Raising chickens. Advice, comments, do's and don'ts wanted.

[ebinmaine 63,214]

Trina and I are very seriously considering starting a small flock of Dual Purpose chickens. They would be raised from chicks to egg-laying age and likely become meat birds at 2 or 3 years of age for females, much less obviously for males.

 

The breeds we are considering are:

Plymouth Rock, White Rock, Buff Orpington.

 

We've done a fair pile of research over the last two or three years off and on and might make a purchase in the next few weeks.

 

It is most likely that the coop and run we'll both be hand built by us out of as much recycled and repurposed materials as possible.

 

We would love as much input from anybody who would care to give it, as possible. In particular, those who have raised chickens... What would you have done differently? What do you wish you knew before you bought Birds or while you had them?

 

Thanks as always for your input.

 

 

[oliver2-44 8,861]

OK EB here's a true chicken story.

My wife grew up in the country, very country and her dad raised a little of everything, including chickens for eggs and meat.  When it came to butchering time he had an old stump that he cuts the heads off on and would throw the bird into a 5 gallon bucket to flutter its last.  When the kids were around he would cuts the head off and toss the chicken on the ground.  It would run around (with maybe a little blood spurting out it's neck).  Of course the kids would chase the headless chicken and she says he would laugh and laugh.  So the phase "Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off"  is a true statement.

 

Of course today this would be very politically incorrect to expose a child to butchering chickens, blood, etc, and PETA would say it's cruel to chase a headless chicken.

[WHNJ701 4,164]

my 7 year old has about 30 chickens, if he can do it you can, he got another 6 chick's 2 weeks ago and 6 more pullets coming tomorrow.  mostly Rhode Island reds, and bar rocks and some silky breed.  it keeps him occupied.

[ebinmaine 63,214]

@jabelman

We'd love to see some pics of your setup if you get a moment or two

[WHX?? 46,814]

Where do you come up with stuff EB?!?!?

Actually this ain't  a bad one as I have been after the Missus to let me get a few. Maybe a turkey or three.  Went into TSC the other day and started drooling for an omelet.

Seems TSC is got the spring chickens in!

Was a thread about this awhile back and we had to look at Squonk's metal ones!

[WHX?? 46,814]

43 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

politically incorrect to expose a child to butchering chickens, blood,

Good thing our forefathers didn't believe in this or we wouldn't be here!

[WHNJ701 4,164]

40 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

@jabelman

We'd love to see some pics of your setup if you get a moment or two

I will get some pics, the main house is 8x12 with a fenced run attached with the top covered, can't let them out with the fox and hawks.  you going to need heat inside for the winter.

keep in mind it's a hobby it's cheaper to buy than to raise 

Edited March 15, 2019 by jabelman

[WHX?? 46,814]

58 minutes ago, jabelman said:

has about 30 chickens

 

15 minutes ago, jabelman said:

it's a hobby

More like a farm with that many Jason!

[ebinmaine 63,214]

17 minutes ago, jabelman said:

can't let them out with the fox and hawks.  you going to need heat inside for the winter.

keep in mind it's a hobby it's cheaper to buy than to raise 

Predatory animals are definitely a huge concern here.

We have every possible Predator you could imagine.

We would be able to have them free range in the backyard to some extent while we are here supervising but certainly would never leave them out when we are gone.

 

Heating depends on who you ask and what breed you have.

There are those that don't heat their coops at all during the winter even in the far north. Obviously, those are specially constructed coops with that in mind.

 

The financial consideration is a big part of the reason why we have not pulled the trigger on this the last couple of years.

That is also one of the reasons why we would be raising dual-purpose birds.

We're going to purchase them non-sexed and the males would turn to soup as soon as possible.

Whatever females we have left would be kept for eggs and we would roadside sell whatever eggs we don't eat.

In this area we would sell out every day at them going for $2 per dozen because no one else has any available. We know because we try to buy them when we can.

 

The bottom line is that this is something that we would like to hope to break even financially but that's not really the biggest concern. We would like to have control of more of our own food intake and the raising of your own chickens typically will give you an egg that is better for you than a store-bought farm-raised egg.

[squonk 38,965]

1 hour ago, WHX22 said:

Where do you come up with stuff EB?!?!?

Actually this ain't  a bad one as I have been after the Missus to let me get a few. Maybe a turkey or three.  Went into TSC the other day and started drooling for an omelet.

Seems TSC is got the spring chickens in!

Was a thread about this awhile back and we had to look at Squonk's metal ones!

My chickens were cheap. Don't eat much. The 3 on the ground spend the winter in the house. dogs and cats don't seem to mind. The big one who likes to hang out o nthe roof of the coop is named Homer. Because he's the first thing we see when we get home. Nobody messes with him either! Maintenance is simple. I went out yesterday and cleaned things up with the leaf blower. The local hawks and eagles aren't to happy but too bad!  

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 63,214]

@squonk

I appreciate you sharing and all especially considering I did actually ask to see pictures.

And I don't mean to seem ungrateful. Don't get me wrong.

I'm just kind of thinking that the eggs from those metal chickens might have a bit of an odd aftertaste.....

Also, I don't have a set of torches to do the appropriate butchering on those.

[squonk 38,965]

Iron in your diet and a set of tin snips.

[formariz 11,863]

2 hours ago, WHX22 said:

Where do you come up with stuff EB?!?!?

Actually let me just say that you always start the most interesting threads. Always refreshing to read, learn and share about matters that just about everyone here has a vested interest in, but aren't often brought up.

[Aldon 4,826]

Dont expect to get much income from eggs during the winter. It is pretty challenging to try and fake them out with lighting. Where we get our Eggs normally basically hasnt had them for about 3 months. Chickens would cooperate this year.

[WHNJ701 4,164]

ways to do it cheap......

 

cedar posts for the run

make the coop out pallets, and scrap roof tin

tractor supply cuts the price on chick's to 50 cents when new orders are getting delivered.

[ebinmaine 63,214]

1 hour ago, formariz said:

Actually let me just say that you always start the most interesting threads. Always refreshing to read, learn and share about matters that just about everyone here has a vested interest in, but aren't often brought up.

Well. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Fact of the matter is: this website is the ONLY social media that I use.

i'm not on that books with the faces thing and i'm not all twitterpated either. i don't bother to chat.

I figure if I want to know something there is probably one or two people on this particular site which I happen to like quite a lot, that might have the answer.

 

 

@jabelman

those are great suggestions and I had already had the same idea about the recycle pallets and the tin roof. I have both on hand. Cedar Post are not so easy to get a hold of around here but I'm sure I can figure something else out.

 

 

[elcamino/wheelhorse 9,062]

Three letters that takes all the work out of raising chickens. KFC

[ebinmaine 63,214]

3 minutes ago, elcamino/wheelhorse said:

Three letters that takes all the work out of raising chickens. KFC

Yeah but they won't sell me no eggs

[19richie66 16,954]

Jim beat me too it.

[Pullstart 59,744]

We have had 6 birds, and now 16 birds.  Same funny ground pecking nothing chasing creatures.  We get ours from www.MeyerHatchery.com and we pick their hatch date base on breeds we chose and they show up at the post office in a cheep cheep box.  

 

Whatever coop you build, here are my pointers:  

 

make it tall enough to work in.

build in some storage for feed, bedding, etc.  

give them natural light and the ability to have ventilation.  

Run power to the coop for lights, heated water base, etc.

make it easy to clean out.  Make sure your rake or hoe can be used comfortably

we got super cheap linoleum at Home Depot for our flooring.  With added bedding, clean up is a sinch!  

Give them plenty of places to roost and nest.  

Have fun with the design, they won’t know the difference but it makes things more fun!

[953 nut 51,775]

Growing up in central NY my dad had several chicken coops. The winter coop was the largest holding a couple hundred laying hens and it was subterranean. He had it dug down into the ground about four feet and the walls above grade were only about two foot high with windows and the second story above that was feed and straw storage so we took advantage of the warmth of the ground and the insulation of the straw. All of the lighting was heat lamps and was on a timer, as @Aldon said, we attempted to convince them it was summer. In the winter we would get ten or twelve dozen eggs per day. Hand washed, candled and packed, a fair amount of work each afternoon after school.   All we raised was Rhode Island Reds, the stores we sold to loved the brown eggs.

In the late winter we would get about a thousand non-sexed chicks, the walls of one of the smaller chicken coops were then lined with strew bales to hold in the heat and we turned them loose, that was always fun. The run was an area between four chicken houses, probably 100' X 100' and it was cross fenced into four areas. Older hens from the winter coop in one, pullets in two and ***** (chicken dinner on the talon) in the smallest one. We got day old bread and other baked goods from the stores we delivered eggs to and that helped keep the feed bill down, in fact that is all the ***** were fed. We would also give them grass clippings from the lawn, they loved that! At about six months of age the ***** would be shipped off for slaughter and we would cull out the older hens that were not laying and send them off too. In the late fall we would sell off all but a couple hundred hens and the cycle would repeat.

  Seems our politically correct obscenity filter didn't like the four letter word for an boy chicken.    

Edited March 15, 2019 by 953 nut
PCBS

[Ed Kennell 35,848]

Rooster.. Rooster, Rooster.      Hmm, my boys didn't get bleeped Dick.

[WHX?? 46,814]

Capon...capon...capon... mine neither. ..

What the heck kinda boy chickens you got there Richard? !?!

Edited March 15, 2019 by WHX22

[JoeM 7,649]

They are easy to feed!

 

 

 

 

 

[Ed Kennell 35,848]

We started getting our eggs from a Amish farm.      I don' know what breed chicken they are, but the eggs are super jumbos and to crack the shells, you need a BFH.