Chicken talk, for all things chicken

[Noisy_minor]

Well i thought id start a chicken thread as cindy said for every one to disguss there chicken stories. so ill start by introducing our three lovely hens. Paris Hilton, Schpelle Corby and Pauline Hanson. we named them after famous prisoners because my dad made there coop out of old security bars we pulled out of a shop front so it looks like a chicken prison. ill get some pics up soon so it makes more sence lol.


I thought it might be a good idea, to add some good chicken links in this thread for any new comers that may stumble apon our chicken chit chat.

So if anyone finds, or knows any good web sites, let me know ill add them to this post so there all togather and easy to understand.

Battery hen rehoming organisations:

http://www.bhwt.org.uk/
http://chickenrescue.net.nz/

[Charis]

This is a pretty good forum with some caring folks.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/index.php

My very first chicken was Matilda. I never intended to bring home a chicken...through circumstances, it just worked out that way.
I had gone to the feed store late on a Saturday afternoon because I was nearly out of food for my Muscovites. Close to closing, the place was full of customers and there was a long line. The end of the line happened to be right in front of a cage with what appeared to be three adult chickens. Of course I started talking to them and of course they answered. My son was with me and he was quite small at the time. I don't think he had ever seen a chicken close up and he was mesmerized.
We spent a lot of time looking at the chickens and the line of customers dwindled and it was my turn. I asked the owner of the feed store about the chickens and as he told me the story, he opened the door to the cage and the white one jumped on my shoulder.
What he told me was that earlier in the day, a little boy brought them in because his dad had told him they had become too big for their house and they were too messy. He had traded the feed store all three chickens for a kitten.
The white one, I was told,would be ready for the frying pan in about two weeks. The white one was on my shoulder and she was very sweet. I was horrified she was being sold as food and put up quite a verbal ruckus not in a mean way because that's hard for me to do but I tried reasoning with him...giving him other options. As a result and as I was walking out the door, he called me back and told me I could just have her.
Since, I have deeply regretted not taking all three so she could have been with her two best friends. The other two were Rhodie Island reds. At the time, I knew nothing about chickens and had no understanding that even chickens have best friends.
My husband was livid that I brought a chicken home and was terribly worried about what the neighbors would think. I didn't give a rip and Matilda was so charming that she did win his heart in short time.
Fryers don't live long even if they aren't butchered. The chickens sold in the stores are young chickens...babies really at only 8 weeks old. Fryers are bred to get big fast and there's nothing that can be done to slow the process down. Matilda got to be 14 lb. she lived 20 months. I thought I'd die when I found her dead one morning. I knew it was coming but still it caught me totally off guard. It just seemed so wrong that such a smart, charming and loving creature couldn't have enjoyed her life a little longer.
I have many wonderful stories about my Matilda and she's always with me. She is safe now in my heart.

[the bird man]

i currently have 4 hen all of them are road island reds 2 adults and 2 youngsters the two older ones names are big red and patchy.big red cause she big and dark red. and patchy because she always pulls out a patch of feathers on her chest.

one day i decided i wanted three girls. so i went to the feed store and picked up three chick.i put them in my garage under the red light to grow.then a week later my neighbor said she had to get rid hens becuase her dog kept killing them and she only had two left. so i rescued big red and patchy. now i said i picked up three chicks. well one of them turned out to be a rooster so i put him on a farm other than my back yard. and now i have 4 all together

[Noisy_minor]

Originally Posted by Charis

This chat will expire after 30 days...just so you know. This is a pretty good forum for information although I don't think most members feel quite as you and I do about chickens.

Give them awhile they will turn haha. every one here will have chickens in a few weeks im feeling it now.

[Charis]

"This is a pretty good forum for information although I don't think most members feel quite as you and I do about chickens."

..the above statement was made by me about a forum other than Pigeon talk.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by Charis

"This is a pretty good forum for information although I don't think most members feel quite as you and I do about chickens."

..the above statement was made by me about a forum other than Pigeon talk.

When I had my chickens, I LIVED on the BackYardChicken forum.........the vast majority of them DO love their chickens. As with everything else, there's always a few jerks who just don't "get it"........but I found most of them to be very kind and caring..........

[Charis]

Originally Posted by Lovebirds

When I had my chickens, I LIVED on the BackYardChicken forum.........the vast majority of them DO love their chickens. As with everything else, there's always a few jerks who just don't "get it"........but I found most of them to be very kind and caring..........

That's good to know. I visited a dozen times or so and wasn't as impressed as I was when I first found Pigeon talk. I still thought it was a good site with some good information. Still, I didn't want to hang out there. The comment was a personal opinion of how I felt with that forum.

[Feather]

Charis,

Thank you for blessing us with Matilda's story. I would love to hear some of the beautiful memories that you have of her. Well...any story from you would be just fine.

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by Charis

That's good to know. I visited a dozen times or so and wasn't as impressed as I was when I first found Pigeon talk. I still thought it was a good site with some good information. Still, I didn't want to hang out there. The comment was a personal opinion of how I felt with that forum.

In fact, the day I had to get rid of my chickens, I posted on BYC forum. Within 1 hour, a lady that is only about 15 miles from me came with her two young daughters and picked up all my babies. She lives on an 80 acre farm and all of her chickens are free range. I was heartbroken, but was glad to find them a good home so quickly.

[Charis]

I used to let my chickens free range too until the Hawks and Peregrines started patrolling and I realized that a free range chicken is not a safe chicken. Now, my hens can only free range when they can be supervised. They do have a nice aviary section but I feel sorry for them because it's just not the same. My wake up call was when a Peregrine came very close to grabbing my dear Jamima, as I watched in horror from my office window. Had I not pounded on the window and yelled as loud as I could, I think Jamima would have been a goner. I distracted the bird just long enough to give her the opportunity to escape. It was a very sad day because I realized that the freedom they had enjoyed for so long was over. I would never be trusting enough again to let a chicken free range.

[EgypSwiftLady]

Hello At the moment we have 2 hens Peep a Buff Orpington, Miss Red a Rhode Island Red and a rooster Aurcana known as Lil' ****, and he is definitly a ****. At his previous home he beat up all the other chickens, hes very tall and beautiful. Our other rooster Elmo just passed away not long ago, he lived to be 12 yrs. old, I still miss not seeing him in the coop.
Peep and Miss Red are free range when I am working outside but because of the hawks they cannot roam the sanctuary alone. Lil' **** must always be in his pen because of his bullying everything but me.
Peep is the only one that gifts us with an egg everyday but Miss Red also plays an important roll here, she makes me smile.
I love these chickens, and everything else here, and would never want to face a day without their caring personality... always willing to stop pecking and listen to my talking, and the way they swashay around as if I am their to serve them tea.

[maryjane]

I love chickens. When I was little we lived in the country and had many chickens. I had a Rhode Island Red hen named Henrietta who lived in the house because she was a runt. I have pictures of me at three years sitting with my chicken on my knee.

About eight years ago I picked up two chicks from the feed store and they became house chickens. These were Henrietta (A RIR) and Spike (a light Brahma). They wore handkerchief diapers and each morning would bok up a storm very early until I tucked them under the top bedspread with me. Then when we got up they would tromp down the back stairs to the backyard and have supervised outside time. One day we had a very rare snow fall, and that morning they walked out onto the steps and couldn't figure out for the life of them what that cold white stuff was. They slept on the back of the couch at night like cats. I had them for three years until I had to move to an apartment and they went to live with my dad's good friend and her chickens, where they still are, fat and sassy.

And of course there is Fussy Gussy, who found her way into my pigeon aviary as a new chick (this was before I knew about 1/4 inch hardware cloth!) and lived as a pigeon until earlier this year when she went to live on a big farm due to my blankety-blank neighbors whining. Updates have included her going next door to the pizzeria and jumping up on the counter. I can't wait to move to a place where I can have chickens all over.

[Noisy_minor]

i wish ours could free range as well but we have planted our gardens to be very frog friendly which also makes it very snake friendly (not that we mind) and frogs are also a delicacy in the chicken world and chooks seem to like chasing anything that moves especially if it looks like a worm and our dog thinks its ok to let the chickens in the house to poop all ova our new lounge (well it was new at the time) but yeah they live a happy life in the avairy and in there run and hofully ill be adopting a few more when i get my rescue organised.

[Trees Gray]

I moved the thread to the OTHER birds forum, so you can continue to share without expiration!

[Charis]

Thank you! You're a good egg, Treesa.