Chicken Advice Needed

[Inor]

So now with the chicken shack about done, it is time to start thinking about chicks. We went to our local TSC, but it is a bit late in the season and they did not have many left and the ones they had did not look too healthy.

Mrs Inor got on some kind of chicken mailing list and we recently got a catalog from a hatchery. It was a really nice catalog, full color, nice glossy pages, etc. But their prices were utterly insane! The cheapest chickens I saw were almost $20 EACH! No way Jose am I paying $20 for a damn egg factory! The chicken would be long since dead by the time I saved a single dime over just buying eggs at the store and that does not even consider feed, etc.

We found another place online that seems to have more reasonable prices, not as cheap as TSC but at least they are not $20 per bird and they will ship them to us until September. (So we have a backup plan if we end up inadvertently killing some over the summer.)

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/sustainable-chicken-prepper-special/

Since neither of us know squat about chickens, for this first batch we are thinking about just getting some kind of assortment to try and figure out what breeds we want. The "Prepper Assortment" in the link above sounds like a decent place to start. It does come with a rooster, which we really did not want initially. But on thinking about it, we can always eat the rooster if he becomes too much of a pain in the ass. The usual complaint we read about with roosters is the noise but I do not think that will be much of an issue in our case. Mrs Inor has a bunch of Guineas on order. So I am guessing we will hardly hear the rooster over their racket.

Our overall strategy is to get started with some egg chickens this year (maybe half a dozen or so) to figure out how to care for them, then next year maybe add about a half dozen or a dozen meat chickens.

Any advice that any of you experienced chicken ranchers have to offer will be MUCH appreciated!

[StratBastard]

So now with the chicken shack about done, it is time to start thinking about chicks. We went to our local TSC, but it is a bit late in the season and they did not have many left and the ones they had did not look too healthy.

Mrs Inor got on some kind of chicken mailing list and we recently got a catalog from a hatchery. It was a really nice catalog, full color, nice glossy pages, etc. But their prices were utterly insane! The cheapest chickens I saw were almost $20 EACH! No way Jose am I paying $20 for a damn egg factory! The chicken would be long since dead by the time I saved a single dime over just buying eggs at the store and that does not even consider feed, etc.

We found another place online that seems to have more reasonable prices, not as cheap as TSC but at least they are not $20 per bird and they will ship them to us until September. (So we have a backup plan if we end up inadvertently killing some over the summer.)

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/sustainable-chicken-prepper-special/

Since neither of us know squat about chickens, for this first batch we are thinking about just getting some kind of assortment to try and figure out what breeds we want. The "Prepper Assortment" in the link above sounds like a decent place to start. It does come with a rooster, which we really did not want initially. But on thinking about it, we can always eat the rooster if he becomes too much of a pain in the ass. The usual complaint we read about with roosters is the noise but I do not think that will be much of an issue in our case. Mrs Inor has a bunch of Guineas on order. So I am guessing we will hardly hear the rooster over their racket.

Our overall strategy is to get started with some egg chickens this year (maybe half a dozen or so) to figure out how to care for them, then next year maybe add about a half dozen or a dozen meat chickens.

Any advice that any of you experienced chicken ranchers have to offer will be MUCH appreciated!

It's going to be fun. When my friend and roomie built a coop in our back yard, we didn't know squat. Here's a funny one: I didn't know chickens could fly LOL. Come home one afternoon and the neighbor is complaining about my chickens in his back yard... over a 6 foot fence. Learned how to clip the wings. Had several hens who would lay eggs anywhere BUT the dang nest too... had to walk around the yard and dig through the bushes. Also, coons, weasels, minks, and birds of prey will come to visit. Rats seemed attracted as well. But we had so many fresh eggs, we were giving them away to the neighbors... (which helps to smooth over that whole chicken invasion thing).

[Broncosfan]

So now with the chicken shack about done, it is time to start thinking about chicks. We went to our local TSC, but it is a bit late in the season and they did not have many left and the ones they had did not look too healthy.

Mrs Inor got on some kind of chicken mailing list and we recently got a catalog from a hatchery. It was a really nice catalog, full color, nice glossy pages, etc. But their prices were utterly insane! The cheapest chickens I saw were almost $20 EACH! No way Jose am I paying $20 for a damn egg factory! The chicken would be long since dead by the time I saved a single dime over just buying eggs at the store and that does not even consider feed, etc.

We found another place online that seems to have more reasonable prices, not as cheap as TSC but at least they are not $20 per bird and they will ship them to us until September. (So we have a backup plan if we end up inadvertently killing some over the summer.)

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/product/sustainable-chicken-prepper-special/

Since neither of us know squat about chickens, for this first batch we are thinking about just getting some kind of assortment to try and figure out what breeds we want. The "Prepper Assortment" in the link above sounds like a decent place to start. It does come with a rooster, which we really did not want initially. But on thinking about it, we can always eat the rooster if he becomes too much of a pain in the ass. The usual complaint we read about with roosters is the noise but I do not think that will be much of an issue in our case. Mrs Inor has a bunch of Guineas on order. So I am guessing we will hardly hear the rooster over their racket.

Our overall strategy is to get started with some egg chickens this year (maybe half a dozen or so) to figure out how to care for them, then next year maybe add about a half dozen or a dozen meat chickens.

Any advice that any of you experienced chicken ranchers have to offer will be MUCH appreciated!

The only thing I see that could be a problem with the "Prepper Special" is you have no idea what your getting. So if you did end up with a chicken you really like you won't know exactly what it is for sure to order again. I've had several kinds of chickens. Only use them for eggs. I haven't crossed over to butchering chickens yet and really don't want to until there is a real need during a SHTF scenario. I got Golden Comets now and they have laid well since I got them last February or March. Now it you want to raise a few chicks from eggs then don't get Golden Comets because their a cross breed and won't hatch the same. My egg size varies from medium to XXL large. I bought them just as they started to lay. I personally went that route of paying I believe $15 a bird because of the cost and the time it takes for a hen to start laying. Its usually about 6 months before they start laying so initial cost plus feed, time and loss and I always end up with 2-3 roosters when I ordered all pullets. I personally don't want the roosters so there a total loss and they eat way more than a hen from my experience. That said I always had more than $15 in a hen by the time they started to lay. I made a waterer using the nipples you can buy and installed them in a bucket or you can buy them installed already in a bucket to hang. Way cleaner then the trough type waterers. You do need to take a few minutes to tap the nipples with a stick so the chickens learn how to use them. It took mine less than 30 minutes and they were good to go. Good Luck!

[hawgrider]

This will be easy...

Screw that mixed flock is so pretty shit. These will be the most expensive eggs you eat so get chickens who lay a shit ton of eggs. ISA browns or Leghorns lay way over 300 eggs a year.

I run ISA browns 340 eggs a year.

[Slippy]

We run Golden and Red (sexed link hybrids) and they are all great layers. We are averaging close to 1 egg/day from each girl.

Stratmaster makes a great point about clipping their wings. And like Bronc mentions, you can experiment with different kinds of Waterers, you'll be amazed at how much water they drink AND feed they eat!

We started Free Ranging our hens recently under supervision of Beasley, the cattle dog and so far so good!

Check out some local Feed and Seed stores for Sexed Link pullets to ensure you get girls. I think we paid a couple of bucks per when we got ours.

Good luck Inor!

[hawgrider]

I'll add that I don't bother with chicks too much work and too long of wait for them to mature enough to lay eggs so I buy POL pullets.

POL - "Point of lay" I usually find them for about 10 to 12 bucks a bird. I also don't run roosters as they are noisy as hell all day long and they can be rough on the hens. The upside of a rooster is they will attempt to protect the flock.

[hawgrider]

We run Golden and Red (sexed link hybrids) and they are all great layers. We are averaging close to 1 egg/day from each girl.

Stratmaster makes a great point about clipping their wings. And like Bronc mentions, you can experiment with different kinds of Waterers, you'll be amazed at how much water they drink AND feed they eat!

We started Free Ranging our hens recently under supervision of Beasley, the cattle dog and so far so good!

Check out some local Feed and Seed stores for Sexed Link pullets to ensure you get girls. I think we paid a couple of bucks per when we got ours.

Good luck Inor!

ISA browns are too fat to fly most of the time I never have to clip their wings. I have had other breeds that have to be clipped.

Wing clipping tip -

Only clip one wing on each bird. If you clip both wings they will over come the set back and fly somewhat anyway. if you clip one wing it jacks up their balance and then can't fly as good. My chicken fence is only 5 ft high and none of my birds who are not clipped fly over it.

[Slippy]

ISA browns are too fat to fly most of the time I never have to clip their wings. I have had other breeds that have to be clipped.

Wing clipping tip -

Only clip one wing on each bird. If you clip both wings they will over come the set back and fly somewhat anyway. if you clip one wing it jacks up their balance and then can't fly as good. My chicken fence is only 5 ft high and none of my birds who are not clipped fly over it.

When we clipped thier wings, I just left the clippings on the ground outside the coop and figured they would just get blown away.

A couple of days later, Son1 came by to get some eggs and called us in a panic, he thought that some of the hens had been eaten by a coyote or something, due to all the feathers on the ground! :hungry:

It looked like a chicken massacre!

[Prepared One]

ISA browns are too fat to fly most of the time I never have to clip their wings. I have had other breeds that have to be clipped.

Wing clipping tip -

Only clip one wing on each bird. If you clip both wings they will over come the set back and fly somewhat anyway. if you clip one wing it jacks up their balance and then can't fly as good. My chicken fence is only 5 ft high and none of my birds who are not clipped fly over it.

What a coincidence! I think I may be too fat to fly, But I ain't lettin you clip my wings. :biglaugh:

[hawgrider]

Another tip for yard bird maintenance- Food grade D.E.






Diatomaceous Earth For Chicken Coop Mites And Bugs

https://modernsurvivalblog.com/chickens/diatomaceous-earth-for-chicken-coop-mites-and-bugs/

[MountainGirl]

Nothin to offer here; all I know about bird raising is grandma used to say: "One duck to a quart."

Good luck!!

[Piratesailor]

We free range and take losses when they happen. Hawks mainly. This year, we haven’t had any losses. We have 16 hens and 1 rooster. 7 are mature and laying on average 4 or 5 a day. The others are still teenagers and won’t start laying for another 2 months. She buys they locally as juveniles (not chicks) and they do well.

The wife buys them on their production ability but also goes off the rails and will buy a few because they produce fancy colored eggs or are “pretty”. Makes her happy so I’m happy.

We definitely clip wings. The big girls don’t fly as they are too heavy but those teenagers can take off.

[Jester-ND]

my in-laws are delving into the chicken hobby... Pretty sure her little house/mostly ferral dog will wipe the flock out... it has wiped 2 generations of barn cats already.. stone-cold-killer..

[shootbrownelk]

Nothin to offer here; all I know about bird raising is grandma used to say: "One duck to a quart."

Good luck!!

Did you ever eat a duck egg MG? I never have, I wonder if they're any good.

[hawgrider]

Did you ever eat a duck egg MG? I never have, I wonder if they're any good.

They are pretty good. Very creamy yolk and the white has a slighty firmer texture than a yard bird.

[StratBastard]

They are pretty good. Very creamy yolk and the white has a slighty firmer texture than a yard bird.

My buddy came home with an ostrich egg... I took a pass.

14855

[hawgrider]

My buddy came home with an ostrich egg... I took a pass.

14855

Wow oh hell yes with a pound of bacon I'd try it.

[StratBastard]

Wow oh hell yes with a pound of bacon I'd try it.

Yeah, maybe. But my issue is there was no way to know how old is was.

[Inor]

My buddy came home with an ostrich egg... I took a pass.

14855

With an egg that big, how do you know there isn't something in there waiting to eat you when you crack it open?!? That could be one of those Jurassic Park things in there!

[MountainGirl]

Did you ever eat a duck egg MG? I never have, I wonder if they're any good.
Hiya shooter!
Never have, but open to trying one. :)
I wonder how turkey eggs are?
Doubt I'd find a wild nest though.

[Jester-ND]

lady I work with cooks up her scrambled goose eggs and feeds em to her chickens....

[shootbrownelk]

Hiya shooter!
Never have, but open to trying one. :)
I wonder how turkey eggs are?
Doubt I'd find a wild nest though.
The raccoons & skunks get them first.

[Inor]

The chickens came about 6:30 this morning. They were all alive and the hatchery even sent extras (just in case I assume).

15101

Our initial plan was to borrow one of the water troughs from the steer pasture to put them in until they are big enough to go into the chicken shack. But the afternoon temps have warmed up enough that we cannot cut the steer and donkeys down to one water trough. So we just picked up a cheap plastic feed bucket to keep them in for a couple weeks. My hope is, by the time they are too big for the feed bucket, the nights will be warm enough and the chicks will be old enough, we will be able to just move them into an empty garden planter in the chicken shack without the heat lamp. I could run an extension cord to the chicken shack temporarily, but really do not want to do that if at all possible.

But everybody is drinking plenty of water and they are eating like crazed zombies. In the 15+ hours we have had them, they already almost emptied one whole container of food. The chicken people told us to make sure they got plenty of water since they would be dehydrated from shipping. So I thought giving them Gatorade would be a good idea since Gatorade has electrolytes. Mrs Inor was having none of that! So they are stuck just drinking water with a very small amount of sugar in it.

15102

I am just impressed they have been here almost a full day and nobody is dead yet.

[Inor]

I am also very impressed with our little cow dog, Odin. He takes any job we give him VERY seriously. Every morning and every afternoon it is Odie's job to bring the steer into the catch pen for feeding and bring the donkeys to their area for feeding. That is a task he has learned on his own and he is very good at it.

This morning, Mrs Inor told him to "watch the chicks". He spent the entire day laying by their bucket. About every 20 minutes, he would get up and go watch them for a minute or two, then go back to guard mode.

15103

When afternoon feeding time came around, I said "Come on Odie. Go get the steer." He just looked at me. You could actually see the thoughts going through his brain: "Mom told me to watch the chicks. Now you're telling me to get the steer. I cannot do both. What should I do?" He sat there for a good 30 seconds looking back and forth between Mrs Inor and me until Mrs Inor said "Go get the steer". Then he was off like a shot... And back on "duty" guarding the chicks as soon as we were done feeding. It was absolutely hilarious!

[Slippy]

I am also very impressed with our little cow dog, Odin. He takes any job we give him VERY seriously. Every morning and every afternoon it is Odie's job to bring the steer into the catch pen for feeding and bring the donkeys to their area for feeding. That is a task he has learned on his own and he is very good at it.

This morning, Mrs Inor told him to "watch the chicks". He spent the entire day laying by their bucket. About every 20 minutes, he would get up and go watch them for a minute or two, then go back to guard mode.

15103

When afternoon feeding time came around, I said "Come on Odie. Go get the steer." He just looked at me. You could actually see the thoughts going through his brain: "Mom told me to watch the chicks. Now you're telling me to get the steer. I cannot do both. What should I do?" He sat there for a good 30 seconds looking back and forth between Mrs Inor and me until Mrs Inor said "Go get the steer". Then he was off like a shot... And back on "duty" guarding the chicks as soon as we were done feeding. It was absolutely hilarious!

Odie is 100% Slippy Approved!

I count 10 chicks?

You know what 10 chickens produce a lot of?

Chicken Shit, that's what! You will be amazed at the collossal amount of chicken shit that these little bastards will generate!

Time to build a large compost bin...

[StratBastard]

Odie is 100% Slippy Approved!

I count 10 chicks?

You know what 10 chickens produce a lot of?

Chicken Shit, that's what! You will be amazed at the collossal amount of chicken shit that these little bastards will generate!

Time to build a large compost bin...

Chicken shit is right!!!! My back bedroom door opened into the back yard. Every time I opened it, there were three of four chickens waiting to zip in between my legs. Those little bitches are FAST. AND excited to get in. So they would start shitting on my carpet immediately along skittering the way in. Chicken shit is the price of having chickens. Without doubt.

[hawgrider]

Better git yourself a bigger container. They grow faster than weeds.

[Slippy]

Better git yourself a bigger container. They grow faster than weeds.

Agree Hawg!

For 10 chicks, I'd suggest Inors use something like a 4' stock tank. Depending on the Inor's night temps, they might be inside for a few weeks at least.

[MountainGirl]

15103


Oh Inor !!!

Odin is a ringer for my Jake. He looks to be a bit smaller but the Anatolian breed part of them are natural born guardians. They're what were used to guard the castles in Eastern Europe back in the day, and didn't require training. Following my 'requests' was Jake's self-chosen mandate; so don't take it personally that Odin follows Mrs Inor's direction. Every day Odin is with you is a gift. :)

15126 15127

[Inor]

Agree Hawg!

For 10 chicks, I'd suggest Inors use something like a 4' stock tank. Depending on the Inor's night temps, they might be inside for a few weeks at least.

We took Hawg's advice and we moved them into an empty garden planter. It is about 3x5 foot and they seem much happier. The feed bucket has turned out to also be useful as Mrs Inor cleans their butts off twice per day and she can temporarily put them in the feed bucket to keep track of who had their butt cleaned and who didn't. The chicks were pretty stressed when we got them so they all had crusty-butt. They seem to be getting better now.

15176

I am really trying to avoid buying another stock tank. Mrs Inor has a batch of guineas coming around Independence day but after those are grown enough to release, I do NOT want to be brooding anything more for a while. In the meantime, I would have to store the damn stock tank. If this planter idea works, it will be great because I can just disassemble it and stash it on a shelf until we need it again.

We'll see... In the end, I will probably end up buying (and storing) another damn stock tank. An Inor can always be counted on to do the right thing immediately after I have tried every other option known to man.


Odie is 100% Slippy Approved!

I count 10 chicks?

You know what 10 chickens produce a lot of?

Chicken Shit, that's what! You will be amazed at the collossal amount of chicken shit that these little bastards will generate!

Time to build a large compost bin...

Yeah... We wanted about 6 chickens, so we ordered 8 thinking that 2 would probably die. The chicken people sent us 10 presumably thinking that 2 would probably die in transit. None have died so far, so now I have almost double the number of chickens we planned on. But oh well, the shack has plenty of room for them and I was doing some rough estimates today on the size of the yard I am going to fence off for them. The chicken yard is going to end up being bigger than I originally planned because there is a data line buried under it and I do not want to hit it with the fence posts. The chicken yard will end up being somewhere around 25x40, so they will have plenty of room.

On shit:

The last few years I have been slowly working my way towards being a connoisseur of shit. I am humble enough to know that I am nowhere near being a shit master yet. But we do have enough shit around here that hope still springs eternal. With our new shit production from the chickens and next month, the guineas, there is still the remote possibility that I could become King Shit in my golden years!

At present, I have 3 piles of shit. The dog shit is in a pile by itself hidden in the far corner of our property. It is in a low spot that will flood (if we ever get rain again) and it will hopefully dissolve and wash away onto somebody else's land. Then I have 2 piles of steer and donkey shit. We get about 5-6 tractor loads of shit from them per month so those shit piles grow pretty quickly. One pile is last year's shit. We use that on the fruit trees and the gardens. This year's shit pile will be used next year once it has been aged to perfection. (Our motto: We serve no shit before its time!)

I have not yet decided if I should keep the chicken shit separate so I can experiment with mixing various shit blends or if I should just pile it in with the steer and donkey shit. There's a lot to this shit science stuff!

[Mad Trapper]

Chicken shit is great stuff for the garden, too hot unless you compost, and looses N if not mixed with bedding. Take the bird poop and mix it with the steer/donkey manure. Will break down the bedding faster and have more N available quicker. Won't lose the N from the bird shit as ammonia gas.

[Inor]

Okay, this is too damn funny!

The chickens are about 6-7 weeks old now. So they are about half size or maybe a bit more. I let them out into their yard this morning and the girls immediately ran out and started pecking bugs or whatever it is they are pecking in the dirt. The little rooster, who is about 2/3rds the size of most of the chickens is obviously riddled with hormones right now.

He decided he was going to start crowing this morning. So he got himself to the top of the ramp going into the chicken shack, puffed up his chest and threw his wings back. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he was saying to himself: "I am going to be an absolute chick magnet!"

He looked around the chicken yard and let out this real faint "ehhhh" sound. It was the exact same sound the retarded kids in high school used to make when the teacher gave them a pudding.

All the ladies immediately stopped what they were pecking and looked at him, as much as to say: "Are you okay? Do you need a Tums or something?"

The poor little guy was absolutely deflated! He shrunk back down, turned around and went back in the shack!

It was freakin' hilarious!

[StratBastard]

Okay, this is too damn funny!

The chickens are about 6-7 weeks old now. So they are about half size or maybe a bit more. I let them out into their yard this morning and the girls immediately ran out and started pecking bugs or whatever it is they are pecking in the dirt. The little rooster, who is about 2/3rds the size of most of the chickens is obviously riddled with hormones right now.

He decided he was going to start crowing this morning. So he got himself to the top of the ramp going into the chicken shack, puffed up his chest and threw his wings back. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he was saying to himself: "I am going to be an absolute chick magnet!"

He looked around the chicken yard and let out this real faint "ehhhh" sound. It was the exact same sound the retarded kids in high school used to make when the teacher gave them a pudding.

All the ladies immediately stopped what they were pecking and looked at him, as much as to say: "Are you okay? Do you need a Tums or something?"

The poor little guy was absolutely deflated! He shrunk back down, turned around and went back in the shack!

It was freakin' hilarious!

Well, a young lad gets shot down a few times before he starts making it with the ladies. Or so I hear.

[Slippy]

Okay, this is too damn funny!

The chickens are about 6-7 weeks old now. So they are about half size or maybe a bit more. I let them out into their yard this morning and the girls immediately ran out and started pecking bugs or whatever it is they are pecking in the dirt. The little rooster, who is about 2/3rds the size of most of the chickens is obviously riddled with hormones right now.

He decided he was going to start crowing this morning. So he got himself to the top of the ramp going into the chicken shack, puffed up his chest and threw his wings back. You could see the wheels turning in his head as he was saying to himself: "I am going to be an absolute chick magnet!"

He looked around the chicken yard and let out this real faint "ehhhh" sound. It was the exact same sound the retarded kids in high school used to make when the teacher gave them a pudding.

All the ladies immediately stopped what they were pecking and looked at him, as much as to say: "Are you okay? Do you need a Tums or something?"

The poor little guy was absolutely deflated! He shrunk back down, turned around and went back in the shack!

It was freakin' hilarious!

Farm animals and life lessons! AWESOME!

Speaking of life lessons...

Slippy Lodge has snakes, not as many rattlers as Inor's place but snakes none-the-less. A few weeks ago I encountered a 6' Rat Snake aka GOOD SNAKE near the house so I carefully relocated it to the barn to do what Rat Snakes do...kill rats/mice!

I saw the Rat Snake a few times near the barn and was pretty darn proud of my Snake Management Skills....UNTIL....I walked into the Chicken House to collect eggs and noticed Mr Rat Snake in the nesting boxes swallowing MY EGGS! (PS scared the shit out of me I have to admit! HA!)

Two .22 rounds to the snakes head and problem solved. I figured re-locating it again would be foolish as it would continue to find the easy meal and no way was I turning my Chicken House into a free Omelet Diner! :biglaugh:

[stevekozak]

Farm animals and life lessons! AWESOME!

Speaking of life lessons...

Slippy Lodge has snakes, not as many rattlers as Inor's place but snakes none-the-less. A few weeks ago I encountered a 6' Rat Snake aka GOOD SNAKE near the house so I carefully relocated it to the barn to do what Rat Snakes do...kill rats/mice!

I saw the Rat Snake a few times near the barn and was pretty darn proud of my Snake Management Skills....UNTIL....I walked into the Chicken House to collect eggs and noticed Mr Rat Snake in the nesting boxes swallowing MY EGGS! (PS scared the shit out of me I have to admit! HA!)

Two .22 rounds to the snakes head and problem solved. I figured re-locating it again would be foolish as it would continue to find the easy meal and no way was I turning my Chicken House into a free Omelet Diner! :biglaugh:

There is a saying about snakes and politicians and how to create good ones.....

[Box of frogs]

Howdy Inor.
Good to see you and Mrs Inor thriving in AZ - Bacon !
Been a while since the PF days. I’m just now finding OTP.

We did chickens this year too. About the same time as you did. We got ours through TSC website and the came from Hoover Hatchery in MN. Got here by USPS in two days.
10 Rhode Island Reds all females. About 3.50 a chick with delivery.

So far all 10 have survived and are doing very well. 4 weeks in the homemade brooder then out to a 6x9x6 covered dog pen with a small wooden box for shelter.
These girls won’t start laying until October so the permanent hen house with nesting boxes is to be built.

BoF

[Inor]

Howdy Inor.
Good to see you and Mrs Inor thriving in AZ - Bacon !
Been a while since the PF days. I’m just now finding OTP.

We did chickens this year too. About the same time as you did. We got ours through TSC website and the came from Hoover Hatchery in MN. Got here by USPS in two days.
10 Rhode Island Reds all females. About 3.50 a chick with delivery.

So far all 10 have survived and are doing very well. 4 weeks in the homemade brooder then out to a 6x9x6 covered dog pen with a small wooden box for shelter.
These girls won’t start laying until October so the permanent hen house with nesting boxes is to be built.

BoF

Welcome to the Dark Side! You will see a lot of familiar faces here.

The last 5 years here have been a continuous learning curve. But it's been great fun. The chickens have been an absolute hoot! Tonight Mrs Inor was trying to get them to go into the shack for the night. They did not want to go. So she was chasing them around the outside of the shack in one direction and our little cow dog was trying to herd them the other. I sat on the porch and laughed my ass off! :biglaugh:

[Innkeeper]

Welcome to the Dark Side! You will see a lot of familiar faces here.

The last 5 years here have been a continuous learning curve. But it's been great fun. The chickens have been an absolute hoot! Tonight Mrs Inor was trying to get them to go into the shack for the night. They did not want to go. So she was chasing them around the outside of the shack in one direction and our little cow dog was trying to herd them the other. I sat on the porch and laughed my ass off! :biglaugh:You are supposed to get video to share with the rest of the family.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Inor]

You are supposed to get video to share with the rest of the family.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

I wish I had a video of that. I have been laughing at it for 3 days just thinking about it!

[Any Beastie]

Chickens really are interesting birds. They can be extremely smart at times and extremely stupid at others but they are always supremely expressive. And always extremely entertaining.

I've got jerseys processing my compost. Fat ass chickens, lazy ass chickens. Don't fly EVER. Good eggs, good meat.
My Girl Carla (named after my brothers first girlfriend;)) sits on top of the compost all day, doesn't process but supervises. she'll even tell the rooster what to do when he's being a jerk shitwad; she started screaming at him once when he jumped on my little and he didn't listen so she moved herself from her throne and kicked him. I didn't really think chicken ladies could kick, oh but she did and he backed off. I love My Girl Carla, she's my second in command when hubbys gone!

[Slippy]

Chickens really are interesting birds. They can be extremely smart at times and extremely stupid at others but they are always supremely expressive. And always extremely entertaining.

I've got jerseys processing my compost. Fat ass chickens, lazy ass chickens. Don't fly EVER. Good eggs, good meat.
My Girl Carla (named after my brothers first girlfriend;)) sits on top of the compost all day, doesn't process but supervises. she'll even tell the rooster what to do when he's being a jerk shitwad; she started screaming at him once when he jumped on my little and he didn't listen so she moved herself from her throne and kicked him. I didn't really think chicken ladies could kick, oh but she did and he backed off. I love My Girl Carla, she's my second in command when hubbys gone!


I really enjoyed reading this post. An excellent example of literary expressive writing!

Stamp this one, "Slippy Approved"!

[Inor]

Boy did I learn a valuable lesson!

The chickens have been in the shack for about a month and it was working perfectly. We had put some sawdust on the floor to absorb the shit (below that, I had put down some 5/8" rubber to protect the plywood underneath). There were a few flies, but nothing too severe.

Then IT happened...

Sunday we had our first significant rain in over a year. It was wonderful. We had almost 2 1/2 inches in about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I was an idiot and forgot to close the windows and door on the chicken shack until the storm was about half over. I went out in the height of the storm and closed it up and did not think anything of it until I went out yesterday to let them back out. Holy shit! The smell was enough to gag a maggot!!! Even worse, I had never seen flies so thick! The entire shack sounded like the inside of a propeller plane just from the sound of the flies! It was absolutely disgusting!

Doing anything about it yesterday was not possible as I had some pretty stiff work requirements. So today, we went out and took out all the sawdust, moved their food and water outside and basically emptied the entire shack out. We did not put down any new sawdust as I wanted to give it a day or two to fully dry out. By this evening is was markedly better than yesterday. The smell was back down to a tolerable level. It was still loaded with flies but not nearly as bad as it was. So I think we will get it back under control. But damn!

I did order some industrial strength fly bags that I can hang on the fence around their yard to maybe at least attract the flies outside. Hopefully that will help some too.

But I learned a valuable lesson... When the monsoon comes, MAKE DAMN SURE THE SHACK IS FULLY CLOSED UP!!!

[Mad Trapper]

Boy did I learn a valuable lesson!

The chickens have been in the shack for about a month and it was working perfectly. We had put some sawdust on the floor to absorb the shit (below that, I had put down some 5/8" rubber to protect the plywood underneath). There were a few flies, but nothing too severe.

Then IT happened...

Sunday we had our first significant rain in over a year. It was wonderful. We had almost 2 1/2 inches in about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, I was an idiot and forgot to close the windows and door on the chicken shack until the storm was about half over. I went out in the height of the storm and closed it up and did not think anything of it until I went out yesterday to let them back out. Holy shit! The smell was enough to gag a maggot!!! Even worse, I had never seen flies so thick! The entire shack sounded like the inside of a propeller plane just from the sound of the flies! It was absolutely disgusting!

Doing anything about it yesterday was not possible as I had some pretty stiff work requirements. So today, we went out and took out all the sawdust, moved their food and water outside and basically emptied the entire shack out. We did not put down any new sawdust as I wanted to give it a day or two to fully dry out. By this evening is was markedly better than yesterday. The smell was back down to a tolerable level. It was still loaded with flies but not nearly as bad as it was. So I think we will get it back under control. But damn!

I did order some industrial strength fly bags that I can hang on the fence around their yard to maybe at least attract the flies outside. Hopefully that will help some too.

But I learned a valuable lesson... When the monsoon comes, MAKE DAMN SURE THE SHACK IS FULLY CLOSED UP!!!

Reminds me of my days on the farm as a youngster....."Hey, it's about time for you to go clean out the chicken coop and pig pen, they are getting pretty ripe!"

[bigwheel]

Kindly look at this and report back for a pop quiz on Tuesday..try to bring Slippy too if hes sobered up any. Thanks.
https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/raising-ducks-or-chickens

[Mad Trapper]

Kindly look at this and report back for a pop quiz on Tuesday..try to bring Slippy too if hes sobered up any. Thanks.
https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/raising-ducks-or-chickens


But I remember stepping on a duck egg, that got laid out in the weeds, and my boot stunk a whole week even after cleaning the barns......

[bigwheel]

We've raise up several batches of Easter Ducks. Highly cool critters. Had one big white one named Fred who started laying an egg per day and morphed into Fredda. She would hang with me all night waiting to dump the june bugs out of the pool skimmer basket. She would fight me over a a smoked spare rib when outdoor cooking. She bunked with four dogs in the mancave where I kept a heater running in the winter. She was madly in love with one dog and tried to rob food from another and knew which one dont try it. She lived on dog food and only learned to like the swimming pool after too many drunk people threw her in late at night. She liked a dishpan of water before that.

[Inor]

Kindly look at this and report back for a pop quiz on Tuesday..try to bring Slippy too if hes sobered up any. Thanks.
https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/animals-and-wildlife/raising-ducks-or-chickens

In my particular case, ducks are not really an option. I live in the desert. There is not standing water within 50 miles and creating a pond or similar for them would be an effort in futility. Plus the water would attract all kinds of nasty animals and bugs that I really want to avoid.

[bigwheel]

They can do fine without water except to drink. Get em a little wading pool and dump it out each night. That should work by cracky.