Farm Things I have learned about chickens so far ..... maybe

[Walrus Whisperer]

No matter how secure
The coons will find their way in

I had skunks regularly patrolling the chickens yard at nite. I never did know why, maybe eating the chicken poo. I had a chicken fort Knox. No access to the gals after the pop door shut from inside and the people door shut and locked at lockup.
Far as I know, there are no raccoons in this area.
I hope God has chickens in heaven.

 

[33dInd]

Posting a "Now Hiring" sign may keep many out.

I see what you did there

 

[Old Gray Mare]

If you have surplus eggs you need to preserve them in lime. Use gallon jars and pickling lime. Instructions are in the archives or just pull up a You Tube on the procedure. We put around 3 dozen in each gallon and store for when the cold months stop the laying or when we have a new batch of hens to start laying. Right now both are happening but we still are getting enough for our consumption and have not had to start using are stored eggs.

You can cook French toast and freeze it for a quick microwave breakfast. Custards and lemon curd can use up a good amount of eggs. Eggs can be added to (hidden in) other foods (sauces, casseroles, cakes) to fortify and bump up the protein. Have you talked to a local pastor? They may know someone who'd be happy to make your surplus disappear.

I haven't tried theses but thought you might be interested.
The Top 6 Historical Egg Preservation Techniques!

PREP - The Top 6 Historical Egg Preservation Techniques!

These are methods of preserving farm fresh eggs from the 1700's and early 1800's with a review of how well the technique worked over time. The water glass method of preservation is not covered because that came along in a later period of history. The author has a catalog and products for sale...

www.timebomb2000.com

 

[Bubble Head]

We eat eggs every day. We also cook with eggs and make sure our dog gets an egg a day. She loves that. Have no interest in selling eggs but we do give some surplus away at times. The trick with chickens is to have just enough for yourself because feed cost are high and not dependable anymore. Anymore becomes a feed cost you don't need. I built a nice chick brooder and we have an incubator. Next project is to build on to the the coop a brood house to let the little ones grow. If you can keep feeding them you can live well on chicken. Also have other animals but chickens are a must.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

This may be more of an update than what I have learned, but live with it....

For those who have been here for more than a minute, you are aware I have built a secure level 4 prison for my chickens to allow for them to have plenty of running around room, protection from predators and as much hands off work by me as reasonably possible.

Total we started with 19 chickens and have lost 3 over time. Basically for the reason of inmates being inmates. Yeah, I have tried to remove all the shivs, but they seem to keep making them from just about anything.

Part of what we decided to do in order to allow us some slack time is auto feeders. We started with the store bought versions and quickly realized that they were inadequate even for 6 week old chickens. So we built an auto feeder out of 3in pvc that allows us to scoop small quantities of food and lasts about 24 hours. Additionally it requires we push the food forward to allow it reach the point where gravity takes over. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled. It worked, but not good enough.

So this weekend we built a new version. We took a 5 gallon bucket, inserted a spot for the chickens to grab food and gave it a top fill spout that allows us to fill it from outside the coup. We currently estimate we can last 3 days with the new version or 4 days overall.

Now to what I have learned.......

1) No matter what you do, they @#%^#$%^ will spill feed all over. NO MATTER WHAT!
2) All you can do is minimize the amount of spilled feed each day.
3) Chickens will sit on and poop on EVERYTHING. Yes, everything! If it is in the coup, they will poop on it.
4) Grass works really well to keep the coup from smelling. The chickens also love moving it around. Much better than hay.
5) We have too many chickens. WAY WAY WAY too many.
6) After a single month of laying 1-6 eggs per day, we have 7-8 dozen eggs sitting around waiting to be eaten.....
7) People do run away if you try and give them eggs.....
8) People lie when they say they want fresh eggs and will take your extra.
9) Some chickens like to lay double yolks regularly. We have one that gives us one almost every day.

That's all for now.

You got it all correct.

Welcome to the world of keeping chickens!

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

Wait until they inform you as to where they think that chocolate milk comes from . . .

Was a joke among us farm-folks when I was in high school, many moons ago - this mother-nature "ignorance" problem in the "suburban" populations easily goes back into the 1960s - perhaps further.


intothegoodnight

Oh, I learned that a long time ago:

White milk comes out of white cows.

Chocolate milk comes out of brown cows.

Strawberry milk comes out of pink flamingos.

 

[intothatgoodnight]

White milk comes out of white cows.

Chocolate milk comes out of brown cows.

Strawberry milk comes out of pink flamingos.

OK, Mr. Smartguy - describe the process used to successfully milk a pink flamingo . . .

<grins>


intothegoodnight

 

[winodog]

The last couple galvanized chicken waterers I purchased rusted quickly. Anyone else have this problem?
I suspect they are being made cheaply

 

[Hfcomms]

The last couple galvanized chicken waterers I purchased rusted quickly. Anyone else have this problem?
I suspect they are being made cheaply

Haven't noticed anything yet. I do tend to wipe it out and on along the drinking rim fairly often to keep it clean. I also have a heated base plate it can rest on for the winter. Since it's so cold up here and durability is a factor especially with supply chain breakdowns I wanted to avoid the plastic implements as they get brittle and crack in the cold.

 

[Walrus Whisperer]

No matter how secure
The coons will find their way in

I never had a coon get into my chicken coop. I did run into a snake one day. I flung him to the girls. They loved him. There was a people door, and their pop door. It slid down between thinnish wood pieces on the inside. No animal could get it open from the outside.

 

[20Gauge]

Update...... we are now getting between 8 and 10 eggs per day. Not every chicken is laying every day, but they are consistent in laying.

We do seem to have 2 roosters, but they get along just fine and there have been no issues to date.

Lastly, feed prices have been decent and with the price of "farm eggs" rising to $8ish dollars per dozen, we are actually making money. Rather we are saving money as we don't sell the eggs.

We have been able to consume 80% of the eggs produced so far, but they are now starting to build up a bit. So the wife has been giving a few to friends and family here and there. There is definitely a market for them, but we don't sell our eggs as we do not want the obligations that go with selling eggs.

Those would be such as making regular deliveries, size of eggs, etc.

Lastly, we have one that seems to like laying double yolks. We get one about every 3rd day.

I like them!

 

[KMR58]

One thing I do with neighbors is this. They call to ask if I have any extra. If I do then I sell them by donation. That way the person is making a donation towards their feed. I'm not in business. I also have 3 gallon glass containers that I use to water glass eggs. That way I always have eggs on hand even if they slow down laying.