Lock downs are coming!

[teddyv]

4 hours ago, JohnR7 said:

They already have a mandatory vaccine program for the school kids so that would be no problem to add this vaccine to that program. My dad was a pediatrician so he pretty much ran the program. The school nurse enforces the vaccines but she had to go along with whatever he said about what was required and what was not required.  

Yep. One of our kids just had their boosters done yesterday at school.

[Marathoner]

18 minutes ago, Starise said:

These are pics of the actual girls and a pic of the little chicken house I built awhile back. I took these with my older Moto which doesn't have the best camera in it. You can't tell but they have a small area off to the right side of the house that's closed in to run besides the other area with the roof. I usually staple plastic around the outside of the smaller area in winter and keep them in there because the wind really whips up in January and we get temps down as far as -15--20 F sometimes. It has held that cold for a few weeks at a time. This isn't the norm though. It's more commonly at 10-15 F.Not in the minuses in Jan/Feb. They have the heated panel, but no insulation. The box doesn't do much more than keep the wind and rain off. If they huddle in there together maybe it gets warmer.

As you can see they aren't all the same. I have a few like the pic I posted before and others are different. The last group of girls I had layed a lot the first two years.12 chickens was 12 eggs a day, then it gradually reduced to maybe half a dozen. Then at year 3 they barely layed. I was letting them out to wander,then several never came back or I had to go try to find them. There was one left out the 12 and I tried to give it a decent retirement before it died. I don't eat them, or haven't yet.  I guess I'll have to keep these penned up because they do tend to wander.. 

 

 

I spy a barred rock hen in the mix. Nice-looking flock you have there, my friend.  

Two years encompasses the egg-laying life of a hen, so it comes as no surprise to learn of their decreased productivity. Just as well, the lower the ambient temperature the less frequently a hen lays eggs, so the winter months mean fewer eggs. 

I had an Orpington hen who refused to get with the program (there's always one in the crowd). She refused to make use of the laying box, preferring to lay her eggs on a flatbed trailer. I knew the deed was done when I observed her exiting the trailer, clucking her head off. 

[leah777]

13 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

I spy a barred rock hen in the mix. Nice-looking flock you have there, my friend.  

Two years encompasses the egg-laying life of a hen, so it comes as no surprise to learn of their decreased productivity. Just as well, the lower the ambient temperature the less frequently a hen lays eggs, so the winter months mean fewer eggs. 

I had an Orpington hen who refused to get with the program (there's always one in the crowd). She refused to make use of the laying box, preferring to lay her eggs on a flatbed trailer. I knew the deed was done when I observed her exiting the trailer, clucking her head off. 

I wonder if it is something about Orpingtons? I had one who seemed to think she was headgirl, and 'crowed' like a rooster too. She laid her eggs near our back door, just to be different.

[Marathoner]

I let my chickens live their lives until they expired as well. I had no need for their meat: I did odd jobs for a former Mennonite farmer and what I didn't have, I traded for. Fix a fence = a share of the wonderful milk from his Brown Swiss heifer or a generous portion of beef, more than enough to meet my needs.

I built a mobile chicken house using 6x6 beams of lumber as a sled. I varmint-proofed it to keep my chickens safe from foxes, possums, rats, skunks, and the hawks which surfaced in the tree line now and then. I installed a shelf beneath the roost so I could collect their droppings in five gallon buckets, which I allowed to dry out and cure whereupon it became superlative fertilizer. I inherited a chicken tractor from an elder in the fellowship which we used to enrich plots of soil we intended to plant. 

I suppose one could write a book, "101 Uses For Chickens in the Homestead: Eating Them is Wasteful!" due to the many benefits keeping a flock affords a homesteader. They clean the place of arthropod pests if you allow them to range freely (bringing them in during times of increased predatorial activity, of course); if you have cows chickens will break their manure up, adding it to the soil via scratching; their eggs are worth their weight in gold, a renewable and sustainable source of high-quality food.    

[Starise]

14 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

I spy a barred rock hen in the mix. Nice-looking flock you have there, my friend.  

Two years encompasses the egg-laying life of a hen, so it comes as no surprise to learn of their decreased productivity. Just as well, the lower the ambient temperature the less frequently a hen lays eggs, so the winter months mean fewer eggs. 

I had an Orpington hen who refused to get with the program (there's always one in the crowd). She refused to make use of the laying box, preferring to lay her eggs on a flatbed trailer. I knew the deed was done when I observed her exiting the trailer, clucking her head off. 

If you look at actual cost to production it isn't a deal. I mean, around here you can buy a dozen eggs for .99. The "free range" eggs are a bit more. Some people feed their girls table scraps. My two Yorkies get those so I buy them layer feed. 13.00 for 50 pounds of it. And meal worms. My wife just bought live meal worms and we are attempting to raise our own. I don't think we can raise enough to keep from buying them though. Meal worms are a lot of protein but very expensive for 9 chickens. My wife bought these girls at my disapproval. Guess who's tending them?

The box only has three egg laying bays so I think they will fight over them. Last time I think they took turns laying.

[Starise]

3 minutes ago, Chicken coop2 said:

I once had a rooster who I swear thought he was a hen.  

That's a genetic thing. Did you let him go ahead with the change over?

[Marathoner]

10 minutes ago, leah777 said:

I wonder if it is something about Orpingtons? I had one who seemed to think she was headgirl, and 'crowed' like a rooster too. She laid her eggs near our back door, just to be different.

I had a garrulous old Orpington hen similar to the one you describe. She was a tough old bird; no one and nothing messed with her. The neighbor's cat lived in fear of this hen, scrambling for high ground whenever the hen spotted the kitty on the porch. 

I called her Henrietta. The chases were epic... I would walk outdoors to see the kitty running like thunder with Henrietta in hot pursuit! 

[Marathoner]

12 minutes ago, Chicken coop2 said:

I once had a rooster who I swear thought he was a hen.  

My Orpington rooster, whom I named Henry, was a fine fellow. He was calm and relaxed, paying me no mind when I plucked the occasional freeloader from the flock (usually from neighboring farms). I give up trying to weed out the bantams... those little guys are like feathered lightning, capable of soaring for short distances unlike other chicken breeds. Argh... and to rub salt in the wound, their miniscule clucking reduced me to rolling on the ground in laughter. Hard to chase after a little clucker when you can't stop laughing. 

[Starise]

 

3 minutes ago, Marathoner said:

I had a garrulous old Orpington hen similar to the one you describe. She was a tough old bird; no one and nothing messed with her. The neighbor's cat lived in fear of this hen, scrambling for high ground whenever the hen spotted the kitty on the porch. 

I called her Henrietta. The chases were epic... I would walk outdoors to see the kitty running like thunder with Henrietta in hot pursuit! 

Hell hath no fury like a chicken on the charge...or a rooster defending his chicks. I had a rooster given to me by one of my Amish friends. He was one ornery bird. Had a mind of his own. I had him in the pen with the chickens. One morning I was feeding them and the rooster was on a perch over my head. He crowed at me and with out much thought I repeated his call in fun. That buggar dived at my head and before I knew what happened he had pecked a nasty hole in the top of my head breaking the skin. On several other occasions when he was out of the pen and thought I was doing something to the hens, he would run at me and peck at my legs. They have really sharp beaks. The last time he did it I ran at him with a pole with the intent to kill him. He wandered away to another brood over the hill. I didn't care if I never seen him again. I know he was doing his job but I didn't want him around after that.

In the spring it was funny to watch my two Yorkies and the chickens. Chickens .vs Yorkies....chickens always win. After a bit the Yorkies didn't want to play the game any more.

[Starise]

2 minutes ago, Chicken coop2 said:

All my chickens I hatched myself, so hens and roosters both were very friendly and followed me around like baby chicks even when old.

Before they all died I would let the chickens out to range. Like you say, they were just like pets ( The chickens) not the rooster. 

We would be out back on the patio and they would be there just hanging out with us like dogs or cats. Never liked being petted though. I always felt a tinge of guilt if we were eating barbecue chicken that afternoon.