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CHICKENS

Mia said:
Wish there was an interesting rating, for tree's experiences with chickens.

Curious about wild turkeys. In the last five years I've seen many wild flocks of them in various rural areas in canada. Growing up there were never wild turkey's this far north, wonder how they adapted to the cold?

They seem to gather in small flocks, but are not what I expected, smaller in body size to domestic chickens, with longer legs. They seem to be more the size of pheasants, with sparser plumage. Wonder if they migrate on foot, further south when it becomes colder? Encounter them in rural areas when the temperature drops below zero celsius.
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They're actually quite well adapted to that temperature. They're rather common in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, where below-freezing temperatures are common in in the winter. The southern areas of Canada really aren't that much different, climate-wise, than the northern parts of the US, where they're already found. You probably won't find them in the Yukon and the other far-north areas, but odds are, they don't actually migrate.

But yeah, they are quite a bit different than their domestic cousins.
 
Mia said:
Wild turkeys, I've been seeing flocks of them up here for about five years. Encountered them in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire as well. Apparently wild turkeys were moved from wild turkey populations in Maine in 1987, and began to live in parts of Canada and thrive. The wild turkey population here had been decimated originally in 1909.

Never considered wild chickens in Canada and the US, as I've not seen them except in the tropical countries like Cuba, Barbados, St. Martin, and parts of Mexico. Here is one that I saw wandering about in Cuba, they seem to go everywhere looking for food.
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On wild chickens: the ones that run about on Key West seem to be feral. I asked if they belonged to someone and was told, probably not at this point. You can find their eggs in random places. I found one in a planting bed near the Southernmost Point.

My neighbor keeps chickens and turkeys in her yard, and I love it when they get loose and she comes to round them up. Once the tom turkey got out of the yard and chased a bunch of high school kids who were waiting for the bus. They ran away shrieking. City kids...

I enjoy seeing the many different breeds of chickens when we visit farmer's markets or farm festivals. Does anyone here have a favorite breed to recommend? I would like to try my hand at raising some but my husband needs convincing.
 
Naturalist
Black Australorps are large, not flighty, good layers, & the roosters are trustworthy (not mean).

Buff Orpingtons are big & gentle, good-natured. Sometimes they will set.

Araucanas lay pretty eggs, but they are just this side of being...a bird. Likely to fly up to roost in a
tree if they get a chance. Americaunas are more watered down. I can't say anything about them because
I have not had any.

Comets lay well, but they are small. Sort of raucous.
Barred Rocks seem stalwart.
Sex-links don't appeal to me. Some people like them because you know which is a male or female
right when they are baby chicks.

Rhode Island Red are considered reliable, but I don't really enjoy them. The crankiest roosters I have
have were Reds. I think it came from over-breeding. I don't mean in-breeding. I mean having the
natural characteristics bred out. I want roosters that dance around the hen; not an idiot rapist that
grabs her by the back of the neck and pounds her head into the ground repeatedly.

Murray McMurray is a good catalog to look at, for chicken day-dreams.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/catalogrequest!input.html
 
tree said:
Murray McMurray is a good catalog to look at, for chicken day-dreams.
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Looked through it tree it's an amazing repository of information, breeds of chickens, some so beautiful. As a child I went to many local agricultural fairs, and spent most of my time looking at prize chickens of every kind as well as horses, cows, and goats. It was my favorite part of fairs, except for the games. Everyone entered competitions for best produce, baking, sewing, once won for carrots:DOne of my relatives won for biggest pumpkin, another for angel food cake.
 
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Mia
It's a great catalog to have.

They always include an extra chick when you order.
A surprise breed.
They aren't a cheap place to buy from, but they are good.

Feed stores usually offer chicks in the spring, too.
Not from Murray Mc Murray. From whatever source
they choose.

A less nerve wracking way to start with chickens is to
get a few that are already grown.
 
Had bantams when I was young. Always thought having an Araucana would be cool, but I don't know if you can get them here.
 
most of the more commercial egg chickens burn out and die at 2 to 3 years. They seem to lay real hard and then fall appart. I have a road island red that started out slow it was my worst egg laying chicken, but it layed the cutest purple pink eggs. All the other chickens it came with are now dead and gone but it has become a more and more better egg layer with time. That is why I'm trying some other chicken breeds that aren't top loaded so much on the daily egg rate....in my mind it is the total egg rate against the food consumption rate that counts. But the rocks and Americanas are also way cuter HA! green and brown eggs in my fridge.
 
zurb said:
Had bantams when I was young. Always thought having an Araucana would be cool, but I don't know if you can get them here.
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Americana is basically the same thing maybe better, you can usually get them anywhere that stocks 4H animals some feed stores and hardware stores or western stores like D&B will have chicks in the beginning of may. Ask around for 4H ordering lists
 
kestrel said:
.? How do chickens stay warm in the coldest parts of winter?
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I haven't had any chickens :rooster: freeze yet, other maybe than getting a little frostbite on their combs. I keep a incandessant light going right above their perch which warms them some. They also have a big box with lots of straw in it they can all sit in to keep their feet warm, which they do sometimes. There also is a heated water tower under their box and perch which sends up some heat. I have on a couple of occasions stuck a oil heater out there when it was extremely cold.
They really don't like walking in snow much so I shovel and sweep out a area around their outside food dishes. Sometimes they just refuse to come out of their shed...I can't say I blame them:rooster::eek:...:snowflake::snowman:
 
If you have bantams, they go broody (we called it clucky) all the time.
Seems they lay so many eggs then decide its time to sit - even if you have taken the eggs. If you want an incubator for eggs, get a bantam hen!
 
Mia said:
Why and how to chickens become 'broody'?
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Some hens are more hormonal than others.
I hate to see a half-hearted hen that gets up after a week or so.
On the other hand, a very hormonal hen may hatch 2 batches of eggs in a row.
I have had hens that sat 6 weeks without a break. It was their idea, not mine.

First article is factual; the others more anecdotal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broodiness
https://hoeggerfarmyard.com/the-farmyard/chickens-and-poultry/all-about-broody-hens/
http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/What-does-the-word-broody-mean-H84.aspx
 
Mia said:
Why and how do chickens become 'broody'?
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Broodiness is just the natural mothering instinct, zurb ,is right the banties do make good nurse hens, the reason is broodiness hasn't been bred out of most of them to increase egg laying rates.

There is one exception however which I would like to get my hands on, the Hamburg ever layer chicken, rumor is that it never stops laying until it dies. It is the only true banty egg layer I've heard of, it is from Denmark I think. The story is something like this, the rotten king in Denmark I guess? decided all eggs above a certain size belonged to him. So the peasants who got tired of having their eggs taken away form them bred a true banty egg layer with eggs just small enough to escape the kings greedy hands...I have no idea if this story is true.
I would like to try cross breeding a hamburg with my green egg Americana summer chickens and my brown egg Plymoth rock winter chickens so they lay eggs longer....I however haven't tested the Hamburg so I don't know yet if it is a good idea.
 
Thank you tree , I forgot the silver spangled part. I was going to buy some off the internet as they are too rare to get the normal way, But my dad fell off the ladder tree trimming right during chicken ordering time and broke his leg real bad...metal plates and screws kind of bad...so it kind of got forgotten.
 
Without their Silver Spangles, they'd be one of these:
walking-cheeseburger.gif

Either one....maybe both.
 
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