raising chickens

[marc olivares]

so my wife and little ones want some egg laying chickens. educate me!
now Garret, i know how you feel about Roosters, but give me the low down on egg layers

 

[Andrew Homan]

Pain in the rear Marc. Did the farm thing a while ago. However our kids were much older than yours are now, so you will probably have a better family experience with it than we did.

 

[flyfisher11]

Here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CKTn6GXE-E&feature=related

 

[fordbuilder98]

what size chicken are you looking for?

 

[Michael Slade]

Marc!

We wanna do chickens too! Looking for plans for a coop right now. My dad has had chickens every year and we love his eggs. Mucho-bettero than the store-boughten ones.

We'll probably do 6-8 and see how they do. We have to 'dog-proof' a section of our yard too.

 

[chris snell]

Can you raise chickens in Sugarhouse?

 

[D Chapman]

You'll love the eggs. Other than that, they suck.

Randy Maynard has a house full. Maybe you could PM him.

 

[Rover Mac]

You'll love the eggs. Other than that, they suck.

One of the worst chores i had growing up, cleaning up the chicken coup, no one suggested replacing them after the last one was taken by a fox.

 

[garrett]

Farm fresh eggs are great, not to mention more nutritious. One reason to do it.

The basics: You will get about one egg per laying hen a day. This goes down in the colder months depending on the breed. Barred Rocks will lay more consistantly, but the more prolific layers are White Rocks and Rhode Island Reds during the summer months.

Other types to consider are Araucanas which have a blueish/green egg. Very pretty and great for Easter. Another common breed are the Buff Orphingtons.

When buying chickens you can purchase them as "sex links", which means they have been bred to be a specific color according to their sex. i.e. black chicks are female and brown ones are male.

If you setup a nice little system it's really not that big of a deal and can be really fun for younger kids. How much space do you have? You can either build (or buy) a mobile coup or a stand alone. Electric netting/fence is relatively cheap and a must to keep predators out. Dogs, cats, coyotes, fox, etc.

But yes the roosters annoy the shit out of me. Esspecially when the coup is close to the house for obvious reasons.

Chicks are very cute, but when they start to molt they become the most hideous thing in the world. Uglier than a Pontiac Grand Prix. But then they eventually become of laying age and are nice looking.

If you end up hating it..........turn them into stewing hens or meat birds easy enough. But overall I think it's pretty cool. Again I say this only when you have a properly setup coup. Given enough space you don't really need to feed them. Just provide water and cover and keep an eye on the young ones in the hot weeks of summer. You can lose up to 5% of them when they are molting.

It can be pretty educational for kids too. We use to have kids come over to the farm during lambing season all the time to watch the sheep giving birth, chickens running around and honey being harvested. 99% of the kids out there don't have a clue as to how their food ends up on their plates.

If you are just going to do a dozen or so there is not much work involved. You'd only have to clean out the coup once a month. The more time they spend outside (free range) the less mess you'll have to deal with. With that said free-range is the only way to go.

This is the ONLY site you need.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/

 

[crolison]

Uglier than a Pontiac Grand Prix.http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/

What about a Pontiac Aztec?

 

[Steve]

To add my $.02..., Garrett is right about free-range. If you can use electric poultry netting to fence off a large enough area that the chickens won't destroy the grass and turn it to dirt. I think I read that you need (depending on location and conditions) about 100 sq. ft. of run space per chicken to achieve that.

If you have a problem with predators, the rooster will come in handy as a sacrificial bird that will warn and protect the flock. Be warned, they can crow from sunrise to sunset and beyond.

McMurray Hatchery has sexed chickens in addition to the sex-linked Garrett mentioned. They also have supplies and such you will need.

As for getting started, I recommend the book "Living With Chickens".

 

[Roverlady]

Why not just find a local farm that will sell the eggs?

There is no way I would want to raise chickens....but I love fresh free-range brown eggs. We buy from a farm about 4miles away from our house and they are fantastic.

 

[Steve]

Why not just find a local farm that will sell the eggs?

Jeffersonian self-sufficiency!

We can't have chickens because of covenent restrictions so we setup a small co-op with a friend's daughter. We get about half of their eggs and we give them organic veggies when in season.

 

[garrett]

Steve we posted the same link. That makes us twinkies I believe. What are you wearing tomorrow?

Raising your own chickens can be pretty cool and educational for the kiddies and yourself. If you've got the space why not?

Chickens make a HORRIBLE sound when they are being attacked and killed. I use to keep a .22 next to my window and pop off a few rounds at coyotes and foxes.

Some good netting and a solar charger will work pretty good for a basic setup. If you want to get fancy you can put in 6-8' tall woven wire fencing. But if you want to be true to the free-range setup you will want a portable coup and netting. Every week move the coup and fencing and you won't destroy the grass.

You can also let them just roam during the day and lock them up in the coup at night. Naturally they will want to roost at night and go in the coup on their own. During the day they will just go where they like and eat bugs and grubs.

We've had up to 200 chickens all within 40 yards from the house. It was not that bad, but there was a particular rooster that sounded like shit. I was hoping that one of the dogs would get him.

 

[2FUELS]

And from the files of completely useless information, my eye Dr. knew we had chickens when I was a young'n because of some parasitic eye infection and scar tissue IN MY FRIGGIN EYEBALL, kinda yucky IMO...

BTW it was my job to chase down the headless "runners" during the "harvest"

 

[Blue]

isn't this how food gets on the plates of American children nowadays?

 

[garrett]

Yes they do. Now they have consume more calories in order to maintain similar levels of nutrition because the "food" they eat is of such poor quality. Another reason obesity and health is such an issue.

Ah but everyone things that all eggs are alike, that all beef is alike, all milk is alike and all veggies are alike. Little do they know that large scale farming produces food with less nutritional values, etc. No questioning that at all. But we can't say that on the labels.......the big food lobby folks don't like that and tend to keep it that way.

Oh that does look good right now. I'm starving.

 

[marc olivares]

great info guys
i did check out that mcmurry hatchery website, along with a site called backyardchickens.com
the info was a little overwhelming so i thought i'd ask

sus, we do currently get our dairy, produce and meat products from a local organic farm (winderfarms.com) they even deliver to our house once a week.
the chicken project is more of an educational thing for our kids.
we put a lot of emphasis on educating our kids on where their food comes from and how to eat healthy. it can be tough with all the crap that is out there that bombard them everyday. but anyway, enough of that.
i put a call in to our local zoning department to see if we can even legally do it, and then we'll go from there.
should be a fun project for the kids

 

[Steve]

Steve we posted the same link. That makes us twinkies I believe. What are you wearing tomorrow?

The same thing I'm wearing today. I'll give you a hint; my sugar daddy in Middleburg got me my pants. Speaking of, I need to know if there is going to be another order.

I didn't even think of the chicken tractor. I guess I didn't have my Salatin hat on today.

2Fuels, if you use a "killing cone", the chickens stay put.

 

[Roverlady]

Ah, I see....good idea! I don't have kids so I don't often think of these things...and I think we would not be allowed to have them where we live anyway!

I definitely think everyone should recognize and understand from where/what animal their food comes! Amazing to think of kids who have never seen a dairy cow milked or angus steer raised for beef! Of course, it is still a little difficult to grasp (there were some angus steers out in the field with my horse that I became a little attached to), but a very important life lesson that makes one more appreciative of the gift of food and life.

Good luck!