Hey guys, Most of you that know me are aware I am moving to the country .... 2 weeks from tomorrow Anyway, I DEFINITELY want to get chickens ... I figure 7 layers and a Rooster and continually rotate 6 meat birds as well ... I have NEVER done this before and I have been reading ALOT on the topic lately .... So what kinda info might you chicken owners pass on to me? I would love to hear about what birds you have, your coop, predation problems, feed, etc PICS would be awesome!
I have chicken tractor plans that are up next on the To Do list... I am going to go with three or four. Lots of folks/friends who own them. Glad you started this thread.
Word on the shtreet is that Christine knows mucho about these birds ... hoping she pops in with some comments and pics ...
You'll want to keep your layers separate from your meat chickens. Flocks develop a hiearchy and if you are constantly introducing new chickens it will disrupt things. You do not need a rooster with laying hems. They lay eggs regardless, the eggs are just not fertile if there is no rooster. If you do not plan on incubating eggs I would recommend against a rooster for a few reasons that I can explain if you are interested. Before you get into meat chickens you may want to just have layers for the first year. That will help you understand chickens and give you time to learn about the different breeds of meat chickens before jumping in. I have a permanent coop and chicken yard that is fenced in to contain the layers. I do let them free range but, at this time, they would destroy our lettuce so we are keeping them contained for now. It is also safer for them in the chicken yards because they are hawk-proof. We lock them in the permanent coop at night to protect from fox and weasel attacks. I have a large chicken tractor, 8x12 feet, that we keep the meat chickens in. We move it around the yard each day. The meat chickens crap a lot because they eat a lot and, keeping them in just one place would mean shoveling chicken crap every day. This way I can fertilize my front yard, or wherever i move the tractor too, and keep from shoveling crap. I'll try to get some pictures today to show you the setups.
I am definitely interested on all of your thoughts, Bruce. With the rooster, I know I don't need one, but I wanted one. I still want to hear why you would recommend not getting one tho ..... Looking forward to your thoughts!
Good info. Friends of ours has layers and a rooster (possibly two). They use them for meat as well as they will butcher the flock down before winter. But, they allow them to free range on the hobby farm to help keep tick, ant and other insect population down. Pretty cool insect control, IMO. They coop them at night for reasons Bruce mentioned and don't think they have any hawk issues that I'm aware of.
Roosters - Depending on the rooster you can end up with an aggressive one and, when he gets spurs, his attacks on you and children can be very painful. When he mounts the hens he will pull out their saddle feathers. If he mounts them often enough, and they do, your hens will have bare backs during the summer. We had one rooster and 17 hens last summer and over half the hens still had bare backs that we had to cover. One rooster and 7 layers is bare backs all around. They crow a lot. If you don't mind crowing or like it (we do) and your neighbors don't mind then, no problem. He will try to protect the hens from the predators he can but he is really no match for them. Hawks are death from above and they are on the hen before anyone knows what is going on, rooster included. Once the hawk is there all chickens, including the rooster, run for cover. Foxes will kill the rooster even if he might get a chance to spur one. We had a opossum in the coop during the day and the rooster didn't do **** about it. Same with the black snake. Unless you need fertile eggs they just eat food and give nothing back. Nothing except: If you have a rooster with a good personality they are great fun to watch. If he has good rooster instincts he will watch over the hens and make sure they all get in to roost at night. That is also kind of cool to watch. We raised our rooster from an egg and picked him out of about 12 others by watching them all and getting one we thought would turn out well. He has. This fall we are going to kill all the layers except the pets and get new layers. Next spring we are going to get fertile eggs from the new layers and our rooster and hatch them out. Barred Rock rooster and Rhode Island Red hens oughtta be an interesting mix.
Okay, so in my next life I want to come back as a rooster. You get to score with 17 different babes as much as you want until they are literally chafed.
LOL Oh yeah, I'll see him mount around 6-7 hens right before roosting for the night and 6-7 right after I let them out in the morning and that doesn't count how times he taps them during the day . When I butcher 12 week old roosters (barred rocks) their balls are already as big as hens eggs.
This thread has taken a new course..... YET... I can't help but think and remember the post that said Christine knows all about chickens.... and then I read the last couple post.... and then I think of Christine... and then chickens and bareback hens. It's not me I tell you... you folks have a weird way of turning the subject in a different direction. Yikes... Christine... bareback chickens... Ya'll ain't right. I have a neighbor down the hill and up a side road several hundred yards away. I'm on top of the hill. I love hearing his rooster sound off every morning. He's cool. Next time I walk the dog that way I'll look for bareback hens.
Very cool info, Bruce ... I still want a rooster ... wanna raise him from a chic like you did ... as far as neighbors .... none real close to worry about ... So Bruce...lets see some pics! ... you coop ...birds ... Tell me how you butcher them ... etc..
I'm not sure I can or uh, want to add much else to this thread... Bruce covered it. Here are some roosters that I have. (Cornishx chickens) I took this picture earlier today. These are 46 days old. I took this picture shortly after. Did eight of them in today. Still have another 19 to go but the hens are a bit too light yet and dang, it was cold out. Otherwise, I don't keep roosters at all. Too noisy, tear up the hens and just another beak to feed. My laying hens. We call these the velociraptors. My old ladies.
Tony, I'm working on the pics. I was going to post some from my network drive but it seems to have taken a dump on me and I am trying to get it back up. I'll probably just take a few pics today while at home and post them. The drive is not behaving.
maaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn all this yard-bird talk is making me hungry! i would love to have some one day. thanks for all of the great info. though im a country boy at heart i dont have a lot of learning when it comes to farming/livestock and love learning!
Attention Chicken Raisers: If any of your roosters should meet an unfortunate demise, I could always use some neck hackles. They are hard to come by these days, and I need to tie more musky flies.
Bruce is dead on about the roosters.. They are (no pun intended)..HARD on your layers. Stresses the heck out of them. I had a rooster.. No more, just layers. My girls are much happier and lay much more consistently. Not to mention a Rooster will crow at all times of the day and NIGHT! plus at daylight! lol
