Who's got Chooks (chickens) ?

[Austin Nichols]

I got a great chook pen now and a few chooks starting to lay eggs, out of 6 chooks 2 are laying and the other 4 have gone clucky and wont come out of their boxes even though they aint laying eggs.

I dont have a rooster with them and thought this might be the problem.

Anyone know how to solve this problem?

Cheers.

[Kentucky shinner]

feed em some of the spent grain from your mash. It will relax them, they will be dancing round the barnyard spittin eggs out like hell I bet.

[Bull Rider]

Nice cold beer and one Chook, now you're talking...


Bull.

[MuleKicker]

shit.... you guys are funny

seems to me it would be more fitting if austin nichols had some wild turkeys...not chickens.

[kenfyoozed]

my best friend, also neighbor, has chickens. His family has always raised something. When his chickens start nesting and stop laying, well he brakes out the switch. Use it just enough to get thier attention. Kinda like kids! If you let then nest they wont lay eggs.

[ammo man]

It has been a long, long time since I had any, but my guess is the hens are trying to "set", i.e., hatch some baby chicks. I seem to remember the hens go into some sort of a "fever" when they get ready to set.

Bert

[Kentucky shinner]

shit.... you guys are funny

seems to me it would be more fitting if austin nichols had some wild turkeys...not chickens.

Im with you MK... Wild Turkeys fit the name much better

[Austin Nichols]

I dont need any turkeys, there seems to be quite a few right here

I suggested to the missus that spit roasting them would solve the problem, the look I got was enough to suggest this was not a good idea.

Cheers.

[ammo man]

+1 for you Austin. However, I do like our turkeys.

Bert

[The Baker]

I got a great chook pen now and a few chooks starting to lay eggs, out of 6 chooks 2 are laying and the other 4 have gone clucky and wont come out of their boxes even though they aint laying eggs.

I dont have a rooster with them and thought this might be the problem.

Anyone know how to solve this problem?

Cheers.

Acquire some fertile eggs, unreliable memory suggests thirteen per chook, and let them sit on them.

Maybe let them sit on just a few (unfertile) for a couple of days first to test their resolve.

Don't fight it, take advantage.

[Popcorn Fan]

I love chooks, some will go clucky a lot more than other breeds, what are they?

They may take awhile to settle in and start laying, when they do start laying take the eggs straight away, if you have multiple nesting boxes and they won't come out shut off the boxes so they can't get in and set up alternate laying spots. Make sure you have shell grit for them or a source of calcium.

They don't need a rooster but if you had one, put a few eggs under the cluckiest mum you have let her raise them and then I'll come up kill and clean them when they get older. Free range chickens taste so much better than shop bought.

The eggs you get will have nice bright yolks and the whites will have more "body to them" I miss fresh eggs.

[blanikdog]

We've had chooks for some twenty years and I've always noticed that hens are happier when they have a rooster with them. They crow a bit, but after a while it gets to be a part of life. Neighbours can be a problem in the city, but I found that asking them first seemed to ease that problen. For the past eleven years we've live in a rural area so no problems.

[Austin Nichols]

Well I took all the boxes out and they are acting normal again, Will leave them like this for a week before returning the boxes for them to start laying again.

I'm not sure what kind of chooks they are, they just look like chickens to me

Got some little chicks in a brooding box and one of them looks like it's a rooster, not sure I really want one, but if it keeps the hens happy it can stay.

The eggs we were getting are so much nicer than shop bought, couldnt believe the difference.

Cheers.

[blanikdog]

I love the odd greenish-yellow colour of the yolk in store bought chook eggs.

[Bushman]

If you want to make money with your chickens you might try the following. Their is a bar in Belize that once or twice a week has a betting competition called the chicken drop. You can probably google it and find out what it is about. But they have a board that is 10 x 10 with numbers from 0-99 that they can mix and match so that the board varies in it's configuration and is fenced in. At the bar (after you have ordered a drink) you buy squares. After all the squares are sold they bring out a chicken that has been feed and they go through a ritual that prepares the chicken, then they drop it in the pen, the square that the chicken poops on that person wins the pot. It's amazing how many people will come to a bar on the beach and drink, bet, and watch this performance with a different chicken every night!

[MuleKicker]

I have seen that!!!!! I got one better. Austin, get yerself a webcam, and we can all bet on HD. Hell, it would be a jolly old time Best part is, you gotta clean up the chicken shit

[Bushman]

I have seen that!!!!! I got one better. Austin, get yerself a webcam, and we can all bet on HD. Hell, it would be a jolly old time Best part is, you gotta clean up the chicken shit

Great idea MuleKicker maybe HD can take a percentage and it will help pay for maintaining the site!

[The Baker]

Funniest cartoon I ever saw.

Two farmers leaning against the fence, chewing on a straw.

In the background, trucks rolling up to a group of big sheds on the farm.

Big logo on each shed and truck.

"Martha's Farm Fresh Eggs."

Farmer says to neighbour, 'Yair, it all started when I told Martha she could have the egg money'.

[snookfinken]

I had a couple of chickens, bout 6 of them and it seemed once every one of two months one of them would lay up for a while i would just coast them out and get the eggs. Thought it was cool when you fed them that egg layer food the eggs would get real thick shells and you could throw them up like 10 feet and they wouldnt break.

[Popcorn Fan]

With that layer mash it is fortified with a lot of stuff, for good shells go to the beach collets shells off the beach and then crush them up so it is a course grit. Put it in their pen in a dish and they will take it as they need it.

Lots of greens will give nice yolks, a bit of sunflower seed, cracked corn, wheat and other grains and they'll do well

[andrewgwu]

A few years back I had around 26 buff orpington laying hens and two turkeys. I started with 4 and kept accumulating here and there. However, when I went to graduate school I would up having to sale all of them when I moved. I would love to have chickens again, but I am limited by two factors: where I live, and my small yard is fenced in for my dogs which are greyhounds and would love nothing more than to get to chickens for dinner!

[Austin Nichols]

The mrs done an cheese n bacon omlette for lunch today and it was friggen awesome, I'm really impressed with the taste and quality of free range fresh eggs.

The chooks we have are free to roam the property and are only locked up at night, they get to eat all the good things chooks like such as bugs n spiders and so on,.

We got these things to have fresh eggs and the occasional bird for meat, well that's all changed now due to the mrs having names for them all....

She's gone and called them things like... batman, spider, foghorn, gerty, etc etc... and the 2 ducks are named disco and doris.

Apparently we have some geese coming too, as pets

At least the mrs is happy I guess, but not being able to eat goose n duck is going to piss me right off... lol

[Popcorn Fan]

If she has named them your stuffed, every now and again tell her a fox must have taken one, leave it at the back of the fridge for a day or two and then have a chicken dinner

[scarecrow]

Chicken.jpg (12.9 KiB) Viewed 2500 times

Geez, how would you feel sittin' on a hot grill, no head, buck nekkid, legs spread like a $10 hooker AND a can of Fosters up ya clakker.

Nothin' beats a beer can chicken on the barbie.

My mate gives me free range eggs (I give him Rum). Kids won't eat 'em 'cos they got poop and feathers on 'em. Chalk and cheese to battery chooks.
He used to have a rooster but a python got him.

Love his Rhode Island Reds. They all have their own distinct personallities.

scarecrow

[Popcorn Fan]

A good vet would have him back on his feet in 10 mins

[rad14701]

True story...

When I was child we had a working farm with cows, ponies, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and guinea fowl... We had one Rhode Island Red rooster that was enormous, named Big Red... He quite literally ruled the roost... He would even kill other roosters that challenged his authority at times...

At one point we started having chickens and even a few roosters getting killed but were not able to determine whether it was a weasel, fox, or raccoon causing the problem... We caught several weasels in traps but the problem persisted... The coop ran along one entire end of our barn but we never allowed the chickens to go from the coop into the barn itself... There was, however, a small opening where the cats could enter and exit but the rest of the main barn was enclosed... We had found at least a couple partially eaten chicken carcasses in the barn during this time...

One morning I went to the barn to do some morning chores and came upon a surprise... As I entered the main barn area I came across a dead hen just inside the door, near the cat hole... About ten feet further into the barn I found Big Red, dead, clutching a very large dead raccoon in his talons... I'm talking about a large, full grown, male raccoon, weighing well over 20 pounds...

What appeared to have happened was that the raccoon had snatched the hen from the coop, run out into the chicken yard, made its way over or through the fence, down the side of the barn, and i through the cat hole... It appears that Big Red gave chase and caught up to the raccoon inside the barn where they fought to their deaths... Big Red bled to death from his injuries while mauling and strangling the raccoon...

Big Red was a gentle giant around people but ruled the roost to the bitter end... We had very few chickens killed from that point on so that raccoon must have been getting fat and happy off them right up until Big Red had had enough and put out a death warrant on him...

[Manback]

Can't yas get free range where you hail from?

[Austin Nichols]

Taking their nest boxes out for a few days seems to have done the trick, I put them back in last night and now the hens are behaving as they should be.

The problem chook has adopted the little chicks we aquired and all is well again in the chook house, got 3 eggs this morning for today's lunch

Cheers.

[kurgan]

Fellow chicken herder here. I've had them as far back into my childhood as I can remember. I'm fortunate that my wife loves them as much as she does, she has kinda taken over caring for them. I just finished a coop this summer, and whew! I thought I would never finish that thing. I've got some video of it if anyone is interested. It is based on plans I found on Purina Mills website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ChHc4e9go4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRZpIz2IK8M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oijluWQBS5Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I've got a lot more work done since those were taken, so I should get off my butt and update with a new video. Hope ya'll enjoy.

[Bushman]

True story...

When I was child we had a working farm with cows, ponies, pigs, rabbits, chickens, and guinea fowl... We had one Rhode Island Red rooster that was enormous, named Big Red... He quite literally ruled the roost... He would even kill other roosters that challenged his authority at times...

At one point we started having chickens and even a few roosters getting killed but were not able to determine whether it was a weasel, fox, or raccoon causing the problem... We caught several weasels in traps but the problem persisted... The coop ran along one entire end of our barn but we never allowed the chickens to go from the coop into the barn itself... There was, however, a small opening where the cats could enter and exit but the rest of the main barn was enclosed... We had found at least a couple partially eaten chicken carcasses in the barn during this time...

One morning I went to the barn to do some morning chores and came upon a surprise... As I entered the main barn area I came across a dead hen just inside the door, near the cat hole... About ten feet further into the barn I found Big Red, dead, clutching a very large dead raccoon in his talons... I'm talking about a large, full grown, male raccoon, weighing well over 20 pounds...

What appeared to have happened was that the raccoon had snatched the hen from the coop, run out into the chicken yard, made its way over or through the fence, down the side of the barn, and i through the cat hole... It appears that Big Red gave chase and caught up to the raccoon inside the barn where they fought to their deaths... Big Red bled to death from his injuries while mauling and strangling the raccoon...

Big Red was a gentle giant around people but ruled the roost to the bitter end... We had very few chickens killed from that point on so that raccoon must have been getting fat and happy off them right up until Big Red had had enough and put out a death warrant on him...

I also love this story. We have a covered deck at our house that over looks the lake and under the deck we have a hot tub and a glass windows in a garage door that we would lift to enjoy the outdoors while using the hot tub but still not have to really go out in the bad weather. We would put our cat food inside this covered area and raise the garage door just enough that the cat could get in but no dogs to protect her. One night I looked out the sliding glass door and here is a racoon with it's young ones eating the cat food. I grabbed a broom and opened the door, raising the broom in an attack manner and yelling to scare them off. The mother came up on it's back legs and hissed back. Scared me back into the house and after they left we brought the cat food into the house hoping to discourage them from coming around.