General Chicken care Question

[ThePigeonKid]

I was wondering what all it takes to keep chickens?

I mean like just a general, feeding, housing etc.

Thanks!

[MaryOfExeter]

Well they'll eat about anything. Cracked corn, wild bird seed, chicken pellets of course, leftovers from the garden (they LOVE tomatoes), bread, grass...anything! We feed ours your typical scratch feed.
Our chickens are free range, so we have a little coop we threw together (doesn't have to be fancy, as long as it has perches and nest boxes). They go in to roost and we lock them in so they're safe through the night. Then they come right back out in the morning to start running around the yard looking for food again
We do have a chicken lot to put them in. It's just a fenced in area around the coop. Some chicken wire for that will do. We used to clip their wings and keep them in there, but I like to see them in the yard, so I let their feathers grow. Makes it a little harder for anything to get them when they can fly.
Chickens are really easy to keep. As long as you have food, water, and somewhere safe and dry to sleep, you'll have happy chickens!

[honey97]

It's really important to have warmth for them during the colder nights. Some chickens are better equipped to handle the colder nights with lower profile combs. I have one RIR that has a massive comb, to the point it lays over, I call it "a comb" over lol. I have seen it discolored from the cold, since then I make sure I have supplemental heat on the coldest of nights. But all in all if you have a good structure, that will break the drafts they stay pretty warm. They will huddle when they need to. One thing I have found is putting your grass clipping in their scratch yard will help keep the smell down. And I use hay in the winter because they enjoy turning it over looking for bugs, and that too helps with absorbing moisture from droppings. One draw back of having chickens is they will get into every flower bed/garden bed you have unless you take measures to avoid this--haha you will get inventive!! Would be glad to share my experiences if they are wanted. I have been keeping chickens for about 4 years on my own, but I was raised around chickens growing up.

connie

[Charis]

You have received some good advise.
I have had chickens for 15 years...all rescued hens. They are just as vulnerable to the same kinds of predators that kill our Pigeons. I used to let mine free range until one day, I watched in horror as a Peregrine Falcon swooped down to take my favorite. All I could do was pound on the window which was just enough of a distraction to allow her the time to hide under a bush. Now they have a house that they sleep in and an enclosed outside area around the back and sides of their house. I only let them out when I can be outside with them and even then I am very leery. You can see pictures in my album. it's a very cool chicken house and it looks expensive but it's made mostly from old house parts from a salvage place.
As for the smell...if you pick the poop up religiously, every morning, there will be no odor.
Chickens get sick too so you need to be prepared.
Check out...www.backyardchickens.com
There could be another forum in your future.

[george simon]

Originally Posted by ThePigeonKid

I was wondering what all it takes to keep chickens?

I mean like just a general, feeding, housing etc.

Thanks!

Go to google type in chickens and you will find all you need to know. ..GEORGE

[Ed]

Originally Posted by george simon

Go to google type in chickens and you will find all you need to know. ..GEORGE

that is what this forum is for
telling someone to go google is not really helping them at all

[bluebirdsnfur]

I don't have any chickens (want some) but I visit www.backyardchickens.com all the time and Charis is right, you will find everything you ever want to know about chickens there. It's a really great site! lots of coop pictures!

[ThePigeonKid]

Thank you for your answers.

I was wondering, what breed of chicken are the best to keep?

[spirit wings]

there are too many to name, so you will have to do some research and decide if you want eggs or large size chickens or bantams or just unusual ones, this site may help you get familar with some of the breeds

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/

[MaryOfExeter]

Originally Posted by ThePigeonKid

Thank you for your answers.

I was wondering, what breed of chicken are the best to keep?

All depends on what you're looking for.
There's basically two sizes of chickens, standard and bantam. Do you care how big or little they are? Most of the chickens who lay brown eggs are bigger, and the white egg chickens are mostly smaller. There's also breeds who are more broody than others, meaning when they lay their clutch, they'll go to sit on them. Other chickens are experts at laying a lot of eggs.

Since there's soooo many different types of chickens, I'll just tell you what I can about the kinds I've had.

Rhode Island Reds - Big chickens. I'm pretty sure there are bantam sized ones but mine were huge! They lay big deep brown eggs, which are our favorite. Mine were never the first to start sitting on their eggs quickly. They'd just lay eggs. I had two roosters that were interesting guys. The first one didn't have a name, but he was somewhat tame. You could walk up and almost pet him (I don't think he liked it much ), but he'd peck you. The other one I named Reggie. He was the same, and was full of himself...except...when the other, much smaller roosters came to kick his tailfeathers

Old English Game Bantams - RIRs are my favorite big chickens, but these are my favorite small ones. We always had black ones, as well as some mixes I'm sure. They were always a bit more wild, but I do have Omar (mom was OEG, dad was Seabright), who is very friendly. You can pick him up and he'll sit on your lap for a long time if you 'preen' his neck feathers. They lay white eggs, and a lot of them. Mine love to sit on them too. I would sometimes get a little slack on collecting eggs, then go down there to find a few big nests of everyone's eggs, being incubated by all my OEG hens. Another plus is they can fly really well. We kept ours' wings clipped when they were in the pen so they'd stay, but now they're 'free range' so I like them to have full sets of flights in case a dog comes running out of nowhere.

Sex-links - Another big chicken with lighter brown eggs. From my own chickens, I've seen that these are more broody than RIRs. You stick your hand under one of these on a nest, and you'll get a peck you won't forget
I think there's only three colors of these? Black, blonde, and some are more red looking.

Seabrights - We had both the Golden and the Silver Seabrights. They're smaller than OEGs. Their color is really pretty IMO. They lay little white eggs, but I never saw any of mine attempt to sit on theirs. They can fly pretty well and make good pets.

B.B.'s - These are tiny little chickens, about the same size as the Seabrights. I only had two hens, and I wish I had more. They could fly of course, and laid white eggs. I can say basically the same for these as the Seabrights. But those two hens I had were my little buddies. They were really tame. So I'd definitely mark these as pet material (which really any chickens can be if you want them to be)

Araucana - Easter egg chickens! They lay light blue and green eggs. From what I've heard there's both sizes for these. Mine were closer to bantam size. I didn't have them long enough to tell you much, but they were interesting looking. They had 'sideburns' and 'mohawks', haha.

Silkies - I had some pretty big Silkies, all white. They were hard to keep clean, haha. Also didn't have these very long. I'm pretty sure they laid white eggs though. They look like fluff balls with blue feet and a blue face. There's buff, white, blue, and black Silkies I think. I think these are good pets too, since they can't fly. So they're naturally going to be more tame.

Cochins - Small with big fluffy legs and feathered feet. They're cute and don't run across the yard...they bounce! Or at least it looks that way. Mine were very active little guys. White eggs out of these. I can't remember how they did sitting wise, since most of my nestboxes were taken up by OEGs or sex-links. I had a few buff ones a long time ago, but a little more recently I had one black hen. She was really pretty most of her feathers were laced in gold.


I know I've had more than that, I just either don't know for sure what they were, or I can't even remember what exactly they looked like. All my chickens came from the local feed store in the spring, so of course I always end up with a big variety of bantams and probably mixes (who knows?). Either way I love them all. I don't think it really matters what kind you get, you're sure to like them regardless

[spirit wings]

Originally Posted by MaryOfExeter

All depends on what you're looking for.
There's basically two sizes of chickens, standard and bantam. Do you care how big or little they are? Most of the chickens who lay brown eggs are bigger, and the white egg chickens are mostly smaller. There's also breeds who are more broody than others, meaning when they lay their clutch, they'll go to sit on them. Other chickens are experts at laying a lot of eggs.

Since there's soooo many different types of chickens, I'll just tell you what I can about the kinds I've had.

Rhode Island Reds - Big chickens. I'm pretty sure there are bantam sized ones but mine were huge! They lay big deep brown eggs, which are our favorite. Mine were never the first to start sitting on their eggs quickly. They'd just lay eggs. I had two roosters that were interesting guys. The first one didn't have a name, but he was somewhat tame. You could walk up and almost pet him (I don't think he liked it much ), but he'd peck you. The other one I named Reggie. He was the same, and was full of himself...except...when the other, much smaller roosters came to kick his tailfeathers

Old English Game Bantams - RIRs are my favorite big chickens, but these are my favorite small ones. We always had black ones, as well as some mixes I'm sure. They were always a bit more wild, but I do have Omar (mom was OEG, dad was Seabright), who is very friendly. You can pick him up and he'll sit on your lap for a long time if you 'preen' his neck feathers. They lay white eggs, and a lot of them. Mine love to sit on them too. I would sometimes get a little slack on collecting eggs, then go down there to find a few big nests of everyone's eggs, being incubated by all my OEG hens. Another plus is they can fly really well. We kept ours' wings clipped when they were in the pen so they'd stay, but now they're 'free range' so I like them to have full sets of flights in case a dog comes running out of nowhere.

Sex-links - Another big chicken with lighter brown eggs. From my own chickens, I've seen that these are more broody than RIRs. You stick your hand under one of these on a nest, and you'll get a peck you won't forget
I think there's only three colors of these? Black, blonde, and some are more red looking.

Seabrights - We had both the Golden and the Silver Seabrights. They're smaller than OEGs. Their color is really pretty IMO. They lay little white eggs, but I never saw any of mine attempt to sit on theirs. They can fly pretty well and make good pets.

B.B.'s - These are tiny little chickens, about the same size as the Seabrights. I only had two hens, and I wish I had more. They could fly of course, and laid white eggs. I can say basically the same for these as the Seabrights. But those two hens I had were my little buddies. They were really tame. So I'd definitely mark these as pet material (which really any chickens can be if you want them to be)

Araucana - Easter egg chickens! They lay light blue and green eggs. From what I've heard there's both sizes for these. Mine were closer to bantam size. I didn't have them long enough to tell you much, but they were interesting looking. They had 'sideburns' and 'mohawks', haha.

Silkies - I had some pretty big Silkies, all white. They were hard to keep clean, haha. Also didn't have these very long. I'm pretty sure they laid white eggs though. They look like fluff balls with blue feet and a blue face. There's buff, white, blue, and black Silkies I think. I think these are good pets too, since they can't fly. So they're naturally going to be more tame.

Cochins - Small with big fluffy legs and feathered feet. They're cute and don't run across the yard...they bounce! Or at least it looks that way. Mine were very active little guys. White eggs out of these. I can't remember how they did sitting wise, since most of my nestboxes were taken up by OEGs or sex-links. I had a few buff ones a long time ago, but a little more recently I had one black hen. She was really pretty most of her feathers were laced in gold.


I know I've had more than that, I just either don't know for sure what they were, or I can't even remember what exactly they looked like. All my chickens came from the local feed store in the spring, so of course I always end up with a big variety of bantams and probably mixes (who knows?). Either way I love them all. I don't think it really matters what kind you get, you're sure to like them regardless

Thats cool Becky, I did'nt know you were a chicken person too!
I have always wanted some seabrights, they are so pretty and small and spunky.

[ThePigeonKid]

Thank you for all of your responses and advice.

One more thing: out of those breeds, how many eggs do they lay in a day?

[MaryOfExeter]

Spirit Wings, yeah I'm kinda just an all around bird person I've had chickens all my life (literally) and they were my buddies before pigeons came along

Pigeon Kid,
I don't believe chickens can lay anymore than one egg a day.
I think out of that list the RIRs and Sex-links are the best layers, giving you an egg nearly everyday.

Here's some info I found on all these breeds. In this case I think wikipedia will do a good job

Old English Game Bantam (note that BB's are OEG's. they're normally called 'BB Reds')
Rhode Island Red
Sex-link
Seabright
Silkie
Araucana/Ameraucana
Cochin

[eyespyer]

Originally Posted by ThePigeonKid

Thank you for all of your responses and advice.

One more thing: out of those breeds, how many eggs do they lay in a day?

I have had red Sex-links, and am now raising the black Sex-links. They lay an egg almost every day. They are real good in the cold, and can tolerate the heat better than most.

[UncleBuck]

I raise and sell chickens. My favorites are... ALL OF THEM! I usually get fifty Barred Rocks (hens) every two years and use them to cross with my Rhode Island Red (RIR) cocks. I get the black sex links from those eggs. The black sexed links usually lay between 320 eggs to 340 eggs a year. They are comparable to the RIR. I like the sexed links because I honestly believe in the hybrid vigor.
My wife likes her bantams. Bantams have a Napoleon attitude and their diminutive size does not stop them from believing they rule the world.
I have a thing about people who put human feelings and emotions on animals... But each, or most of these, chickens do have a personality. My favorite is Miss Henny-Penny, a buff orphanton who thinks she is in charge of the farm yard. She sits on the half door to the barn while I am feeding the critters and I think she finds fault with everything I do. Always clucking at me (Put another scoop of wheat in that bucket! C'mon, you can give us a little extra wheat grass today! Corn Corn Corn, whats with the corn?) while I am getting the feed ready for them.
Anyway, like someone mentioned above, backyard chickens is a wealth of information and is a wonderful forum to join. Just make sure you come back to this forum!
Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm.