Anyone here raise chickens

[LakeCleElum]

How close are your neighbors? My neighbor is on 5 acres, I'm on 3......I get really tired of hearing the Cock-a-Doodle-Do all the time. When he lets them out, they walk all over my yard pecking away. I grew up on a farm with chickens, rabbits, cows, pigs, etc.....I've found you can buy all that stuff in the grocery store.....Wasn't fun doing chores in the dark before school as a young kid.

[JavaBrewer]

A couple years ago my son started with 7 chickens - 6 hens and a rooster. He hand raised them from hatch lings bought at the local feed/supply store. I helped him build a secure coop for the birds but ultimately it was too small for that many birds. We let them free range on our property during the day which was actually very fun for everyone. The rooster was friendly to us and the chickens would eat from our hands. Our property is mostly fenced and pretty private - about 1 acre in size. We ended up losing all the chickens within 2 years to predators (hawks and various 4 legged). When out of the coop they would roam our entire property and sometimes head over to the neighbors, under the watchful eye of rooster, but would always return at dusk to the coop area. If we were too late to close the coop they would fly up into a large tree above the coop to roost. Big mistake was that we treated them like pets, gave them names, which made it more difficult for all of us when they were taken. Haha yes we're a bunch of softies here too. My wife and I are still considering starting another batch of 6 or so but not fully committed just yet.

[MBAtarga]

We've got 3 layers now. There was already a fairly large chicken coop on the property when we bought here 4 years ago. The chickens are only let out when we are outside doing yard work/ gardening/etc - so they are relatively safe from any predators being inside the coop every night.

[DerkPerk]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

That roster looks ferocious!
Free ranging - that brings up another question. I would like to turn them loose in my garden for a few hours a day. Will they hang out in a 1/4 acre area for 8 hours or go wondering off? One of my motivations is to get them to eat bugs off of my garden plants. I plan to lock them in a secure coop at night...!

Rocky, and yes the all have names, is huge but very friendly. Quite entertaining when he tries to "persuade" the hens. We are on 5 acres and have mixed reviews from the neighbors on the rooster noises especially during open window season. We enjoy it.

We only let them out when we are around which has helped with the predator issues.

I would be concerned on letting them in the garden intentionally. I promise they will eat more than bugs. Ours love tomatoes, peas and pumpkins!


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[JackDidley]

I used to work on a chicken farm. 16 houses. 20- 25000 per house. We only kept them for 7 weeks before Tyson came for them. They were treated very well for that 7 weeks though. 7 weeks and 7 pounds. No steroids either.

[stevej37]

Close to where I live is an egg-producing mega-farm. They started as a small chicken farm in the 60's. They now have approx 6 million laying hens!
It's a very automated process. The birds mostly never see a human. Bio-security is very important.

[Rickysa]

We are in a small town with neighbors, so just hens for us....10+ years and love it. All named of course,and we built a retirement coop for our elder birds (one is 10). Great hobby/great eggs (you get spoiled...can't look at a store-bought egg anymore )

We have hawks, foxes, etc, so a well fortified coop was a must for us.

[DerkPerk]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

I used to work on a chicken farm. 16 houses. 20- 25000 per house. We only kept them for 7 weeks before Tyson came for them. They were treated very well for that 7 weeks though. 7 weeks and 7 pounds. No steroids either.

How many broke their legs from growing too large too fast? That is a very common problem with the 8 weeks breeds. The heritage breed birds are 12 weeks.

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[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by DerkPerk

How many broke their legs from growing too large too fast? That is a very common problem with the 8 weeks breeds. The heritage breed birds are 12 weeks.

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Almost none. The food is given at a controlled pace. Each day, the hours of light is computer controlled. If the lights are on, the chickens eat. Lights off, they sit down and sleep. They are not allowed to gain weight at a rate faster than the bones can support it . Every aspect of their life is computer controlled. Temperature, hours of light, air exchange in the building and the static pressure in the building.

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by DerkPerk

Lots of good tips here. I'll chime in as we've had laying hens for the past 4 years and plan on adding 40 or so broilers this spring.

Predators will become a concern as everything likes chicken. While free ranging, we have lost birds to 4 legged creatures, fox or coyote and have seen eagles and hawks hanging around. I keep control of the raccoons and opossum with traps. Spring for hardware cloth or welded wire vs the poultry netting as a coon will walk right through that stuff. Also be sure to guard against digging under your coop.

We live in a rural area and enjoy having Rocky the rooster around. He definitely has an eye out for danger and keeps his girls from wandering off too far.

We have a few different breeds that seem to lay 5 or so eggs a week which is enough for us. I have bought eggs from mypetchicken.com and they also offer sexed chicks. There is plenty of good info on this site as well.

Best of luck!




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Those are beautiful birds!


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[Laneco]

I love chickens! The last lot I had (sold them a couple of years ago when my work travel got so bad) were a mixed group from McMurray Hatchery mail order. Of the group, I liked the Black Jersey Giants and Dark Brahmas the best. Good natured, lots of eggs.

angela

[Cooper911SC]

Do it! You'll enjoy having them!
We have had chickens for about a year and a half now.
We live on an old 1/2 acre orchard property in just about the middle of Orange County, CA. (Pretty much an "estate" around here, LOL)

Nicole and I had thought about keeping chickens for a few years...then one day I went to our local ACE Hardware and they had chicks for sale.
The rest is history as they say.

[Cooper911SC]

We started with 4. 2 Orpingtons and 2 Amerucanas.

Lost an Amerucana within about a week.
Picked up a Rhode Island Red as a replacement.

[Cooper911SC]

Set about building them an aviary with a coop inside...a little too late...

We had a starter coop (omelet.co.uk) that a friend had given us. Fortified it with bricks...crafty Racoons got a hand into a 1/2" gap and had chewed a leg off of one of the Orpingtons by the time I found them. 😔 Broke my heart dispatching "Penny"

If you have Racoons use 1/2" mesh NOT Poulty mesh. 'Coons can reach right through Poultry mesh.

6'x10' aviary underway.

[Cooper911SC]

When deciding to have the chickens I committed all the way.
The aviary and coop was about $2k in materials...doesn't look like it...but blocks for base at $4ea., lumber, hardware mesh, corrugated roofing, hinges/latches, gravel, feed/water containers...every trip to store was another $200-$400.00! Well worth it. 😄


Ethel inspecting the Bead Board door paneling.
(Red Omelet chicken coop visible in back ground)


Hudson helping with the nest box install in the coop

[Cooper911SC]

Lucy our Rhode Island Red laid the first egg.
In this pic. Elizabeth our Amerucana inspects.


From my limited experience, Rhode Island Reds are truly a "Rosy the Riviter". We get an egg a day.

The Orpingtons are probably an egg every other on average. We found Ethel to be our friendliest and most social/vocal girl.

The Amerucana has been fickle. Started out an egg every other, but has gone broody twice and likes to lay her eggs in a "secret nest" elsewhere in the yard, not in nest box.

The Amerucana's are known for laying blue or green eggs. Beautiful and unique, but we won't get another of this breed.

[Cooper911SC]

Having the aviary/coop complete gave the ladies a nice home.


We open the door for them each AM and let them roam our property.
This is an 'ideal' idea...but as others have eluded...not ideal if you have a manicured property or hungry predators.

[Cooper911SC]

Some pics of the ladies foraging and feasting.


The compost bin is a never ending hit! Kitchen scraps and lots of grubs and bugs!

[Cooper911SC]

With regards to letting chickens roam...they are hungry hungry shreaders! 😁🐓
Our place is a rectangle, 50% un landscaped orchard (East and West sides). House/garage/barn and drive in long ranch style down the center.

Landscaped areas against the house with a gazebo and rose garden at North end. We also grow a kitchen garden 15'x20' at North end.

The chickens scratch bark out of all the beds.
They nip all new growth from roses and other shrubs. Have destroyed ground cover and also (happily) weeds.

I laughed at myself while building a fence around the vegetable garden. (Right, get chickens for fun, build a Coop...then fence your garden. 🙄

[Cooper911SC]

Here are some pics of the coop now. Oranges for this June are enjoying the extra rain here in CA!