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Key:
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 20,179 Likes: 81
Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 20,179 Likes: 81 |
I knew it was coming when we bought a little property. It was just a matter of time. The wife has decided she wants chickens which means they are eventually going to be mine and my responsibility so I better learn everything I can. The most I know about chickens is that they produce eggs and taste best fried. Point me in the right direction please to learn as much as possible. Thanks
If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.-Mark Twain
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 317
4 point
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4 point
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 317 |
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Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 27,316 Likes: 252
Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
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Pumpkin - The Thermal Expert
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 27,316 Likes: 252 |
Freedom rangers will eat everything. They ate my whole garden, all my blueberries and most of my pears this year. Ive never seen anything like it. I would avoid them
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Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 5,897 Likes: 43
12 point
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12 point
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 5,897 Likes: 43 |
Enjoy them fun to learn and watch them grow. Fresh eggs…….Keep them off the porch. Bugs spiders will be gone a good thing. They will dig up the flower beds looking for bugs worms. Foxes coyotes will hang around.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10
10 point
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10 point
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10 |
I got some for you. You can have them. Must take all.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My phone screen does not always work right, usually a lot of misspelled words....
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 6,814 Likes: 14
14 point
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14 point
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 6,814 Likes: 14 |
go with heritage breeds (Google it) - we have a mixed flock of Rhode Island Red’s, Orpington’s (buff & chocolate), & Dominiques
chickens are like 2-3 yo kids - smart enough to train but also smart enough to get into trouble a lot! 🤣
we’ve got a coop w/a 4 level roosting rack & 5 gallon buckets as nesting boxes & a big run
16 % layer pellets in hanging feeders & we toss them 3-way scratch every morning & keep fresh water for them all the time
our egg production on any given day is usually about half the flock - we have 20 hens so a “good” egg day is about 10 eggs - we give our birds a rest in the winter so now we only getting a few eggs every day
ALDeer physics: for every opinion, there's an equal & opposite opinion
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 37,396 Likes: 66
Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 37,396 Likes: 66 |
they need a secure place to stay at night. A coon can, and will, get thru a 2" hole...and kill every chicken it can get to.
I've spent most of the money I've made in my lifetime on hunting and fishing. The rest I just wasted.....
proud Cracker-Americaan
muslims are like coyotes, only good one is a dead one
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Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 9,461 Likes: 13
14 point
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14 point
Joined: Jun 2016
Posts: 9,461 Likes: 13 |
Its hard to beat Rhode Island reds especially if you're going to let them free range.
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Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,213 Likes: 20
8 point
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8 point
Joined: Aug 2012
Posts: 2,213 Likes: 20 |
I have a chicken pen that I built with a coop. The house part is elevated and the pen is made with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. It’s about 4x8 8 feet tall with a 7 foot tall lockable door. I keep a feeder and watered there. This is surrounded by 2 6 foot tall dog pens. We have bird netting over the top. Believe it or not, a Rhode Island Red can get over a 6 foot fence.
We keep the door to the small pen locked at night. We let them free range in the big pen during the day. When we are at home we will let them out of the dog pen in the afternoons.
Everything likes chicken or eggs or their food. I’ve had coyotes in the yard chasing them during the day. If a coon can reach through the wire it will pull off whatever it gets ahold of. Rats will eat the food and eggs. Snakes will eat the eggs.
I put golfballs in the nest boxes. We had a snake swallow one my wife chopped it open and got it back.
Dogs will kill every chicken they can for fun.
I could send you pictures of my setup.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 15,578 Likes: 96
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 15,578 Likes: 96 |
I miss having chickens. Fresh eggs was nice. I'd let them out in the morning when I went to work. When I got home, they'd run to me like dogs. They will eat basically anything, and are some nasty bastards. But, I enjoyed them.
Life is a journey. Make sure and bring plenty of Beer.
My luck has been so bad lately, it could be raining pussies and I'd catch one with a dick broke off in it.
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Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 453 Likes: 1
4 point
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4 point
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 453 Likes: 1 |
Trust me, it's cheaper and less frustrating to just buy eggs. I get happy when our flock finally gets killed off and the wife just goes and buys more.
Ours free range during the day, and they shit on the porches, shit on the driveway, tear up the flower beds daily. They are a damn pain in the ass.
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10
10 point
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10 point
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10 |
Trust me, it's cheaper and less frustrating to just buy eggs. I get happy when our flock finally gets killed off and the wife just goes and buys more.
Ours free range during the day, and they shit on the porches, shit on the driveway, tear up the flower beds daily. They are a damn pain in the ass.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My phone screen does not always work right, usually a lot of misspelled words....
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,526 Likes: 13
Booner
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Booner
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,526 Likes: 13 |
On your run put your wire in a trench with concrete and cover top with wire or netting.
Last edited by ridgestalker; 01/28/26 10:39 PM.
"The Heavens declare the glory of God;and the firmament sheweth his handiwork" Pslam 19:1
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Joined: Dec 2022
Posts: 1,204 Likes: 35
8 point
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8 point
Joined: Dec 2022
Posts: 1,204 Likes: 35 |
It’s easier and cheaper to just buy em. But if you ain’t got the brass to tell your wife no. Then id suggest Rhode Island reds or Dominique or “dominickers” as paw paw called em.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 26,712 Likes: 31
Freak of Nature
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Freak of Nature
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 26,712 Likes: 31 |
Get you two 55 gallon drums and build a stand for them to sit horizontally. Add a shut off valve to the bung plug holes and plumb them together with PVC. Run the PVC into the pen and add Chicken Watering Cups inline to the PVC. Fill the drums full of water and add a tiny amount of bleach to kill the algea that will grow in the drum. This will water your chickens for an extended period of time depending on how many you planned on getting. I didn't read the whole thread so I'm wondering if you are getting them to eventually use for meat chickens or strictly for eggs. If it's the latter my recommendation is to get <5 hens and no roosters. You don't need roosters for egg production and unless you are feeding a pile of eggs to a large family daily you won't need more than 6. When I went through my first round of them I bought 14 hens and we had so many eggs I was having to give them away by the basket.
"Some men are mere hunters; others are turkey hunters."
-- Archibald Rutledge
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,370 Likes: 35
8 point
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8 point
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 2,370 Likes: 35 |
Backyardchickens.com
what everyone else said
love/hate relationship
I had Barred Rock
Romans 8:1-2
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of Sin and Death"
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Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 9,818 Likes: 91
14 point
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14 point
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 9,818 Likes: 91 |
Everybody should do it once. It can be fun. Every manner of Varmint' will visit you. Put up a cam and watch at night. 
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Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10
10 point
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10 point
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 4,374 Likes: 10 |
Found dead rooster in pen. Missing head. I know the culprit.
Down four the last week. Luckily it’s my roosters I was getting rid of
Anyways. Just ain’t had time to do it.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
My phone screen does not always work right, usually a lot of misspelled words....
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 17,376 Likes: 203
Old Mossy Horns
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Old Mossy Horns
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 17,376 Likes: 203 |
Cabin we stayed in last weekend had them. It was a compound full of cabins. Chickens had roosting areas, but just went wherever they wanted. Every time we'd open the garbage can, they'd come a runnin.
I've read up enough on them I know they will eat damned near anything. We had some watermelon rind. They cleaned it right up.
Character is not developed in moments of temptation and trial. That is when it is intended to be used.
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 6,814 Likes: 14
14 point
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14 point
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 6,814 Likes: 14 |
our hens are pulling out of their winter rest & molt & are laying & looking good now - Praise God! 🙏🏻🐔
ALDeer physics: for every opinion, there's an equal & opposite opinion
A wise man can learn more from a foolish question than a fool can learn from a wise answer.
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Moderated by Aldeer, Bronco 74, bucky, Colonel Angus, Dixiepatriot, Driveby, Dustin, hippi, Shaw, swamp_fever2002, Tree Hanger |
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