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3:05 pm
December 28, 2008
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Awwww, ticka – that's a great story! Talking with and about your chickens. It doesn't get any better! 
8:27 pm
January 14, 2010
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I love my chickens, though I have just started with them & my flock is really small. I have 5. 3 hens & 2 roosters. It was supposed to be 4 hens & 1 rooster, but Lola, my gray "hen" turned out to be a boy. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about that yet. Big Mac, my Buff Orpington rooster, seems to tolerate him alright, but Lola is still very young, only 9 months old. I'm planning to order some day olds from McMurray's in February, as soon as they start shipping. I really want a whole flock of buffs. I just stumbled upon the ones I have right now. We were in South Alabama, tending my brother in laws grave, & a guy down the road from the cemetary was selling his daughter's 4-H chickens. She had tired of them, & he was tired of picking up her slack. So I got them for 2.50 each & they were already 6 months old. He had vaccinated them too, which was a plus. I can hardly wait til I can get some more. We are really enjoying them now that they have started to lay.
9:55 pm
May 14, 2005
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I love my buffs, Mandy!!! They're beautiful chickens.
10:40 pm
January 14, 2010
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Suzanne, my rooster is so big, he's a little scary. His head comes above my knee. He's really tame, so he just walks right up on you. It made me really uncomfortable until I had him a few weeks & got used to him. I was used to the game roosters my grandaddy had when I was young. I took many a flogging on his farm.
2:42 pm
Original question – WHY do we have chickens ?
It's dh's fault! He had a friend who had chickens, and I had another friend who had chickens, and both friends decided to downsize their flocks. DH was very ill at the time and mostly just sitting around. So, since he was interested in chickens, we got parts of the two flocks.
That got him out of the house, because he had to plan and build his chicken runs and chicken shelters… I am dignifyiing what he built when I call them 'houses,' believe me! He got his friends to come over and help set fence posts, hang wire and put chicken wire on the top, make really goofy doors, etc. Then all these pretty chickens got to come home.
He was quite smart to separate the full-size breeds, since he wanted to know what chickens crossed with what. Banties… I think the percent of males in a batch of banties is more like 75% than 50%!! As long as they don't fight much or draw blood, we just keep them. We had two bantam moms each with 3 babies in the mix of chickens.
Bantam roo activity is odd — the bb banty rooster in one run fights the rb banty in the next run, through the wire. Both of them ignore the other 2 banty roos who are in the same run! They flare their neck ruffs and run like crazy.
Our latest chickens - we traded off Mr Mean, the dominecker roo, for a Silver Pencil Wyandotte and a tiny tiny black and white Dutch bantam roo. Mr. Elegant, the new Silver Pencil, has already figured out which 4 hens belong to him. Dutch boy is still hiding in the cat carrier he came home in and only coming out to eat and drink.
DH says he needs to build something like a playhouse for the mini roo and get him some mini hens. LOL
Ain't life grand if you don't weaken!! 
Anybody going to enter chickens in the county fair???
2:47 pm
January 25, 2010
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A day without chickens is like a day without sunshine!!
Welll….maybe not quite, but I've been around chickens all my life, so they seem to be the 'norm' for me……..From my Grandad's game roosters and their chipmunk striped chicks and my Gram's layers to working for a commercial grower who had around 100,000 broiler chicks delivered at once. (I got too attached, hated to see them go off to the market, so I only did that for a couple of years.)
We had to give up having our own free range hens for a few years, while we were too busy elsewhere to watch over them properly……but we now have a 'herd' of 23, ….. And my hubby is wanting to start up the incubator any day( must consult the farmers almanac!)…..so more will soon be on the way!
We have Barred Rocks, Buff Orps, and Rhode Island Reds……We have kept most of them separated, but some have crossed, resulting in a few very pretty Barred rock-esque hens that almost resemble lace wyndotts…..( One of the barred rock roosters is totally enamoured with the red-headed ladies!)
I found the post about egg-bound hens very informative….I've never had to deal with the problem much….we always try to be very gentle with our layers….anytime we have to catch or move them, we caution everyone not to squeeze them. I have had one or two that had to pass broken shells, but after a few days in the 'infirmary' they returned to their usual laying.
I'll certainly try the warm bath idea the next time this problem comes up…..won't be the first time I've bathed a chicken, used to do that when I was a kid….
6:40 pm
January 14, 2010
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Well I got 6 more hens yesterday. A girl I went to school with knew someoone that was selling off their game chickens. Buy a rooster, get a hen & the pen they live in free. I didn't want anymore roosters. I called him & talked him into letting me have 6 hens for 2.00 each. Hubby went yesterday afternoon around four o'clock to pick them up. He called me about 30 minutes later & told me by the time he got there, the guy, and the 10 other men there with him, were TOO DRUNK to help him catch the hens. It's 4:30 in the afternoon, on a Tuesday. Way to enforce stereotypes, boys. He found a sober looking teenager to help him catch them & now I have 6 of the prettiest red & cream colored game pullets. No pantaloons on these ladies, though. They''ve been doing their Jane Fonda routine. And, apparently, running from drunk men all day long.
9:04 am
February 2, 2010
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We have three Barred Rocks, four buff orpingtons and two Black Copper Marans. We have a dozen eggs in the made from scratch incubator right now. I cant wait till they hatch!
We intially got our chickens for eggs and the occasional stew pot chicken. I really love having them. They are all unique and friendly. Feeding and watering is my favorite time of day!
9:26 am
May 14, 2005
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Mandy, it sounds like you've brought those poor little hens to a better place!
aleighz–I wish I could incubate babies right now! I'm ready for chicks! But I don't have the setup to manage them until it's warmer.
3:48 pm
January 14, 2010
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Suzanne said:
Mandy, it sounds like you've brought those poor little hens to a better place!.
Well they are already laying, so they must be happy here.
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