Comments on: Backyard Chickens: 5 Things I Didn’t Know

By: Mamma Mayhem

Mamma Mayhem — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:30:46 +0000

Instead of a traditional coop, a friend of mine built a “chicken tractor.” Essectially, it is a mobile coop with the idea of the chicken clearing a garden plot for you. They eat the pests, till and fertilize. You rotate the tractor and they do it all again for the next garden plot. Healthiest veggies you’ve ever seen!

By: Oatbucket

Oatbucket — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:04:01 +0000

We have 10 backyard chickens and they do eat everything. However instead of having a seperate compost pile, the large chicken pen IS the compost area. We dump everything from food scraps to goat shed bedding, to leaves, to end of the season garden plants in there. Nothing will keep your compost turned like chickens and they LOVE to scratch through it all. Then come spring, we have some of the loveliest, black soil to dig out of the chicken pen and use in the various gardens.

By: Maven Koesler

Maven Koesler — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:27:52 +0000

One recommendation if you do decide to raise broilers. Go with the Red Broilers or Black Broilers rather than standard White Cornish x Rocks. They are the same type of birds, but the colored fowl seem to be way hardier than the whites. I get mine from Ideal Hatchery in Tx. The whites can drop dead at the surprise of a sonic boom or a door slamming. My Reds ALL reached maturity, and I currently have one Red rooster left who is fast approaching 2yrs old. He’s fast, and my egg hens seem more fond of him than their Black Jersey Giant roo.

By: Maven Koesler

Maven Koesler — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:23:02 +0000

I found that once the chicken is dispatched, I can view it as food rather than on of my birds. It makes a difference. I make my husband do the killing, then I can pluck, clean, and cook the chicken without survivor’s guilt. My goal is to one day take responsibility for my food from cradle to plate, but it’s tough to off a critter you’ve raised. Heck, it’s tough to off any animal that isn’t currently trying to eat one of my goats or chickens.

By: lisa mertins

lisa mertins — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:57:51 +0000

hi, a word about broilers; we once got one by mistake and were really grossed out by how enormous it got compared to the other chicks — a frankenchicken! she gorged herself so completely she got too heavy to walk until we separated her from the others. and because they’re meant to be eaten at the pullet stage and we don’t kill ours, she became sickly as she reached hen age. very unpleasant!

By: withajoyfulheart

withajoyfulheart — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:32:14 +0000

Ha! Great post. We spent the summer on a hobby farm and raised 30 broilers. They did not live long enough for a first molt, but if it is anything like losing their baby fuzz and going to feather…peeyou they were ugly!!

As soon as they were old enough, they alternated between coop and outdoor pen. I used wood shavings on the floor and just kept adding layers between stirrings…it sure does compost fast with their humidity. I also raised mealworms in a larger tupperwear with the chick starter feed. Mmmmm did they love all the life stages of this amazing little creature. Added bonus is the food for ds leopard gecko

We did not name them…I had been well warned against this, but I did call them my babies and they would all run outside each time they heard my voice. I would take my camp chair into the pen or coop and sit and read with these handsome boys camped out at my feet. There were a couple I wished I could have kept. It really is amazing that they do have different characters.

The day of, my son and I gathered them into borrowed cages, and then he went off to school and they went off to the abbatoir. I miss them when I drive in….and I wasn’t sure I was actually going to enjoy our supper the other night, but, then the familiar smells came from the kitchen, and even my pet loving son enjoyed supper. So I guess there is a bit of farmer in us after all.

By: mila

mila — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:58:54 +0000

My six year old came running up to me frantically asking “What’s wrong? Who attacked the chickens?” I ran to look at them and said “No, no, Honey. This time of year they lose their summer feathers to make room for the warm, winter feathers.” She was so relieved!

Also – under my roosting bar I have 2 of the under-the-bed Rubbermaid storage containers (they are rather shallow but long and wide). I put and inch or two of shavings and empty it now and then. This has definitely been the easiest way to keep the coop cleaner! They certainly do most of their pooping from the roost!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:57:00 +0000

you are so stinkin’ funny…I’m cracking up about the exploded chicken! My girls haven’t molted yet…they’re just 6 months old or so. And thank you for sharing about the chicks and eating…I hadn’t thought about that. I thought the starter had different vitamins and such in it..good to know.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:46:18 +0000

My chickens had a good treat this week: old bread soaked in bacon grease and topped with leftover risotto rice pudding with cranberries. Talk about a chicken riot! My hubby remarked that he hopes he never has a stroke or some such, and falls over in the chicken pen with no one to rescue him!

By: Dove

Dove — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:08:33 +0000

My leghorns should be molting, they just turned a year old. Yes, I was crazy enough to hatch eggs last November, but now I know better! They lived in the bath tub for a month and a half before I let them out side. Anyone who really likes animals isn’t going to like butchering, but we have only done roosters, the extra ones we don’t intend to keep, and it’s really a blessing for the hens, because they will abuse the hens if you don’t have enough. Oh, and yes they are so much like dinosaurs –I watched some RIRs shread a mouse once…. I’m really glad we are bigger than they are!

Dove