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#1
10-17-2011, 08:12 PM
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Cluck-Cluck Chicken Thread
Someone told me that you could put a hatchling in with pullets to make them start laying. Worth a try or just a myth?
I bet you were expecting a joke but sorry - no punch line. We bought home some chickens. 
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#4
10-18-2011, 06:01 AM
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Thanks for the replies. These chickens didn't stop laying, 3 of 4 haven't started yet. The original owners bought them at Easter for their five kids so the chickens are just getting old enough to start laying soon/now. Nice chickens, used to being handled by little kids.
We bought the chickens for homestead chickens. They are going to scratch our ground and eat our bugs, make fertilizer and eggs. So the chickens have to learn to carry out their new mission. I put up an automatic light to come on at 4am so the chickens will get over 13 hours of light, close to 14. We will let them range on a fenced acre with several vegetable plots during the day. The previous owners gave us a bag of Purina Scratch Grains and we will buy Laying Mash for feed. Many years ago, as a kid, I caught a stray chicken and kept it as a pet for a while. That is the level of experience with chickens at this end. We have some books and magazines but I suspect that as with gardening, little in print will apply locally. This is a subtropical area and since the BP gulf incident it is an emerging desert. Suspect oil evaporates at a lower temp than water?
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#5
10-18-2011, 06:11 AM
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Chickens need a bit of grit to help with "shell construction". You should be able to find that stuff at a pet store - but you'll get a better deal at an agricultural supplies type place. You should also be able to find layers pellets there too in great big sacks...
Don't under feed or over feed them. Make sure they have enough water. Fat chickens don't lay. As you've already worked out day light plays a strong role in when chickens will lay. Ours stop laying from about November to March because it doesn't normally get brighter than twilight around here... by adding artificial light you might get eggs out more quickly but there is a finite number of eggs any chicken can produce. Most chickens will start laying from about 6 months old so long as they're healthy, not too fat etc etc etc
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior  Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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#8
10-18-2011, 09:20 AM
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Quote:
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!
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#9
10-18-2011, 09:55 AM
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Quote:
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#10
10-18-2011, 09:56 AM
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Quote:
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#11
10-18-2011, 10:10 AM
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Chickens will lay when they're ready. A hen may reject and even kill a hatchling that's put in with it. Putting a timed light into a henhouse will indeed produce eggs thru the winter as the hen's built in hormonal system is day length sensitive. Factory egg producers keep the lights on all the time, the birds are burnt out by 18 months of age and get ground up into McNuggets and fed to school kids. Some breeds lay better naturally than others. I have some Buff Orpingtons who lay all year. i don't believe in using lights. The birds are designed to rest and fatten thru the winter by nature. In my experience using lights burns them out much faster. I have one hen who's 16 years old and still lays about 4 eggs a week. Every morning when I open the poultry house I expect to find her expired but she keeps on keeping on and you couldn't tell her from the year old birds.
You mentioned "vegetable plots". Hopefully they're not vegetable plots you plan to eat from. Chickens will dig up and destroy a vegetable garden in no time. Guinea Hens, on the other hand, will patrol your garden and carefully pick bugs off your plants. They don't scratch like chickens do. Calcium is important. Most use oyster shell scattered around but if you're going to let them free range they should get plenty from the rocks and grit they pick up scavenging. I give mine excess or old goat's milk. They love it and their shells are thick and sturdy. You could use out of date or soured commercial milk too, or spoilt yoghurt or cottage cheese. The bacteria is good for them. When planning your henhouse, make sure it's secure and the birds are locked in at night. And don't worry about making it cute. They're chickens, they have no esthetic sensibilities and will ***** all over your pretty handiwork. Prepare to get used to the rich, warm, savory smell of chicken poo. It's right up there with cat poop in the aroma dept. One last thought. Most of the chicks sold as Easter presents (an abhorrent and abusive practice) are meat breeds, not layers. You may be lucky to get any eggs at all. If it's good egg production you want, study up on laying breeds and order from a reputable hatchery, and don't buy "hatchery run" lots. Spend the extra money to buy sexed pullets. Half or more of any hatchery run batch of babies will turn out to be roosters, and your neighbors will NOT be amused. Good luck. You'll quickly discover that eggs and meat produced naturally makes that grocery store stuff taste watery, insipid and not worth buying.
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You're a daisy if you do. __________________________________ 84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold  04 Honda Element AWD 1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler 1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4 1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting
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#12
10-18-2011, 10:16 AM
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Blowout is a prolapsed vent, or may be caused when a hen is egg-bound and strains to pass the egg. I have cured a few by cleaning the protruding internal vent tissue and rubbing it with hemorrhoid cream to shrink it and shoving it back inside and giving them a big shot of antibiotics, but it usually doesn't work. Usually by the time you see it the hen has gotten it so dirty or the other birds have pecked it raw and the infection has gone internal. A maggot filled vent will spoil your breakfast. Best to cull the bird.
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You're a daisy if you do. __________________________________ 84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold 04 Honda Element AWD 1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler 1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4 1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting
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#13
10-18-2011, 10:42 AM
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Quote:
__________________
 1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15 '06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)
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#14
10-18-2011, 10:44 AM
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Quote:
__________________
1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15 '06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)
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#15
10-18-2011, 11:34 AM
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We started keeping chickens last year. My wife researched the breeds and chose Wyandottes.
The birds (we started with five, now have four) quickly acquired names ... when one broke a leg over winter, instead of the soup pot it went to the vet and got a splint. Amazingly, it recovered, and now it barely limps. One of the birds had a blowout this spring. With only four chickens, we (meaning wife) were able to isolate it, and it too recovered.
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