Backyard Chickens?

[Ddski5]

Not sure if you have “crawfish season” where you are but have you ever given yours the heads? We did last summer and they were some of the most delicious flavorful eggs we had. We plan to do it again this year! We quite literally season ours from the inside out! Bwahaha. We add parsley, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, & oregano to their crumbles. And they free range all day!

Here’s Big Red and His Chicks! They greet me at the top of the stairs because they’re spoiled to the core !
View attachment 142986

Gonna be some expensive crawfish this year- hell…the crawfish market here always lays claim of too hot of a summer or too much rain and flooding.

Last I saw was $12lb. That’s insane and I love boiled crawfish! Guess it’s time to get out the pyramid/pillow traps.

 

[Ddski5]

Some good news-
My sick Speckled Sussex is all better and lays an egg every day. I surprised that I am getting bw 7-9 eggs a day now.

I was so excited about this double yolk!!

 

[Ravenbird]

My sick Speckled Sussex is all better and lays an egg every day

Terrific! In 6 years I only got one double yolk, and it was in that hens early days of laying. Your eggs a beautiful with all those colors!

 

[Hollyvenus78]

Gonna be some expensive crawfish this year- hell…the crawfish market here always lays claim of too hot of a summer or too much rain and flooding.

Last I saw was $12lb. That’s insane and I love boiled crawfish! Guess it’s time to get out the pyramid/pillow traps.

Yeah we are next door to Louisiana! (two hour drive across the border) and they are saying too little Ian for us this year!! so we shall see! either way I have a couple orders in for the heads with some family that I know wills still do a boil! just because I want those eggs again. yummmmmy!!!

 

[Hollyvenus78]

We just got 3 more laying hens. ( we aren't set up for brooders and I don't really want to be messing around with baby chicks). but a dear friend of our raises them and I get them... but they laid for the first time after moving them here on Sunday... I was super eggcited (sorry I had to) when I looked in the box and we have a BEAUTIFUL blue egg! Brown Betty (Boston Brown) is so sweet!! and HUGE lord have mercy she's a big dang bird!!!

 

[Ddski5]

Update:
The chicken coop is doing well and has withstood some horrid rain and winds. Yesterday I bought some nylon rope and ground anchors in prep for upcoming hurricane season.

The chickens are doing very well, putting out 11 eggs everyday. Word of my colorful egg basket got around at work and folks started asking me if I sell them and how much. I told them Wal-Mart sells a dozen for $2.64 and I guess I will charge $3.00 for 12 and $4.00 for 18. I don’t expect to make any money but anything that helps with feed cost would be fantastic to me. Well, the folks at work said they will pay $4 for a dozen and $6 for 18…I didn’t understand why they would want to over buy when I offered a cheaper price so I said okay and pretty much been sold out. I have a long list of request. Then I find out that there is another person around that is selling yard eggs: $5.00 for dozen and $7.50 for 18. I thought to myself…yes that makes sense now.

My Speckled Sussex- Mike Abbott- is doing significantly better- walks around well and lays an egg every day.

I hung an apple up yesterday and they were scared of it at first- took them a good two hours to work up the courage to go peck it. But once they did, it was on..they are scavengerous raptors on that thing.

 

[JanS]

Well, the folks at work said they will pay $4 for a dozen and $6 for 18…I didn’t understand why they would want to over buy when I offered a cheaper price

Your asking price was low and around here it's $4/dozen from most local chicken people around here. Well worth the money, IMO.

 

[Hollyvenus78]

Update:
The chicken coop is doing well and has withstood some horrid rain and winds. Yesterday I bought some nylon rope and ground anchors in prep for upcoming hurricane season.

The chickens are doing very well, putting out 11 eggs everyday. Word of my colorful egg basket got around at work and folks started asking me if I sell them and how much. I told them Wal-Mart sells a dozen for $2.64 and I guess I will charge $3.00 for 12 and $4.00 for 18. I don’t expect to make any money but anything that helps with feed cost would be fantastic to me. Well, the folks at work said they will pay $4 for a dozen and $6 for 18…I didn’t understand why they would want to over buy when I offered a cheaper price so I said okay and pretty much been sold out. I have a long list of request. Then I find out that there is another person around that is selling yard eggs: $5.00 for dozen and $7.50 for 18. I thought to myself…yes that makes sense now.

My Speckled Sussex- Mike Abbott- is doing significantly better- walks around well and lays an egg every day.

I hung an apple up yesterday and they were scared of it at first- took them a good two hours to work up the courage to go peck it. But once they did, it was on..they are scavengerous raptors on that thing.

View attachment 144745

Just a quick and friendly reminder -- apple seeds are dangerous for chickens... they contain arsenic! Probably best to core it and then hang it up!

My flock loves, grapes, watermelon, and wheat grass!!

 

[Rits]

Update:
The chicken coop is doing well and has withstood some horrid rain and winds. Yesterday I bought some nylon rope and ground anchors in prep for upcoming hurricane season.

The chickens are doing very well, putting out 11 eggs everyday. Word of my colorful egg basket got around at work and folks started asking me if I sell them and how much. I told them Wal-Mart sells a dozen for $2.64 and I guess I will charge $3.00 for 12 and $4.00 for 18. I don’t expect to make any money but anything that helps with feed cost would be fantastic to me. Well, the folks at work said they will pay $4 for a dozen and $6 for 18…I didn’t understand why they would want to over buy when I offered a cheaper price so I said okay and pretty much been sold out. I have a long list of request. Then I find out that there is another person around that is selling yard eggs: $5.00 for dozen and $7.50 for 18. I thought to myself…yes that makes sense now.

My Speckled Sussex- Mike Abbott- is doing significantly better- walks around well and lays an egg every day.

I hung an apple up yesterday and they were scared of it at first- took them a good two hours to work up the courage to go peck it. But once they did, it was on..they are scavengerous raptors on that thing.

View attachment 144745

It used to be $2 a dozen up here in rural Indiana but feed costs have gone quite up. I remember when I could buy a 40-50lb bag for $12-15. Not the case anymore. Think more like $21-25 on the low end. And thats just feed cost, not considering the cost for the coop, bedding, sand, and some labor. Still...people around here sell them for that cheap which makes it difficult to sell anywhere near breaking even. I don't have enough girls anymore to supply others but when I did, friends would at least gladly pay the higher price knowing how much we cared for them. I'm sure being in the city they would sell for a pretty penny!!

 

[Ravenbird]

Just a quick and friendly reminder -- apple seeds are dangerous for chickens... they contain arsenic! Probably best to core it and then hang it up!

How much is too much?​

The lethal dose of cyanide for chickens is 11.1 mg/kg, so how many apple seeds would a chicken need to eat to become poisoned?

• Let’s say your chicken is 7 lbs (3.2 kg), so the lethal dose would be 35.52 mg of cyanide
• Apple seeds contain between 1-4mg of amygdalin per gram of seeds (depending on the variety) and each apple seed weighs ~0.7 g
• For each 1 mg of amygdalin, up to 0.06 mg of cyanide can be produced

So, to reach toxicity, our 7 lb chicken would need to consume between 66-264 seeds (depending on how potent the seeds are).

That’s a lot of seeds! Considering most apples contain only 5-8 seeds, 1 chicken would need to eat anywhere from 8 to 52 apples to reach cyanide toxicity. I’d say, you’re more than safe dividing a few apples among your flock.

around here it's $4/dozen from most local chicken people

When I had extra eggs I asked $4/doz. The going rate at the local farmers market is now $6. I'm down to just 4 hens now, getting about a dozen eggs per week which is actually fine with me not having to deliver after so many years.

 

[GennyB]

I don't sell my eggs. I give them away to family and friends. I do throw them in a blender and pour on a silicone mat and dehydrate them. When finished I grind them up and store them in a mason jar. To reconstitute it's 1 tbls egg powder to 2 tbls. water. They work great for omelets and baking.

 

[GennyB]

Lots of news from the coop! My rooster, Cluck Norris is a busy boy! He needed more hens! He was brutal on his initial harem was just not big enough. We now have 16 hens!
As you can see he is a much happier boy!


I also have a couple buff orpingtons of which one has gone broody. Hopefully that means we will have some baby chicks in a few days. Fingers crossed this works out. Should be just about perfect timing. My hens will be turning 2 soon so gotta keep up on the rotation!

 

[Ravenbird]

That's a good looking rooster! Our flock has aged and I haven't added new, so just barely getting enough eggs for us, none to share now. We finally had to dispatch the rooster a couple of months ago due to chronic lameness. It was funny though, didn't matter if he had 16 hens or 6, there were always the "favorites" that looked awful due to his loving. Hopefully your Cluck Norris will not play favorites!

This is Dixie, she'll be 8 in June!

 

[Ddski5]

Lots of news from the coop! My rooster, Cluck Norris is a busy boy! He needed more hens! He was brutal on his initial harem was just not big enough. We now have 16 hens!

As you can see he is a much happier boy!
View attachment 146441

I also have a couple buff orpingtons of which one has gone broody. Hopefully that means we will have some baby chicks in a few days. Fingers crossed this works out. Should be just about perfect timing. My hens will be turning 2 soon so gotta keep up on the rotation!

Is he a Buckeye- sure is a pretty rooster. Good luck with the broody hen!

My 11 are doing well. I get about 9 eggs daily.

 

[GennyB]

Hopefully your Cluck Norris will not play favorites!

Oh he definitely plays favorites. *SIGH * I give those girls a break from him. My coop is set up in a way that allows me to separate birds to give them some rest.
Sometimes I have to put him off to himself but it has to get REALLY bad for me to do that. He does a GREAT job of protecting his girls from the wildlife we have. And that is the ONLY reason he hasn't met the soup pot yet.

 

[GennyB]

Is he a Buckeye- sure is a pretty rooster.

Good luck with the broody hen!

Thanks! I hope it works out cause I don't want to deal with an incubator and extra work. If she'll do it for me she might become my favorite.

 

[Ravenbird]

I hope it works out cause I don't want to deal with an incubator and extra work. If she'll do it for me she might become my favorite.

I hope it works out for you. I didn't get broody breeds but two went broody a couple of times and raised some chicks for me. It was SO delightful. But getting near the time now that I will have to get chicks and raise them under lights again if I want to continue eating fresh eggs...

I've heard Rhode Islands are ill tempered, is that true? Best layers but trade off is not friendly, so I never got any.

 

[GennyB]

I've heard Rhode Islands are ill tempered, is that true? Best layers but trade off is not friendly, so I never got any.

I've had several RI hens over the years and haven't found them to be ill tempered at all. My roo, Cluck isn't either. He is not huge on strangers, but give him a minute and he'll warm up to you. I pick him because RI's are supposed to at the top of the list as far as protection of the hens. That part I have found VERY true. If I had to pick all over again, I would still pick him! I find his temperament just about perfect. He not an outgoing friendly guy, but he's not mean either. That's just fine by me as long as he keeps protecting his ladies!

 

[Ravenbird]

I've had several RI hens over the years and haven't found them to be ill tempered at all. My roo, Cluck isn't either

Good to know, thank you! We had 2 really nasty roosters from our first order of chicks. Like run at you and flog mean. Found a home for one, kept the other but he didn't get any better. One of the hens had a clutch of eggs hatch from him and we kept one boy and dispatched the father due to him flying at my housemates face. He was that bad. The roo we kept was the BEST. No meanness ever, not even a stink-eye. Good with protecting the hens, great alarm calls etc. The only difference was that those first two mean roosters were raised from chicks with no adult chickens to teach them manners. We've all seen how brutal pecking order can be! I've often wondered if male chicks raised by hens and integrated into a flock naturally learned some kind of lesson that they never got being raised amongst peers their own age. LIke kindergarten kids with no teacher or leaders, they'd just have to sort themselves out. Here I am being nerdy again, always trying to figure stuff out. And I'm glad to know that Rhode Islands can be civil.

 

[GennyB]

And I'm glad to know that Rhode Islands can be civil.

That said, I have had some really nasty rooster in my day. I spent lots of time with him since the day he hatched. Was that the difference? No idea but can't help but believe it helped