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Bash Ironfist posted:So my cousin's friend is getting some chickens! My cousin has been helping him put together a coop and run for them, and the friend is gonna pay him in fresh eggs, which I totally plan on stealing some of for myself. They could probably pick up some unwanted chickens at one of these weekend poultry auctions for a super-cheap price. Or perhaps check Craigslist.
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Apr 15, 2013 06:31
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so, yeah...
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Apr 15, 2013 07:04
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redmercer posted:Is there a term for those kind of feathers that are a different color on the edge? I've seen a bunch of different chickens that had 'em This pattern is called 'laced', the Polish roo pictured is a silver laced. My original Head Hen for our flock was a Silver Laced Wyandotte:  Sugar is a buff laced Polish: 
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Apr 15, 2013 08:30
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Chido posted:so, yeah... Hahaha. Poor, confused chicken. No wonder Roostroyer would have nothing to do with that dress! 
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Apr 15, 2013 08:44
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Tricky Twisty posted:Is it okay to feed uncooked oats to chickens and ducks? A chicken's normal feed ration is dried grains, uncooked oatmeal is just fine. Gallinaceous birds like chickens first store their food in their crop (a little temporary storage pouch), then it travels to the proventriculitis (basically a chemical stomach like that of humans), then the gizzard (a mechanical stomach where food grinding takes place). A great page on the chicken digestive tract, complete with icky pics, here: http://www.extension.org/pages/65376/avian-digestive-system BTW, the belief that wild birds will explode from ingesting rice thrown at weddings that then swells inside them, is a myth.  I assume started by the people who had to sweep up all that damned rice & figured that if everyone switched to birdseed their lives would be easier.Edit: VVV At least with the toast, the birds would clean that up, too. Velvet Sparrow fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Apr 15, 2013 |
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Apr 15, 2013 09:03
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Velvet Sparrow posted:BTW, the belief that wild birds will explode from ingesting rice thrown at weddings that then swells inside them, is a myth. Don't know why rice is worse to clean up than bird seed, but evidently rice on slick, hard surfaces can cause people to slip and fall. I suspect that most places prefer that nothing be thrown at all (including movie theaters during "Rocky Horror Picture Show").
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Apr 15, 2013 09:26
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Tricky Twisty posted:Is it okay to feed uncooked oats to chickens and ducks? Like VS said, uncooked oats are fine for chickens. When my mother and I got twin diagnosed with gluten intolerance, we gave our chickens our leftover bags of rolled oats (I miss my porridge  ) and they were absolutely spellbound by it. It was like chicken ambrosia to the extent that they straight up ignored offers of their favourite grain mixes to vacuum up more oats. They managed to put away more oats than I thought would be physically possible and laid giant eggs for the next few days.They can take uncooked rice, too, but cooked rice is better simply because you end up with chickens with sticky rice all over their faces. 
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Apr 15, 2013 12:55
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We keep our mealworms in oats, so it's perfect - the girls get oats AND worms. The worms eat the oats, the chickens eat both. They do not like rice (cooked) at all, yet. I've changed all the stuff they don't like to "yet" now, because every week or so they decide, at random*, that they LOVE whatever it was they hated last week. Like sprouts and grass and oats, etc. I tried a strawberry a couple weeks ago - going to try that again soon. *Chicken logic
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Apr 15, 2013 17:18
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Tricky Twisty posted:Is it okay to feed uncooked oats to chickens and ducks? https://www.google.com/search?q=is+...chrome&ie=UTF-8 Some people say it expands in their stomachs and isn't good for them. Others feed oats as a treat and have no problem at all. Seems like chickens are reasonably robust as far as the variety of things they can eat. For instance, did you know that chickens will catch and eat mice that wander into their area? That blew my mind.
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Apr 15, 2013 18:41
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Pile of Kittens posted:https://www.google.com/search?q=is+...chrome&ie=UTF-8 I want a flock of backyard purse raptors too.
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Apr 15, 2013 18:45
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I've had a number of dead mice found near my chickens. Generally they kill them but don't seem too interested in eating them. That said, they'll eat their siblings' rotting carcasses when they're roadkill.
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Apr 15, 2013 18:52
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Inveigle posted:Don't know why rice is worse to clean up than bird seed, but evidently rice on slick, hard surfaces can cause people to slip and fall. I suspect that most places prefer that nothing be thrown at all (including movie theaters during "Rocky Horror Picture Show"). Rice when wet turns into a sticky glue-like mess. Moreso when it's been crushed after being stomped on. Not only hard to clean it up, but anything else it touches becomes glued to the ground. (Ever had mochi? Now, stick that onto the floor. Yeah.)
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Apr 15, 2013 19:55
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Citizen Insane posted:I want a flock of backyard purse raptors too.  http://youtu.be/RIZaSQZQEzU?t=23m55s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPmnfEvOsXI Chido fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Apr 16, 2013 |
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Apr 16, 2013 02:42
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Pile of Kittens posted:https://www.google.com/search?q=is+...chrome&ie=UTF-8 I did not know that. What are your thoughts on the oats controversy.
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Apr 16, 2013 02:42
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CHIDO! You DID have to show that part of the video!  hee hee heeee
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Apr 16, 2013 02:45
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If I could train The Ladies to eat mice (or better yet, chipmunks), my dad would be over the moon. He already thinks our kitten, who catches mice and chipmunks regularly, is the best thing since sliced white.
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Apr 16, 2013 03:41
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Ooh, I have a chicken-eating-a-disgusting-thing story from a few years back!  Horrid Tasty Thing So this afternoon I was out enjoying the waning of the day...the chickens had been fed and were wandering contentedly about the yard...my daughter was playing happily with the bubbles I was blowing. Suddenly one of the young chickens, Phoenix, darts across the yard over by the coop in what was CLEARLY the furtive, "I've got a really cool goodie" dash with three other birds in hot pursuit. Problem is, I haven't handed OUT anything and it was clearly a large, tasty something that this chicken had in his beak. Oh, God. Off I go to give chase, wondering what the heck they've gotten into NOW. As I join the chicken parade and we all double-time it in circles around the yard, the Tasty Thing is looking more and more like...a fish. A smallish fish, to be sure... Wondering how in the Hell a fish has made it into my landlocked suburban yard, I get serious about getting Tasty Thing away from a very determined bird. By now the rest of the chickens have wisely given up the chase since the Head Hen (me) is obviously showing waaaay too much interest in Tasty Thing. Except now Tasty Thing is actually looking kinda like a human finger...! A decrepit and rotting finger, but still very fingerlike nonetheless. At this point I pick up my daughter's toy shovel, intent on getting Horrid Tasty Thing OUT of my pet's beak. Meanwhile, my husband, who throughout this entire time has been on the roof working on the air conditioner and has had a ringside seat to this fiasco, is shouting, "What is it? What IS IT?!" "I dunno!" I yell back, brandishing the toy shovel at Phoenix, who has by now taken refuge under the patio table. NOW here comes my 4 year old daughter to 'help', saints preserve us. I make one last, desperate, blind lunge at the chicken under the table and am rewarded with a loud squawk. To my relief the offended bird runs out from under the other side of the table, sans Horrid Tasty Thing. Oh goodie, now I get to play with it. "Jesus!" I involuntarily yell when I finally get a good look at it. "What IS IT?!" Again from the roof, beginning to sound a little freaked out. "Uh...." Ugh, necessity dictates that I now look closely at Horrid Tasty Thing, unwillingly assisted by a half-hearted prod from a handy nearby stick. It...it's a... "Geez, it's a SNAKE!" I call up to the roof. Actually it's just the head and an inch or two of neck/body and judging by the many beak holes in it, is obviously a discarded snack from the local crows...double ugh... "Where in the Hell did they get a snake?!" from above in disbelief. I don't know, but I've learned that where there's one, there's more. By the way, my brain whispers to me...where's the REST of Horrid Tasty Thing? Away to the coop I fly, searching for more bits and pieces. To my releif I don't find any, but this is also worrisome since I now wonder if my preschooler will be next to produce a grisly offering. I return to further inspect the decapitated monster, and decide that what it really is, is a REALLY BIG alligator lizard. Great. Lizards we have in abundance and I welcome them, although I much prefer them alive. Much better. That poor chicken never did get Horrid Tasty Thing returned to him, but I did slip him a piece of pizza crust to help sooth any ruffled feathers. Ahh, another sleepy day in suburbia... 
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Apr 16, 2013 03:51
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unprofessional posted:I've had a number of dead mice found near my chickens. Generally they kill them but don't seem too interested in eating them. That said, they'll eat their siblings' rotting carcasses when they're roadkill.  So, your birds get hit by cars somehow and you leave the bodies and keep allowing your other birds to go there? Not exactly what I would choose to do, but interesting to read about in Pet Island of all places.
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Apr 16, 2013 03:53
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So it seems that chickens can eat near anything, but should they?
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Apr 16, 2013 04:04
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Good list of things you can (and can not) feed chickens. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/chicken-treat-chart-the-best-treats-for-backyard-chickens
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Apr 16, 2013 04:22
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Inveigle posted:Good list of things you can (and can not) feed chickens. All of that makes sense, but citrus. Seems healthy to me
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Apr 16, 2013 04:28
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Tricky Twisty posted:All of that makes sense, but citrus. Seems healthy to me Citrus are ok, I don't know why they are categorized as harmful, but all the information I found seems to agree that citrus is not harmful in low quantities, and the idea of it being bad for chickens or that it affects the quality of the egg seems to be more of an old wives' tale.
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Apr 16, 2013 04:39
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Chido posted:Citrus are ok, I don't know why they are categorized as harmful, but all the information I found seems to agree that citrus is not harmful in low quantities, and the idea of it being bad for chickens or that it affects the quality of the egg seems to be more of an old wives' tale. I read that smelly things that you feed chickens will have their smell go into the egg, true or false?
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Apr 16, 2013 04:41
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Tricky Twisty posted:I read that smelly things that you feed chickens will have their smell go into the egg, true or false? That's true, but it's usually very pungent things so it's easy to avoid it.
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Apr 16, 2013 04:56
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Like onions and garlic - it's the same basic ingredient, and much like eating a ton of garlic can make someone "sweat" garlic, it supposedly comes out in the eggs. I'm new to this, so I have no idea if it's true or not. My husband says we should feed the chickens rosemary and basil.
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Apr 16, 2013 06:22
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Lynza posted:Like onions and garlic - it's the same basic ingredient, and much like eating a ton of garlic can make someone "sweat" garlic, it supposedly comes out in the eggs. I'm new to this, so I have no idea if it's true or not. Every month or two I trim all the basil flowers (when they go to seed they grow quite pretty flowers and start making tougher stems/smaller leaves) and I give them to the chooks. They don't seem all that interested in eating them so far but it makes their pen smell nice! E: On the citrus thing, I remember hearing that dogs aren't supposed to eat citrus fruit as they, like most non-primates, produce their own vitamin C and, like most non-primates, can get sick from having too much of it in their diet. Not that I've ever had a dog (or chicken) fall ill from eating citrus fruit. Or carrots, or mangoes, or passionfruit. Also blood orange dyed chickens sound wonderful! EE: And as regards smelly things + eggs, that's also why you store them away from smelly things in the fridge. CROWS EVERYWHERE fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Apr 16, 2013 |
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Apr 16, 2013 07:25
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Well we're coming down to the wire... the chick brooder box is built (and is almost ridiculously huge) and ready to go, and the eggs get their last day of turning tomorrow (and a final candling) before going into their three day lockdown. I'm candling the second batch of eggs on Friday night to see if any have developed, so I'll know then if we'll have a second hatch on May 4th. Although we have 4 broodies at the moment, I think either Wiggles or Yoya will be recruited for a mom. Yoya would be the better choice since she's bigger & fluffier, but Wiggles REALLY wants it. Yeah I don't get the citrus thing, either, My chickens used to love the fallen blood oranges and ate them with no ill effects and no flavoring of the eggs. Did stain their faces pink, tho.
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Apr 16, 2013 07:26
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Velvet Sparrow posted:but Wiggles REALLY wants it. Can we get broody Wiggles pictures? She sounds like a fluffy volleyball.
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Apr 16, 2013 08:39
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Lynza posted:Like onions and garlic - it's the same basic ingredient, and much like eating a ton of garlic can make someone "sweat" garlic, it supposedly comes out in the eggs. I'm new to this, so I have no idea if it's true or not.
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Apr 16, 2013 08:48
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Well we're coming down to the wire... the chick brooder box is built (and is almost ridiculously huge) and ready to go, and the eggs get their last day of turning tomorrow (and a final candling) before going into their three day lockdown. I'm candling the second batch of eggs on Friday night to see if any have developed, so I'll know then if we'll have a second hatch on May 4th. Although we have 4 broodies at the moment, I think either Wiggles or Yoya will be recruited for a mom. Yoya would be the better choice since she's bigger & fluffier, but Wiggles REALLY wants it. Wiggles for the comedy option of tiny momma and big brood! Also, figures the hatch will probably begin while I'm on vacation. Any idea when the Naming/Hatching thread goes up? Will it be like last year's hat system? I want to get in my "Queen Elizabeak" nomination early. (Also try to sneak in a "Kriemhild Gretchen" too...)
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Apr 16, 2013 10:17
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Pardalis posted:
A chicken got run over while I was at work, and when I got home I found others eating him off the road, but good work with the smarminess.
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Apr 16, 2013 14:09
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Velvet Sparrow posted:Well we're coming down to the wire... the chick brooder box is built (and is almost ridiculously huge) and ready to go, and the eggs get their last day of turning tomorrow (and a final candling) before going into their three day lockdown. I'm candling the second batch of eggs on Friday night to see if any have developed, so I'll know then if we'll have a second hatch on May 4th. Although we have 4 broodies at the moment, I think either Wiggles or Yoya will be recruited for a mom. Yoya would be the better choice since she's bigger & fluffier, but Wiggles REALLY wants it. Also casting a vote for the Comedy Option of Wiggles. She wants it so badly! Or could Wiggles be the mama for the second batch of eggs? Could Wiggles last another two weeks being so angry? Please take some photos of angry, broody Wiggles!
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Apr 16, 2013 15:15
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The other day while sitting with my chickens as they foraged in the yard I saw one pick up this ugly dead black looking worm from the grass. She sorta picked it up and put it down a few times, and decided that it was indeed too far gross to eat. About 20 minutes later another chicken came over and found the nasty black decaying worm. She swallowed it down without a second thought.
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Apr 16, 2013 16:47
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Greycious posted:The other day while sitting with my chickens as they foraged in the yard I saw one pick up this ugly dead black looking worm from the grass. She sorta picked it up and put it down a few times, and decided that it was indeed too far gross to eat. spookygonk fucked around with this message at 17:38 on Apr 16, 2013 |
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Apr 16, 2013 17:13
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unprofessional posted:A chicken got run over while I was at work, and when I got home I found others eating him off the road, but good work with the smarminess. I'm just surprised your chickens are allowed that close to a road. You said "rotting carcasses" so I assumed from your wording that they were...rotting. That takes time. Hopefully they are more secure now so you can avoid further casualties; I know I would be pretty upset if my flock was getting injured, killed, and potentially causing traffic accidents.
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Apr 16, 2013 17:27
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Now that it has been warming up I've been spending several hours at a time sitting outside and just watching my little flock do their thing. Yesterday was pretty great, they decided this patch of dirt was simply ~amazing~ and were all fighting over 'dust bathing' in it. Here's a pretty crappy cell phone video of it. I'll have to bring my video recorder out next time, because it is just too cute. http://youtu.be/Ohnh6DQJLNw At the end I was chiding the white rock for kicking the wyandotte out of the dirt pile. I'm pretty sure the ones pictured are Bubbles the white rock, Butter/Buttercup/Butterdonkadonk the buff orpington, and the wyandotte is Aunt Jamima. The other four ladies were off grazing somewhere else in the yard.
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Apr 16, 2013 17:35
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Pardalis posted:I'm just surprised your chickens are allowed that close to a road. You said "rotting carcasses" so I assumed from your wording that they were...rotting. That takes time. Hopefully they are more secure now so you can avoid further casualties; I know I would be pretty upset if my flock was getting injured, killed, and potentially causing traffic accidents.
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Apr 16, 2013 17:57
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Hey guys! New chicken owner here. I have read this whole thread over the last few days and I'd like to thank everyone for all the great information! We have 6 chicks that are around a week old that we got from a local farm. Ameraucana, silver laced wyandotte, gold sex-link, red sex-link, light brahma, and iowa blue.... I think. The lady had a bunch of different breeds and I said I wanted a variety that hopefully had nice personalities, so she grabbed six different ones for me. We live in Texas where it has been warm finally over the last few days so we took them outside for a few hours. They had their first dust bath and sunbathing experience and absolutely loved it!       This is our coop we built out of the kid's old playhouse which they have grown out of. We plan on expanding the run to include more of the yard as the chicks grow.  For right now theyre in our laundry room in an old guinea pig run.  I can't wait to get them outside! They love it so much, not to mention they're a pain in the butt to keep indoors! I had straw in the brooder, but it got everywhere so I switched to old sheets/tshirts, thats ok, right? You can't see it but they have a roost to use if they want to. I have one question: I read that they should have grit before I give them too many treats. Will letting them outside for a few hours a day be sufficient for them to get their own grit from the dirt, or do I need to supplement that with parakeet grit or something? I want to start giving them some table scraps but I want to be sure they can digest it. Thanks guys!
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Apr 16, 2013 18:22
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pookers posted:I can't wait to get them outside! They love it so much, not to mention they're a pain in the butt to keep indoors! I had straw in the brooder, but it got everywhere so I switched to old sheets/tshirts, thats ok, right? You can't see it but they have a roost to use if they want to. I'd hold off on giving them many table scraps just yet, it is important for chicks to primarily eat the chick starter when they are so little and growing so much. My personal opinion. If you want to give them a nice nutritious treat they will go crazy for, give them some live meal worms. You can start giving them some grass clippings too, although my chicks didn't show much interest in eating grass until they were 2-3 months old at least. I gave mine chick grit when they were a few weeks old, it doesn't hurt to offer it to them. Letting them peck around in the dirt should suffice too. Also, that coop is awesome. We actually turned an old playhouse from the former owners of our house into my chicken's coop It works great!
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Apr 16, 2013 18:30
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Greycious posted:I'd hold off on giving them many table scraps just yet, it is important for chicks to primarily eat the chick starter when they are so little and growing so much. My personal opinion. I got them a container of freeze dried mealworms from Tractor Supply. I mainly use the worms as a bribe to herd them back into their box to go out/come inside but they really do love them I also chopped up a piece of cooked spaghetti, and that was a big hit. Those things, plus whatever they have been able to find in the coop during their short times out there is all they have eaten besides chick starter. I understand that what they need is in the starter though so I'll hold off on too many treats, thanks! Can you get chick grit at Tractor Supply? I bought some grit there but its huge and obviously for adults. Thanks, we love our coop! We reused everything we took off, so they only thing I had to buy was hardware cloth
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Apr 16, 2013 18:37
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