a half acre or more of available pasture. They're a heck of a lot easier to keep than most probably suspect, and not only pay for themselves, but then some.
I started in the early spring. Initial investment setting up (including the price for the eight hens, one lost to a hawk) was about $1500.00 all told (you can start up a lot cheaper, of course). I save on the price of eggs that I normally consume (which is about seven and a half dozen per month), then take in an additional $30.00 per month from sale of the excess eggs. That $30.00 fully takes care of the cost of the organic layer feed (and other expenses) which supplements their feed off the three quarter acre pasture (bugs, grubs, wild greens, etc.), which pasture they're on from dawn till dusk (Naturally, the house sits on the acre too, so I subtracted the space taken up by it as non-pasture). Considering what I save on my own eggs consumed, they'll pay me back for the start up cost in four years (see PS).
Then there's the factor of superior eggs, far superior nutritionally to anything available at the grocery store. Even those eggs labelled "free range" there don't come close. All that's required for that grocery store label is that those chickens have access to a small plot of grass for an hour or two a day. The rest of the time they're kept enclosed, even if not caged. Yard hens, in contrast, are free to roam your property (mine's pesticide free for seven years now) searching for their own natural foods, all packed with the best nutrition a hen could possibly get (which goes right into the eggs), from dawn till dusk.
PS Factoring in the fact that in the winter they will probably stop laying till spring (which comes early here), this pushes back the time it will take for them to pay for their own start up cost a bit, so let's call it (for me) five years instead of four. During that time (here in northern Florida, it shouldn't be a long period of time, I wouldn't think), the economics of the operation dips into the red for a bit. But since most of the year it's in the black, this is no drawback in the big picture. It's an operation that more than pays for itself. Additionally, you get to look out your windows and see chickens happily wandering around, which does a heart good all by itself.
TRH,
We've been keeping them for about 15 years, ducks before that. They are wonderful birds (minus the occasional ornery rooster- see below).
A couple comments. You got "broody" to look forwards to, as well as the late fall molt. In both cases they can shut down the eggs for a while. That's here; perhaps it's different in Florida. So, factor that in.
Next is predators. If you are letting them free range you will, in time, get predators that figure out how to start picking them off. The problem, you see, is that they are made of chicken. EVERYTHING likes chicken. We typically lose a bird or two a year, which is OK, but this year we've had the Predator From Hell who took out 7 birds in about a month. Some from right in our driveway! Anyway point being dont be thinking of your flick as a fixed entity; you will lose birds. We've found 6-8 good hens to be a good working number for reliably providing enough eggs most of the year. That means we usually aim higher- we've got 7 little ones coming up right now to add to our 4 remaining older hens- because attrition takes it's toll.
BTW for the first time we've been forced to pen ours in a new pen we just built about 30'x40'. It was the only way.
Roosters. Unless you buy sex-links you'll get the occasional rooster-boy. Roosters are usually a PITA. I shoot them in the head with a .22, pluck a few chest feathers, pull back the skin and fillet off the still-twitching breast meat <g>. Then pull the skin over the legs and thighs and remove at the hip joint. This is way WAY more better than plucking and gutting (god I hate bird guts) and yields about 85% of the meat. Just a thought. Maybe you like bird guts....
7.5 dozen eggs a month is a LOT of cholesterol....
That's outdated dietary science, my friend, especially as applied to truly free rang pastured hens' eggs. It's been decades since they've discovered the fallacy in the egg restricted diet. As it turns out, cholesterol in foods you consume doesn't end up in your blood, and has zero adverse effect on your health. It's only the cholesterol that your body produces that can do that, and even then it's only a problem if you're on a poor diet otherwise, e.g., one high is refined and starchy foods.
Additionally eggs from free range, pastured, hens are loaded with omega 3 fatty acids, which is a huge boon to good health.
I won't argue, as I always say I learn something every day, the campfire is amazing too! But since you seem educated in it, and I was imersed in it from the late 70s when Dad had his first heart attack until he died in 2005....do you have a link there? I know when he quit eating eggs his cholesterol numbers went down and we probalby eat 2 eggs every 2 months here at home and my numbers have been fine, not nearly what his were at one point.... Maybe I can eat more eggs...
Won't work to have chickens with the hawks though... until I could build an enclosed cage on the farm basically...
Monkey Joe, I'll have to get the books out, but I think they were just vague about it being bad for the respiratory system.
Regarding predators, my neighbors and I lose very few chickens to them. Those that live closest to the county road lose the most, as it's likely that the foxes, coons and coyotes move up and down those mostly. Those of us who live a few hundred yards (half mile in my case) off the road see almost no predators. Yes, we'll see coyotes cross the wheat fields and alfalfa every once in a while, but the foxes rarely come up here, or so I used to think.
The four losses I had last year out of 17 hens were: 1 to the landlord's dog when we first starting free ranging the birds. She has been good since. 1 to a horse boarder's dog. 2 to foxes on nights that we forgot to shut the chicken coop up or closed it several hours after dark when they already came by to check on the chickens. No losses since about December.
Regarding hawks, the telephone poles are down at the county road, so we get very few up on our hill. Only once did I think one was even thinking about a chicken, but with three dogs running around and lots of constant activity by humans, none have been bold enough yet.
Exbio, our property is carved out of the jungle; the predators can kind of infiltrate on in close. Think 4-foot-high ferns, for instance.
Coons are the big one. We did lose 4 birds in about 5 minutes to a little dog from down the street. He'd kill one, move on to the next, very efficient. But mostly coons.
I've had a live trap out in the woods and a pretty amazing story about it but I'm hesitant to tell it here... Not sure what the poo-flinging monkey contingent would do with it. If I post the story/pics it'll be called "bloodbath".
Good point about the dust and another caution is the possibility of developing an allergy to them. I was raised around birds (chickens, pigeons)but developed an allergy to their feather protein when I was in my 20s. Bad enough to end up with pneumonia and miss 6 weeks of work. Net result was no more birds for me ever again.
One time when we had our farm I decided I was going to cook one of the hens for dinner that night. I went out to the tool shed and got the limb cutter for small tree limbs and decided it would work great beheading the chicken. Held the chicken down and closed the cutter around her neck and when I released it I had one pissed off chicken as it slipped between the neck vertebrates and just made her mad. Caught her again, this time had a good butcher knife in hand and beheaded the little grump. Some chickens have no sense of humor.
23 (for now) in a 12'x7' pen that I roll to a different spot in the yard every day. -14 (6 TTs and 8 Barred Rocks) are probably a month from laying. -7 that are about a year old (3 Barred Rocks, 2 Gold Lace Wyandottes, and 2 Polish) that average 5-6 eggs/day. -2 Barred Rock roos that came with the other young ones. They're gonna get eaten when they start making more noise than I feel like listening to.
Once all 21 girls are grown, I'm probably going to give away a few - shooting for maybe 16-18 total to give about a dozen eggs a day.
The pen is an arch structure (bent PVC with wire and shade-cloth) on wheels, with about 2" clearance under it so it rolls easily. It's about 8' at the apogee, so tall enough that I can walk around in it easily. The egg boxes are on one end, so the kids can get them out without going in and having to change shoes.
We put a light in the chicken house, on a timer. The cheap timers for lamps do fine. Adjust as the season changes so you keep about 12 hours of light in the house over the winter, and you'll have eggs all the time.
No those are an old meat breed that are the basis for half the genetic input of our modern day meat birds. Those are primarily Cornish Game and Plymouth Rock hybrids.
Chickens are better that most pets which are worthless.
I don't know, I can't imagine our family complete without our dogs.
But, yes, chickens do rock and are a good investment.
Here is a clip from a cooking show. The first half deals with a VA farmer who does quite well for himself, with the chicken an integral part of his success.
The picture below is a patch on my place that I plan to turn into a garden. Forget the rototiller, a chicken tractor, portable pen and some mule poop should work nicely. A little rain would help.
They're apparently (allegedly) a newish variety from one of the commercial breeders, who's advertising them as good on feed efficiency. I think I read they were primarily marketed at the Latin American commercial egg producers. Tractor Supply had a bunch of them this spring, and so Mrs. Tree came home with 6 one day. From looking around on the chicken-people websites, pretty much everybody who has them got them that same way....
Reading between the lines, it sounds like the breeder tried to have a full supply pipeline for the commercial customers, so they ended up with enough excess that they gave TSC a good deal.
Look like they're gonna stay smallish-bodied birds. Some folks who have them say the have the temperaments of velociraptors, and will kill each other and other birds. Mine are the most high-strung of all my birds, but the big Rocks and Wyandottes keep them in line behavior-wise.
Tetra Tints. <snip> Look like they're gonna stay smallish-bodied birds. Some folks who have them say the have the temperaments of velociraptors, and will kill each other and other birds.
Okay, thanks. I'll pass on those, then.
We have a mixture of 11-week-old Black Australorps, Buff Orpingtons and Speckled Sussex. Fourteen, in all. They follow us around like puppies, but 8 are cockerels, and 7 of those will likely meet the axe in October. We'll keep the 6 hens and probably a BA roo, through this coming winter. Never raised any chickens of our own before this year, though my parents had a small flock of banties around the home place, when I was a kid.
Those Joal Salatin clips are very interesting...I'm guessing its the same in the US, but over here, industrial/intensive large scale farming has been pushed as the way forward to maximize yields and provide food security.
But when you look at some of the figures Joe mentions in the clips it is obvious he can get good yields and mazimise the use of the land with out the draw backs of large scale industrial farming..
Its also very interesting that themethods work especially wll in the Third World..
Another concept suited for producing vegetables in smaller gardens is the so called Square foot gardening...
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That's weird.
EVERYTHING likes chicken. We typically lose a bird or two a year, which is OK, but this year we've had the Predator From Hell who took out 7 birds in about a month. Some from right in our driveway! Anyway point being dont be thinking of your flick as a fixed entity; you will lose birds. We've found 6-8 good hens to be a good working number for reliably providing enough eggs most of the year. That means we usually aim higher- we've got 7 little ones coming up right now to add to our 4 remaining older hens- because attrition takes it's toll. ![[Linked Image]](http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o196/rkamp_111/IMG_0007.jpg)
