First egg!!!!!

[9eagle9]

Yay, a chicken enthusiast! I came in here searching for a 'chicken' thread. I started chicken raising about a year and half ago as part of my being off the grid plan. Still rather new to it.

My new hens started laying their eggs in August and even though I didn't lay the first one myself I was as pleased as if I had.

How long have you been chicken herding, Beth? Whats sorts of hens do you have?

[Beth]

We just started last spring, unfortunately half the gang ended up being roosters, so we took 3 back to the farm we got them from. The one rooster we did keep ended up dying. Also another female died as well, so in the spring we'll be getting some more hens. I have white rocks and they produce pretty well, almost get an egg a day from each of them.

What kind of chooks do you have?

[9eagle9]

Six ISA Browns that I got as two day old chicks back in April. Not very good mothers , but consistently lay an egg a day. They have great little personalities, friendly, don't freak out easily. One managed to live through a coyote attack so they are pretty sturdy too. I have a Barred Rock hen and a peculiar little thing called a Grafton that I adopted when they were full grown. I had a rooster as well that was in attack mode constantly. He was very abusive towards the hens, they became stressed, started losing feathers, and stopped laying. After he herded them into a corner, stacked them all on top of each other and tried to mate them all at the same time I decided he had to be put down. I havent' replaced him yet, but at some point in the future I plan on adding more maternally inclined types of hens into the flock, and see about raising some from egg to chick. Right now I'm having a hard time keeping up with the egg input and looking into some ways to dehydrate eggs.

I had a white rock, she was a very good layer, but some critter got hold of her. I'm learning all this by trial and error so am always on the look out for some new information, but so far they seem happy and stress free. I'm hoping to be able to grow at least their scratch feed this year, field corn and sunflowers.

[Beth]

We were originally going to get ISA Browns but they didn't have any chicks at the time. We're planning on getting some this spring, but I'd rather get some older ones, I hated raising them from chicks (peep nonstop!!!). My white rocks seem to be pretty social, they like to climb the steps in the back and watch what's going on in the house, lol. They will jump up your shoulders too.

[Banshee]

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[Banshee]

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[Banshee]

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[9eagle9]

QUOTE: Banshee: Ok, did I mention how much I love my chickens?

You don't have to...lol. I know the feeling, I had no idea they'd be so addictive.

Yes Bill, I know..... the NSA is going to think we are really intelligent.

No really. It's a good front.

I had two Polish. The ones that look like their wearing wigs, or fuzzy lampshades on their heads? I didn't raise them so they didn't warm up to me very much but I still enjoyed them. Both of them freaked out and lost themselves in the woods here, I understand they dont' see well so it makes them rather high strung. One I tracked over and over again and found her frozen and roosting in a bush somewhere on dozens of occasions, and finally her luck run out. Was sorry they were so dippy looking I couldn't help but love them.

I love their language, their little gossipy *itching and complaining, they all gather around me and start chattering when I go outside. One stands and makes that "awwwwww, awwwwwww " like she's accusing me of being late with feed or just general complaints. . Chickens are really totems of community aren't they? They squabble and peck with each other but still maintain harmony. Keeping their own space within a community. I know people assume really cool totems like panthers and eagles but I like having chicken totems...lol.

I didn't know till I had chickens that only the processed eggs present a cholesterol problem. Nor did I no that fresh from the butt eggs didn't need to be refrigerated. So I'm learning a lot.

I may try some Guineas this year, my grandfather told me they make excellent watchdogs.

[9eagle9]

Posted by Beth (here)
We were originally going to get ISA Browns but they didn't have any chicks at the time. We're planning on getting some this spring, but I'd rather get some older ones, I hated raising them from chicks (peep nonstop!!!). My white rocks seem to be pretty social, they like to climb the steps in the back and watch what's going on in the house, lol. They will jump up your shoulders too.

A flock of ISA's wandered down from the neighbors house form up the road one day and I fell in love with them. I know they just wanted a handout but you can't help but be delighted with something that is so happy to see you....They came down every day in the afternoon to visit until the neighbor said I was seduing his chickens and kept them closer to home. I finally decided to get my own. ISA's are nosy-friendly too in that respect. If I don't keep the screen door latched they'll invite themselves into the foyer. I have a mirror there and they will hop up on the side board and peer at themselves in the mirror for hours. I finally put a mirror in their coop ...vain little things...lol.

You'll be happy with them.

[pugwash84]

My friend has chicken in her gardern but she gets hers from a battery farm and the people at the battery farm say they dont lay as many eggs when they get a certain age so normally the get killed but she takes some on
and when she puts them in the chicken half of the gardern they just lay in the corner for ages and then its like they look around and think heck where am I and start running around and one of her chickens as soon as she was feeling better laid a egg in her gardern so it just shows that they do still lay eggs but probably lay more if they are more relaxed and not cooped up in a battery farm.

[TigaHawk]

Hey beth, just with the cost of feed you mentioned there....

I've recently turned Hydro/Aquaponic crazy (havent done any of it yet, but i have big big big plans!) but one thing i noticed.... was the uh.. biopod?

Pretty much a specialised compost bin that has a little colelctor cup at the bottom. You put scraps in. Maggots/Solder fly larve get in, hatch, run wild, then drop into the collection cup.

It seems this is a realy realy big part of Aquaponics - as its elminating the cost of fish food. People with an Aquaponic/Chicken setup also feed the chickens the Soldier Fly Larve/Maggots - they love them, and full of protine.


If some fancy nancy "biopod" thing isnt for you..... Just grab a big bucket, punch holes in the lid big enough for flying insects to get in. Put lovely scraps in there.

Wait two days.

Approach said bucket with Gasmask and 10 foot pole.

Remove lid

Try not to puke

Grab little disgusting wriggly blobs of protene

Dangle infront of chickens.

Grab popcorn, watch the mayhem

hope it helps combat the costs of buying feed!!!


You can also freeze store the larve, so if you can get a bin going you can stock up for later use!


Here's one of the threads i stumbled across which may help

http://www.aquaponicshq.com/forums/s...ghlight=Biopod

[blufire]

Congrats!!!!

I have somewhere around 125 of the little feathered friends. I never get tired of going to the chicken barn and gathering “cackle berries”. I still have my first egg from about 20 years ago and a bowl full of the little bitty pullet eggs, in various colors.

In the spring we will move them back out to the “chicken tractors” where they follow the buffalo herd and keep the pasture nice and groomed. We have found this is a great symbiotic relationship.

They are cheap entertainment if nothing else!

[non]

"In the spring we will move them back out to the “chicken tractors” where they follow the buffalo herd and keep the pasture nice and groomed. We have found this is a great symbiotic relationship. "

Nice idea, I have heard and read that ducks are amazing gardeners as well, keeping weed seeds and bugs at bay. And further recent reading leads me to discover that what I viewed as weeds were really bountiful and blessed food sources - a natural salad already adapted to the climate. One man's weed is another man's treasure.

[The Arthen]

LOL congratulations, Hen!

[Banshee]

Posted by TigaHawk (here)
People with an Aquaponic/Chicken setup also feed the chickens the Soldier Fly Larve/Maggots - they love them, and full of protine.]

( i am probably going PM about posting here) but......are you aware of gapeworm?

http://www.helium.com/items/1760044-...-and-treatment

I was pulling worms and larvae from my composter to feed my hens until noticed that a couple of them seemed to be "gaping". Five head of garlic and some tetracyclene later, they weren't gaping any longer. I don't know if it was the worms, but it got my attention. For that meat cravng that all hens get ( nope, chickens are not vegetarians, just wait until a mole surfaces in your run) - I give them some raw bison scraps. Funny to watch as well. They play "catch me if you can " with the raw meat. One other tidbit - for general microbial protection, I am using diatemaceos earth ( food grade only) also called DE. Perfect for control in the coop, run and for dusting the birds. You can even use it as a natural aternative for fleas in your mammals.

[Zampano]

Yes, the first egg is always exciting...good memories. 2 years ago I started a mini-community in the middle of nowhere in southern Italy to reconnect to nature and to learn about growing veggies and stuff.
It was an old stone house with a well, surrounded by lots of fruit and olive trees. I stayed there for a year and had backpackers and volunteers staying at the place.
Eventually I bought 2 chicken at the local market and named them "Berta" and "Frieda"-typical chicken names.

And then I waited for eggs...one week, two weeks, 3 weeks...they had a good life running around the place the whole day, eating bugs and greens and corn, but no egg in sight.
Finally the big day-I found the first egg in their cage. I was so excited and discussed with my volunteers how we should prepare it. Frying, boiling or just plain and raw. We boiled it and it was the best egg I have ever had. Believe me...
3 days later the next egg-I was so proud of my girls. We decided to fry it-I knocked the egg at the rim of the pan, but there was no liquid coming out of the egg. It was already hard boiled.
Jesus, my chickens are laying boiled eggs I thought for a moment!

Then I realised what happened and I didnt even get angry, because it was such a good prank. But I was eager to find the prankster-of course, nobody did it. 3 days later I found a choclate egg in the cage. That was neat.
A week or so later I came across a nest hidden in the bush with 17 eggs-Berta and Frieda found their own place where they feel comfortable laying their eggs.