Chicken/egg question

[Mountain trapper]

Do you have separate meat chickens? I can't remember anything about Golden Comets, but man RIR roos always seem so dang mean! I haven't braved them in our flock.

There are a lot of good breeds of roosters out there. I prefer to order from a hatchery. That way we can choose the breed with the traits we want. Rather than picking up whatever someone at the feed store ordered. We have several different types of roosters, and all are friendly and not aggressive. Too bad we live so far apart or I'd give you a couple.
Chick's from the hatchery are shipped out via overnight mail, which for us is 2 days.

 

[Survivor_316]

There are a lot of good breeds of roosters out there. I prefer to order from a hatchery. That way we can choose the breed with the traits we want. Rather than picking up whatever someone at the feed store ordered. We have several different types of roosters, and all are friendly and not aggressive. Too bad we live so far apart or I'd give you a couple.
Chick's from the hatchery are shipped out via overnight mail, which for us is 2 days.

I'm uncubating about 20 orpington eggs now, so I should get a rooster out of it, but I have to wait until they grow out. If I don't have a good hatch, I'll order some from the hatchery you recommended.

Our roosters have all gotten eaten. I had thought coyotes but now I'm thinking hawks. We changed up the chicken yard and houses so we'll see.

I'm a little worried about whether orps have the grit needed to live in the forest. It's not as wild here as it is where you are, but we have our fair share of things that like chicken dinners!

 

[user 7704]

A good roo points out the food then stands back and let's the ladies eat first. Mine are gentlemen, but I wouldn't recommend Langshan because of the feathered feet. They are always bleeding and sore because they get them caught on stuff out in nature.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

Do you have separate meat chickens? I can't remember anything about Golden Comets, but man RIR roos always seem so dang mean! I haven't braved them in our flock.

You know it depends on the Roo. RIR seem to very greatly in personality. I don’t currently have meat chickens. But am highly considering them for spring. Do you raise meat birds? I was going to get some Cornish X, but I hear you can’t really reproduce them.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I'm uncubating about 20 orpington eggs now, so I should get a rooster out of it, but I have to wait until they grow out. If I don't have a good hatch, I'll order some from the hatchery you recommended.

Our roosters have all gotten eaten. I had thought coyotes but now I'm thinking hawks. We changed up the chicken yard and houses so we'll see.

I'm a little worried about whether orps have the grit needed to live in the forest. It's not as wild here as it is where you are, but we have our fair share of things that like chicken dinners!

You have a lot more predators where you are than we do. We have all the big predators, like bear, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, fox and badgers. But we don't have any of the smaller predators like coon, mink, possums, weasels and skunks etc. We have hawks and eagles too but they hunt mostly in the open meadows. An owl killed all but 2 of our ducks this winter.
A good chicken to add to a free range flock is an Ancona. They are always on the look out for predators. We've had them in the past and we have a few on order for this summer.

 

[Survivor_316]

You have a lot more predators where you are than we do. We have all the big predators, like bear, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, fox and badgers. But we don't have any of the smaller predators like coon, mink, possums, weasels and skunks etc. We have hawks and eagles too but they hunt mostly in the open meadows. An owl killed all but 2 of our ducks this winter.
A good chicken to add to a free range flock is an Ancona. They are always on the look out for predators. We've had them in the past and we have a few on order for this summer.

That's really helpful. Thanks.

We have a whole family of coons that live by the creek. There are a lot of small caves and I think they live in one of them. All the locals have complained about mink, but we haven't had a problem with them here yet.

 

[Mountain trapper]

That's really helpful. Thanks.

We have a whole family of coons that live by the creek. There are a lot of small caves and I think they live in one of them. All the locals have complained about mink, but we haven't had a problem with them here yet.

Last summer the wife and I were sitting on the back deck taking a break. We saw a young yearling bear walking around the chicken coop, probably looking for a way in. When the Anconas spotted the bear they chased it up a tree. He was up in the tree for about an hour. When he finally came down from the tree he walked up the hill by the upper corral. One of our bulls saw the bear and chased him up another tree. I kinda felt sorry for the bear.

 

[poltiregist]

From a prepper's perspective , someone with an egg incubator and a solar system to operate it , could theoretically hatch off all the chicken they cared to eat as well as have all the eggs they cared to eat . As a google search showed it takes about 21 days to turn a egg into a hatched chicken . Feeding them worms or letting them free range if varmints allow , would potentially eliminate the necessity of depending on a feed store for their food source .--- What are you guys thoughts on hanging unwanted chicken parts or perhaps wild game on a cord above the birds so they could eat the maggots that fell off the rotting meat as a food source ?

 

[dirtdiva]

From a prepper's perspective , someone with an egg incubator and a solar system to operate it , could theoretically hatch off all the chicken they cared to eat as well as have all the eggs they cared to eat . As a google search showed it takes about 21 days to turn a egg into a hatched chicken . Feeding them worms or letting them free range if varmints allow , would potentially eliminate the necessity of depending on a feed store for their food source .--- What are you guys thoughts on hanging unwanted chicken parts or perhaps wild game on a cord above the birds so they could eat the maggots that fell off the rotting meat as a food source ?

I was taught never to allow your chickens to eat maggots. Supposedly they settle in the craw of the chicken and eat the contents causing a disease my grandparents called "limber neck". My husband will throw them strip of fish when he is cleaning fish but we never allow it to stay in there long enough to get maggots.

Edit...

Wry neck in Chickens

WRY NECK Other Names: Crook Neck, Torticollis, Stargazing, Twisted Neck, Limber Neck Wry neck is not an illness itself but rather a clinical sign used to describe an abnormal head and neck position. Other commonly used slang terms include 'twisted neck', 'stargazing', limber neck', 'crook neck', and 'crooked neck'. The correct scientific term is actually torticollis. Wry neck causes the bird's head and neck to appear twisted and tilted. Depending on the cause, affected birds may initially be unable to hold their head up on their own.
Botulism is a life-threatening disease caused by the toxin produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Once ingested by the bird, the toxin binds to the nerve endings, which interferes with muscle movements. Chickens will develop paralysis and weakness of the muscles, usually of the neck. They may also have difficulty swallowing, drooping eyelids, and weakness of the tongue. Affected birds may appear lame and only able to stand up and walk a few steps before falling. When the wings are affected, the bird may have both of their wings drooped to their sides. The speed of progression varies, depending on the amount of the toxin ingested and the form of the disease. Usually botulism signs develop within 24 hours to 17 days after exposure to the toxin.
How do chickens get botulism? Botulism spores are widespread in the environment and can be found in dust, soil, untreated water, decaying matter, spoiled feed, and the digestive tracts of animals and fish. Maggots can also harbor C. botulinum.

See more at: Botulism in Chickens

 

[poltiregist]

I was taught never to allow your chickens to eat maggots. Supposedly they settle in the craw of the chicken and eat the contents causing a disease my grandparents called "limber neck". My husband will throw them strip of fish when he is cleaning fish but we never allow it to stay in there long enough to get maggots.

Edit...

Thanks for the information and that will eliminate my thoughts on the maggot food source .

 

[Survivor_316]

From a prepper's perspective , someone with an egg incubator and a solar system to operate it , could theoretically hatch off all the chicken they cared to eat as well as have all the eggs they cared to eat . As a google search showed it takes about 21 days to turn a egg into a hatched chicken . Feeding them worms or letting them free range if varmints allow , would potentially eliminate the necessity of depending on a feed store for their food source .--- What are you guys thoughts on hanging unwanted chicken parts or perhaps wild game on a cord above the birds so they could eat the maggots that fell off the rotting meat as a food source ?

Here we couldn't count on solar unless you had a great storage battery.

Usually you can lose an hour of heat with no problem, but more than that affects hatch rates. A few cloudy days and the chicks would be DIS.

We put a heating pad under our incubator and do a mostly dry hatch. It gives us eggcelent hatch rates.

As far as the carcass, I think it would draw predators. You can, depending on your climate, harvest red wriggler worms and black soldier fly larvae with compost, though. BSF are easy. You create a little bucket system with a pipe and they practically harvest themselves. But if you live in a cooler climate, you have to either put them in a greenhouse or reorder eggs/larvae each spring.

I've never grown out any other larvae types, but I know people who do.

Growing fodder would be ok, too, but it's not sustainable in the long term because those sprouts don't produce their own seed.

 

[Survivor_316]

https://backyardpoultry.iamcountryside.com/feed-health/black-soldier-fly-larvae-farming/

 

[Mountain trapper]

I personally wouldn't want a stinking piece of rotting meat hanging around here. When we lose a cow or calf, or butcher, I haul the carcass out with the tractor and dump them over the edge of a canyon about a half mile away. It's a great place to trap coyotes and fox too. I don't want anything dead closer than that.
I'm going to order an incubator and start hatching chicken, duck and quail eggs. We're 100% on solar. The small incubators don't take a lot of power to run so even a small solar setup should run them just fine. Another good way for hatching eggs is to keep a few banty hens around. They would try to hatch a door knob.

 

[Survivor_316]

I need to get some of those, too, then.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I need to get some of those, too, then.

Back when I was a kid cutting hay we were always running over pheasant, duck and quail nests. Whenever possible I'd collect the eggs and put them under a banty hen to hatch. It was funny to watch the hen with a bunch of little quail running around or baby ducks always in the water. Banty hens are probably the best incubator there is.

 

[Survivor_316]

Ok, now I'm going to have to build another coop!

 

[user 7704]

@TheChickenChick yelled at me for letting mine eat the snails that were stuck on the side of my house. Parasite situation.

 

[GeorgiaPeachie]

What works as a good system for compost and feed for chickens is 3 different compost piles that you let the hens in, in stages. During Winter here, there are still bugs in the piles. Not as many as warmer times, but still there.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Ok, now I'm going to have to build another coop!

When we had bantys we didn't have a coop. They roosted in the trees around the house and nest in the hay stacks.

 

[Proud Prepper]

I was taught never to allow your chickens to eat maggots. Supposedly they settle in the craw of the chicken and eat the contents causing a disease my grandparents called "limber neck". My husband will throw them strip of fish when he is cleaning fish but we never allow it to stay in there long enough to get maggots.

Edit...

I put CDS in my chickens water to prevent Botulism and other diseases.

Organic Contaminants - ClO2 completely eliminates and treats the following contaminants: Viruses, water bacteria, giardia, botulism cryptosporidium, e. coli and cholera.

 

[user 7704]

Conspiracy of the day. True/False

https://gab.com/BeachMilk/posts/109793758362535166

 

[Survivor_316]

Interesting. I suspected as much but I thought it was due to the cysteine.

This is just me reasoning things out without a complete understanding of the chemistry but it would seem there are a few benefits to eggs after the jab.

 

[user 7704]

I have been floating around different sites and am seeing the egg story reported by different sources. Wouldn't that be the ultimate hoot if eggs were the key.

 

[Survivor_316]

Wouldn't that be the ultimate hoot if eggs were the key.

Or the ultimate ba-gawk?

Wow. That one was bad even for me.

 

[Cindyd]

I'm now getting up to 9 eggs a day from my new 12 hens! And anywhere from 5 to 10 from the mixed age older ones...yesterday we got 19 eggs total, today we got 15...yolks are looking much more rich (orange) in color since changing up the food too!

 

[DrHenley]

My wife got back from Aldi and said she wasn't buying any more eggs because they were $5 a dozen. I told her that was cheap.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Our new hens are starting to lay enough eggs to meet our needs now. Most hens cut back or even quit laying in winter, or during moult. We had to buy 1 or 2 dozen eggs this winter at about $6.50/doz. Never again. One of the wife's friends provided us with eggs most of the winter. A couple of our new breeds are supposed to be good layers throughout the winter.

 

[poltiregist]

Someone with a chicken flock definitely have the advantage of a higher survivability rate than those that have not established that survival tool . People are dying at an unseen rate of starvation in some countries now . If they had established a flock of chickens and established a way to protect their precious food source , many would not be watching their children waste away and dying of starvation .

 

[lonewolf]

I suspect those countries are the same 3rd world ones that always have malnutrition and starvation issues.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Someone with a chicken flock definitely have the advantage of a higher survivability rate than those that have not established that survival tool . People are dying at an unseen rate of starvation in some countries now . If they had established a flock of chickens and established a way to protect their precious food source , many would not be watching their children waste away and dying of starvation .

If the people in 3rd world countries are too stupid to stop breeding, they won't be smart enough to take care of flock of chickens. Let them eat crickets, if they're good enough for us, according to the WEF, then they should be good enough for the 3rd world beggers.