Chickens

[unklekippy]

Why is cleaning the eggs bad?

Many people have told me that Rhode Island Red Roosters are great. I am going that route. I am also going to get a few different types and compare and figure out what suits me best. Maybe I'll eventually settle on one type, maybe not.

I am looking into a heated water unit that doesn't allow them to poop in it. I am looking into a contained food unit as well.

Fun times ahead.

 

[unklekippy]

I have the water trough elevated on some bricks. High enough so they can't deposit their waste into it.

I also hang the feeder from a wire under the elevated coop. What they spill from it, they peck around and clean up each day, because I don't fill it more then two birds can eat in a day.

They are nuts for grass cuttings. Every morning they get a handful from my lawn.

The most fun you can with chickens is to rig up a couple of worm electrodes in your yard.

All you need is a couple 12" lengths of stiff wire (coat hangers work well) bent into an "L".

Strip the hot "Black" wire from an old extension cord, leaving the male plug end intact.

Twist the bare black wire around the little end and cover with electrical tape, then strip and tape the black wire 24" down from the end rod and tape that up as well.

This gives you two electrodes wired in series to plunge into moist ground 24" apart from each other. For a larger area, use three rods and form a triangle'

When plugged into a live outlet, electricity will go to ground and in a few minutes, you will see a whole bunch of worms of every size come wiggling out of the ground trying to get as far away as they can from the electrical currant.

Unplug the extension cord and let the chickens out of their pen.

Total mayhem ensues.

If you have a slightly sadistic side, watch what happens when you plug it back in while the hens are busy eating the worms.

Most are so greedy, they will run across the hot area doing an Irish jig just to grab a beak full.

Good stuff. I can't wait to try a worm electrode.

 

[jbett98]

Washing the eggs removes the natural protective outer coating and allows air to penetrate the shell and speed up spoilage.
If feces are present on the shell, you generally have a problem with the hen, indicating diarrhea or some other ailment.

 

[jbett98]

It also works great for gathering worms for fishing, but the process shortens their life span. Best to use them the same day.

 

[chemist]

Washing the eggs removes the natural protective outer coating and allows air to penetrate the shell and speed up spoilage.
If feces are present on the shell, you generally have a problem with the hen, indicating diarrhea or some other ailment.

Roger that, plus washing them just rinses any contamination into the eggs.

 

[SOrez]

I have Barred Rock chickens. They are from this year,the hens are curious and the rooster is getting huge and starting to be aggressive. They are bigger than my neighbors Rhode Island Reds. I have 7 hens and get 4 to 6 eggs a day.

I wonder if gophers would like the worm chaser? I think I will find out.

 

[oaloy7rackow]

My chicken coop will be constructed about a week from today. I live at 4,600 feet in southern Oregon, 40 miles NE of K. Falls. What kind of chickens do I want and why? My goal as of right now is to produce eggs for myself, wife and 10 year old son. We are not yet looking to produce meat chickens, so a rooster is not needed at the moment. We will probably add a rooster down the road to produce meat or more egg laying chickens for barter or sale at a market. The coop will be plenty large enough and will have a spate area to expand chickens or add rabbits or some other long term regenerating protein source.

Are certain chickens better for my area? Do certain chickens produce more/better eggs? I am new to the chicken world and appreciate all opinions. I have my coop setup figured out and am making quite a nice one. Doing it right one time beats the hell out of constant repairs. Thanks for the help.

Hey, that sounds great that you are building a coop before buying any chicks since it reminds me my crazy thinking you won't believe I had ordered 10 chicks but haven't build any coop for that then when they were in my house I actually felt that what should I do now?? Then for a temporary purpose I used my store room of course cleaned it properly for 2 weeks till the coop was build ,,uhh,, coming to the point as per your depiction you may add chickens like Brahma, Buttercup or Sicilian Buttercup, or the famous Chantecler ones but make sure that you are ready with all the waterers, poultry feeders, etc for there proper health or else do one thing while I was searching for some stuff I found out this website
Try this out, its quiet good for queries related to poultry.
Hope this would help you out!!

 

[CoastRange57]

You only need a heat lamp when the chicks are young and with out adult feathers. As soon as they have full feathers, lose the heat lamp. Full grown chickens put off about 10 watts of heat each in a coop. We have a window in ours that stays open year around. Window has hardware mesh over it to keep predators out. They produce more than enough heat to keep themselves comfortable.

Secure the birds in a tamper proof building at night. Do not allow any predators access in any way.

When the day length drops under 12 hours, start a timed light on them. I keep 14 to 16 hours minimum light on our birds all winter. They respond to photo period much more than they do temp. If you do not put a light on them, egg production will drop dramatically. A flourescent light will work just fine.

20 hens produce about 12 eggs per day in the end of their 3rd year. Probably going to get a whole new flock next year. They eat anything you put in the pen. Kitchen scraps and all. I keep our confined in a large pen that gives them plenty of room, and they go into the coop to lay the eggs rather than randomly around the property. One or two fly out every day, but always return to lay eggs and to go to roost. I have seen these 2 hens charge a cat when the cat approached them. Cat ran.

Ours are Rhode Island Reds and Austranlorps. The rooster is an Asutranlorp, pretty aggressive, but makes a lot of noise when anything is out of normal anywhere in his eye sight. He has a certain crow and crow pattern, and when he starts that I know to look outside and see what is going on.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The Needling Yarner is pretty adept at cold weather survival.

 

[unklekippy]

You only need a heat lamp when the chicks are young and with out adult feathers. As soon as they have full feathers, lose the heat lamp. Full grown chickens put off about 10 watts of heat each in a coop. We have a window in ours that stays open year around. Window has hardware mesh over it to keep predators out. They produce more than enough heat to keep themselves comfortable.

Secure the birds in a tamper proof building at night. Do not allow any predators access in any way.

When the day length drops under 12 hours, start a timed light on them. I keep 14 to 16 hours minimum light on our birds all winter. They respond to photo period much more than they do temp. If you do not put a light on them, egg production will drop dramatically. A flourescent light will work just fine.

20 hens produce about 12 eggs per day in the end of their 3rd year. Probably going to get a whole new flock next year. They eat anything you put in the pen. Kitchen scraps and all. I keep our confined in a large pen that gives them plenty of room, and they go into the coop to lay the eggs rather than randomly around the property. One or two fly out every day, but always return to lay eggs and to go to roost. I have seen these 2 hens charge a cat when the cat approached them. Cat ran.

Ours are Rhode Island Reds and Austranlorps. The rooster is an Asutranlorp, pretty aggressive, but makes a lot of noise when anything is out of normal anywhere in his eye sight. He has a certain crow and crow pattern, and when he starts that I know to look outside and see what is going on.

Very good info. Thank you.

My coop will be quite large. I have about 50" between my shop and my shed. The coop itself will be between the shop and shed, with the run going along the back of the shed and opening up to a larger pen on the other side of the shed, opposite the coop. I am sparing no expense and making it large enough to add more chickens if necessary(or rabbits, or some other type of animal). It will have a chicken wire roof on the run and large pen, as we are surrounded by Bald Eagles and all sorts of hawks out here. I also will have a "moat" in my chicken area. By that, I mean I will have the floor of the coop raised about 30-36" off the ground. The planks to get in the coop will be detachable and at night the chickens go in and the plank gets set on the ground. Then, if predators get past my buried chicken wire(we also have bobcats, cougars, bears and such. I regularly see cougar tracks within 20 feet of my house.) they still have to negotiate the "moat" and closed coop. It also gives them shade in our brutal summers.

Tomorrow we go to town to get the needed supplies. Friday and Saturday we build. On Sunday I will be going to pick up my birds. At the least, my rooster will be a Rhode Island Red. I will probably start with RI Reds all around and go from there. Though I will say that the Needling Yarner is quite an attractive bird. I am hoping this is a venture under $500. If not, that is OK and it is money well spent. I decided upon moving here that nothing gets half-assed. We are going to build it like we need it to survive.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I heard that chickens don't need nor perhaps want a 1/1 nest box ratio.. often they like to cuddle.. it probably depends on the chicken and or dimensions of the nest box. I could be wrong though.
I've been thinking about getting some chickens for a long time. I like watching them and all but don't eat that many eggs, yada yada. It's always in the back of my mind though.
When I was a kid we had Banty hens running all over the spread. They were just loose and not "cared" for at all. We also had kind of an aviary with all sorts of other birds.. ducks, pheasant, this and that.

 

[jbett98]

A guy up the road turned an old 14' Shasta travel trailer into a chicken coop.
Stripped out the fixtures and made some roosts and nesting boxes inside.

 

[unklekippy]

I heard that chickens don't need nor perhaps want a 1/1 nest box ratio.. often they like to cuddle.. it probably depends on the chicken and or dimensions of the nest box. I could be wrong though.
I've been thinking about getting some chickens for a long time. I like watching them and all but don't eat that many eggs, yada yada. It's always in the back of my mind though.
When I was a kid we had Banty hens running all over the spread. They were just loose and not "cared" for at all. We also had kind of an aviary with all sorts of other birds.. ducks, pheasant, this and that.

As far as the nesting, I am planning on asking the folks I buy the chicks from. I would imagine they are all different, but what do I know?

I don't eat as many eggs as I used to, but I used to live 3 blocks from a Fred Meyer. Now it is 40 miles away. We have been discussing all the different uses for the eggs. In Chiloquin there is a small farmer's market on Fridays. We can sell/trade and we will make lots of cornbread!

My back is destroyed. Just getting the area ready for the construction herniated another disc yesterday. My old best friend is coming down tonight from Portland to help me(read: do it for me) build the coop. It is something that I can do, enjoy and feel like I'm contributing. I can't do anything without herniating discs these last 2 years. I should at least be able to tend to the chickens. I know that the birds pretty much take care of themselves, but I can sit in the shade and toss them seed or whatever. It's a hobby with caloric value.

 

[unklekippy]

A guy up the road turned an old 14' Shasta travel trailer into a chicken coop.
Stripped out the fixtures and made some roosts and nesting boxes inside.

You have no idea how funny it is you say that. I had a line on an old school district "short bus" that I seriously considered putting on my property and dong the same. It's really not a bad idea if you don't mind the eyesore. I came so close to buying it, but I am using otherwise useless space by building my coop where it is.

Now, if I ever get goats, I know where an old tour bus sits in K. Falls.

 

[Certaindeaf]

When I do do eggs, I can go through them.. last night I made porkchops. Dip chops in egg yolk, dredge in seasoned bread crumbs and fry in bacon fat or any old oil. Oh man. Also (I was single for many years) quiche is fantastic.. get the rolled up frozen pie crusts (two per pack and about $2) and throw in the kitchen sink. I've never made a bad one and they do take up some eggs.
Goats. Goats are great. Fun to watch and all that and'll produce a heck of a lot of milk. When I lived in MT we'd eat young ones often. We'd get them free out of the paper and very good eating (mainly bbq parties). You can also fashion a backpack for them made out of burlap that'll hold some bbq sauce for those long treks into the wilderness.

 

[Sgt Nambu]

^^^ Goat= Yummmmm!

 

[Blaylocke]

I admire you guys. I couldn't kill a baby goat if I was starving to death. I'd probably feed it the last of my food. Total animal puss.

 

[chariot13]

As far as cocks go, the Rhodie cocks can be real sweethearts - amazingly so.

Yeah, my Rhode island red rooster didn't get that memo

 

[spectra]

As for a nest box I have 5 hens and only 2 nest boxes. I had as many as 7 hens at one time with no issues. Even when one went broody and tried to hatch every ones unfertilized eggs there was not an issue. We have a mix of hens and like the various colors you can get.

And as stated before nothing like a fresh egg from the hen house Yokes look almost nuclear compared to a store bought egg.

Good luck on the adventure!

 

[jbett98]

I built the nest box on the outside of the coop.
You lift the top and remove the eggs without stepping inside the coop.
Hens like the nest box to be dark and removed from the main coop area.