Raising Chickens

JSJJ388 said:
I hate that your coop blew over. But I'd be lying if I said watching the birds sail out of it wasn't pretty funny.


Hope the structure survived and you're able to put it back in place.
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Right!? Thankfully they were all ok but will probably need a trauma counselor 😂

Unfortunately, the structure is pretty mangled. We're now planning to build a more permanent coop & a friend of ours is going to use what she can of this one.
 
jeepin' jen said:
Right!? Thankfully they were all ok but will probably need a trauma counselor 😂

Unfortunately, the structure is pretty mangled. We're now planning to build a more permanent coop & a friend of ours is going to use what she can of this one.
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Glad they're all alright! Hate it cost ya a coop though.
 
Wife unit brought home 3 refugees from a domestic violence situation 🤣

A daughter/mom/sister family quarrel led to chickens needing a home so 3 new girls.

Here are 2 of them, the other is white with gold splotches.

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I had a hen drop dead. She just went to the light and didn’t look back.

I went out Friday around noon, I was home for lunch, and got the eggs. She was a little broody at times, she was sitting in the nest box on 3 eggs so I reached under her to get them.

She seemed fine, I rubbed her and went on my way.

About 9pm I went out to close the coop and noticed she wasn’t on the perch with the others, not super unusual she stays in the house at night sometimes.

I opened the roof and could see she was in the nesting box still. I was talking to her, asking if she wanted me to put her with the others…then I touched her and felt that her neck and head was hanging out of the box and she was cold.

She looked like she just laid down and went to sleep. She had already laid her egg so not stuck. She had no problems breathing or no other symptoms I noticed. She just died.

I don’t know how old she was as I got her as an adult. She was a Sussex cross so should be relatively long lived 🤷🏼‍♂️

I cleaned out the coop. New pine shavings everywhere and diatomaceous earth sprinkled out. I ordered the highest rated all natural wormer/antiparasitic on Amazon. Put some DE in their pellets and mixed well to coat it all.

First one ever that died of natural causes. Most end up eventually murdered by a hawk or something. As a very methodical and slightly OCD man I want to cover the bases.

New rooster is working out well. He is super attentive and isn’t hard on the hens. As a bantam he can’t really hurt them anyway. He watches the sky diligently and constantly “talks” with little purrs and clucks. He is a cochin and I think I want another one. My sister has several and multiple cochin roosters seem to be able to get along. More eyes on the skies is good.

Zeus, my rooster

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The one my sister is giving me

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We've lost some over the winter and spring. Just picked up 10 layers, bringing us to 15. Also picked up a kune sow recently.

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Chicken math right? Went to tractor supply to get cheap chicks, wound up buying 139 chicks and 11 ducks in the past week. Let's hope they don't hang around too long 🤣. Have probably 20-30 Rudd Rangers, so going to try meat birds. Also some Pekin ducks, so will see what duck tastes like.
 

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paradisePWoffrd said:
Ive got the processing equipment for meat birds, if you need to borrow it, or want a hand.
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This struck me as funny when I read it direct.......no thanks, I don't want a hand, just the bird meat is fine. :laughing:
 
Tacoma747 said:
Chicken math right? Went to tractor supply to get cheap chicks, wound up buying 139 chicks and 11 ducks in the past week. Let's hope they don't hang around too long 🤣. Have probably 20-30 Rudd Rangers, so going to try meat birds. Also some Pekin ducks, so will see what duck tastes like.
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Was gonna go get a few as well as we have a broody hen. But bith the ones close to me are out already.
 
paradisePWoffrd said:
Ive got the processing equipment for meat birds, if you need to borrow it, or want a hand.
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I might would take you up on that. The ducks should be ready sooner than the chickens, but I may wait and do them all at the same time. I have read the ducks are a pain to pluck if you don't do them at the exact right time (pin feathers), so I am thinking about just skinning them if that's the case. I think the Rudd Rangers would be ready sometime around New Year's. I have never really butchered anything before, so sort of clueless. I have done a total of I think 6 roosters, but I just skinned them enough to get the leg/thigh/breast and threw the rest in a hole. The last two roosters I butchered were really tough/chewy/not much meat (so since then I have tried to sell/give away roosters---not meat bird breed). They would probably have been better off in a chicken stew.
 
JSJJ388 said:
Was gonna go get a few as well as we have a broody hen. But bith the ones close to me are out already.
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May not be worth the drive, but I have plenty. Out of the 150 (including ducks) I am now down to 120. Have been selling them for $5 each, but I am negotiable. Ideally I would like to get down to about 40. 10 are Cream Legbars (9 pullets 1 roo), so I plan to keep the roo and at least 5 of the pullets, all the Rudd Rangers (20-30??) and probably 5-10 of the other pullets.

How long has the hen been sitting? Unless she has been sitting for a couple weeks, she probably wouldn't take the chicks. And supposedly chicks that are more than 2 days old won't take to a mother. We just constantly take broody hens out of the nest and keep eggs picked up until they give up, normally takes a few days before they call it quits.
 
@Tacoma747 don't skin the ducks it totally ruins the juice = the flavor. There is no simple way to get past the pin feathers. You just gotta buckle down and get through it which = time. Ducks are a whole affair vs. the ease of chickens or turkeys.



FYI: next go around get yourself some muscovee ducks. Meat it 1,000% times better eating and no greasy taste like pekin or other “domestic farm” duck.
 
Tacoma747 said:
May not be worth the drive, but I have plenty. Out of the 150 (including ducks) I am now down to 120. Have been selling them for $5 each, but I am negotiable. Ideally I would like to get down to about 40. 10 are Cream Legbars (9 pullets 1 roo), so I plan to keep the roo and at least 5 of the pullets, all the Rudd Rangers (20-30??) and probably 5-10 of the other pullets.

How long has the hen been sitting? Unless she has been sitting for a couple weeks, she probably wouldn't take the chicks. And supposedly chicks that are more than 2 days old won't take to a mother. We just constantly take broody hens out of the nest and keep eggs picked up until they give up, normally takes a few days before they call it quits.
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Been broody at least 3 weeks. She's running the others off the nests. Wr move her twice a day to collect eggs. Stubborn ol hag won't get off the nest lol.
 
Tacoma747 said:
I might would take you up on that. The ducks should be ready sooner than the chickens, but I may wait and do them all at the same time. I have read the ducks are a pain to pluck if you don't do them at the exact right time (pin feathers), so I am thinking about just skinning them if that's the case. I think the Rudd Rangers would be ready sometime around New Year's. I have never really butchered anything before, so sort of clueless. I have done a total of I think 6 roosters, but I just skinned them enough to get the leg/thigh/breast and threw the rest in a hole. The last two roosters I butchered were really tough/chewy/not much meat (so since then I have tried to sell/give away roosters---not meat bird breed). They would probably have been better off in a chicken stew.
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I havent done ducks. I have heard of folks waxing the pin feathers, but no experience.
 
Well, we have at least one piglet. She's still laboring, so well see.

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More (not) chicken pics lol. She only had 2 bacon bits.

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But we did get 2 bantham roosters.


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