chickens anyone???

growing up we always did cornish rock chickens on our dairy farm for our own consumption. this spring i decided to go back in time and get some again for me and my wife. we have 12 cornish rock's for meat. we also got 6 comets and 4 rhode island reds for eggs. and to keep her happy we got 3 ducks. anyone else do the chicken dance?

We had as many as 30 at one time, but thats too many eggs for our family. We like to have 6 to 10 chickens at a time. Right now, we are down to 3 cuz the hawks and foxes are taking their toll. The 3 that are left are about 7 years old now, but still laying. One Roade Island Red, one Ameraucana, and a Australorps. They are nice and tame now. Even the dog leaves em be.
The trouble with that is they poop wherever they happen to be. The front porch has to be hosed down every other day.

I did my friend a favor and helped him get this coop. It's set up in his back yard now. Pretty willing to bet he won't follow through and actually get any chickens.
I researched some bear proof coops and found pics of 2" thick coops bolted together lol. You can go the electric fence route too, gets expensive though.
Predators: Black bears, his own dogs, cats, owls, raccoons, possums, hawks, fox, etc. hahahha



The idiot next door actually lures black bears up on his deck to feed them cookies and pet them. This is illegal everywhere, the guy thinks he is an animal trainer. Total moron. My friend complains that his dogs bark when the guy is luring the bears. The guy actually pets the bears. I told my friend to turn the guy in. He won't do it because he works for the guy's girlfriend. I told him there's an anonymous crimestopper's hotline in his county. He won't do that either, afraid they'll know it was him. I told him he is complicit and also will feel very bad if somebody gets hurt.

Just wait until the day the bear attacks someone. I would take pictures for the lawyers. It's all fun and games until someone looses an eye.

Eventually the bears will solve the problem themselves...
One bear to another at the local bear hangout...
Come see a stupid human trick and we'll have a snack afterwards...

We always have a laying flock of Rhode Islands or other brown egg layers and raise 15-20 Cornish rocks for meat every year, along with a bunch of ringneck pheasants which we release. In the past we've raised turkeys (the biggest weighed 40 lbs. dressed), ducks and geese. We really liked having the geese around until we put an inground pool in and they decided they liked that better than the pond.

Got a mix of layers.. Buff orpingtons, brown leghorns and Rhode island reds. Got them March 12th and they're doing good. We have a pretty solid coop so we don't worry about varmints.

I have my last 66 eggs of the season in the incubator now. Usually sell at least a couple hundred chicks annually to offset feed bill but took a break this year and only sold less than 50. Ran 120 for a buddy, about 60 for another friend, and half of this last batch will go to family. I somewhat specialize in Barred Plymouth Rocks but also keep Buff Orpingtons and a bunch of Easter Eggers.

Just wondering , whats the perfered chicken for the table? thank you , Ken

ken wrote:Just wondering , whats the perfered chicken for the table? thank you , Ken

Cornish X if like a chicken with alot of white meat. 8 weeks to grow to about 8 pounds. Raise about 20 each year for the freezer, but I'll warn they are different than other chickens. They stink worse and all they do is eat, look like miny turkeys when butchering.

I have the dog tied beside the chicken shed (8' x 12') and the bee hive. So far his barking has kept the bear away. The bear will come and tear down the bird feeders but will not go near the dog (or chickens and bees).
My six hens are three years old and their laying is sporadic. Yesterday I got four eggs, today I got one egg. I think they are soon going to become soup and there will be a dozen new chicks come Spring.
I like Rhoad Island Reds and will probably stick with them.

96 degrees here today. I am really looking forward to starting my stove! Last year I started it October 8. That is less than two months away. WOOOOO HOOOOOO!

pine grove coal user wrote:
My six hens are three years old and their laying is sporadic. Yesterday I got four eggs, today I got one egg.

What is the desired rate of eggs per day with a hen? I thought they ran about 1.5-2 days an egg from a good hen. How long can they lay eggs/live?

I read somewhere that an Austrolorp hen set the record by laying 364 eggs in 365 days. We have plenty of hens and they are all different. seems like two eggs out of three days is average.They lay more the first year. The eggs start out small and then get bigger as they git older. Older birds lay alot of double yokers too.After a couple years they really don't lay that much for how much feed they eat. Usually that is when they are sold or given away.

hi everyone, this spring we bought 3 docklings 2 pekin whites and a rouwn, very entertaining to watch, 2are normal but one of the pekins cant swim,fly sometimes trips on her own feet!!!! ha a duck that cant swim! later Tommy