Have fun with those birds katwillNY. A small family flock is great for a number of reasons stated above, and soon you will be telling your own favorite stories. I have two great chicken stories. The first concerns a straight run, runt of the litter, black Araucana chick I named Duffy (means little black one). He started getting really sickly and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. He was literally getting near death and seemed very bloated. I noticed that his butt seemed to be sort of encrusted with feces so I ran some gentle warm water over it dissolving stuff when he literally just "exploded" a giant load all over!! He was good to go after that!! Duffy grew into a beautiful little rooster with all those iridescent colored feathers. The neighborhood was tranquil until Howie, the young boy next door, started raising some chickens for 4-H about 600' away. My chickens free ranged during the day. One day while I was at work Duffy heard the young rooster next door crowing and took off after him. He tore a hole through Howie's coop's screen door and beat the tar out of his chicken almost killing it. I FELT SO BAD. But Howie seemed to take it all in stride and asked if he could just enter my chicken in the fair instead. Obviously, being the least I could do, I said sure. Duffy went on to win the "Grand Champion Best in Show" whatever ribbon. I just let Howie keep Duffy, and the ribbon, and he lived a few more happy years next door. My second story concerns some Araucana hens that I had given to my Mom. They laid beautiful little green and blue tinted (shells) eggs. We would always joke about eating "Green Eggs and Ham". My kindergarten age nephew was visiting "Gramma" and had some green eggs and ham there. He then went into his "suburban" school the next day and was telling everyone about having the green eggs. The teacher called him out on it making a big issue over his "lying" to the class saying there was no such thing as green eggs. He was just confusing green eggs with Dr. Seuss and such. My nephew kept standing up for himself and his Grandma's chickens. Needless to say, the teacher send him home with a note about how he was becoming a "problem child" in his "fantasy world" etc. You can guess where this went next........................... In the end the teacher was apologizing to my sister, nephew, and the class. They even did a special "show and tell" with some of Grandmas eggs. Duffy
Ditto, don't be scared. I always keep one around to keep me in my place. It's true about them watching over the girls though. Funny thing I just thought of, the bulk of our rooster trouble has been with bantams... Just a little too big for thier little britches. Good eating though, except a "big" one will dress out to be a cornish game hen!
It is hard to add what has already been said. The one memory I have of my chicken days is that when we got a incubator and hatched some chicks. The kids were mesmerized by those hatching chicks for the two days it was happening. They would get up from nap time and run to see if they had any new chicks. A great way to teach kids about life and how precious it is. A simple little thing like chicks hatching can do that. Plus, kids get an appreciation of where their food comes from.
My FIL brought home 80 Cornish X last night. 8 weeks and they'll be in the freezer. We raise them together for whoever wants them in our big family.
If be interested in hearing more about these? I'm thinking about a few to see how they taste... What different upkeep do you have to do for them? Feed wise?
High protein feed. I feed 22% from Southern States. I raise males only as they seem to grow faster. All I do is provide them with a section of electric net fence and a makeshift shelter for them to escape the sun/weather.
They are an extremely fast growing bird. You have to be careful you don't grow them too fast or they'll die from a number of things (heart attack, broken bones, literally splitting open). Feed can be expensive for them, but my dairy farmer BIL grinds/mixes our feed using corn and some protein and mineral supplements. They eat and chit...and that's about it. Make sure you grow them in a moveable pen/tractor otherwise it gets pretty nasty...they don't require much space. At the end 50 birds will go though 5-10 gallons of water a day too, so they are a lot of upkeep. The good news is they are done quick. In the end we usually have $5-$6 bucks a bird into them and a lot of work, but they don't have hormones and antibiotics, and taste much better than what you buy in the store so it is worth the extra $.
I go to an Amish guy who turns a live bird into a bird in a bag ready for the freezer for $2. He also takes in old layers on trade too. Just bring some totes full of ice and the birds over in the morning and pick them up in the evening.
The best thing to do is keep an eye out at TSC, Rural King, or whatever farm store is in your area and buy the oldest birds they have...they cost the same and saves a good bit of feed. These birds double in size nearly every week.
I promised my kids we'd raise chickens for eggs this year. I may be adding to this thread in the future!
Your kids will love it. It's super simple to. Don't buy into all the craziness. Simple coop with food and water.
Jon_E the only advice I would give you is figure out who is going to turn the raised birds into refrigerator/freezer ready chickens. If you can do it great. When I first did it with my kids 20 years ago, I found a guy down the road that showed me how. Otherwise it can get real messy real quick. Then I found a guy that did what Luken said turned the bird into a freezer ready chicken for $2. I paid the $2.
I can do 25 myself in 2 hours. Thats killing, dunking, plucker, evisceration, rinse, and in ice bath.
