Chickens for the yard

[Mandrew968]

Cutler Bay just passed a law allowing each household to own up to 4 chickens for their yard. Chickens are great fertilizer spreaders, they eat all of the bugs in the yard, and give eggs to their owners Roosters may not be the best way to make friends with your neighbor, but a basket of eggs usually does the trick!

Edited March 22, 2011 by Mandrew968

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Two of my concerns are predators (like possums, raccoons and cats) and just how likely you are to get salmonella from your eggs. You don't need roosters for eggs and I think you need 18 hens to get a dozen eggs a day.

Tad is the guy to talk about chickens.

[www.dadluvsu.com]

This is a pretty good resource if your interested in reading...

www.backyardchickens.com

[palmmermaid]

Jerry,

According to what I have read, salmonella doesn't get into eggs from chickens allowed to raom. It is factory eggs because of the feed and conditions. An egg is a perfect package for food. We never even refrigerated our eggs and when I get farm eggs today, I leave them on the counter. Chickens are great!

[ariscott]

Salmonella???? I eat fresh eggs from chicken and never have that problem!! There is nothing wrong with growing your own food....

I have 2 chooks and get 2 eggs a day & I can't even keep up with eating them. If you have Roosters, your chooks will lay better....

Regards, Ari

[MattyB]

We found this guy cockadoodledooing in our yard the last two mornings. He's not long for this world with all the cayotes and foxes around. At least he knows how to fly up into the banana trees.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

Salmonella???? I eat fresh eggs from chicken and never have that problem!! There is nothing wrong with growing your own food....

I have 2 chooks and get 2 eggs a day & I can't even keep up with eating them. If you have Roosters, your chooks will lay better....

Regards, Ari

Ari,

If you have a rooster then you probably have some fertilized eggs. How long after laying can you eat a fertilized egg before it starts forming into a chick? I don't want any baby chicks in my scrambled eggs. YUCK!

Besides, I think the rooster's crowing would get the neighbors mad.

[DoomsDave]

I've given the idea some serious thought.

While some places are less hostile to chicken keeping than they used to be, urban areas are still problematic. Most hard-core urbanites (and that includes suburbanites) don't like edible critters nearby. Many cities treat them as a nuisance.

Roosters are noisy, and hens aren't silent either. Chickens that break loose from confinement can be very very hard to catch. (El Screamo is full of loose chickens.)

Also, chickens are among the creatures that harbor influenza viruses, which the record shows can turn nasty. I realize that the worst problem will be in pleaces like China where hogs and chickens live close to people, but I'd be prepared for hysteria here in the event of another flu outbreak.

That said, keep it up chicken-keepers! Let us know how it goes.

[Patrick]

IDK if you live in the city or the country, but if you live in something like a suburban area, beware the rooster. Your neighbors will hate you, but it seems like you've already figured that part out. My neighbors have had hens for years and they have never been a problem. a little noise here and there, but nothing problematic. Then they decided to get a rooster. That thing crowed at all hours of the night. It was bad, their coop was about 40' out our bedroom window and it would crow at two or three in the morning regularly.

If you have smaller vegitation i.e. groundcover be prepared to either fence it off somehow or part with it because chickens will scratch and tear up a lot of vegitation on the ground. Other than that, I'm all for them- but hens only.

[ariscott]

Ari,

If you have a rooster then you probably have some fertilized eggs. How long after laying can you eat a fertilized egg before it starts forming into a chick? I don't want any baby chicks in my scrambled eggs. YUCK!

Besides, I think the rooster's crowing would get the neighbors mad.

Not sure... I put my eggs in the fridge!! LOL. I never found a bad one yet.....

Yes, I have 5 acres... so I can have roosters.... Just lost mine though, now the hens are on strike

Regards, Ari

[palmmermaid]

Jerry,

If you eat the eggs in a couple of days you won't have to worry about eating developing chicks. And if you are worried, when you crack the egg, if it has a small blood spot, it has been fertilized. I've never found this to be a problem.

[edbrown_III]

I had them for a while --- about a year or so. You cant have them in Jax but I had them stashed in the back forty

It worked pretty good but Ihad them in a coop on account of my dog--- I had a few inmate murders as the coop was probably too small

the eggs just kept coming and coming.

Best r egards

Ed

[palmmermaid]

The best option is to have a coop for them at night that is critter proof. They also lay their eggs in the coop. During the day you can put them in a chicken corral and move them around the yard so they eat worms and bugs and scratch up the soil. This keeps them where you want them and out of your flower beds.

You can find instructions on how to build a rolling one on Mother Earth News website.

I would defintely have some if I could convince my husband. But as I travel for work and he would have to take care of more animals while I am away, I will have to wait until I retire.

[PalmatierMeg]

Parts of Miami area have a real feral chicken problem. There is a special "chicken posse" that tries to capture/corral these most-wanted. Mike Rowe on Dirty Jobs spent a day dashing all over the place after fugitive hens and roosters. Lot of people, lot of nets, few captures. Our tax money at work.

[DoomsDave]

Way back in ancient times, I adopted a fighting rooster that its owner wanted to cook and eat because he wouldn't fight.

He was beautiful! Vivid red combs, bright gold neck feathers, a vivid green body and dark red wings. He was intelligent, too, and friendly. He'd sit next to you and let you stroke his feathers. He'd eat out of your hand, but never got too pushy.

He was even good around little kids, who were enthralled, and loved to touch him.

BUT!

But.

He crowed. And crowed. And crowed.

Morning noon and night. Under my roommate's window.

We got him a couple of hens, which only made things worse.

We finally gave him to a deaf lady, who, presumably, had deaf neightbors.

[_Keith]

I've had chickens for a while now. Rooster definitely a no-go in urban environment. Hens are great, and make less noise that the average dog, in some cases, far less. I am far enough out that I do have a rooster.

Fertilized eggs are no issue. I have routinely waited several days between picking and have never had an issue. I can also tell you that fresh yard eggs, and in particular fertilized eggs taste far better than the grocery store stuff. You will find them tasteless when you have to go back.

As far as diseases, you will know if your chickens are sick. All of things you read about actually come from the supposedly safe chicken farms and large operations. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from yard eggs.

And between chickens and compost bin you will find your trash going to the road will go down dramatically. Chickens will eat darn near anytihng.

I absolutely love having chickens.

And beware of predators, coons, skunks, and foxes. Unfortunately, I am temporarily without chickens. Fox dug under the pen and got them last week. As soon as new fortificatons are done, I'll restock. I miss my fresh eggs.

[_Keith]

I recommend Orpingtons for first attempts. Gentle and prolific.

[DoomsDave]

B'gak!

Hmm. Do they blacken well in the pan?

[_Keith]

B'gak!

Hmm. Do they blacken well in the pan?

You would have to ask the Fox.

[calyptrocalyx&licuala freck]

Pro's .. good for target practice thats

great for getting your sight set .

con's... Chicken poo..

and feathers after a dog rips them apart..

Get a goat instead.............

[palmmermaid]

There is some really good information in this month's Mother Earth News magazine. Check it out if you are thinking about getting chickens. I wish I could change my husband's mind!

[Mandrew968]

Pro's .. good for target practice thats

great for getting your sight set .

con's... Chicken poo..

and feathers after a dog rips them apart..

Get a goat instead.............

Goat = No more palms--Those dirty creatures eat everything!!

Ever eat a goat egg?..

[JungleGina]

One way to avoid some of the problems with chickens is to get ducks instead. They are hardier in tropical areas and more resistant to disease. That said, I haven't tried ducks yet but do have 8 chickens (2 laying hens and 6 young hens still too young to lay). We have a mastiff and pit bull for security so we've only lost 1 to a predator in the past 2-1/2 years. I've enjoyed having them much more than I ever imagined. They're good for silly entertainment, eating bugs, eating dead veggies from the garden and leftovers from the fridge, the broken down mulch combined with chicken poo is great for the composter or bamboos, and of course the perfect protein in fresh eggs and knowledge that you're ingesting that much less hormones in your food, cutting down on emissions from not transporting eggs and the satisfaction of growing your own food. I have half an acre just outside city limits and the noise when the hens lay is not an issue with neighbors. I'm not sure I would want to do it on a small urban lot though if I cared what the neighbors thought. Down side? There aren't really many...it's rather hard to find a chicken sitter when you want to take a vacation.

[Jeff in St Pete]

How long after laying can you eat a fertilized egg before it starts forming into a chick? I don't want any baby chicks in my scrambled eggs. YUCK!

Jerry, the hen would have to sit on the eggs and incubate them for a couple days before a chick starts to form. The temp needs to be a constant 99 to 102 F for an egg to start developing a chick.

Here in Costa Rica they don't refrigerate eggs which took some time for me to get used to. In the US eggs are always refrigerated, so it seemed strange to see them sitting out on a shelf. Now I don't even think about it. Eggs can sit on my counter for a few weeks and they are just fine to eat.

[palmmermaid]

Jeff,

Glad to see someone else posted that eggs don't need to be refrigerated! As I said in an earlier post, we never did growing up. And now I get yard eggs froma local farmer and don't refrigerate them either. Just put them in an EGG basket on the counter.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Kitty, I have to admit this practice worried me when I first moved here. It seemed strange for eggs to be sitting on a shelf at room temperature so I did some research and found out that fresh eggs do not need to be refrigerated. Chicken eggs are laid with a protective antibiotic coating (which is washed off in the US during processing). This coating helps keep them fresh and disease free.

If anyone has ever cracked a store bought egg next to a fresh one, you can see a big difference in color and texture (not to mention the superior taste of the fresh eggs...)

[ariscott]

I refrigerate them because I have no bench space.....lol. Besides, I never keep up with eating them... Now, they are on strike, I think I have to buy eggs for the first time in 4 years.

Yes... the egg yolk from my chooks is bright yellow, instead of orange from the shops.

[palmmermaid]

And yard eggs just taste so good! Like an egg is supposed to taste. I sometimes get duck eggs and love them as well. They make yummy, rich cakes. Just have to cut down on the number!

[_Keith]

Just located some hens to replace my old (fox food) ones. Gonna try some Barred Rocks this time.

[ariscott]

That's a pretty chicken.... How many are you getting this time, Keith?

Regards, Ari

[_Keith]

That's a pretty chicken.... How many are you getting this time, Keith?

Regards, Ari

Gonna get 4 hens. I have room for six, but would still like to get a couple of feather footed Cochins.

[Alan_Tampa]

I had a turkey way back and geese and chickens. Goats too, and an infestation of donkeys for a while. Peacocks also roamed the neighborhood. (This was out by Myakka in sarasota, Fl) I liked the turkey the best, most friendly. Except to one friend of mine, always attacked him with kicks and lots of gobbling. Something would always get the chickens, but the peacocks, geese and turkey seemed to be a bit much for the racoons and whatever other critters ate the others

Alan

[_Keith]

Chicken restock is complete. Got 6 little 5 week old pullets, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Barred Rock, and 2 Silver Lace Wyandottes. And one laying size Barred Rock Hen. Let the games begin.

[Brian Bruning]

Murry McMurry Hatchery carries many of the old varieties of chickens. Those with brown eggs tend to be good mothers (they get "broody") white egg layers like Leghorns are not. Fertilized eggs take 28 days to hatch. The momma chicken will attempt to hide her nest as she knows you want to eat her "babies" before they hatch. Roosters are a nuisence as they do crow day and night. I like the old types of chickens as they were breed for home consumption and eggs laying not for batteries of a million to crank out thousands of eggs or go to KFC after six weeks as skinny little fryers. Ask the ladies, old chickens make the best broth as the flavour is more intense than a young fryer. Better chickens than peacocks. Here in Berkely and many places in Mendocino and Marin counties peafowl have become feral and they shreek like a woman in fear. E-gad! In reality they are a tropical pheasant.

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/index.html

[DoomsDave]

Brian!

Nice to meet you!

Were you up at the big meet in October, 2010 up in Walnut Creek at Dick Douglas' place?

Just curious.

d

a

v

e

[amazondk]

Just curious, how many of you chicken owners eat them?

dk

[palmmermaid]

Don,

I don't have chickens (my husband says no right now) but would definitely eat the old hens. Why not? What else would you do with hens that no longer lay?

[SubTropicRay]

A quick trip to Key West will tell you everything.

[palmmermaid]

Ray,

If you are saying they are running all over Key West, I would be having a lot of chicken stew! Especially with the economy. Free meat! One little wring of the neck, a few flops, a pot of boiling water and you are ready to pluck that bird and make a stew! Growing up on a farm, we did this on a regular basis. Along with butchering hogs and cows. And whatever game we could kill.

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I would have no idea how to kill and render a chook. Just boil it and the feathers come out easily? I know how to cut up a whole fryer from Publix, but a bird with all the innards still there? Nope.