Author Topic: Chickens! (Read 4086 times)

ihookem · « **Reply #30 on:** April 25, 2011, 05:14:03 PM »

If this post matters anymore my cornish cross chickens ended up being 1.70 a lb. last year including butchering done 28 mi. away. This year will be more cause of ethanol. I bet 1.90 a lb. I've raised them 5 yrs. now and won't go back to store bought chickens. You can raise turkeys for less, like 1.30 lb. Meat chickens stink!!! They are lazy, stupid and and ugly. They taste better than any chicken you can buy in the store though. I'm getting 5 egg layers for the first time. Better eggs too.

bubbinator · « **Reply #31 on:** May 03, 2011, 10:16:58 PM »

To Hodr-1+ on the snakes- I was feeding my Nankins in their house yesterday just at dusk when I moved a cover off their feeder and found a huge snake coiled in it! Closest gun at hand was a Mini14 223 w/ a 30rd mag and I needed to reload! I took it was Cottonmouth due the coloration and lighting and when discovered it was about a foot from my leg. Turned out to be a Rat Snake, full of Nankin eggs, that was longer than a shovel handle. I've had problems with them before eating baby chicks.

Shu · « **Reply #32 on:** May 05, 2011, 01:02:52 PM »

ok I'll admit it I know nothing about free range chickens. Do you have to house them at night? Seems to me you would.

Thanks for all the great info on this topic.

Bugflipper · « **Reply #33 on:** May 05, 2011, 01:43:26 PM »

Yes they need shelter from the elements and protection from predators. My wild chickens roost in cedar trees so technically they don't need a house. But you should give them the chance to be in a draft free, dry area at night because some breeds are hardier than others. Chicken tractors are a cheaper solution than building a house and fencing off a yard. http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html You just move them and give the chickens fresh ground to eat. They are totally enclosed so predators have to be pretty ingenious to give you trouble.

mannyrock · « **Reply #34 on:** May 05, 2011, 02:33:24 PM »

The cheapest chicken you will ever eat is to buy a large bag of frozen chicken breasts at Costco. This will be far far cheaper than buying and raising chickens yourself.

blind ear · « **Reply #35 on:** May 06, 2011, 01:44:43 AM »

That chicken tracctor site was fun and interesting to look at. ear

same site http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html

Hit or Miss · « **Reply #36 on:** May 07, 2011, 04:40:48 PM »

I appreciate all of the great info guys! I've nixed the idea for this year, maybe next year. That will give me more time to work on a pen and coop for them.

ihookem · « **Reply #37 on:** May 07, 2011, 05:19:22 PM »

Quote from: mannyrock on May 05, 2011, 02:33:24 PM

The cheapest chicken you will ever eat is to buy a large bag of frozen chicken breasts at Costco. This will be far far cheaper than buying and raising chickens yourself.

I can't eat that stuff anymore. SOme of it is just terrible. You are right though, chicken is cheap in stores again for some reason. 1.29 lately.

burntmuch · « **Reply #38 on:** May 08, 2011, 04:34:50 AM »

Quote from: ihookem on May 07, 2011, 05:19:22 PM

Quote from: mannyrock on May 05, 2011, 02:33:24 PM
The cheapest chicken you will ever eat is to buy a large bag of frozen chicken breasts at Costco. This will be far far cheaper than buying and raising chickens yourself.

I can't eat that stuff anymore. SOme of it is just terrible. You are right though, chicken is cheap in stores again for some reason. 1.29 lately.

With that thinking none of us should be spending our money on hunting or fishing. I would suspect on average we spend about $20 a lb for venison. My family does chickens for the same reason I hunt & fish. To become a little more connected to the natural world. Is it cost effective ? I would suspect I break even on the meat birds & laying hens. Thats with alot of work on my part. But my kids have a better understanding of their food supply. Plus a slow cooked chicken dinner straight from the backyard does taste a whole lot better than store bought. I wouldnt have believed that 2 years ago. Im hoping the 2 feeder pigs '' Hamula & Miss Meatball'' out back work out as good as the chickens do

FourBee · « **Reply #39 on:** May 08, 2011, 09:09:48 AM »

Quote

burntmuch ~ [/To become a little more connected to the natural world.quote]

That to me is the satisfaction of raising all types of livestock. The knowledge we get could be a life saver in the future, especially the way disastorous times are falling on the world. I remember watching Mom hatch chicks with only a basket, a warm damp wash rag, and a light bulb burning closely over the basket.

Cornbelt · « **Reply #40 on:** May 08, 2011, 04:28:08 PM »

An electric skillet will work for an incubater too; as will a perforated bucket under a light bulb.
As far as keeping them locked in at night goes, you can get automatic door opener/closers, so they can free range by day. But snakes and minks still get in at night somehow.
Hadn't thought of a snake full of golf balls. If you made him crawl through slats smaller than the balls, he'd jail himself. Sounds like fun!

Bugflipper · « **Reply #41 on:** May 09, 2011, 01:07:47 PM »

I had a copperhead slip into my 1" wire, kill 2 goose chicks and eat 2 duck chicks. I had a heck of a surprise the next morning when I went into the brooder pen. He couldn't get out. After that I went with 1/4" wire on the brooder to keep out the snakes.

Lost Farmboy · « **Reply #42 on:** May 09, 2011, 02:37:26 PM »

Quote from: blind ear on May 06, 2011, 01:44:43 AM

That chicken tracctor site was fun and interesting to look at. ear

same site http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html

I use a chicken tractor I built last year. It works great. I copyed some ideas from this link. Thanks blind ear.

mannyrock · « **Reply #43 on:** May 10, 2011, 09:19:07 AM »

Well, yes, the reason I buy the Costco chicken is that I had a farm for 14 years and we generally raised about 40 chickens per year in a coop. We would let them out in the morning, and they would come back to the coop at sunset.

Chickens are the most disgusting, filthy, stinky animals you can raise. They spend the vast majority of their time trying to figure out how to poop in their own water bowls.

Pygmy goats and rabbits are vastly cleaner.

Winter Hawk · « **Reply #44 on:** May 12, 2011, 05:12:26 PM »

I raised chickens a couple of years in the early 70s, a rock-cornish cross. We got the chicks in the spring, then they were basically free range with some grain and such tossed on the ground every day. When they started to lay we had eggs everywhere. Butchered most of them, kept a half dozen or so for the eggs. They are a meat bird, but we got good egg production out of them also. This was up in Fairbanks, AK. I built a coop for them and they hung in there all Winter, kept on laying although we often had frozen eggs in the morning...

-WH-

Cornbelt · « **Reply #45 on:** May 16, 2011, 04:29:15 AM »

On the chicken subject, here's something you might find interesting:

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,234119.0.html

blind ear · « **Reply #46 on:** May 16, 2011, 07:07:16 AM »

CORNBELTS link above.
><
><
Cornbelt

chicken plucker
« on: Today at 08:25:13 AM »Quote Gotta tell you about the home built chicken plucker I saw this wk end. It was made out of a piece of 4" pvc about 18" long and had holes drilled for the fingers. The caps were screwed to washers welded to the shaft and the whole thing was mounted on pillow blocks and powered by a drill. It could pluck a chicken in about 45 seconds.
The plucker fingers come in all sizes to pluck anything from a humming bird to a bald eagle. The rest of it was basically scrounge. Even the bearings could have been wood. The whole thing was on saw horses and had home made killing cones (basically a megephone for an inverted chicken) mounted on each side. When one was draining, the other was plucked.

Wish I had a picture.
--------------------------
The chicken plucker: http://www.schweisswelding.com/sections/chicken_pluckers.php
><
Around here they make them from all thread rod with big wooden washers squeezed together with heavy surgical tubeing sqieezed between the washers and jammed with nuts. Don't know if or how they balance them. I have only herd them described and not seen one.
><
ear

ihookem · « **Reply #47 on:** May 27, 2011, 04:51:47 PM »

[quote author=mannyrock

Chickens are the most disgusting, filthy, stinky animals you can raise. They spend the vast majority of their time trying to figure out how to poop in their own water bowls.

I agree, they stink terrible. I asked a guy once why on earth does he raise pigs? He ripped me good when I told him I raised chickens. The pigs are a bunch cleaner and thats hard to believe. I went with some egg layers and seem cleaner but they are 3 weeks.

blind ear · « **Reply #48 on:** May 27, 2011, 04:58:50 PM »

You keep pigs where you don't step in thier mess, with free range chickens it is different somewhat, unless you have a terrier trained to defend his area around the house. ear

The Hermit · « **Reply #49 on:** May 27, 2011, 07:20:53 PM »

For what its worth, I kept my chickens in a 10' X 12' shed. It had a screen wall dividing it into a 3' section, to store the feed in a covered 55 gal drum and a 9' long section for the birds, accesed by a screened door. I kept a 3" thick layer of straw on the floor which kept them clean and no stink. They had 6 nests to lay eggs in and 4 long round poles on which to roost at night.
Next to the shed, I had fully enclosed, by chicken mesh, a 10' x 20' run. I also tossed some scratch into the run during the day. At night, they would go into the building and I would close the little sliding door to the run, which kept everything tight. You need the roosting poles round, about 2-3 inch diameter, to protect their feet. They will get crippled if they have to roost on the edge of a board. As soon as the sun starts to go down, they head in for the night. It's true that they establish a pecking order, with the bossier hens and rooster, getting the top most roosts, similar to what turkeys do in the wild. I changed the water everyday, using a galvanized water feeder, and had troughs for the cracked corn. You need to have the corn feeders long enough for the chickens to eat with out fighting.
I killed mine in the fall, prefering to not mess with them in 6' of snow in the winter. Fresh eggs and meat and funny to watch, with very little work.
I usually kept a dozen hens and one rooster. Too many coyotes to allow them to free range here. The will also eat garden and food scraps. For those who don't know, you don't really need a rooster, but the hens behave better and the eggs taste better.

The Hermit

bubbinator · « **Reply #50 on:** May 27, 2011, 08:19:40 PM »

Free Range Eggs! I am blessed with a daughter-in-law who loves to bake and cook. After I gave her a couple dozen of my eggs one day she has never bought another "store bought" egg since. She says the store eggs are "watery" and don't taste as good as mine. Her corn bread is also more yellow due to the richer yolks. Her 2 daughters love the eggs too, they are "fun" because they are brown-blue-green-tan-white-speckled, large, small! (Multiple breeds)

wwjmbd · « **Reply #51 on:** June 19, 2011, 10:02:45 PM »

We use to have up to 30 or so chikens for a few years and found them very affordable to keep, in the spring summer and fall they took far less feed than in the winter due to they were free ranged on our 27 acres. They prefered insects, bugs, table scraps, fruits and veggies that we had grown a way too much of anyway to the chiken feed. They loved the watermelon rinds especially. They had to be kept in a barn at night due to the many predators in the area, coons and foxes were the worst for killing them. The barn had to be refitted after the coons peeled back a small window close to the roof and got in to kill a bunch of chickens one night. After that it was very hard to get the chickens to go back into the barn at night and the ones that woudent come in and roosted in trees all got picked off by the coons after dark. I remember killing 11 coons in a matter of just a few days and shooting at a couple foxes running accross the yard with chickens in their mouths. If it wasent for the predators though they will multiply damn fast with a rooster around and we would have more chickens than we could have ever ate in a short period.

Depending on where you live you could raise them free range for long enough to eat, 5-6 months or so and I am sure they would have a better taste than the ones that never see the daylight and only eat chiken feed.

They were easy to winter aswell, much easier and cleaner than the ducks we had back then, just a light bulb for heat some water and chiken feed every day and clean the pen once a week.

bilmac · « **Reply #52 on:** June 20, 2011, 02:03:46 AM »

Dad always had some free range chickens around, one benefit not mentioned before is that they keep the bugs down.

As a kid I always hated plucking them and I didn't much care for the cave man method of chopping heads off, so when dad got too old to care anymore, I killed them with headshots, and skinned them instead of plucking.

bubbinator · « **Reply #53 on:** June 26, 2011, 09:47:00 PM »

After reading an article in "Backyard Poultry" we got some Silver Winged Dorkings, billed as very docile, friendly chickens. Most of my birds are free rage to a fault-they roost in trees. The 14 Dorkings-2 roosters/12 hens came with 6 extra roosters "for warmth". One chick died. They are going on 3 months old and I am very pleased with their social qualities. Best breed ever for family and kids. I will go into their pen and they surround me, can be picked up/petted/ some fly up on my shoulders, really great experiences for new comers.