Posted on 04/07/2016 12:11:07 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Many urban homeowners increasingly desire to keep small flocks of chickens in their backyards, and with good cause. There is no reason every family in this country that can run a flock of chickens in their backyard should not. This perfectly logical and reasonable habit—backyard chicken farming—has been buried under a great deal of hipster elitism (from many of the backyard chicken farmers themselves) and sneering derision (from their critics). Please try to ignore these detractors. If you can play host to backyard chickens, you should.
It is, in many urban localities, easier said than done. This normal and praiseworthy practice, which has been gaining ground in many cities across the country, has come under fire from both pearl-clutching busybodies and incompetent health inspectors and animal welfare agents, all of whom are under the impression that backyard chicken farming is both frightening and dangerous....
(Excerpt) Read more at thefederalist.com ...
From one of the chicken forums:
Old 08-11-2012, 06:55 AM
Homegirl
Histoplasmosis can be either mild, like the flu, or severe and in some cases affect your eyes. After MUCH research, here’s the dealio. It is a fungus that lives in the soil. Not in the birds. Their body temp is too high to support the fungus. High-nitrogen poop, as in chickens, bats, some birds encourage growth of the fungus. Darkness helps too. When a dirt-floor coop is cleaned, you stir up all the stuff and breathe it in....Bingo. Now not necessarily and everyone does not get it....
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I did not know about the disease, I don’t own chickens. But have thought about it a few times. Sounds like a “chicken tractor” movable coop makes sense. (my granmother had one that was moved with a real tractor, she raised chickens and sold the eggs to local stores at one time.)
A duck was about to cross the road, and a chicken came running up to him saying, “Don’t do it man, you’ll never hear the end of it!”
I wish I had seen them.
I watched them, first run, as a little kid.
Just about cried myself crazy when they “killed” Barnabas.
It came on in the afternoon, right after my gramma’s soap operas.
:)
They have them on HULU now but a lot of eps are missing.
They certainly must, when you consider how small ticks can be.
Man, I miss having chickens.
It’s chick time at Tractor & Supply and going there is agonizing.
All those cute little peeps in stock tanks.
*sigh*
LOL
/rimshot
So that's why so many VWs are missing their plates!
Back a few years ago Mr. PanDowdy and I attended a meeting at the home of Andy Schneider, better known as the Chicken Whisperer®. http://www.chickenwhisperer.com
He showed us his Alpharetta (upscale bedroom community of Atlanta) home with it’s backyard chicken coops and showed us how to raise backyard chickens. It was amazing!
We decided to hold off raising our own chickens till we get moved full-time to our mountain property.... soon, soon.
Yes, I remember those afternoon shows. Scared me witless as a kid. One of my chores was to take the garbage out to the burn barrels we had, way out back by the woodline. I would often have to do it in the evening. In the winter time, when the sun went down and the moon was full and rising? I was sure Quentin Collins—as the werewolf—was hiding behind those barrels!
When I bought my current country home and acreage twenty years ago it came with one hen and rooster that the family we bought it from couldn’t catch. Their flight feathers allowed them to hop and glide just out of reach.
That hen was very adapt at laying her eggs where I couldn’t find them. Seems like some time would go by and POOF! I’d see another brood of chicks suddenly following her. I caught some of them and put them in the pen. As soon as they could fly, they’d hop out. My dogs would kill them, sadly.
Finally, I gave away all of them, even mom and pop chicken. It took 5 Alabama good ole boys and several cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Old Milwaukee an entire afternoon to catch them all.
And in a SHTF world would be indispensable.
Deed restrictions are mostly uniform and universally applied. For every house I have owned, including the one I live in now, in the woods on six acres, farm animals of any type are forbidden.
Yes, some people get away with raising chickens or other farm type animals. But with the restrictions an angry neighbor can exercise the power of the state on you at any time.
I love my girls. There are the only chicks that Mrs. Dacula will allow me to pick up.
We used to have a bad problem with copperhead snakes. Not any more, those girls chase away the snakes and eat weeds and insects. What is not to love about them/
I seem to remember a story of a missionary held hostage by communist rebels in Latin America who fed him only hard-boiled eggs during his captivity. It is said he was healthier coming out than before.
Ah.., one our families “hobbies”.
OK...here is our chicken ranching experience for our last “batch”:
Fifth or sixth generation usually 2 1/2 years egg production.
Live in rural Southeast Alaska predators include (in order of destuction):
Black Bear
Migrating hawks, spring and fall
Neighborhood dogs
Mink and Marten
An occasional Bald Eagle
Our chickens are kept in an enclosed area approximately 200’ in circumference plus pen.
Started with 25 last spring down to six right now waiting for local feed store to get chicks from Murray McMurray will purchase another couple dozen.
Three massacres occurred this last 12 months the most recent being a neighborhood dog getting into pen and killing 9 hens. Before that had a mink massacre of five birds at two in the morning. Last fall before hibernation a black bear broke down fence and killed five.
Didn’t lose any to hawks eagles or ravens of this last batch.
Used to let then run free, at night returning to pen seems like we lost less birds but gardens and flowers were not safe.
Schmaltz! Mmmmmmmmm, chicken soup.
“I had chickens and ducks....”
That was a wonderful story. It made my morning. Thank you.
I just brought home a half dozen week-old pullets from Tractor Supply yesterday. Now, to finish that coop in the back.
TC
Bfl
My gramma had a slew of chickens, of every stripe and color.
They were her pride and joy.
Eventually, granddaddy built her a fancy cement block chicken house but she turned them loose, every morning.
No matter the season, nearly every day, I could expect to hear her holler across the pasture that separated us, that so-and-so was missing, and could I come find them for her.
Out of a hundred-plus chickens, she knew exactly who was not accounted for, at dusk.
So, over I went and then spent hours hunting for Lucy, Fluffy, Fred or whomever, often climbing trees to get them down and back into their safe house.
We had bobcats and weasels, so it was necessary.
I really miss that woman.
Best years of my life.
:)
I so envy you.
They’re such fun.
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