raising chickens

[apg]

I seem to recall an article on the mobile coop in the old Mother Earth News decades ago...got to see one 'in action' on a big farm I appraised recently. The mobile pen wasn't fancy, but it seemed to work quite well - though this area doesn't have nearly the number of predators Garrett has in the piedmont. This looked like welded wire on conduit....

I figured that, well, chicken being chickens, some might get run over by the trailing edge when it came time to move the contraption. Maybe the tenant farmer didn't move it all too frequently (the chickens had scratched almost to dirt....), but when he did move it, the hens would all line up at the leading edge like it was race-day and the checkered flag was about to drop. Then there was a mad dash to get to the new 'good stuff'....

You could tell where the pen was before: there was a checkerboard pattern that was *way* greener....

 

[garrett]

We've used those mobile coups from Central PA to where we are in NoVA with little issues. You can make them really easily with mountain bike wheels and a few garden cart axles.
We too get Mother Earth News and it appears to have some good info, but a quick search on the web will get you plenty of plans on making one.
Our dogs don't bother the chickens, but there are more fox around here than we had in PA.
Folks in these parts don't like us killing them though as they want them for fox hunting, which happens weekly here.
Steve I'll shoot you some info on your order. Did you want the crotchless pair in beige? If I don't get back to you remind me.

 

[draaronr]

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

I ordered in 5 Buff Orphingtons and have had them two weeks. right now i have them in a cage in the garage, but I built a coop and run for them in the back of the yard. Saturday I was tilling and planting the garden so I took them out there with me, and let them roam. They loved all the worms and grubs I was digging up. Kind of reminded me of seagulls when they get a treat. So far it has been great, we hold them everyday and when you are outside they will follow you around, if you sit they all come up next to you and scratch around. Kids love them and it is a great education. I have maybe $400 in the whole set up so far. Farmer Garrett was right on for the most part with his description. I have an acre for them to roam. Plan is to let them out when we are home during the day (hawks make me nervous) and put them up in the run when we aren't home, and lock them up everynight.

 

[marc olivares]

well i just finished taking to the local Zoning dept and looks like it's a no go for me and the chicken project. seems my lot is to small...bastards!

 

[Roverlady]

Even with 2 acres, in the County, we aren't allowed to have chickens in our neighborhood. Residential zoning vs agricultural.

Maybe you could just get one and raise it in your house?

 

[Steve]

I'm on a fairly rural 3.5 acres. I had to sign a "Right to Farm" agreement yet I can't.

 

[garrett]

Even with 2 acres, in the County, we aren't allowed to have chickens in our neighborhood. Residential zoning vs agricultural.

Maybe you could just get one and raise it in your house?

Most states require that you have a minimum of 10 contiguous acres in order to have livestock in residentially zoned areas. Some properties are grandfathered in of course.
You can lease adjacent property in order to get to that 10 acres as well.

One hen won't do you any good anyhow.

How about a baby tiger?

 

[David Despain]

marc, we looked into this a year or so back and here are my thoughts.
my wife initialy wanted to get 2 or 3 pretty much as pets; the eggs would be a bounus. i studied the mcmurray site quite a bit as well as some others and looked into the mobile run as well. in the end we didnt ever get any as it was deemed too much work and hassle for the few eggs we would get. i looked at them as disposable livestock that we could eat when it got too cold for them to live without a heated coop, but my wife didnt want to deal with killing them or eating a "pet". i still think it would be a good learning life lesson for the kids to raise them and care for them but maybe once they are older.
regarding the "leagal" issue, if no one complains about them then no one that would care that they are illegal would know you have them. from what i reasearched, hens by themselves are not that noisy or obnoxius in small quantities. this is directly related to my next thought. the three rules of urban chickens: no roosters. never roosters, and finally dont get any roosters. of course this would depend greatly on your neighbors as well. i think our lots are probably similar and if we had more yard i think it would be easier to make it all happen.
we get winder dairy as well, i think its worth the premium we pay for it. the kids grow up fast enough as it is, they dont need more hormones to speed it up.

 

[draaronr]

well i just finished taking to the local Zoning dept and looks like it's a no go for me and the chicken project. seems my lot is to small...bastards!

screw the opression from the man. It is against our neighborhood rules too but everyone pretty much dislikes me as it is so i went ahead and did it. I figure I would threaten them with a rooster if they screw with me.

We can have 9 pets in my county so that is/will be my arguement for the pet birds. they are just really big parrots.

How is it right that in our country we lost the right to provide for ourselves?

 

[montanablur]

Yeah Marc... Don't let the man hold you down, and that's just what you need anyway... Another project.

 

[Steve Rupp]

Dude, you're sick every weekend now. i'd stick to the solar panels. lol

 

[draaronr]

solar, what do you know about solar? the shit i find on the net is such polluted data.

 

[Steve Rupp]

I don't know anything other than it turns your meter backwards

 

[marc olivares]

Yeah Marc... Don't let the man hold you down, and that's just what you need anyway... Another project.

i'm beginning to think that you and steve may know me better than i think... nicely played

 

[draaronr]

I don't know anything other than it turns your meter backwards

apparently you go to the same sites that I do.

then you have these negative nancy's who say it will cost you 75k to get a system to replace your usage.

http://www.solarpowerforum.net/

then you go to read about the diffent kits and it looks like around 16k plus installation. i would imagine there are people out in utah that have solar, but in easter NC there isn't much local information.

 

[benlittle]

Ahh... Too bad Marc. Winder is the next best thing

 

[Discoinjapan]

Did you want the crotchless pair in beige? If I don't get back to you remind me.

Garret, How far will you go with this chicken thing?:smilelol:

 

[Steve]

The crotch-less pants were for me. Actually, they are gusseted and crotch-less. The chicken was just to entice him over for dinner and a little romance.

 

[2FUELS]

what size chicken are you looking for?

WOW, thats a big cock!

 

[kennith]

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.

I'm with you on that. I don't have anywhere to have chickens, but I get the best eggs I can when I buy them. There is no comparison. I had a few chickens for a couple of months once while on a job. I bought them because there wasn't much to eat out there. They found plenty of things to eat on the ground, and we gave them some other food as well. Those eggs would sit outside in the heat for a month and still be as good as new. Smelled fine, tasted great, after all that time. I can't imagine pulling that with a generic grocery store egg.

I go as small scale as I can when I buy any sort of food. It doesn't really cost me that much extra. I need noticibly less of it to stay full and energetic. Eating from fast food, I'll have many meals a day. Cranking out a boars head and cage free breakfast sandwich on locally made bread will keep me solid as a rock until well after lunch if need be.

Actually, I went to a resteraunt that was very good the other day up here. It was out on 30 in wester PA. Some sort of old tavern built in the 1700s. They had locally raised buffalo, which I passed on the way there, and they served them fresh as anything. Everything about that place was good. They had a real fire going in a proper pit with proper reflective bricks that was really heating the room well. It was themed in a very pleasing way to me with pewter plates and all sorts of nicer ways of doing things. I'll post the name of it when I remember it.

Cheers,

Kennith