My town does, and rules say, no roosters; and you have to have more than an acre of land.
I long to live somewhere where there is no zoning ordinance to limit me having food.
Posted on 05/03/2017 8:18:45 PM PDT by djf
The Brahmas are wonderful chickens. I have twelve growing up in one of the barn stalls right now - too young to go to the chicken house.
They are large, gentle, laid back chickens.
;-)
Do not get roosters. Roosters are not necessary for hens to produce eggs. Roosters are aggressive and will bite you. They crow all day and all night. The thinking that they will, like an alarm clock crow with the sunrise and go to sleep at sundown is totally false. They will crow like that pesky neighborhood dog barks all night.
You will need a secure enclosure. It should be tall enough to keep the dogs from climbing it. If you have coyotes in the neighborhood, an enclosure will keep your precious egg layers from turning into feathers for your feather pillow.
Dogs dig. Have your fencing go a foot underground and curve outward. A digging dog will dig into the curved fencing and tear their claws up real good. They won’t want to dig that hole under the fence again. A dog will dig just enough of a hole for the chickens to crawl out underneath the fence. Then they will terrorize the chickens on the other side and wait until they run out in terror through the hole they dug.
Prepare a nice place with straw for them to make their nests and sleep. Do not confuse haw with straw. Hay is animal feed which contain protein-rich seed heads that will sprout when spread over your garden for mulch. The straw nests will be where you will find their eggs. So change to pooped on straw as needed. That straw makes good mulch for your gardens. A thick blanket of straw keeps the moisture in soil, slowing evaporation radically. The poop will add nitrogen which will feed your plants.
My hens always let me take their eggs. Many are quite gentile and will never bite hand the feeds them. A hen will lay a egg a day. Get hens that lay large eggs and are consistent producers. You might as well get the most bang for your chicken feed buck.
My wife and I have 4 Buff Orpington hens. They are sturdy, big, and lay great big brown eggs that are simply delicious. Also, Buff Orps are super mellow, friendly, and love to just sit on your lap.
My town does, and rules say, no roosters; and you have to have more than an acre of land.
I long to live somewhere where there is no zoning ordinance to limit me having food.
Seriusly thinking of getting a couple just because the city dropped the ball on their banning them 8 years back. Lied about it and just got caught with their pants down on it.
I like eggs. Have a fenced in back yard and a garden shed a.k.a.-”coop”. Would need to make some chicken runs to keep the French Bulldogs safe.
Raising chickens is not that hard once you have the hang of it. Of course once you think you have it all figured out they will come up with something new to surprise you.
I can never figure if they are really stupid or really smart. All I know is that they are plotting against me. :)
Sounds like an I Love Lucy episode.
Does this sweater make me look fat?
Feel free to PM me. I run 40 hen (eggs) and have for 7 years. No one in my family buys eggs anymore. I dbarely eat them now, Don’t try to raise meat birds unless you really want to. Eggs are easy.
Easiest meat animal to raise are pigs. Really.
I run about 15 RI reads, 15 Dominickers / defense (if you can call it that ). It’s fun but requires feed, cleaning ...
Keep in mind cleaning out a chicken coop is pretty nasty business.
Our chickens had a large enclosure and a coop and they laid eggs anywhere they wanted.
Roosters are pretty awful. My mother got a terrible gash on her leg when one of them attacked her. Got her with a spur. I really don’t care for roosters.
The eggs will be so rich in protein the yolks are orange. Excellent eggs.
But still - the cleaning of the coop is just not fun.
That’s what I’m thinking about. Just 3-5 birds at first for two reasons:
Eggs and
to find out if it’s something that I can do.
I mean it’s basically a sealed hen house, 4X6 feet, I would need to install a couple nesting boxes, and keep it clean, but that’s it!
I am wondering about letting them out in my backyard or letting them out in my neighbors yard. My neighbor wouldn’t mind. But the warnings about roosters crowing all the time have me worried. Roosters are the natural protectors of the hens.
I found barred rock hens the best hens, good layers and also setters. Setting is what hens do when they set for long periods of time to hatch their eggs. Even when there’s no rooster they will do that thinking they’ll have chicks. I substituted baby chicks once on a setter, and she lovingly adopted them. She attacked our scottie who came to close to them, she pecked him on his nose and then chased him across the yard.
I REMEMBER THAT EPISODE! Expecting eggs at six weeks! Then she finds it is six months!
Mine, I bought in late august are now overrunning me with eggs!
Re: town rules about chickens
My town allows up to 12 hens; no roosters.
No Ducks, Geese, Guineas, Peacocks, or Turkeys.
No mention of land/lot size, just that a proper enclosure be used.
“The best layers are the white and brown leghorns or their hybrids.”
I agree. However, there is not enough meat on their bones to make it worthwhile processing for soup! Very high egg production but they are the skinniest chickens I ever raised!
Cute :)
Orphingtons are large, a heritage breed (hardy), and used for eggs and meat
Jersey Giants (up to 12 lbs) lay brown eggs
Amerucanas (Americanas) lay pretty blue eggs; so do Legbars
Once you set up their enclosure, we’ve found it helpful to put chickenwire right on the ground in a three-foot perimeter around the enclosure. Foxes and coyotes think it’s a trap and dogs and cats don’t like walking on it. And it saves from having to bury the enclosure fence if you tack the ‘on the ground’ wire to the enclosure wall wire. We use bird netting for above protection. Cats don’t like unsteady surfaces and it will keep the hawks out.
Numbering meat birds instead of naming them makes harvesting a little less personal and easier for kids we think. It’s number 32 with dumplings, not Auntie Martha the egger we pet.
too cute for words!! lucky hens!
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