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#149772 Nov 8th, 2007 at 07:19 AM
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Just encase I do get the trailer I thought I would start researching some of my tentative plans.

Does anyone know about laying hens. I'd like the most disease resistant type possible. I'm not interested in double yoke layers. And I would be as happy with brown as with white eggs.

My brother used to have 2 dozen layers and he had more eggs than he could use. If anyone has ever raised chickens can you tell me all about it please?


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tkhooper #149810 Nov 8th, 2007 at 09:22 AM
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BREAKFAST AT TK'S HOUSE!!!!! Actually I used to help run our church's retreat farm. We used to run it as an ACTUAL farm. Church members used to bring us their baby Easter chicks and ducks each year. Most of the chicks were hens, and yes, we had eggs coming out the wazoo (so did the hens). Our hens laid one egg a day, EACH, but when you have two dozen or more hens that is a phenomenal amount. We let our hens wander as they liked, but they always came to the henhouse to roost and lay. Still, we lost a lot of chickens to predators.

I prefer brown eggs to white. I don't think there is a difference in the quality or flavor of the eggs at all, it just seems like brown eggs are MUCH more flavorful, and what the mind believes is often true for the whole body. Be sure to buy Laying Mash at your local feed store. If you want infertile eggs, keep the hens separated from the roosters at ALL times or else do like we did and just don't buy any eggs at all. Hens ALWAYS lay an egg a day, whether or not they "Been" with a rooster, so roosters are TOTALLY unnecessary to egg production, unless you want to have the eggs develop and hatch into more chickens.


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Thornius #149811 Nov 8th, 2007 at 09:35 AM
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Are you going to build a coup or pen for them? I'd like to have a few chickens too. Will my dog eat them?



Bestofour #149873 Nov 8th, 2007 at 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Bestofour
Are you going to build a coup or pen for them? I'd like to have a few chickens too. Will my dog eat them?


He might, Rabbit, he might.


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Kingdoms RAGE and go to war...but the PEasants plant potatoes..

EARTH FIRST! (we'll strip-mine the OTHER planets later.)
Thornius #149888 Nov 8th, 2007 at 06:10 PM
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dont know what you plan to feed them but my dad raised some chickens as a hobby.
he fed them cracked corn sometimes and the eggs were so incredibly rich.
when he fed laying mash they were kinda pale but the corn made the yolks bright yellow and they were very satisfying to eat. of course with ethanol production jumping to the forfront this might be way too exspensive nowadays.

porter57 #149985 Nov 9th, 2007 at 06:54 AM
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So I only need about 3 chicks that's good to know. I had no idea they layed everyday.

Your right I won't have roosters. Their idea of dawn and mine is entirely different.

It's good to know there is a particular food for them I didn't know that.

I'm thinking of a little chicken house sitting on a concrete run completely enclosed in chicken wire and piping. That way I wouldn't have to worry about predators from any direction.

I hoped to raise corn for the little darlings and maybe putting some large pots of live wheat plants in the pots. Let them get some exercise working for their own food when it comes in season. Am I crazy?

Is their a particular breed that is better than others? Some hens can be kind of aggressive I'd like to avoid that if possible. I don't want my ankles pecked or anything.

I never even thought about ducks or geese. Hummmmmmmmm


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tkhooper #149996 Nov 9th, 2007 at 07:16 AM
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I didn't think about totally fencing them in. My in laws used to have chickens and they had them a little area that was built up off the ground. They went in it at night but during the day ran around the yard. I'm not sure what it was but they threw some type of stuff on the ground and the chickens ate it. They had 3 or 4 and more eggs than they could use. My mother in law always said they made cakes taste better than "store bought" eggs.

The people living next to us used to have a rooster that woke us up every morning at the crack of dawn. When it didn't make me mad I thought it was kind of cute.

TK, hope you can get a camera in a while and let us see a picture.



Bestofour #150005 Nov 9th, 2007 at 08:10 AM
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My sister-in-law's hobby is raising chickens. She has some of those chickens that lay colored eggs. The shells are pastel blue, green, or even pink. These chickens have a funny looking topknot on their heads that make them look like a Dr. Seuss character. They are called AURACANA chickens and here is a picture of their eggs.

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Kingdoms RAGE and go to war...but the PEasants plant potatoes..

EARTH FIRST! (we'll strip-mine the OTHER planets later.)
Thornius #150031 Nov 9th, 2007 at 09:42 AM
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That is so cool. do you have a picture of the chickens too?


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tkhooper #150048 Nov 9th, 2007 at 12:07 PM
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Here is the best picture I could find of one of the Auracanas.

Auracana, The Easter Egg Laying Chicken

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Kingdoms RAGE and go to war...but the PEasants plant potatoes..

EARTH FIRST! (we'll strip-mine the OTHER planets later.)
Thornius #150221 Nov 10th, 2007 at 07:15 AM
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What a great picture. She looks like she's ready for holloween rather than Easter in that picture. I'm definitely going to research these chickens. I think I would like to have these types as long as their aren't any problems with them.

How many does she have?


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tkhooper #150269 Nov 10th, 2007 at 09:24 AM
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I'm not sure. She raises all kinds of poultry. I'll ask her when I talk to her.


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Kingdoms RAGE and go to war...but the PEasants plant potatoes..

EARTH FIRST! (we'll strip-mine the OTHER planets later.)
Thornius #150414 Nov 10th, 2007 at 07:41 PM
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Those eggs are so cool.



Bestofour #150519 Nov 11th, 2007 at 02:15 AM
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I researched them and it says if they are hand raised they can be very calm natured. So they sound perfect. Of course rare, hard to find and possibly expensive but maybe I can still afford a few.

If she has an information about hand raising them I'd love to have it.


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tkhooper #150554 Nov 11th, 2007 at 10:07 AM
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I'll see she calls AT LEAST once a week.


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Kingdoms RAGE and go to war...but the PEasants plant potatoes..

EARTH FIRST! (we'll strip-mine the OTHER planets later.)
Thornius #150564 Nov 11th, 2007 at 11:19 AM
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Thanks Thorny your swell.


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Thornius #151629 Nov 14th, 2007 at 07:43 PM
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yikes

tk

I used to raise chickens......
First off you have to buy the feed if your not on a farm.
Laying mash for sure......Being a farmer all my life, it was not a pleasant job for me....Cause we kept ours in a pen.......

If they can be loose it is best.We buy ours brown eggs from a farmer who lets his run loose on a large hill side , and it works.
Our neighbors are too close for that......
But good luck if you can ..
I prefer the cows..


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PS... My horse isn't here, this is my Nitemare..
dodge #151809 Nov 15th, 2007 at 06:26 AM
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I was thinking of a concrete "floor" that I could hose off to one side into a spot where I could shovel it over to the compost pile easily. Am I out of my mind on that one?

I just don't like the idea of having to move the coop every year to keep the chickens safe from ground born diseases. See I've been studying.

I looked into cows but I don't think I'll have enough land for that. I was interested to see that there are dwarf breeds of cows. It's so fun what you can learn on the internet.


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tkhooper #151833 Nov 15th, 2007 at 06:57 AM
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llama is fun.But costly.......Or a horse to mow the grass......I did own 3 one time till they died of ole age......Then I turned to 4 wheelers .

Animals are fun, but where to get rid of the poop isn't if you cannot spread it on the field.
I liked rabbits but when it had babies, I went beserk.....gad it got our and there was dead bodies and blood everywhere....That was a shocker..
I quit them quick.

Pigs are good eating, but that is another dirty story..ha ha They like mud.
Too expensive to keep up..

Chickens like any animal will pick up diseases, not matter what sort of footwork they do......So do we.
I once had banny roosters...colorful and cute..But useless......
Get a couple chickens and have fun......

b

I tried turkeys twice........They are the ones to watch carefully,, but it was so much fun to watch them..But hard to clean when you butcher.

Try them.


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PS... My horse isn't here, this is my Nitemare..

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