From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon ... psychohistorian)
Subject: Re: Chickens
Organization: University of Minnesota
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 00:00:05 GMT

In <BuKMut.IL5@quake.sylmar.ca.us> brian@quake.sylmar.ca.us (Brian K. Yoder) writes:

>In article <1992Sep12.155032.26085@spectra.com> gurley@spectra.com (Jim Gurley) writes:

>>including a 1/3 acre fenced garden/orchard.  There are no predators to
>>speak of (not counting our dog, whom I assume we can train to leave them
>>alone).

ahhh, you would be amazed at the number of predators that will surface when 
you have chickens. any skunks? owls? hawks? cats? (feral or fluffy either
will do) weasels? badgers (our area, thou they tend to not roam to close
to the house), fox!?!?!? i'm sure you can think of more, ask your co ext
agent i'm sure he'll (she'll) point out a few more. don't bet on rover leaving 
them alone. they're just to much fun to chase.

>to keep them away from your orchard and your garden (partiularly the garden).

and how! they also can untie your shoe so fast it's not even funny.
they also will identify your most expensive, rare shrub/flower and waste
it in no time.

>For keeping the chickens in their place, the best thing is an electric
>fence about a foot high.  The chickens will learn not to try to leave
>aster the first few days of being out.

yes.

>Not for long.  Basically, they need food and fresh water every day.  You might

the water is the easy part if you rig a method of dripping water into the 
container. watch for drowning, so no open large deep containers.
they just love the duck 'pond'.

>be able to get away with missing a day if you really stoke up the food and
>water, but remember, you have to collect eggs every day too.  It is best to
>take care of them twice each day.  Yes, you'll need a friendly neighbor who
>will take care of them when you are gone.  

>>2) Do they need a 'pen' or can they range free?  (I guess we'd never find
>>the eggs)

>Actually, as long as you make nice nests they'll usually lay them where you
>want them (though some hens are less careful than others).  You also need to 
>keep them away from the garden and the road.  This "free range" stuff is
>just animal rights blathering.  Get yourself an electric fence.  The 

not really. i 'free range' em to keep down grasshoppers and other stuff.
i'm going to try something i saw  a while back. put a fence around the 
garden. go out ~5-10 ft and put another fence. put the chickens between 
the 2 fences. now weeds won't encroach via runners into the garden.
grashoppers and such won't waltz into your garden for brunch. and it
will help defray the cost of feed.

>alternative is chicken wire fence which always needs mending.  For chicken

major pain to install, and it will not contain them.

>wire to be really effective, you have to clip their wings too (to keep
>them from flying over the fence).  Remember, when you clip wings, only
>clip one side.  That keeps them off-balance.  Anyway, with electric fences
>you don't have to worry about any of that.

but it will make small children learn about electricity real . . . fast!

>>3) Whats the 'laying life' of a hen?  Are we going to be butchering them
>>all the time?  (We don't eat much meat, but there's a wildlife center
>>nearby whose raptors just love chicken)

and i wonder if any might just decide to drop by for lunch:-)

>following year.  Old hen meat isn't bad, but it isn't as tasty as tender
>young roosters, so we usually canned it for use in sandwiches etc.  Canning

its fine for stews and chicken & dumplings:-) yumm yumm:-)/

>sort of tenderizes it.  Just for your information, there's no need for 

>You can also increase the number of chicks that survive by putting medicine
>in their water (check at your localfeed store).  Remember, a certain percentage

you can also buy them debeaked and vaccinated.

>of your chicks WILL die early in life, so buy a few extra.

most definatly!!

>>4) Can they tolerate occasional freezing weather, or do we need to build
>>them a heated coop (anybody have any solar-coop plans?)?

heat lamps with a timer or thermostat will work fine. see your local
feed/farm supply.


>Chicks are socially nasty to one another.  If one is a bit smaller or if it has
>a colored spot on it's back, the others will peck it until they kill it.
>This even goes for older chickens when they see another chicken with some
>blood on it.  You need to isolate these victims if they are to live.  Actually,

this also goes for you! i would hate to pass out in a chicken barn with a 
few hundred chickens. as an aside i wonder what (if any) the effect is if 
the grower is female and shes mensurating?? i'm certain the chickens would 
know it. but would they be more attracted to her. ie want to follow her out?

>>8) Maybe most important, how do eggs measure up as an efficient
>>energy/resource consumer (e.g. how much 'energy' of feed/water makes an
>>equivalent measure of eggs?)?  For example, we wouldn't raise beef for that
>>reason. [please no anti-environmental flames over this one!
 do you have unused (by you) pasture? with a little addition of water,
and some time you could raise one or two. and the occational corn.

[bunch of really good comments deleted]

i agree with you completly. and can add no more.

bill pociengel
--
bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu
Newsgroups: misc.rural