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Author Topic: Might just have to do Chicks!  (Read 21168 times)

Offline KD4MOJ

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Might just have to do Chicks!
« on: May 09, 2012, 04:24:36 pm »
Well it seems like i'm getting the fever... been on Google all day searching the net on chickens, coop's, how to care for, etc etc etc. The last two friends I made nucs for have chickens which is what started this mess. I've eatin' their eggs, yum.  Ah... all I need is ANOTHER hobby!


...DOUG
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Offline AllenF

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2012, 04:32:04 pm »
Chickens are fun.   Easy to keep.   My dog stays in the chicken pen with them at night.   They have free range of the pasture and yard.   I have not had to buy feed in a year and a half and I still get their eggs.   :-D

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2012, 04:54:53 pm »
From what I have read everyone says the same thing about it being fun. I've had fun just reading about it.

My only concern is predators. There is a big swamp near by and every night I get raccoons,  opossum's, and the occasional fox eating the cat's leftovers.

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Offline AllenF

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2012, 05:29:46 pm »
We drained the pond in the pasture one year and I trapped 24 coons out of the chicken pen over the next year.   The best thing I done was to move the dog out there.   I do not close the hens up at night because that dog thinks she is a chicken.   No coons, no possums, no coyotes.   Did lose one to a dog, but that is another story that will not be told here. 

Offline LoriMNnice

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2012, 07:10:14 pm »
Chickens in my opinion are fun and easy, do you live in the city or country? If you are in the country get some guinea hens they protect my flock they scare away cats, coons, skunks, hawks, coyotes, and guineas eat lots of bugs and take core of themselves but don't get them if you are in the city.  If you need any advice just PM me and I can answer your questions or point you in the right direction.
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Offline AllenF

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #5 on: May 09, 2012, 07:54:27 pm »
If a coyote can take down deer and turkey, then I think guinea fowl will stop a hungry coyote.    But they should help.

Offline hardwood

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #6 on: May 09, 2012, 07:59:55 pm »
We kept guineas one year but slowly they were picked off one by one by a panther. The sole remaining hen (a white one the kids called snowball of course) was the loudest of the bunch and drove Peggy crazy. One day while Peg tried to nap, Snowball start going off. Peggy went out and shouted at it "One more sound outta you and the shot gun is commin' out"!. Can you believe that crazy bird flew two doors down (about 1/2mi) and took up in a neighbor's bushes?

We'd laugh every time we heard that bird go off over there.

At our annual yule party where we all (from the area) burn our Christmas trees the neighbor where the bird was staying said she had to call her son to come take Snowball out to a farm...it had been driving her nuts for almost a year!  :lau:

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Offline LoriMNnice

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2012, 09:20:30 pm »
...it had been driving her nuts for almost a year!  :lau:

That is funny! I am lucky, mine seem to stick by the coop and not by the house :)
Lori

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2012, 08:53:36 am »
I live in the county but I can spit in the city.  :-D City limit is as the end of my street. I take it guinea hens are noisy???

I just checked Craiglist for my area and was quite surprised how many folks in the surrounding area sell chicks and year old hens.


...DOUG
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Offline danno

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #9 on: May 10, 2012, 09:12:59 am »
I live in the county but I can spit in the city.  :-D City limit is as the end of my street. I take it guinea hens are noisy???

I just checked Craiglist for my area and was quite surprised how many folks in the surrounding area sell chicks and year old hens.


...DOUG
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Noisy is not the word for it.  Before you jump into that one I would find someone that has them and go for a listen.  They are not only loud, they are very nosey.   Coarse they are really great eating if they dont work out. 

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #10 on: May 10, 2012, 10:20:06 am »
Ok I'll have to skip the guinea then... don't want to create a ruckus in the neighborhood. My macaw makes enough noise when I take him outside.

...DOUG
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Offline LoriMNnice

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #11 on: May 10, 2012, 10:30:54 am »
Skip the guineas I have had macaws to and I think guineas are louder :) It is pretty easy to find chicks right now, just keep in mind pullets are females, and cockerals are males, straight run are un-sexed. I sell my chicks on CL st run for $2 each that is here in MN anything more then $3 for chicks in my opinion is not a good price unless it some specialty breed
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Offline ChrisS

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #12 on: May 10, 2012, 01:22:38 pm »
Check out chicken tractors, it's the benefit of free range and the protection of always having the penned. Also check out Easter egger chickens, you can get blue, green, pink, brown, or somewhere in between colored eggs.

Offline danno

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #13 on: May 10, 2012, 01:50:35 pm »
take a look a Isa Browns.  They are medium size so eat less but lay large to x-large eggs.  Although people will say its impossible on once in a while they will lay 2 eggs a day.  I had 75 of these and every day would end up with 75 to 80 eggs a day.  also they are like a sex link so when you order pullets thats all you get.  They are not broody.  One more thing is you dont need a rooster

Offline stella

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #14 on: May 10, 2012, 02:37:34 pm »
Guineas are fun and eat lots of ticks. But they are loud! Chickens can be loud too. My black Australorps seems very vocal. My favorite chickens are my golden laced wyandottes. Very friendly, good layers, not broody.
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Offline Kathyp

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #15 on: May 10, 2012, 03:01:58 pm »
chickens were in my plan this year also.  cleared the old coop of the blackberries, but found the base to be to rotten to bother with.  it's going to get pushed over with the tractor when i have time.

that meant i had to build a new coop and ran out of time.  had to fix up the rental before i could build a coop :-(.  thought about just getting a shed from costco and i think it would work fine, but by the time i got to that, the chicks had come and gone from the feed store.

so...it's still in the plan and i can probably still find chickens on CL, but the whole thing got moved to the back burner........
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Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #16 on: May 10, 2012, 03:18:17 pm »
Check out chicken tractors, it's the benefit of free range and the protection of always having the penned. Also check out Easter egger chickens, you can get blue, green, pink, brown, or somewhere in between colored eggs.

Just checked out some of the EE's on "my pet checkin'" .com. They have lots of info for reading and I've been checking out the different breeds.

-Doug
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Offline ChrisS

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #17 on: May 10, 2012, 04:02:01 pm »

Just checked out some of the EE's on "my pet checkin'" .com. They have lots of info for reading and I've been checking out the different breeds.

-Doug
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They are probably the best place to order from if you are wanting less than 25 chickens.

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #18 on: May 10, 2012, 04:42:08 pm »
Check out chicken tractors, it's the benefit of free range and the protection of always having the penned.

Now that is funny.... just looked at the tractors. Pricey... could build that for much less.

...DOUG
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Offline ChrisS

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #19 on: May 10, 2012, 05:58:17 pm »
Now that is funny.... just looked at the tractors. Pricey... could build that for much less.

...DOUG
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I built mine for around $50 but part of the materials I already had. If I had bought everything it probably would of still been under $100. Mine is built for meat birds though so no perch or egg box.

Offline hardwood

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #20 on: May 10, 2012, 08:07:03 pm »
SpecialK9 has a thread here somewhere about his chicken tractors.

Scott
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Offline Shanevrr

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2012, 09:59:59 pm »
We got 14 about a month ago, good ol family fun,  no eggs yet though.
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Offline LoriMNnice

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #22 on: May 10, 2012, 11:47:21 pm »
I have easter eggers and I get green and pink eggs :) lots of hatcheries ship chicks and there are hatcheries that ship small quantities at good prices, I get mine mailed to me and have never had a problem. You can build chicken tractors out of PVC pipe and wire cheap :). Chickens don't start laying eggs until they are 5-6 months old.
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Offline danno

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #23 on: May 11, 2012, 08:48:31 am »
These are the only chickens I will ever get
The ISA Brown is a hybrid type of Sex Link chicken, which is the result of crossing Rhode Island Reds and Rhode Island Whites. The ISA Brown is a hybrid, not a true breed. It is known for its high egg production of approximately 300 eggs per hen in the first year. The Institut de Sélection Animale, a French firm, the company which originally developed the breed in 1978 for egg production as a battery hen. The ISA Browns are a hybrid brown egg layers. They are easy to raise and prolific producers of large richly colored brown eggs of excellent shell quality. They are quiet and friendly and easily trained to lay in their nests. At birth you can tell the sex by the color... white chicks are males, tan chicks are females.  When you order pullets 1 or 2 out of 10 will be mistakenly sexed.  Not with these.  You get what you pay for

Offline ChrisS

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #24 on: May 11, 2012, 03:14:14 pm »
Here are a few pics of my tractor


The first 2 pics are with a osb sheet for the roof. The second 2 we added a door and changed the roof to tin. The last pic the piece of tin that's sitting there was going to cover the door but we never added it. We also have pieces of tin we use to cover the sides on cool nights and rainy conditions.

Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #25 on: May 12, 2012, 03:16:31 am »
>Might just have to do Chicks!

It's so hard not to respond to a title like that...
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Offline carlfaba10t

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #26 on: May 12, 2012, 02:25:21 pm »
 I kept chickens for a lot of years until my dog [BEAR] was shot by a new neighbor that moved up from Cal. said he mistook him for a black bear,best dogone dog i ever had he kept all varmints away from my property or killed them.
After bear dog was gone the coons and coyotes moved in and killed most of my laying hens except for a hand full that i gave to a neighbor with a fool proof chicken coop.Sure miss those big brown eggs. :'(
Carl-I have done so much with so little for so long i can now do something with nothing!

Offline KD4MOJ

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #27 on: May 22, 2013, 08:53:52 am »
>Might just have to do Chicks!

It's so hard not to respond to a title like that...


HHmmm yep got to think before I post.

Anyways, 1 year later and I haven't done the chicken thing yet but I'm revisiting the idea once again. Catching up again on the good suggestions.

...DOUG
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Offline nietssemaj

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #28 on: May 22, 2013, 10:03:01 am »
Here's the tractor my wife and I built a while back. The plywood on the ends isn't holding up as well as hoped. It is fully enclosed, including the bottom.



Offline Carol

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #29 on: June 13, 2013, 09:36:16 am »
They also like to eat insects...so maybe less bug spray in the yard. I like the chicken houses with fenced in area that can be moved.

Offline Oblio13

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #30 on: June 13, 2013, 10:19:51 am »
Behold the Chicken Bunker:




If my neighbors ever notice it, I plan to tell them that those are rare Asian ground parrots.

Offline stella

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #31 on: June 13, 2013, 02:10:09 pm »
Oblio13....he he he...too funny.

Cute pup.
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Offline kingbee

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #32 on: June 17, 2013, 04:13:53 pm »
...

Behold the Chicken Bunker...


Just a few sand bags and a PKS will make the effect complete.

Offline itsme

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #33 on: July 14, 2013, 09:06:57 am »
They have free range of the pasture and yard.   I have not had to buy feed in a year and a half and I still get their eggs.   :-D

I am very interested in learning more about what your chickens have access to so you don't have to give them any feed.  Feed costs for us are very high.  Our chickens free range also here in Missouri.  We give them leftover whey, milk, scraps and such.  And we still have to feed them some grain.  Most of the area they have free range access to is in fescue until I can do something better.  I would like to sow something else.  I'm also looking into Black Soldier fly larvae and maggots for additional feed for them.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
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Offline Orlando

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Re: Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #34 on: July 16, 2013, 01:06:35 pm »
What do you all do about rats? That is the one thing preventing me from keeping chix.

Offline Carol

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #35 on: July 19, 2013, 11:33:34 am »
Itsme....I read an article where a guy was picking up road kill etc and letting them go to maggots for the chickens. Sounds like a great idea if you can get past the smell. Here in FL we'd have a problem with the Buzzards honeing in on it. Not crazy about having a flock of them sitting on my roof.

Offline itsme

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #36 on: July 20, 2013, 11:41:28 pm »
Itsme....I read an article where a guy was picking up road kill etc and letting them go to maggots for the chickens. Sounds like a great idea if you can get past the smell. Here in FL we'd have a problem with the Buzzards honeing in on it. Not crazy about having a flock of them sitting on my roof.

Yes, I've seen where people put the carrion in something like a five gallon bucket with holes cut in the bottom for the maggots to leave and fall to the ground to pupate, where the chicks can get them.  They sometimes suspend the bucket to help keep the aroma from being too much for nearby humans.

I like this idea and I'm also aware that there are certain things that need to be considered about what you put in and also some way to catch the maggots that may fall during the time when the chicks are in bed to they can be eaten in the morning instead of completing the life cycle of the fly and increasing the number of those necessary but unpleasant critters.

Anyway, thanks for the mention.  I would still like to hear from the other poster about not needing to feed his chickens ANYTHING!  WOW!l

Bill in Missouri

Offline Brian D. Bray

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Re: Might just have to do Chicks!
« Reply #37 on: August 08, 2013, 04:20:23 pm »
Guineas are fun and eat lots of ticks. But they are loud! Chickens can be loud too. My black Australorps seems very vocal. My favorite chickens are my golden laced wyandottes. Very friendly, good layers, not broody.

Guineas either sound like a loud rusty gate hinge or an asthmatic donkey.  Being Narcoleptic I can sleep through anything except a guinea, used to live across the street from the railroad tracks, sleep right though the rumble of the locomotive and its whistle but guineas.....

To keep hens quite it takes a rooster, the rooster will make the noise the majority of the time but much less than a flock of just hens, although quite a ruckus develops when they are alarmed or have laid an egg.
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