Chicken Math

[canesisters]

I've got 2 silver laced and a gold laced (who was supposed to be a blue laced). They almost never make sound. These particular hens are somewhere on the lower/middle of the pecking order so they pretty much just 'go with the flow'.
My roo is an EEx who has pretty blue laced feathers on his chest. Between the gold laced and him, I'm hoping to get a few blue laced olive eggers next year.

<~~ wants blue feathers and green eggs in the flock SOOO BAD

 

[so lucky]

Out of the 6 surviving chicks I ordered from My Pet Chicken, The sexing was correct, as far as I can tell. The one little black copper Marans is obviously a male. He had a bigger comb from about day 3, and he is getting copper feathers and a wattle at one month old. And he is very aggressive already. I hope I can tolerate him till time to sell him. (I hope I can sell him) The speckled Sussex are my favorite, as several folks on here said they would be. So pretty and much less skittish than the Marans.
By the way, does anyone on here hypnotize their chickens? Is it harmful? I know you shouldn't hang a chicken upside down due to compression of the respiratory system, but not sure about having the chicken lie on its back. I have done it to Roger Rooster, and a couple others. Sunday I will have a bunch of company. If no one thinks the hypnotizing is harmful, I may try to entertain the kids with a little demonstration. You can do it with the chicken right- side-up, as well.

 

[canesisters]

A short time on their backs shouldn't be a problem. No more than a little time upside down doesn't hurt us. A long time in any unusual position can be a problem for anyone though.

Here's a good diagram of what's going on in there.

Other chicken fun for people who aren't familiar with them is the way their heads stay still when their bodies move
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLwML2PagbY

You could also hold treats up and let them jump for them. There is just something that just cracks me up about birds that can't reach a treat a foot over their head.

 

[so lucky]

Hmmm... I had no idea their lungs were way up there on their back. Interesting illustration. Look how small their brain is compared to other organs, like kidney. I guess they have to have large kidneys and livers to take care of all that nasty stuff they can eat.

 

[baymule]

OK, this morning I butchered 2 of my old hens. I was rushing like mad to beat the garbage truck. No way I wanted to deal with guts, feathers and skin for a few smelly days! And I sure didn't want to deal with fighting off the feral cats or keep the stuff in the house in order to keep the cats/dogs out of it! I made it!!

I butchered a black sex link that was at the bottom of the pecking order. Wonder who will be the lowest now? I also butchered a red sex link that was plump with fat. She is resting in the refrigerator now for soup on Thursday. This is my second time to butcher my own chickens. Butchering the old hens was a twist of the heart, they have laid eggs for us, but were not really pets. I don't particularly like the throat cutting part, but can deal better with dressing them out.

So.........33 minus 2 = 31 hens! Chicken math at work.........

 

[sumi]

Chicken math's the only "math" I'm any good at. LOL Give me access to a few chickens, a willing broody and an incubator and I can add and multiply like a scientist. I rescued a banty hen in May after deciding that, so shortly after the big move I'm going to stay chicken-less for awhile. Yeah, right! And chickens do better with company, so we got two more hens to keep her company. All went well for awhile, then both newbies went broody. Within 10 days of each other. And I have a weakness for broody hens... I cannot help myself, I have to give them eggs to hatch. Only problem is we didn't have a rooster. It took a surprising amount of effort to track down fertile eggs for these ladies. One ended up with 5 mutt eggs of which 4 hatched and the other 10 (what we suspect are) RIR eggs, of which 7 hatched. And in the meantime a well meaning friend bought me a rooster... So it took me 4 months to go from 1 hen to a flock of 15. I'd better stop.

 

[journey11]

Sounds like you've had a busy morning! I've done a lot of butchering of roosters and meat birds, but only two flocks of old layers so far. I've finally learned not to name them! That's hard to avoid when you have little kids though...they want to name everything that moves. I love the beautiful eggs I'm getting from this year's flock of EE's and I enjoy the variation in their appearance, but when it comes time to cull them, anything that makes them stand out individually makes it much more heart wrenching for me. DH does the "deed", although I could if I had to. After that, it's all down hill. You should be proud of yourself, doing that many all by yourself that early in the morning!

 

[baymule]

Sumi, you know that you are not going to stop! Get more chickens, lay more eggs! When you make the "big move" then you can sell them or give them to someone else who NEEDS chickens!

Well the friend of mine and her twin 3 year olds came and got 3 hens. 3 for 3 haha. They were thrilled. I got these hens as chicks at Christmas, they were half RIR and half of half of half of something else. They were a nice red color, decent layers, but just couldn't compare to the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes I just got. I gladly gave them up for more room.

OK, gotta run the numbers now........was at 31 after butchering the 2 old hens this morning. Sold 3 hens....... 31-3=28.........getting there.....

Of course ya'll KNOW that I have to reduce numbers so I can GET MORE CHICKENS!!!!!

 

[ninnymary]

Baymule, I thought I was the only one that drove 1 1/2 hrs. to get chicks/chickens! I feel so much better now.

Of course, I justify it by telling my husband we're making a date out of it. A date getting chickens? No...I tell him we'll enjoy the ride and will have a nice lunch!

Mary

 

[baymule]

Baymule, I thought I was the only one that drove 1 1/2 hrs. to get chicks/chickens! I feel so much better now.

Of course, I justify it by telling my husband we're making a date out of it. A date getting chickens? No...I tell him we'll enjoy the ride and will have a nice lunch!

Mary

That's EXACTLY what we did! We stopped in Huntsville and enjoyed the park/museum across from Sam Houston University. There is a jewel of a park with a lovely little lake, ducks, chickens, old log buildings, Sam Houston's Law Office, a couple of his homes, blacksmith shop and a museum. My favorite house is the Steamboat House. It is built to look like a steamboat. The city has a festival in the fall and crafts people do all the "old" trades. There is even a garden on the grounds. We had a very nice day. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, got to meet a fellow BYC'er, see her farm and her gorgeous birds.

Not too long ago, we drove an hour away to get 6 Redstars. I really like them, they are nice big birds, calm and good layers. They even let my 6 year old grand daughter and the little girl across the street chase them and lug them all over the yard.

Hey! I found a site for the Sam Houston museum and it has a picture of the Steamboat House on the front!

http://samhoustonmemorialmuseum.com/

better picture

http://www.shsu.edu/~smm_www/Tour/grounds/sh1.shtml