Pistol
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Chickens!
Mar 12, 2018 18:55:36 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 12, 2018 18:55:36 GMT -6
orangehibiscus typically meat chickens are butchered around 3-4 months but some as late as 6-8 months. Look into your local restrictions but you may have to sell (or trade) them still alive and the buyer have to butcher them. Or you could become a certified butcher but that’s $$ and a total PITA. We want to do meat chickens but found out that none of the butchers around here will process them. We would have to go 2-3 hours away to find someone willing to process them. We’ve considered making the jump to become ODA/USDA certified for processing chickens once we are ready to start into meat chickens. Still not sure on that as it’s more of a 5 year plan thing.
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 12, 2018 19:46:54 GMT -6
orangehibiscus typically meat chickens are butchered around 3-4 months but some as late as 6-8 months. Look into your local restrictions but you may have to sell (or trade) them still alive and the buyer have to butcher them. Or you could become a certified butcher but that’s $$ and a total PITA. We want to do meat chickens but found out that none of the butchers around here will process them. We would have to go 2-3 hours away to find someone willing to process them. We’ve considered making the jump to become ODA/USDA certified for processing chickens once we are ready to start into meat chickens. Still not sure on that as it’s more of a 5 year plan thing. Thanks! We don’t want to sell the meat chickens though. We want to keep the majority of them for ourselves and give some away to our friends. We won’t be selling them at a farmer’s market or anything like that.
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Chickens!
Mar 12, 2018 19:47:45 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2018 19:47:45 GMT -6
I don't really go here, but my Pinterest feed has suggested things related to raising chickens for months. Including how to crochet a sweater for your chicken. Anyone here make sweaters for their chickens? No sweaters, but I have been eyeing a spot to put in a swing for them.
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Chickens!
Mar 15, 2018 4:54:00 GMT -6
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Post by blurnette989 on Mar 15, 2018 4:54:00 GMT -6
I've heard sweaters can actually rub feathers off, so while cute, not actually great for chickens. Not 200% sure how accurate though.
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Post by tincupchalice on Mar 17, 2018 9:48:53 GMT -6
We used to have chickens. Rhode Island Reds and Delawares. The RIRs were my fave. Can't have them now or the next few years, but we'll see what comes after that. The poop was the worst.
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 18, 2018 19:48:52 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 18, 2018 19:48:52 GMT -6
So I think we might end up with Australorps. H is currently spiraling on YouTube videos to see how we can free range them in the yard effectively. I’m excited. I think we will let them run in the garden as well as bring home loads of manure from the farm to let them scratch and graze in.
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bonzo
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Post by bonzo on Mar 18, 2018 20:47:33 GMT -6
Hi there! I saw the thread while scrolling on the main menu, and I do love talking chickens!
We have 3 in our little backyard flock -- two Easter Eggers and one Colombian Wyandotte. We love getting the multicolored eggs from them. We have an electric fence around their run, since we back up to open space and have seen coyotes, bobcats, foxes and hawks. It's done it's job so far keeping them safe -- the coyotes apparently can hear the current and don't even try to get the girls.
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Chickens!
Mar 18, 2018 23:56:25 GMT -6
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Post by bunnyfungo on Mar 18, 2018 23:56:25 GMT -6
Kind of random question: does anyone have any experience with moving their chickens? We have 4 red sex links and DH got a job about 6 hours away. So we’ll be moving at the end of the summer. I have no idea how to handle the chickens. We are 99.9% moving to another rural area because that’s just my personal preference, so that shouldn’t be an issue. But do I just cage them? Will they be okay for that long in a car? I don’t know what I’m doing, but we also don’t want to give them away. They are our pets.
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 19, 2018 6:37:39 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 19, 2018 6:37:39 GMT -6
Kind of random question: does anyone have any experience with moving their chickens? We have 4 red sex links and DH got a job about 6 hours away. So we’ll be moving at the end of the summer. I have no idea how to handle the chickens. We are 99.9% moving to another rural area because that’s just my personal preference, so that shouldn’t be an issue. But do I just cage them? Will they be okay for that long in a car? I don’t know what I’m doing, but we also don’t want to give them away. They are our pets. I would cage them. I know that Meyer hatchery ships layers. You might check with a hatchery to see what they suggest for moving them.
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Post by tincupchalice on Mar 20, 2018 20:10:45 GMT -6
Kind of random question: does anyone have any experience with moving their chickens? We have 4 red sex links and DH got a job about 6 hours away. So we’ll be moving at the end of the summer. I have no idea how to handle the chickens. We are 99.9% moving to another rural area because that’s just my personal preference, so that shouldn’t be an issue. But do I just cage them? Will they be okay for that long in a car? I don’t know what I’m doing, but we also don’t want to give them away. They are our pets. We didn't go that far, but I had a big plastic dog crate. They were fine.
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 25, 2018 9:49:29 GMT -6
Has anyone bought chicks from a store vs buying online? We are looking Tractor Supply and other stores like that. Any tips on which chicks to pick or not? I’ve heard about paste butt (I think that’s what it is called), where the chicks get dehydrated and the poop sticks to them. A friend told me to stay away from those chicks. Anything else I need to look for to pick healthy chicks? I think we’re going on Thursday to buy them.
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Pistol
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Chickens!
Mar 25, 2018 17:54:43 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 25, 2018 17:54:43 GMT -6
Has anyone bought chicks from a store vs buying online? We are looking Tractor Supply and other stores like that. Any tips on which chicks to pick or not? I’ve heard about paste butt (I think that’s what it is called), where the chicks get dehydrated and the poop sticks to them. A friend told me to stay away from those chicks. Anything else I need to look for to pick healthy chicks? I think we’re going on Thursday to buy them. H just brought home 6 australorps from TSC. Last time we had chickens they came from there too and we didn’t have any issues. I would just look for the ones that are pretty lively. Worst case scenario, I think the most expensive one they had at our store was only $2.50 so you’re not out a fortune if one doesn’t make it. We know the manager of the store by us and he sold us ours for $1 each though. Woo sale! 😂
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Pistol
Diamond
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Post by Pistol on Mar 25, 2018 18:00:33 GMT -6
So today we brought home a load of manure from the farm and tossed it in the bottom end of our garden. The garden is already fenced to keep deer out so we plan to let our chickens run in there. The manure pile is for them to scratch and dig for worms and grubs in and hopefully they will help compost it quicker. H stopped on the way home (kids were in my truck and naked since they decided to find a mud puddle at the farm) to get us 6 austrolorps. My cousin was telling me he has a bunch of chicks on order and will be delivered next month to his house and I’m welcome to have as many as I want because they messed up his order and are just giving these to him. I think I’m going to get a few blue laced Wyandottes from him. But I want to wait for him to sex them first so we don’t end up with roosters. We’ll go in a few weeks and get the coop but for now they are living in my basement. The kids have gone down 3 times already tonight to check on them. 😂😂
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 25, 2018 21:58:52 GMT -6
Has anyone bought chicks from a store vs buying online? We are looking Tractor Supply and other stores like that. Any tips on which chicks to pick or not? I’ve heard about paste butt (I think that’s what it is called), where the chicks get dehydrated and the poop sticks to them. A friend told me to stay away from those chicks. Anything else I need to look for to pick healthy chicks? I think we’re going on Thursday to buy them. H just brought home 6 australorps from TSC. Last time we had chickens they came from there too and we didn’t have any issues. I would just look for the ones that are pretty lively. Worst case scenario, I think the most expensive one they had at our store was only $2.50 so you’re not out a fortune if one doesn’t make it. We know the manager of the store by us and he sold us ours for $1 each though. Woo sale! 😂 Glad y’all didn’t have any issues! H and I got our chicks today, and they were on sale for $0.75 each. We got them from a store like TSC. So far they’re doing well, eating, sleeping, and pooping! ETA: Your chicks and kiddos are so cute!
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 25, 2018 22:01:45 GMT -6
Here are our 30 Cornish Rock Cross chicks. I’m mobile, so I’m sorry if the pic is huge!
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Chickens!
Mar 25, 2018 22:06:23 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2018 22:06:23 GMT -6
Eeee babies! Pistol my friend has composting chickens. It’s worked well for her. I love the blue laced Wyandottes, so pretty!
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bonzo
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Post by bonzo on Mar 25, 2018 23:07:11 GMT -6
Aww, so many fluffy babies!
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Pistol
Diamond
Posts: 28,064 Likes: 62,420
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 3:30:25 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 3:30:25 GMT -6
Eeee babies! Pistol my friend has composting chickens. It’s worked well for her. I love the blue laced Wyandottes, so pretty! Eventually (like 5 years from now when we actually manage to move to the farm), we want them in the fields with the cows. We move the cows every day or two and the chickens will stay a couple of days behind the cows with a coop that will be moved with them. By doing that, they will scatter the patties to the point you won’t even know there were cows there. And they are great for fly control and typically with using the chickens, you don’t have to worm the cattle either. They really are a beneficial animal!!
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milano
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Post by milano on Mar 26, 2018 8:33:54 GMT -6
Eeee babies! Pistol my friend has composting chickens. It’s worked well for her. I love the blue laced Wyandottes, so pretty! Eventually (like 5 years from now when we actually manage to move to the farm), we want them in the fields with the cows. We move the cows every day or two and the chickens will stay a couple of days behind the cows with a coop that will be moved with them. By doing that, they will scatter the patties to the point you won’t even know there were cows there. And they are great for fly control and typically with using the chickens, you don’t have to worm the cattle either. They really are a beneficial animal!! We're doing this with our meat chickens this year, but they'll be in with donkeys and goats. Or rather they'll be a pasture behind them. It's brilliant really.
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 9:03:04 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 9:03:04 GMT -6
Eventually (like 5 years from now when we actually manage to move to the farm), we want them in the fields with the cows. We move the cows every day or two and the chickens will stay a couple of days behind the cows with a coop that will be moved with them. By doing that, they will scatter the patties to the point you won’t even know there were cows there. And they are great for fly control and typically with using the chickens, you don’t have to worm the cattle either. They really are a beneficial animal!! We're doing this with our meat chickens this year, but they'll be in with donkeys and goats. Or rather they'll be a pasture behind them. It's brilliant really. Just watch with the meat chickens. They don’t have that sense of home like layers do. You’ll probably need to keep them contained to the coop still. Layers will learn the coop is home and return to it each night and not wonder off as much.
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milano
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Post by milano on Mar 26, 2018 9:31:42 GMT -6
We're doing this with our meat chickens this year, but they'll be in with donkeys and goats. Or rather they'll be a pasture behind them. It's brilliant really. Just watch with the meat chickens. They don’t have that sense of home like layers do. You’ll probably need to keep them contained to the coop still. Layers will learn the coop is home and return to it each night and not wonder off as much. Oh they're going to be in a chicken tractor. Our layer chickens will have their own pasture to free range in, where their coop & run will be.
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 9:35:04 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 9:35:04 GMT -6
Just watch with the meat chickens. They don’t have that sense of home like layers do. You’ll probably need to keep them contained to the coop still. Layers will learn the coop is home and return to it each night and not wonder off as much. Oh they're going to be in a chicken tractor. Our layer chickens will have their own pasture to free range in, where their coop & run will be. Oh good! We hope to have a tractor for the layers eventually and run them behind the cows. I just can’t wait to get to that point.
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 9:43:43 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2018 9:43:43 GMT -6
Eeee babies! Pistol my friend has composting chickens. It’s worked well for her. I love the blue laced Wyandottes, so pretty! Eventually (like 5 years from now when we actually manage to move to the farm), we want them in the fields with the cows. We move the cows every day or two and the chickens will stay a couple of days behind the cows with a coop that will be moved with them. By doing that, they will scatter the patties to the point you won’t even know there were cows there. And they are great for fly control and typically with using the chickens, you don’t have to worm the cattle either. They really are a beneficial animal!! That’s really cool. Sounds very sustainable !
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Pistol
Diamond
Posts: 28,064 Likes: 62,420
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 16:22:21 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 16:22:21 GMT -6
Eventually (like 5 years from now when we actually manage to move to the farm), we want them in the fields with the cows. We move the cows every day or two and the chickens will stay a couple of days behind the cows with a coop that will be moved with them. By doing that, they will scatter the patties to the point you won’t even know there were cows there. And they are great for fly control and typically with using the chickens, you don’t have to worm the cattle either. They really are a beneficial animal!! That’s really cool. Sounds very sustainable ! Sustainability is our goal! We’ve been following a guy name Joel Salatin (he has YouTube videos as well as a few books, I’m currently reading Salad Bar Beef) and he claims he doesn’t have to add nutrients to his fields between doing rotational grazing (moving them daily) and using the chickens behind them. In Farmacology (different author) she visits a farm that makes the same claim. Our hope is that not only will farming this way be more sustainable and environmentally friendly (we also try not to use antibiotics unless necessary and try natural approaches to any issues we have instead of synthetic solutions) but also more profitable. Instead of putting money into grains, hormones, antibiotics, field chemicals, and all of these other things the more industrial farms use we want to utilize rotational grazing and chickens to solve most of those issues. In the process we will actually see a gain in the topsoil in our fields instead of erosion and the cows will be healthier and give healthier meat for us to eat. **Obviously if we have a sick animal we will give them the meds they need as directed by a vet.
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 17:45:53 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2018 17:45:53 GMT -6
That’s really cool. Sounds very sustainable ! Sustainability is our goal! We’ve been following a guy name Joel Salatin (he has YouTube videos as well as a few books, I’m currently reading Salad Bar Beef) and he claims he doesn’t have to add nutrients to his fields between doing rotational grazing (moving them daily) and using the chickens behind them. In Farmacology (different author) she visits a farm that makes the same claim. Our hope is that not only will farming this way be more sustainable and environmentally friendly (we also try not to use antibiotics unless necessary and try natural approaches to any issues we have instead of synthetic solutions) but also more profitable. Instead of putting money into grains, hormones, antibiotics, field chemicals, and all of these other things the more industrial farms use we want to utilize rotational grazing and chickens to solve most of those issues. In the process we will actually see a gain in the topsoil in our fields instead of erosion and the cows will be healthier and give healthier meat for us to eat. **Obviously if we have a sick animal we will give them the meds they need as directed by a vet. Well you guys are awesome. Truly. Let me know if I can ever buy some beef from you. 😉
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 18:32:33 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 18:32:33 GMT -6
Sustainability is our goal! We’ve been following a guy name Joel Salatin (he has YouTube videos as well as a few books, I’m currently reading Salad Bar Beef) and he claims he doesn’t have to add nutrients to his fields between doing rotational grazing (moving them daily) and using the chickens behind them. In Farmacology (different author) she visits a farm that makes the same claim. Our hope is that not only will farming this way be more sustainable and environmentally friendly (we also try not to use antibiotics unless necessary and try natural approaches to any issues we have instead of synthetic solutions) but also more profitable. Instead of putting money into grains, hormones, antibiotics, field chemicals, and all of these other things the more industrial farms use we want to utilize rotational grazing and chickens to solve most of those issues. In the process we will actually see a gain in the topsoil in our fields instead of erosion and the cows will be healthier and give healthier meat for us to eat. **Obviously if we have a sick animal we will give them the meds they need as directed by a vet. Well you guys are awesome. Truly. Let me know if I can ever buy some beef from you. 😉 We’ve got one ready to go to the butcher now! lol
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 26, 2018 18:35:23 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 26, 2018 18:35:23 GMT -6
@rocknroll we’re noticing that over the years we have gone a lot more “hippy” but not like antivax levels of crunchy. This will be the third year we have been “organic” with our garden. We aren’t pursuing any certifications, especially since we don’t sell out of it, but we’ve had better luck using compost than we ever did with synthetic fertilizer!
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 27, 2018 7:13:25 GMT -6
I think that’s awesome Pistol! H and I want to be self-sufficient as much as we can. I don’t think we’ll ever not have to go to the grocery store, but we want to raise/grow our own meat, veggies, and herbs.
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Pistol
Diamond
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Chickens!
Mar 27, 2018 7:15:36 GMT -6
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Post by Pistol on Mar 27, 2018 7:15:36 GMT -6
I think that’s awesome Pistol! H and I want to be self-sufficient as much as we can. I don’t think we’ll ever not have to go to the grocery store, but we want to raise/grow our own meat, veggies, and herbs. My hope is to one day only need to go for flour, sugar, yeast, milk, cheese, and butter. Because hell no to a milk cow. 😂
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Post by orangehibiscus on Mar 27, 2018 18:06:58 GMT -6
I think that’s awesome Pistol! H and I want to be self-sufficient as much as we can. I don’t think we’ll ever not have to go to the grocery store, but we want to raise/grow our own meat, veggies, and herbs. My hope is to one day only need to go for flour, sugar, yeast, milk, cheese, and butter. Because hell no to a milk cow. 😂 We have the same hopes, except we do make some of our own cheese. I would like to milk a cow once though to say I’ve done it!
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