Hollyvenus78
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Tuekens***. sorry auto- correct got me
Backyard Chickens?
- Thread starter Dragonborn
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Brioddy
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Although they grow by the day and are a little bigger now. I loved my ducks and was devastated when my house flooded and I had to get rid of them, now I have a large shed im going to convert into a hen house. Well, hopefully hens as there was no information provided. No idea what kinds! But they are sweet and entertaining, and I have a pond out back too so I also might get some more ducks.
Brioddy
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They’re probably ISA browns, my mom has a few and they match that description of prolific egg layers with a short life span.16 helps a lot. I believe my friend is down to eight. She had a raccoon get two of them. And even with a light on during the winter she's getting maybe one or two eggs a day. I haven't been able to get any from her for a while .She's going to get another eight chicks I believe. And they are a specific breed that supposedly are good egg layers. They're supposed to lay over 300 eggs a year. But they only live two or three years because of that. I'll have to find out what breed it is. I'm not that knowledgeable on chickens.
My cousin in Oregon was telling they are $11/dz where she lives.
She wanted to know if I could ship her some. I asked if she has seen shipping cost because it would probably cost the same if not more.
I think you mean turkens right?
I'm down to 3 chickens now. One is from the original order of chicks I got in 2016, so she will be 9 in June. The other two are going on 7. I was thinking about just letting go of the chicken thing, much as I love them, but now with the price of eggs thought maybe I should get another half dozen.Not that raising your own is much cheaper, but just so satisfactory... Looked at the mail-order hatcheries I purchased from before and some others - All their hatches for the best laying breeds are sold out through May, some of them through June! I've seen the local TSC chicks in the past, sometimes they look healthy and sometimes not so much. Never wanted to purchase their chicks, plus very little selection. Now I'm back on the fence about renewing my chicken population.
Brioddy
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I got my bitties from rural king, while they weren’t the picture of health (two had pasty bum) that was an easy fix with running under warm water til it loosened. Under my care they have blossomed and seem to be very happy and healthy. I can’t wait to see what they look like as adults, although I feel like I’ll miss hearing peeps in the house.
I was just on the phone with my friend and you are absolutely right. It's the ISA Brown that she is thinking of getting.
And you are absolutely right too! Just before I read your post she was telling me that everybody is sold out and some of them you can't get until after June! Looks like @JanS is right. Everybody's getting chickens! So I just hung up with her so she can hurry up and call !
They are! But it's not just the price of eggs that is driving it. Ever since covid there has been a swing toward more self sufficiency. Add to that RFK jr making more people more aware what is in our food and more and more people are turning to homesteading for a less dependent and healthier lifestyle.
Cornish Cross are meat chickens, not layers, so much cheaper. Most of the meat chickens are so heavy they are not able to live a good life past 12 weeks. You don't buy them expecting them to live to laying age. I'm not even sure how they breed them to make more, but I never looked into it...
They are a cross of 2 breeds but I can't remember which 2
I think You butcher them at different ages depending on what you are looking for. fryer, broiler or roaster, etc. I think 12 weeks is roaster size.
@JanS $2.99 is kinda pricey. They run about $2.45 for 25 of them here.
A few years ago TSC got some meat chicks in their order. All the layer chicks sold out and the little meat chicks went down to 50 cents each. They were already 2x the size of the layer chicks. I don't know much about them, just that you have to raise them with only intentions of them being dinner.
True and I personally couldn't do that.
Another thing I was thinking about is that the price of chicken meat hasn't gone up in the store but eggs are through the roof. I sort of don't get that.
They don't have to keep them for very long! A hen doesn't even begin laying until about 6 months of age, so that's 6 months of keeping them alive with zero income. But look at meat chickens, quick turn around on the dollars & time spent -
From U of Minn extension:
The various classes of chicken meat birds are raised from the same commercial strains.
- Broilers or fryers: birds slaughtered at 7 to 9 weeks of age when they weigh 3 to 5 pounds and dress a 2 ½ to 4-pound carcass
- Cornish game hen: birds slaughtered at 5 weeks of age
- Roasters: birds grown out to 12 weeks or longer
Good point and I hadn't thought about that.
I was at Aldi's yesterday and the price for eggs was $5.50 and there were none left. 
And I don't even believe all the hype about bird flu. What about the geese and the Ducks and everything else. They don't get it? No they're just keeping our eggs from us, that's all. It's one of the healthiest things out there . And if I had a slew of chickens and they came to my place and wanted me to kill them all I would be having a fit!
And I don't even believe all the hype about bird flu. What about the geese and the Ducks and everything else. They don't get it? No they're just keeping our eggs from us, that's all. It's one of the healthiest things out there . And if I had a slew of chickens and they came to my place and wanted me to kill them all I would be having a fit!
Who is "they"? Avian flu is very real, it's been around for years, ducks and geese DO get it, and migratory birds like ducks and geese spread it. Large concentrations of birds, are extremely vulnerable - like egg farms where tens of thousands of chickens are housed inches apart. The fact that viruses are ever-changing and mutation is something to watch for, not panic over, nor declare it's a conspiracy that "they" are doing. Thousands of chickens are killed when the virus is found at a bird farm to prevent spread because it spreads extremely fast and is usually fatal due to the close proximity of the birds. Nobody, but nobody wants this virus or wants to euthanize thousands of chickens just to piss off the public.
Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) Fact Sheet
What is avian influenza? Avian influenza is an influenza type A virus that occurs naturally in wild aquatic birds, including ducks, geese and gulls. Mild forms of avian influenza (known as low pathogenic avian influenza, or LPAI) are routinely found in wild birds and don’t cause serious illness.
We've had so much going on that I can't remember exactly when it was but we had a hawk attack.....or try to attack our flock. My roo, Cluck Norris, wouldn't have it! He took on the hawk without a thought. It was battle but Cluck won. He was torn up pretty bad and I thought for sure we would lose him. But no! He pulled through! The result he became pretty aggressive, especially to my husband. My cousin reminded of what my Grandma used to do. That's dipping or dunking depending on what part if the country you live. It worked! I'm sooooo happy about that because I didn't want to say goodbye.
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