Anyone here raise chickens

[Seahawk]

We lost our last two layers this past weekend...they were my favs.

Hawks got both of them. We started with 24 six year ago, mixed breeds. These were the last and most clever of the bunch. They were stable hens, free to roam during the day and always in and up at night.

Chickens are always on the menu, not a question of if.

[wdfifteen]

Mrs WD and I finally finished the Pullet Palace yesterday and moved the birds in. This chicken hobby has been challenging so far - and expensive. I started building the run and coop 14 days ago, figured we'd finish in a week. In my optimism I brought the birds home last Saturday even though the Palace wasn't quite finished. Then the weather turned to crap and we had to finish building it in the garage. It was so crowded and hard to work inside that it took 8 more days. The biggest problem was that it stressed the birds. We would move them to the half-finished coop when we hammered and pounded on the run, then move them to the run to work on the coop. It was dark and noisy even during the day, and it stressed them out to the point that they began pecking each other's tail feathers out. The plan was to move the structures out on the forks on the front of my tractor. Great plan except for one thing. I had not considered that the garage door opening is 6'3" high. The coop is 6'7". We got it out with a lot of manhandling and luck. Got the two units outside and joined by about 4PM so the birds got a couple of hours of fresh air and sunshine. Woke up this morning to cold rain and sleet and the birds huddled in the coop again, probably pecking at each other.



We got 5 birds:

Dot - a Barred Rock
Goldie - Buff Orpington
Ruth - Rhode Island Red
Peare - Australorp
Marie - Comet

[DerkPerk]

Nice work. If you haven't thought of it already, you may want to add a covered roof to at least a portion of the run so the ladies aren't stuck indoors in the weather isn't great. Guessing you have fencing up there already.


We just put in our order for 40 broiler chicks that should be here early July.



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[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by DerkPerk

Nice work. If you haven't thought of it already, you may want to add a covered roof to at least a portion of the run so the ladies aren't stuck indoors in the weather isn't great. Guessing you have fencing up there already.

We just put in our order for 40 broiler chicks that should be here early July.

Yes, you can see the little temporary slab of plywood I have up there now. I plan on adding a bigger, more substantial cover soon. For now i just wanted to get them outside before someone - the birds, Mrs WD, or the dogs, went postal.

Congrats on growing the meat chickens. How about pics of your facility?

[stevej37]

It's amazing to me that a meat chicken can go from chick to "ready to butcher" in 6-8 weeks.
The food conversion is unreal.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

It was dark and noisy even during the day, and it stressed them out to the point that they began pecking each other's tail feathers out.
We got 5 birds

They will form alliances and fight, kill each other You did really well getting five different breeds.

Nice coop, well done.

[356racing]

Just ran a bobcat off last week that was chasing the chicks around the coop from the outside. The last batch went to the hawks. The batch before that.... I don't understand why there are so many small dogs around here, they must not taste good.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by 356racing

Just ran a bobcat off last week that was chasing the chicks around the coop from the outside. The last batch went to the hawks. The batch before that.... I don't understand why there are so many small dogs around here, they must not taste good.

My neighbor's cat was attacked by a coyote last night. Makes me nervous about letting my little yappy dogs out at night. A red tailed hawk was sitting in a tree watching my chickens and the neighbor's two 50 pound dogs were circling the run this afternoon. I'm glad I built it like a bird vault - 16 gauge welded wire on six sides and I'm still nervous.

[Crowbob]

Yes. If you want critters around your place, get chickens.

I had a thought that the ladies needed to be put to bed early that day and Cap needed some exercise so, 'Cap, let's go!'

The coop is 680' from the house, through some brush and down a hill. Cap was so exuberated I had to stop and let him calm down a sec before we went further. The ladies were scattered here and there still pecking around for grubznschitt because it was way before bed time.

'Cap, put the ladies to bed.'

At first I had to point them out on account of Cap being sort of overwhelmed. 'Put Lucy away' as I pointed at the red chicken in the grass.

And he did. Eleven times. Took 48 minutes.

[DerkPerk]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My neighbor's cat was attacked by a coyote last night. Makes me nervous about letting my little yappy dogs out at night. A red tailed hawk was sitting in a tree watching my chickens and the neighbor's two 50 pound dogs were circling the run this afternoon. I'm glad I built it like a bird vault - 16 gauge welded wire on six sides and I'm still nervous.

I busted a hockey stick over my neighbor's dog's head last summer after it had one of my birds in the wood pile. Haven't had a problem since.

I always have a coon trap set.

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[wdfifteen]

We got our first egg today!
I'm almost finished with the Pullet Palace complex. I put up a 4'x4' patio for shade and to keep the feeder dry. They are enjoying it, as evidenced by the amount of chicken crap on the roof. I still need to make a hanger for the drinker. It leaks if it isn't perfectly level, I'm still trying to get the hang of the chicken industry lingo. I don't know why a device that dispenses food is called a "feeder" while the thing that dispenses water is a "drinker." It should either be feeder and waterer or eater and drinker. The birds have been no help in my quest to understand this mystery. Mrs WD says I think too much.







A proud mom shows off our first egg.

[stevej37]

Nice looking coop!
Here, people usually call them feeders and fountains. Either way, the hens will still use them!

[IROC]

We have two chickens and a duck. We're getting about a dozen eggs a week out of them (the chickens). The duck was traumatized when a dog killed her mate and hasn't been laying. I'm new to the whole chicken thing. We just bought a mini-farm (with the emphasis on mini) that used to have horses, but we're only doing the chicken thing at the moment. And a duck.

[DerkPerk]

WD, as you can tell, the birds love to roost on things. You may want to add a couple 2x2's spanning the width for the ladies to hang out on during the day. May keep them off your feeder/ fountain roof too.


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[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by DerkPerk

WD, as you can tell, the birds love to roost on things. You may want to add a couple 2x2's spanning the width for the ladies to hang out on during the day. May keep them off your feeder/ fountain rooflk

Yeah, I'm also thinking of getting one of those rocking horses the have in front of Walmart and giving them some quarters.

[wdfifteen]

Started pimping out our birds today. We have a neighbor who is in for a dozen a week at $3.00 a dozen. At this rate this project will break even in about 2020.

[DerkPerk]

Don't forget to calculate in that your hen's egg production begins to decrease after year 1...


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[Mark Henry]

We had 100+ birds at one time, but quickly found that unless you're willing to make the jump to 10K+ birds, farming chicken/turkeys/ducks is not worth it.

We have 3 birds now for our own eggs. We use a chicken tractor and move it every couple of days.
Automatic feeding and watering, with 3 chickens the feeder lasts about a month.

2- 16'x 2x6 PT, 1-8'x 2x6 PT, 3-10'X 1/2" conduit, 1- 4x 8x 3/4" exterior ply, roll of chicken wire, garbage can and the rest was scraps I had laying around.

[wdfifteen]

The Great Pullet Project has been interesting and more fun than I expected. The chickens I remember as a kid on the farm laid eggs, scratched around in the orchard, and occasionally wandered into the hog lot and became lunch for a Duroc. That's about what I expected because as a kid I never paid much attention to how their reptilian little brains worked. They seem to be almost affectionate to us at times, but the slightest noise or rapid movement sends into fits of apoplexy. They seem so gentle, but they are brutal to each other. The social order reminds me of a gaggle of pre-teen girls. If you pay attention, the drama in the henhouse is worthy of its own reality TV show.

I put wood shavings in the nesting boxes so they would have a nice cozy place to lay their eggs. They were having none of that, and immediately kicked out all the wood shavings and carried straw in and arranged it in a circular pattern to make a nest. We get a consistent 38 large to extra large eggs a week now.



Initially the Barred Rock was at the top of the pecking order, but after about a month the Comet took over, and she is a nasty boss. She took to feather picking, which is pecking off and eating the feathers of the other birds. Her favorite victim is the Barred Rock, but she has pecked bare patches on the backs of three of the other birds too.
I tried all of the recommended remedies – give them toys to occupy them, more protein in their diet, I even made a little pasture area for them to take day trips out to scratch in the grass and dirt to relieve the boredom.



Their favorite food is clover and we toss a big handfull of clover in the pen for them every day. Nothing stopped her. Feather picking is a common problem and they make little plastic blinders to put on the chicken so she can’t see to peck. They’ve been doing this for 100 years and it is proven to work 90% of the time. I don’t know how she can not see to pick feathers and still see to eat but she’s doing fine. She looks a little goofy with the blinders on. After only a week feathers are starting to grow back on the Rock.



My game camera recorded a visit from a fox about 5 AM one Sunday. That is the only interest predators have shown in them so far.



Cleaning the run was a royal pain as designed, so I put a plywood floor down and covered it with rubber pond liner. I toss a thick layer of straw over it and they are perfectly happy. Cleanup is a breeze now.

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by IROC

We have two chickens and a duck. We're getting about a dozen eggs a week out of them (the chickens). The duck was traumatized when a dog killed her mate and hasn't been laying. I'm new to the whole chicken thing. We just bought a mini-farm (with the emphasis on mini) that used to have horses, but we're only doing the chicken thing at the moment. And a duck.

I have a bunch of wild Mallards at my house. It started years ago when a wounded drake was waling in front on my house and I shushed him in the yard for safety. he stayed a few days swimming in my pond and hanging out until his foot got better. Through the years ducks would come and go, but last year a few started living here.

Two months ago a mom had 8 ducklings and they grew to her size in 6 weeks! Four weeks ago another mom had 9 ducklings, but one by one, they would disappear. She had 2 yellow ones and they were among the first to go. She only has one left and after 4 weeks, it isn't much bigger than when it was born.

What is with the discrepancy in growth? The first batch used to eat the cat's food, but after 6 weeks, I switched out to bird food. Could that be the reason?