Anybody here have egg-laying chickens in the backyard? What kinda chickens you got? Why is it that, in the US, you have to built a fortress to keep your chickens safe from predators or any of many kinds of stupid chicken suicide, but elsewhere in the world you can just leave em out to nap in the shade with the dogs in the yard?
I have chickens=) Single rose comb buff leghorns. I have a 6’ privacy fence around the back yard, and a small [10’x10’x6’] chain link dog run that is their night time run. I have a fairly small basic 2 nest box coop [3’x3’x2’, raised on legs about 2’, lift roof to get the eggs out] otherwise during the day they are out scritching around the yard keeping the ticks at bay and harassing the cats. I took to cooping them at night because one hen is particularly broody, and she convinced a couple of hens to contribute to a clutch she was sitting in our forsithia bush. A snake got the eggs a few days before they were to hatch=( so we decided to coop them and not have to worry about strays brooding in the bushes. We tend to shoot racoons who come into the yard, so we dont have quite the depredation we did before we started shooting them=) The foxes pretty much avoid the yard, too close to people for them I guess=)
Our roomies dog would want to play too much and bother the sleeping chickens…the cats just stalk around studiously ignoring the chickens as beneath their dignity to pay attention to=)
Heck, I’ve not only got chickens in my backyard, which is 110 acres, but I have two dozen Black Sexlinks in my HOUSE.
The house chickens are actually 3 or 4 week old chicks who do go out when the weather is settled.
All outside chickens do free range and even though I’m way out in the midst of coyote, bobcat, bear, couger, eagle, hawk country, I loose very few and the ones I do are seldom missed. They have a coop to roost in and most of them do except the bantys which always prefer trees.
What kinds? You name it, I’ve got it and some crosses that I don’t think have ever been seen before.
Can’t beat fresh eggs!
We have a whole bunch of different kinds of chickens, thanks to two straight runs of 100 chicks bought one month apart last year. You’re right about predation, we lost a lot of birds last year due to (we think) mink, raccoon, and birds of prey. We also slaughtered about half of them (the Cornish Rock Cross, which are bred for meat, and then most of the roosters). The predation was worst when the chicks were about 2-5 months old (prior to two months old they were in the house). After they got bigger, the losses slowed down, although we still get something (raccoon?) that pops through the fence and manages to track some poor chicken down. Needless to say the fence gets maintained a lot.
We have buff Orpingtons, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Golden Comets, one white Bantam, and one all-black chicken, the breed of which we don’t remember. It has a greenish cast to the feathers. The Reds are the best layers and fiercely guard their clutches. The Barred Rock and Comets do pretty well too.
We’re considering letting a hen sit on a clutch of eggs to see if chicks result. Anybody ever have success with that? I’d really rather not do the incubator thing if it’s not necessary, and if our domesticated Mallard duck is any example, allowing Mom to raise the birdlets is the best way.
We have 2 rouen ducks that free range the year round.
Heck I don’t even provide feed anymore. They won’t eat it.
The hen is setting right now. She ain’t having much luck though.
She is in the henhouse,we don’t have chickens anymore,setting on about 20 eggs.
I stole a dozen a month and a half ago and incubated them. I sold 6 ducklings today at a swap meet.
BTW the door to the henhouse is propped open. She wanders out about 2 times a day for a short time.
During this time the drake has begun to hang out with one of our dogs. He’ll follow us out to do chores or check the cows.
When the hen is out he is quite protective. He’ll even chase the car 
when we back out the drive.
Good to know there are a few aggies on this board!
Sure ggurl, if you have a broody hen, she’ll set on any eggs you give her, in fact it’s almost impossible to disuade them. I had someone give me an ostrich egg once and as a joke for the kids to find, put it with a broody hen. She was duly impressed and didn’t want to part with it AT all.
A broody hen will sit on and hatch and raise 'bout anything including duck, guinea, pheasant or even rocks, except 'ya gotta take the rocks away because they will never give up.
You’ll also do the hen a favor to disappear her hatched ducklings and raise them by hand. The ducks have different feed requirements and the poor hen will go crazy trying to keep the little ones out of the pond.
Did you have to get broiler booster for them? We kept white hall cross and they had the leg issues until we used the booster. With the leghorns we dont have the same problem, but they are more eggers than roasters, and we were thinking of getting back into large meat birds.
My mom has some. She generally orders unusual ones, such as Polish Crested. Currently she adopted some fighting roosters. They were taken from someone and she decided to give them a home.
The fighting ones are some sort of Cuban variety. The Rooster is georgeous and stately. He is however, a jerk and I hate him when I go visit. I don’t think he ever shuts up! (Hey Rooster, it’s noon! SHUT UP!)
I must admit that he is nowhere near as bad as the African geese she had. Wow. They were loud and mean! What a combo!
My parents started keeping chickens in the back garden when i was about six and still do (though i’ve long since moved out). Originally bantams but these days its something reds (can’t remember - good layers apparently).
The downside was that i used to have to clean out the roosts once a month, the upside is that these days i cook a mean scrambled eggs and get to put “can break chickens necks with a single twist” on my CV,
My apologies for my total ignorance on that issue. Our Cornish Rock Cross ate Chick Grower (16% protein) their entire lives. Is broiler booster a good supplement? Also, what are the leg issues you’re asking about? Poor growth, poor strength, or what? (I’m asking because we might try a run of 50 meat birds again this year, with home slaughter it’s really economical meat. - Last year was totally trial and error, not a lot of knowledge but with good results.)
Now, you asked me questions, so I returned with questions for you! Sorry!! It’s my classic style. Have a good one :).
We’ve got nine laying hens: eight barred rocks and a golden-laced Wyandotte. The Wyandotte lays eggs that are so big they bottom out my egg scale! We’ve had chickens for about five years now, but this is only my second flock - we pretty much allow the girls to live out their natural lives (our first flock got wiped out when they wee three years old by a pair of minks.)
I don’t live on a farm, I live in a suburban town. The bylaws don’t allow me to keep livestock, but they don’t say anything at all about poultry, so I exploited the apparent loophole. 
They’re only a little extra work. I keep a foot of wood shavings on the floor of the henhouse and under their roost, so I only have to muck out the henhouse twice a year (once in the spring, and once again in early November). I compost the manure and use it in the garden.
Some breeds seem to have more problems than others with the leg problems - they’ve been bred so specifically for meat that their body growth outpaces the ability of their legs to support them.
If you’re looking for a really good breed for both eggs and meat, check out Orpingtons (white and buff varieties are common.) They’re great producers and they’re a big, meaty breed too so you pretty much get the best of both worlds.
When I was a kid, my parents had chickens.
I remember some brownish-red ones and some black/white speckledy ones, and a couple of really pretty roosters. There was one stretch of time when we didn’t have a rooster, so one of the hens decided to take that job on herself, including attempting to crow and attempting to mount the other chickens. That was a little strange. None of our hens were for eating; they were all for laying. It was my job to gather eggs when I was five or six and I remember being scared that the chickens would peck me when I reached under them. I still remember the way a warm, freshly laid egg feels in the hand. I also remember bringing scraps and chicken feed out to the chicken yard and spreading it around.
For a while we had two fancy chickens from South America, one all black and one all white, and they laid blue and green eggs. I liked those eggs best because they were so pretty. The insides didn’t taste any different, though.
I think my parents gave up on the chickens during some of the bad drought years of mid-80s Northern California, when all the local predators were desperate and my dad didn’t want to shoot a mountain lion that got into the coop. He had no qualms about shooting the possums, and he would shoot to scare the raccoons, but he wouldn’t do anything about the mountain lions, and we think that’s what finally got the remainder of the chickens. Didn’t matter what we did to the fence, they always found a way in.
My mother has egglaying chickens. She isn’t a farmer or anything; she lived in a rural area and had chickens when she was a kid and now (I believe) she’s trying to fight age by recapturing a bit of her childhood.
And they didn’t build a fortress for the birds: they built a condominium.
Seriously, my stepfather is a skilled carpenter and general contractor, and he made a chicken coop with a linoleum floor, insulated and wallpapered walls, electricity, brass fixtures, and oak trim on the cabinets. The thing is nicer than my first apartment in college. Dumb birds have no idea, of course (and Lord, they are dumb), but whatever keeps my mom happy. 
lol, Wouldn’t be here if i wasn’t willing to dialog=)
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/broiler_booster.html
They are a very reputabe company, have been dealing with them for about 10 years and the large animal vet I use turned me on to broiler booster. As uvula doner said, they have growth issues and need a bit of health. the suggestions for getting orpingtons is a good one, there are a number of different large meat bird varieties=)
We have opted for the buff version of these:
http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/product/rose_comb_brown_leghorns.html
We are more interested in eggs, and the occasional fresh one for dinner now and then. There are a number of good publications out available from your local agricultural extension officer, or even purchased from agway or these folks at murray=) and some interesting ‘green’ ideas for caged ‘free ranging’ [i mean using ‘chicken tractors’, a movable coop and pen so they get the benefit of being caged safely yet have fresh ground to scratch to get the greens and bugs they love so much=)]
Here in Tennessee a lot of folks keep chickens and guineas running loose. I understand there’s quite a bit of pedation, but they do seem to reproduce more than fast enough to keep up.
StG
I always started with the chick grower and the went to broiler feed for my broiler chickens. IIRC the broiler feed was 14% protein.
Chick grower then layer feed for our layers.
Spraddle leg is caused by growing too fast for their bones or walking on a slippery surface. I wouldn’t try lineloeum like the condo mentioned above.
Timing is important if you use commercial ckn feed. If you feed that high protein too long they will get fat,thats a waste of money.
Also you need to be concerned with too much heat. Some of our broilers hearts just exploded . A assume too much body weight for an under developed heart.
lotsa luck.
Of course none of the above is an issue if you just free range like Jills original question mentions.
Hey Jill maybe cause there are few mountain lions in Trinidad. Or Coons or Possums or Skunks.
It simply amazes me the variety of ways that chickens can “off” themselves! Man, I tell ya, just when I think I’ve seen it, I see something new! :eek:
Yeah, we got layers boping around the yard. Dirty, disgusting filty animals! I take the fresh eggs to work and sell them to a buddy for a buck a dozen. Its just for the principal of the thing that I take the buck, really.
We also have a turkey that has outlived its natural lifespan many times over. I just refuses to die, and damned it just doesn’t look stronger and healthier every year!
I don’t know what kind they are, other than the “shit-everywhere-they-are-not-supposed-to” kind. The wife does the animals, I do the machinery. Not once has any of my motorcycles ever taken a dump on the front porch. :rolleyes:
And callin’ me an “aggie” will get you invited to the Pit, fo’ sho’! 
Overheard in the public restroom: “That’ll leave a skidmark all the way to the treatment plant!”
The new slogan at bare’s egg farm ,it was decided, wasn’t such a good one afterall.
One of my mother’s chickens somehow managed to get its head entangled in the chicken wire fence, panicked, yanked backward, and broke its own neck. Apparently.