Live chickens

[Gstacker]

Who here raises chickens? I just picked up a hen I forgot her breed but she's red not a RI red tho I know that they told me she lays 2 eggs a day but I have to grab em because she eats them..
also picked up 6 chics 2 RI reds and 2 that are Spose to be good layers in the winter and 2 more that are Spose to lay 300 eggs a year... Was going to get all RI reds but they recommended a mix... I kind of just jumped into this, been wanting some chickens for awhile any tips or tricks to keeping these girls safe and healthy please post up!

 

[Seira_1337]

Your climate and what you plan on feeding them impacts the quantity and quality of the eggs. Ideally, you'd have room to let them roam and get most of their diet naturally then supplement with organic feed.

 

[Gstacker]

I got 2 big bags of feed one for the chics and 1 for the hen...
theres plenty of room to roam with all sorts of spiders, bugs an worms... They are not very smart are they? I put a lil dish with feed in it and they are all standing on the lid pecking away and there's hardly any food in it but I put another dish on the opposite full of food and it's been about a hour and there still standing on the empty dish pecking lol

 

[Eatcleanathlete]

We have chickens. They are great to have. There are certain breeds that are more hearty than others when it comes to the weather. It's been a trial and error for us. My wife takes care of them every week she goes through the refrigerator and take all the fruits and veggies that we will throw out and makes them a big a$$ salad. She currently has 15 eggs in the incubator 3 have hatched so far.

 

[uphillclimb]

Something I saw about chickens.....someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Don't they live about 12-14 years but only lay eggs for 2-5 years? Just a stat I saw about investment vs expense and was wondering because you're still feeding them for the other 7-9 years but not yielding anything except a pet.

Not shitting on you at all because I have love for animals....was just curious.

 

[IronCore]

There goes UHC with the bleeding heart again... you really need to understand the process better... after they stop laying, they are no longer useful at breakfast... so they become dinner...

 

[IronCore]

GS... you better get a coop an make sure the local wild life dont enjoy your chicks before you do. snakes, fox, owls, hawks, coyotes and ever neighborhood cats and dogs like chicken too. Chickens will eventually yield more eggs than you can eat... BTW... you also need a rooster.. if you need help with that ask Raiden... he loves COCK!

 

[uphillclimb]

There goes UHC with the bleeding heart again... you really need to understand the process better... after they stop laying, they are no longer useful at breakfast... so they become dinner...

touche. Moving on....

 

[Eatcleanathlete]

Iron hit the nail on the head. When they stop laying which varies from breed to breed and chicken to chicken. You can slaughter them for food or use them for coyote bait. It's the whole circle of life thing. I don't like coyotes eating my fawn where I hunt so I use them to trap the coyote.
We have spent more on raising chickens than we have saved from not having to buy eggs but it's worth it knowing what you are eating. 70% or more of our food was raised or grown by us this time of year.

 

[woodswise]

I raised chickens for eggs and meat, and turkeys for many years, and really enjoyed it.

I turn them into soup when they start to be a problem, either by eating their own eggs, or stop laying. . . T

hey like to roam and scratch for insects and seeds, but do a lot of damage to perennial beds, so a good fenced in yard is better than complete free range, unless you have a very large area for them and can fence your more important perennials and veggies to protect them.

They need plenty of light to continue laying. So put a light on them in winter. They don't need heat, but if it gets too cold, they need shelter and on the coldest nights (below zero farenheit), maybe a source of heat. You also need to give them clean water daily and keep it thawed in winter. I give about 1/2 cup of feed per bird, so they eat it all up in about 30 minutes or so. I like to be sure they have as much food as they want, but not so much they are wasting it. A feed trough with a rolling bar on top prevents them from standing in and wasting their feed.

I could go on and on.

 

[Gstacker]

Thanks everyone for the input, I got my folks old house and my mom had chickens before but she left the country there's some coops here that she jerry rigged but ya she did have problems with a couple chickens getting snatched so I'll prolly either have to modify what she did or jus make some new ones... Plenty of space here and the yards fenced off so they would have about 200' x 80' space when I let them out the coop.. I love animals to uhc but this isn't a charity shelter lol I have no use for a dog that doesn't bite or a chicken that doesn't lay a egg.

 

[uphillclimb]

Thanks everyone for the input, I got my folks old house and my mom had chickens before but she left the country there's some coops here that she jerry rigged but ya she did have problems with a couple chickens getting snatched so I'll prolly either have to modify what she did or jus make some new ones... Plenty of space here and the yards fenced off so they would have about 200' x 80' space when I let them out the coop.. I love animals to uhc but this isn't a charity shelter lol I have no use for a dog that doesn't bite or a chicken that doesn't lay a egg.

I grew up in a city....I'm not in tune with the farmer's lifestyle or something short of it for supplemental usage.

Forgive my ignorance.

FUkk you IC.