Raising Chicken!

Thankyou JaumeJ for the links.
Although I have really enjoyed simply learning from all here, much more plesant and a fun.
I had heard about separating an injured chicken, as there was a time when farmers used rose colored glasses on chickens so they would not attack each other.
It is where the term rose colored glasses came from.
imagne chickens wearing tiny glasses, too funny!

Again, thankyou and God bless
pickles

I never knew about the glasses either, untill I saw them on a show where the person wanted to have them appraised.
I couldnt believe it when I saw them, little tiny chicken rose colored glasses.
How funny!
I didnt know about the membrane, that is interesting too.

Almost done with the run, hope to be finished by wensday.
It is 12' by 10' and 8 " high, hopefully enough space.
Alot of work, but it has been fun, and worth it.

God bless
pickles

Finally finished the chicken barn, run and feed cover!





Thankyou Jesus for the streangth you provided!
Chickens will arrive in two weeks, cannot wait!
Ill post photos when they do.
Thankyou all for your helpful advise and support, you all are so presious and good in all you gave to me.

Huge hugs all and God bless
pickles

Chicken glasses? Here is what they are for.

[video=youtube;5xQD5G10W4U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xQD5G10W4U[/video]

that little chicken house pickels is too cute. i love it, the chickens will be all lovely in there little house to lay yummy eggs. ;D

I would love to buy eggs that are laid close to my home. The eggs that bypass the supermarket industry are much fresher!

Jkyalna, you pay only 99 cents a dozen? Wow, I wish.
Here fresh organic eggs run any where from $3.99 to $5.99 a dozen.
So definatly cheaper to raise ourselves.
One can also supplement the feed with food scraps, and hopefully the chickens will enjoy eating the slugs and snails in my garden, as I dont use any poisons to get rid of them, the chickens will earn their keep by eating them.
We also just like the fact we will eat eggs just layed, cannot get any fresher.
Also, I think the grandchildren will enjoy them, so entertainment value too.
I already grow many of the vegetables and fruits we eat, and make vinigars, jams, and pickled cukes, beets and aspeargus.
I love eating just picked carrots, they taste wonderful and are like butter to eat.
There is something peaceful and healing in growing and providing ones own foods.

Hugs and God bless
pickles

im trying to grow my own veg, so far iv grown, one pumpkin, tomatos and artichokes. got fruit trees fingers cross something will happen this year. like you said pickles, nothing like providing your own food. would love to live like it full time. i would like chickens but iv got a doggy that would try to eat them. but i know lots of ppl who have chickens are say there great fun to watch.

Well, my daughter surprised me today and came home with our chikens.
Here are some pics, our cats just dont know what to do, they want the big birdies, but they cannot get to them.
I had so much funjust watching them, it didnt take long for the chicks to make themselve at home.
But they are not sure about the cats either.

now we wait for them to grow large enough to lay eggs, about 8 weeks.
They are cute though.

Hugs and God bless
pickles

This is a Christian forum.

Are we talking about Christian chickens?

i saw a youtube video a while back where a man had ingeniously made a chicken wire dome to cover his chickens while in his garden.....after they had eaten all the insects under the dome, he systematically moved the dome to various parts of his garden til all the insects were eaten. he did this with them daily to keep his garden insect and insecticide free. he used a breed well known for a love of eating insects but not for eating plants. they did a nice job of hoeing for him as well

well this may be a good question, do you know a chicken that can answer this?

God bless
pickles

Pickles... they're spoilt with that spacious home, and too cute the kitties are entertained. I can't see this working in our yard as the ferals we take care of would probably give them a heart attack.

By the way, that ginger cat needs to go on a diet, lol. Best get him running up and down stairs or tread mill. Lol

I have found reading these posts very interesting...and wow, Pickles, what an amazing home you have built for those chickens, it's beautiful I have a large garden, so there is room for a small chicken run and I have thought about 'chicken rescue' Here in UK you can give a home to rescued, released battery hens....but I have a couple of questions. I have dogs too so I would need to have a run like you, (but I think not as luxurious which looks lovely, grass etc but soon it will be scratched away? to soil. Is that ok? I read that some say you should 'move the runs' around the garden...but that's not to practical for us here. Are the chickens as happy living on soil....as opposed to grass etc....silly question maybe.....but thanks <><

Not sure if I ever shared this, Pickles, but I can't resist. This was a cute sight out our window, taken late last year. The babies have now grown and this will be the last litter we see in the feral colony as all are completely fixed.

We just built a large run, 12 by 10 feet and set the chicken barn inside.
I dont know about dogs though, it may depend on the breed as weve seen others with chikens loose and the dogs pay no attention to them.
The run has chiken wire top, sides and two feet out from the sides on the ground to discourage any raccoons or other hunters.
We plan to let the chickens run free in our yard , but only when we are out with them, as we have alot of eagles and great horned owls that would take them if they have the chance.
I was told hanging shiny stuff from the trees will discourage the hunters, and since we did we havnt lost any more fish from our pond since we did this, so it does help.
We still have to round up the chicks every night and shut them in their barn, as this is how they learn to do this.
I wish I could have vidio taped my husband doing this tonight, seeing him chase these chickens around was the funniest thing I have ever seen.
Imagine this big man chasing the chickens, and the chickens were winning!
Thanfully after many tries, the chicks finnally went into the barn, and we closed the door.
Checked them and all 7 were cuddled together under the warming light, quite content.
My husband though, was beat and said a few choice words about the chickens, he was laughing as he did though.

As to dirt or grass, we actually have added soft dirt for now, as chickens love having dirt over grass, in fact they like to bath in the soft dirt, Im sure the whole run will be all dirt soon, as the chickens love scratching the ground constantly.
When one finds a worm, it starts to run and try to keep it for itself, as the moment the other chickens see it has a worm, they chase the chicken with the worm, so the fight is on, all is fair in war when it comes to worms.


The reason I started this thread was so I could learn from others here, so if you havnt, read through as there is alot of good advice given.

Now I just have to talk my husband into getting the chickens into the barn again tomorrow night. lol!

God bless
pickles

They are too cute, makes me want another kitten, but I believe the cat population here would have a hissy fit about that.

God bless
pickles