Chicken Shack

[Sparky]

Chicken Beta please?

Driving along the forest road into work today and dreading the prospect of a fucking dull training course I had been volunteered for; I nearly ran over a few hens in the middle of the forest. I stopped and challenged Danni and Chris two colleagues to catch them.... they failed and the birds headed deeper into the woods.

Anyway, the course bored me to tears and I bailed; the chicken whisperer (me) and a workmate managed to catch/coax all 14 hens before they went feral and turned into jungle fowl... or fox food. We got 2 west Sussex, 2 bantams and 10 that look like Rhode Island reds. They are all young birds and just starting to lay.

I'm keeping the sussex and a few Rhode Island Reds. I'm looking forward to keeping hens, I've been finding, borrowing and stealing timber and net to build a run and an ark. The others now have homes with co-workers.

Are there Mags out there who keep hens? What pit falls do I need to watch out for? Red spider mites, worms.. should I be concerned about these things?

I will get some photos up soon,

[MakersTeleMark]

I am pretty sure there is unsurprisingly a recent thread on this over at ttips which goes into quite some depth, but I can't find it.

[refried]

Racoons, they love chicken

[neck beard]

I started a chicken thread a few weeks ago.

Mine eat frogs like its candy.

I lost two to hawks. Use netting that animals cant chew through - mine got holes in it and these chickens have a in built desire to escape. I seriously think a rat was eating the netting just because it was there. I also have bright orange bird netting over my entire run (about 30x30'). This keeps the hawks off them. A giant black crow got in under the netting and went nuts. I tried to coax it out but after 30 minutes gave up and killed with with basket-less ski poles. Impaled it with one and belted the fuck out of its head with another. Only took one whack. Brutal weapons.

Chickens eat a lot. I free range mine and still supplement that with a little bought grain and lots of meal from a local rice processor.

Mine appear very healthy and I have given them no treatments at all.

[Hayduke]

Try not to get drunk and have sex with them. I know you'd hit anything with two legs but just try not to ok. Chicken fucker.

[Rasputin]

Try not to get drunk and have sex with them. I know you'd hit anything with two legs but just try not to ok. Chicken fucker.

Wow, that's just classic TGR talk.

[neck beard]

And you reckon I project?

[warthog]

Wow, that's just classic TGR talk.

Or it might be from a movie, but definitely one of the two.

[Sparky]

[QUOTE=Hayduke;2468164]

Anything less would be a disappointment.

Pipe down flatlander

[carvedog]

Don't worry they taste just like chicken.

[Blatant]

how bout some pics of the birds. I like chickens. They make me giggle.

[Lawless]

I built a hen shack a few years ago for a lady in this area. We brought the chicken wire down to a foot under grade and then angled it away from cage and ran it another few feet and then buried it. So far, this has kept the coyotes and dogs from digging under the cage and getting in.

[irul&ublo]

[basinbeater]

When I first starting reading the thread, I was gonna say Fry that shit up. Yum yum.
Now that you are going to keep them, I recommend cooking the eggs over easy with a bit of salt and pepper. Yum. I am going to go eat something now.

[Mach Looney]

The Chicken Shack owner nearby has a sweet ride

[Sparky]

how bout some pics of the birds. I like chickens. They make me giggle.

It's a work in progress, but here they are:

The white ones might be a bit old, they will probably become kebabs soon..... Anyone know how you age chickens? We've had one egg so far, I think the three brown ones are quite young. Hopefully we will get more eggs as they settle in. The names: Madras, Masala, and Mango Chuntney, the white ones have no names 'cos I think I'm gonna eat them soon.

[movementpad88]

hey we used to have chickens when i was really young had 48 at one time we had a variety some rhodesians and some welsummers
As far as looking after the chickens go i see you have got them enclosed which is a really good thing for obvious reasons, maybe consider some over the top coverage as predators can get in more easily than thought, ideally a more substantial enclosed sleeping area for the hens is required, this encourages rest and better laying capabilites.
Also giving them light in the area where they sleep and lay is important as this again relaxes then hens and encourages them to lay eggs, Perhaps create a system of covered boxes and line them with straw as again this encourages good laying output
apart from that chickens will eat corn very happily and are generally ok with any scraps from the table, they are very thirsty animals and a group of 12 can easily get through three - four litres in a day additionally for feed if you can find some crushed oyster shells and once a week toss this in with their feed this will assist once eaten to strenghthen the shell structures of the egg. other than that ensure that they are able to keep warm once the days begin to become colder as they will need it and also they love cover from the rain but other than that they look like some pretty good fun and a cool project hope this helps
movementpads
ps if you are planning to eat any of them kill and pluck sooner rather than later as the older they get the tougher the meat but im guessing they're a pet

[movementpad88]

ps if theyre not laying after a while they may be passed laying age so if eating i would recommend sooner rather than later.
not laying/ laying is a good age indicator. if over 2 - 2.5 chickens will stop laying normally

[TWINS]

First thing is to not name them.Much easier to eat if you don`t get attached to them.Just a FWI.............Enjoyed the chickenfucker video,thanks......

[plugboots]

Loved that video.

[TWINS]

TGR pulled a funneh with the chickencoup banner add.Good form..........

[Shorey]

[QUOTE=Sparky;2470584]



[QUOTE]


Jimbo, I do love you and all that, but some of your ex's have had a pH of less than 7. However, if one is to judge a book by it's cover, I would encourage you to definately not fuck up this time.

[Hayduke]

Yeah, I agree. As far as i can see she's managed to count the chickens all the way to one using her fingers!

Keeper!!

[carvedog]

First thing is to not name them.Much easier to eat if you don`t get attached to them.Just a FWI.............Enjoyed the chickenfucker video,thanks......

Yes video, was funny. But who the hell gets attached to chickens. You one of them chickenfuckers Twins?? Well are ya?
I have seen quite a lot of chickens in my time and have yet become attached to even one live chicken. Once they are food that changes things a bit, but chickens when alive do not have any endearing or enamoring traits at all. They do not have a personality. There brain is sized so they recognize food and predator type things. Barely. No room for personality.

Jimbo, I do love you and all that, but some of your ex's have had a pH of less than 7. However, if one is to judge a book by it's cover, I would encourage you to definately not fuck up this time.

Jimbo, I don't know you and therefore can't love you in more than the general mankind sense of things, But you do have a pretty good looking chicken watcher there. Judging the book by it's cover you know.

Once the pen gets more confined she might want to wear close toed shoes.

[Shorey]

Woot woot. We're coming for beers on that bench next weekend!