Who else has Chickens!?

[zorua9]

I had some Hens(female chickens) but one died by shock and the other one was killed by a fox :'( i miss Ginger and Crow(they were named because of there feather colors)

[Nectaris]

I have a few. I started out with six, but one was killed by a snake as a chick, two others were gotten by something, we don't know what. Now there are only three left, and they have been moved into a more secure pen. Three is plenty for our needs though, they are regular layers, and we are typically up to our eyeballs in eggs.

[RWyvern]

We have six who roam free in our garden :3 They are: Zoe, Daphne, Eve, Dragon, Scarlet and Rosie. Scarlet has been broody for months now and refuses to come out of her nesting box unless we take her out.

[brairtrainer]

I finally have chickens again! (well until fair time, my sister is taking marans and maybe buff orpingtons as well) we only have one rooster but we will be purchasing a maran rooster so she can show whichever one she wants

Edited February 24, 2013 by brairtrainer

[Laureleen]

I would LOVE to have chickens! So jealous of all of you who have them.

[klinneah]

Buff Orpingtons. I'm pretty sure at least one is named Buffy.

 

[TwilitProphet]

I find chickens to be absolutely adorable. Though I suspect they would be pretty messy.

 

I don't own any myself, but the man across the street does! Just the other day my brother peeked out his window and saw him walk to the garage, followed by around 20 chickens!

[Draco Knight]

I'd absolutely love to have chickens! I hear they can be sweet, and my family goes through eggs like candy.

 

But...having pet chickens and a pet fox would be asking for trouble!

[klinneah]

If you raise them from chicks they are tame as can be. They are not the brightest creatures, but they are very sweet and they do learn some things (like where food comes from ; ours come running whenever we open the back door).

 

But yes...having chickens and a fox is asking for trouble. Having chickens and any other sort of pet that could, in theory, eat them, is asking for trouble. My mom should have known that with the Boxer Our cats ignore them now, mainly because the chickens are as big as they are but the Boxer loves to chase them. It's a problem.

Edited February 24, 2013 by klinneah

[Draco Knight]

If you raise them from chicks they are tame as can be. They are not the brightest creatures, but they are very sweet and they do learn some things (like where food comes from ; ours come running whenever we open the back door).

Completely jealous. Darn it I want a few chickens! D:>

 

My dog is a terrier with extremely high prey drive(which I encouraged, for Earth Dig), so even without a fox, I'd still be SOL I guess. *sigh*

[klinneah]

Completely jealous. Darn it I want a few chickens! D:>

 

My dog is a terrier with extremely high prey drive(which I encouraged, for Earth Dig), so even without a fox, I'd still be SOL I guess. *sigh*

Eek. For animals with high prey drive like that, I'd either train the animal to think of the chickens as part of the pack (as I know some chicken keepers have had success with this) or keep them separated completely. If it were me I'd opt for the latter, as there is just too much risk of losing flock members if the animal decides that chasing chickens is fun after all. Ask me how I know

[Draco Knight]

Eek. For animals with high prey drive like that, I'd either train the animal to think of the chickens as part of the pack (as I know some chicken keepers have had success with this) or keep them separated completely. If it were me I'd opt for the latter, as there is just too much risk of losing flock members if the animal decides that chasing chickens is fun after all. Ask me how I know 

As awesome as keeping chickens would be, I'll wait until at least my dog has left me(not something i want to think about). I think she could be trained to not hurt chickens(maybe, she about killed the neighbor's hen that got out of its coop and into my yard). Probably not completely, she's had too many years of completely unchecked and encouraged aggression to small animals.

 

I got all excited reading about everyone's experiences with chickens, but reality is I'd eventually loose any chickens to the dog and fox. I'll just live vicariously through others, lurk here.

 

<.< I'm here, watching your chicken posts. >.>

Edited February 24, 2013 by Draco Knight

[klinneah]

When I get back home I'll take lots of pictures. The orps would be bigger now, therefore cuter. and then I would also have pictures of Eagle and Rosebud, our veteran hens of the Great Dolly Massacre (Dolly is our Boxer and tore through 70% of the flock in the hour we were gone).

[Queen Firebreath]

My family has raised chickens for over 21 years. Right now we have 19, a mixed bunch of Aracaunas, Bard Rocks, a couple of Buff Orpingtons, a Golden Laced Wyandotte, an Australorp, and a couple of Mix breed girls. Also got 2 banty roosters.

 

We adopt unwanted chickens. I can't believe there are so many people who get "problem birds" in Idaho. Like one of our Buff Orpingtons- her previous owners stepped on her when she was a chick and broke her foot, but she survived to adulthood and gets around great. She is my favorite and she's the loudest and friendliest.

 

Our oldest bird is 13 years old and our youngest is 2 years old

 

We also have 6 dogs at our place and none of them have ever killed a bird. And we have 2 terriers and 2 German Shorthair Pointers that we take hunting frequently. We never trained them not to kill the chickens; our rooster got loose once and our dog got a hold of it, but dropped it when we said to. With the right housing and fencing you can protect your chickens from anything. We have raccoons, foxes, feral cats, and a coyote in my neighborhood and we've never lost a bird.

Edited February 24, 2013 by Queen Firebreath

[yeliahakre]

My mom told me that my uncle used to own geese when he was young. In kindergraden we raised some baby quail (or something like that, I don't really remember)

 

(those aren't chicken, but close enough...)

[Draco Knight]

Hmm. I look into chickens, my mom seems to be interested too.

 

I just don't know, the fox is easy enough(maybe?), she wouldn't get unsupervised access to anything outside. The dog though, she isn't a hunter, she participates in Earth Dog trials. She gets encouraged and praised for 'worrying' prey. I'll ask around at some local farms, see how she would react to chickens.

 

Edit: Seems my worries were for not. She didn't seem all that interested in chickens at all after a few minutes. They had rats in their barn THOSE she was interested in, but chickens were whatever apparently. They were running around and everything, no lunging from Grimm at all. Quite a change for her near killing of the chicken in my yard a year ago.

 

I'll take her back a few more times, see how she does after getting more comfortable.

 

So now for some serious chicken discussion with my mom!

Edited February 27, 2013 by Draco Knight

[Vhale]

My mother's side of the family raises chickens commercially for Tyson. Big huge aluminum houses that stink. They have for decades. I think my mother said she made my dad promise before she married him, that they'd never own chickens.

 

My sister married a man some years ago that lived on a plot of land with a Livestock Tax exemption. That means they have to have livestock in order to qualify. That used to mean raising a couple beef cattle each year, but a couple years ago they started a chicken coop and got couple turkies as well. The turkies did not end well, one male crippled the other and the surviving one was so mean they finally killed it. The chickens go up and down. There are local foxes and the neighbors dog which have gotten a couple.

 

But recently, they ordered some eggs from a blue hen from FLorida. Hatched them. They are trying to get another blue hen or rooster out of them. She mentioned there is something like a 25% chance for a blue egg if they can get a rooster. Then there is a little chance at getting a spackled hen. But, she was up every 30 minutes this weekend watching over 3 incubaters hatching chicks. She also had 3 dozen eggs to hatch next, but was wanting to make chocolate chip muffins. She told me she though about using some of them, but ended up going to the store as she knew if she did her husband would tell her "Well that was it, you just used the blue rooster to make muffins"

[brairtrainer]

The chickens go up and down. There are local foxes and the neighbors dog which have gotten a couple.

 

I'd recommend that your sister get a livestock guard dog. Apperently Great Pyrenees keep the cyotoes, turkey vultures, foxes and weasels away and get along great with chikens. Have her call up a breeder as most now are training non-show dogs to protect chickens or breeding them just for this purpose.

 

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Happy-Homes...x#axzz2M6bT3YOm

 

Here's an article talking about it. One of my old 4H groups leaders keeps them to protect her chickens and ducks as well.

[Sasstrek]

I used to have a pair and then we had chicks. They were brilliant. We live near the city so it was a bit of an odd choice. Also, I can confidently say that roosters can swim.

 

(speaking of chickens, has anyone heard of Peyton's fluffy chicken?)

[TheTwilightKnight]

My dad used to have chickens, about 30 or so. But then roughly 10 died over the course of 2-3 years. Still have them though.

[Thunderwing]

We have two!

 

One of my co-workers has a mixed flock (hen and roosters). She sold me a dozen eggs, so I cranked up my reptile incubator (which was sitting empty at the time) and put them in it. With every intention of having a couple of little chickens to sell or for the freezer when they got too big.

 

I named all the eggs. Stew, Stuffing, Barbie-Q, Honey Glaze, Sage, etc etc.

 

Three of the eggs hatched. Stew hatched first. Then Stew and Honey. Honey didn't survive past the first couple of days. Stew and Stuffing thrived. I was there when they hatched, so they bonded to my hands. They were afraid of the rest of me, but would 'brood' under my palm.

 

They grew up, and of course, I got attached. So now we have two laying hens. They are barred rock crosses. Stuffing looks like a purebred one, but Stew is more brownish and bigger.

 

Fortunately, we live in a rural area, on a small plot of land, so it isn't a big deal.

 

I also incubated some turkey eggs for someone I met on kijiji. She let me keep one. Turkeys are definitely not like chickens! The turkey chick imprinted on the week-old chicken chicks. Once it was half grown, it was HILARIOUS to watch this very gangly all-wings-and-legs teenage turkey try to brood under a small chicken. The chicken would sit down, and the turkey would slowly wedge itself under the chicken and lift it up - until the turkey was sitting there, happy as a clam, with the chicken sitting on its back.

 

Giblet the turkey eventually had to be sold, she outgrew my little coop, and went to live on a petting zoo.

[sabakunogaara7]

we owned lots of chickens and other flightless birds and we housed them at our country house which has a pretty huge yard.

 

Altho its been like 2 years we dont have them anymore. No more time to attend for them.

 

Numbers wise should be about 50 hens 4 normal roosters (red ones) 20 brahma chickens and 2 brahma roosters.

About 10 Turkeys , 6 ducks , 2 gooses (the white ones) and a flock of about 20 helmeted Guineafowls.

 

Oh i miss them dearly

[mugrum]

I Own Three Chickens:

Matilda

Minnie

Thumper

 

We Used To Have Four But Button Died When Her Leg Broke:(

I Love Them So. Although Im The One Who Has To Clean Up Their Poop Every Night. Yay, Stinky.

[Mtntopview]

I have 3

 

Laurel - barred Plymouth Rock hen (kind of a bully)

Birch - a tan Asil Game hen

*Willow - a black Asil Game hen

 

* missing, I think a Mongoose got her, but I saw her the other day, so I'm not 100% sure.

[klinneah]

This is an older picture of the buffies (back when we still had four)

 

 

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