more chicken questions.. discussion .. whatever!

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Brody

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It's March so my mind turns to July ... (which is when I get to head to our farm full time for 2 months!)
I've got the veggies well in hand - no need for my ocd in that regard - seeds and seedlings do fine - though I love garden talk ...

Last summer 2 chickens needed a home two days before my break began ... so it was a no brainer - we brought them east - built a free coop (2.5 feet by 4.5 feet long with nest box on wall not included in dimensions) and throughly enjoyed watching Buffy and Jody and learning about chickens - I now must say I don't understand why anybody who is allowed to keep them wouldn't ... the eggs - YUM - the entertainment was great too ... come September we talked quite seriously about setting them illegally in the city but when a better for them option presented itself we jumped at it - the girls get to free range, and had a 20 minute car ride instead of a 2.5 hour one

I want to have laying chickens again this summer - how many chickens can our wee little coop support for a summer? Great ideas about finding hens? ( I don't want to disrupt Jody and Buffy by borrowing them back for the summer - I'm hoping Jody gets broody and helps earn her keep at her current location) I could buy laying hens through a hatchery - they are debeaked though and I don't know how well they'd do free ranging?

My darlng hubby also wants to raise some meat chickens - I'm ok with that in principle .. what do I need to know for them? Any great ideas about how I should set up night shelter for them? We do have coyotes around here - and while I haven't seen any sign of coons in our immediate hood they certainly exsist around here ...

hubby is happy to build me whatever I want for any of these projects .. but I don't even know what to ask for...

thoughts very welcome! (and dire warnings too!)
 
Meat chickens are a very "doable" project for the summer, provided you get them right at the beginning of your two months. They take 8 - 10 weeks to reach butchering size. You can do them younger, but of course they are smaller and the breasts will not be as meaty. I've never raised them, but I've read a fair bit about them. There can be problems... something called flip over disease, which basically means they can die suddenly of a heart attack. Some breeds manage better than others. You should ask the meat chicken questions on the HT poultry site as well, if you can get in. If not, let me know and I will help out.

For laying hens, you could inquire at Performance Poultry, which is just up the road from here. (Victoria Road, opposite Smokes Point Road.) Jason has great birds... most of mine have come from him. I think he has some ready-to-lay hens. If I am talking to him I'll ask if he sells laying hens. You would not want more than three hens in a pen that size, unless it is just used at night and you let the hens free range in the daytime.

http://www.performancepoultry.com/index.php

(MidnightCoder designed the original website for Jason.)
 
the hens are out all day every day rain or shine

Jason says he doesn't sell laying hens :( I will get my meat chicks from him though

thanks maggie - excellent (or is that eggsellent?) feedback ...
 
Well darn. I thought he sometimes had laying hens for sale.

There have to be other places around. I know... check Kijiji. There are sure to be some there from time to time. Under Pets > Livestock I would think.

If the pen is just for night, you could probably up that to four or five... As long as they have roost space. You've seen how small my chicken house is and I have had up to nine birds in it.
 
Hmmmm, I have some Buckeye hens, almost 2 years old now. They still lay plenty for 2 in the summer, but they took 4 months off last fall, so I ordered new chicks for this spring. You could have 2 or 3 of the hens if you want them since I'm going to be overrun with chicks in a month or so. The buckeyes will still lay for several years, I just wanted more chicks for the spring :)
 
ohhhhhh mk - that might work out well for you and me - you know the girls have a nice retirement home and you don't get over-run in chickens ... and I get chicken tv :)
Buckeyes were actually on my short list of breeds I'd choose :)

you never know what happens til you put the energy out there eh?

thanks
 
The buckeyes are from Performance, so you know they're good stock and will last a while. But 2 years is about as long as I can go between batches of chicks. There's nothing like the sight of a mother hen with all the babies around her. And if you feel like raising a few, I'll probably have a couple of extra chicks -- of course, you'd have to find a way to keep them over the winter since it's pretty hard to give up hand raised chicks ;)
 
isn't that hilarious - the girls would be coming home to their birthplace ...

I have a couple of alternatives for winter housing (or spring housing if need be) ... and agreeable neighbours .. and an in with animal control if I ever were to get caught it wouldn't be too bad ... CHICKS... awww

now I'm grinning - thanks for thinking you could trust me with the girls - Maggie - I'm not at all worried about the age .. they'll lay what they lay and I'll enjoy the eggs and the chickens!!
 

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