Use a pencil 'sted of a sharpie..You do need a coop..Put a light in it,so they can see the coons,owls,coyotes poodles,and everything else that likes chicken..As an added bonus,the light draws more bugs for them to eat..
chickens.
- Thread starter Beefy
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so basically what i'm gathering is that no one is able to truly free range chickens nowadays; it is impossible to do for any length of time. All the horror stories i hear though are always in the coop.
Gale Seddon
Well-known member
Hey beefy, read Stepper's message.
From what I've learned about chickens (the hard way), you need to confine them and close up the door at night so nothing can get in there (raccoons, foxes, dogs, cats, the Great Pipsissewa). I keep "laying mash" in a feeder inside the coop; waterer is in the fenced in area outside the coop. Clean water! I give them "scratch" every morning for breakfast. A couple of times a week I give them some crushed oyster shells. I have an assortment of old small boards and a few big rocks in their pen that I turn over once in a while so they can splurge on worms and bugs that congregate under these objects. And they get leftovers (spaghetti, bread, veggies, cereal, crackers)...NOT rotten stuff that's turning green, just regular leftovers, but not meat or, heaven forbid, chicken!
I don't think you can expect real young hens to start a clutch of eggs and hatch them out (I may be wrong). Some of the "laying hens" people buy now have had all the broodiness bred right out of them. But they WILL lay eggs that you can collect daily and eat. Maybe Minnie and Pearl are descended from a setting hen, which would certainly help.
Our bantams run around loose all the time, and some camp out in the coop with the big hens. And guard eggs. And peck at me when I try to retrieve the eggs. A bantam hen doesn't care who laid it, it belongs to her, and once she accumulates a bunch of them (10-20?), she may go "broody" and decide to set on them. She'll turn the eggs herself everyday, she'll get off the nest maybe once a day to eat and poop, she'll steadfastly stay there for 21 days until they start to hatch...and still she'll stay there. The chicks will hatch and stay under mom for a day or so until she decides it's okay to bring them out and teach them to scratch and peck. It's a wonderful thing to watch. But don't try to pick up those babies, mom will go straight at your face with feet and beak. When they start to hatch, I give her a small feeder and waterer so she can eat and teach them when they're ready.
Sorry this is so long, didn't mean to write a book, just wanted to share my experience with our chickens. Here's a list of some websites that you can look at if you want to:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html
http://homesteadingtoday.com/vb/
http://p072.ezboard.com/bbackyardchickens
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plai ... using.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/10.html
I like chickens, can you tell?
From what I've learned about chickens (the hard way), you need to confine them and close up the door at night so nothing can get in there (raccoons, foxes, dogs, cats, the Great Pipsissewa). I keep "laying mash" in a feeder inside the coop; waterer is in the fenced in area outside the coop. Clean water! I give them "scratch" every morning for breakfast. A couple of times a week I give them some crushed oyster shells. I have an assortment of old small boards and a few big rocks in their pen that I turn over once in a while so they can splurge on worms and bugs that congregate under these objects. And they get leftovers (spaghetti, bread, veggies, cereal, crackers)...NOT rotten stuff that's turning green, just regular leftovers, but not meat or, heaven forbid, chicken!
I don't think you can expect real young hens to start a clutch of eggs and hatch them out (I may be wrong). Some of the "laying hens" people buy now have had all the broodiness bred right out of them. But they WILL lay eggs that you can collect daily and eat. Maybe Minnie and Pearl are descended from a setting hen, which would certainly help.
Our bantams run around loose all the time, and some camp out in the coop with the big hens. And guard eggs. And peck at me when I try to retrieve the eggs. A bantam hen doesn't care who laid it, it belongs to her, and once she accumulates a bunch of them (10-20?), she may go "broody" and decide to set on them. She'll turn the eggs herself everyday, she'll get off the nest maybe once a day to eat and poop, she'll steadfastly stay there for 21 days until they start to hatch...and still she'll stay there. The chicks will hatch and stay under mom for a day or so until she decides it's okay to bring them out and teach them to scratch and peck. It's a wonderful thing to watch. But don't try to pick up those babies, mom will go straight at your face with feet and beak. When they start to hatch, I give her a small feeder and waterer so she can eat and teach them when they're ready.
Sorry this is so long, didn't mean to write a book, just wanted to share my experience with our chickens. Here's a list of some websites that you can look at if you want to:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Poultry.html
http://homesteadingtoday.com/vb/
http://p072.ezboard.com/bbackyardchickens
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plai ... using.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/poultry/factsheets/10.html
I like chickens, can you tell?
livestock101
Well-known member
Here's our experience. We were given 4 bantams. I put them in the large coop with our 70+ heavy breeds, hoping the others wouldnt pick on them too much. After a couple days, I let the bantams out into the run and they immediately flew over the 6' fence and right up 40' high in a tree. At that point I figured, if you want to sleep in the tree, DO IT! They became our barn chickens.
I have NEVER fed them at all. At night, they head to the barn to roost either in a rafter or on the hay stacks. They wander the property during the day eating grass, bugs, etc. They'll head out in to the pasture and I have seen them digging through manure piles. They lay eggs all over the place. If I disturb their nest too much, they move it and then I'm on another egg hunt. When I finally find it, it's usually stuffed with 20+ eggs which I just stomp on for the barn cats to eat. I have never offered them oyster shell and their egg shells are so hard that when you throw the eggs on the ground, they will bounce. I have to step on them with my boot to break them. I normally dont collect their eggs to eat, as I usually can't find the nest for days at a time. We just found the most recent nest after looking for it for a week now. They are laying under the loading chute.
These 4 bantam hens are 2 1/2 years old and are laying 3 eggs a day on average. They have been our hardiest chickens, hands down. Shells are harder than the coop chickens that have access to oyster shell 24/7.
As far as predators, we've lost other birds to skunks, fox etc but these 4 bantams have done well. I dont know if it's because they are a bit more wild than the coop birds or what. You get too close them and they fly off FAST. And with them roosting so high at night, they are pretty safe.
I think it's possible to free range certain chickens but heavy breeds like we have in the coop would be fox food in no time.
I have NEVER fed them at all. At night, they head to the barn to roost either in a rafter or on the hay stacks. They wander the property during the day eating grass, bugs, etc. They'll head out in to the pasture and I have seen them digging through manure piles. They lay eggs all over the place. If I disturb their nest too much, they move it and then I'm on another egg hunt. When I finally find it, it's usually stuffed with 20+ eggs which I just stomp on for the barn cats to eat. I have never offered them oyster shell and their egg shells are so hard that when you throw the eggs on the ground, they will bounce. I have to step on them with my boot to break them. I normally dont collect their eggs to eat, as I usually can't find the nest for days at a time. We just found the most recent nest after looking for it for a week now. They are laying under the loading chute.
These 4 bantam hens are 2 1/2 years old and are laying 3 eggs a day on average. They have been our hardiest chickens, hands down. Shells are harder than the coop chickens that have access to oyster shell 24/7.
As far as predators, we've lost other birds to skunks, fox etc but these 4 bantams have done well. I dont know if it's because they are a bit more wild than the coop birds or what. You get too close them and they fly off FAST. And with them roosting so high at night, they are pretty safe.
I think it's possible to free range certain chickens but heavy breeds like we have in the coop would be fox food in no time.
i think i just figured out what my chickens are. i'm pretty sure they are old english game chickens. looks like i have a black breasted red, a blackish one that may be black or a black brested red, and two splash. one site said they are "intolerant of confinement".
i know that the eggs are a very light brown color and a medium sized egg. i'm like 98% confident these are OEGs.
i know that the eggs are a very light brown color and a medium sized egg. i'm like 98% confident these are OEGs.
mdmdogs3
Well-known member
Beefy":1fidwqzb said:
ok - what brand is your camera
I'm starting a collection to buy the battery - WE WANT PICTURES!!!!!!!
Gale Seddon
Well-known member
Beefy":bvf5wa05 said:
There's just no keeping them in! They can scoot through the chicken pen fence or fly over anyway. The laying hens get "turned out" in the afternoons (eggs are already laid by early afternoon) and come back on their own when it's getting dark, then I lock them in. That way they get some yard time, eat bugs, etc. I think it's good for them, and they like it. The first couple of days I tried it, I had to round them up to get them back in though.
JHH
Well-known member
I have 4 black silkie ( sp) hens and 1 rooster along with my Buff orphingtons and rhode island reds. My heavy breeds are loose all day ( no problems except for the dog once when he got loose ) I get about 10 eggs a day.
I like watching them. JHH
I like watching them. JHH
ok my OEGs are ~10 weeks old. two of them have big red combs and there other two have tufts of hair. is it safe to assume the two with combs are male and the other two are females? can someone tell me how to sex chickens by looking at them? (not chicks)
Susie David
Well-known member
Combs and waddles...is the method that I use.
One of our Rock roosters must have really pi$$ed off the pullets...found him with his head sticking out of a slat in the pen and the gals had ripped him a new butt, literally, all the tail feathers gone and raw flesh being pecked. He now has the run of the garage...roof went on the layer house today. DMc
One of our Rock roosters must have really pi$$ed off the pullets...found him with his head sticking out of a slat in the pen and the gals had ripped him a new butt, literally, all the tail feathers gone and raw flesh being pecked. He now has the run of the garage...roof went on the layer house today. DMc
HOSS
Well-known member
We have bantam hens and a game rooster. 17 chicks from this cross. The bantams are very hardy and free ranging. We have only lost 3 chicks to predators this year. No grown hens or roosters.
Gale Seddon
Well-known member
Pictures please, beefy, PICTURES! Like NOW! 
randiliana
Well-known member
The ones with the bigger combs at this stage are roosters. Their neck feathers will also be pointy where the hens are more round. Also the hens combs won't get red until they start to lay.
