Chickens!!!!

[revolutionman]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/

Chickens are awesome for self sufficiency. they eat whatever, grass, bugs, table scraps, cereal, potato chips, oats, rice, corn, any kinda fruits or veggies really. Some fresh water, and a good chicken can lay like 200 eggs a year. Plus if you can own a rooster in your area, they can multiply at the drop of a hat, and female offspring can begin laying eggs in 6 months or so. You can load them up on fatty foods and high protein foods and fatten them up at a young age for edible meat.

Dressing a chicken is really simple if you can stomach it.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/livestocksystems/DI0701.html

Coops don't have to be so fancy looking, just efficient. four walls, a roof, a door, and some dried leaves. A little chicken wire and some hunks of wood, metal or even PVC for a living space, cause you dont wanna be an evil chicken baron that keeps them locked up all day.

Some major cities and suburbs have provisions so that people can own a small number of chickens as long as they meet some requirements.

They can make pretty good outdoor pets too. i have one that i bring in to sleep in the bathtub every night. Shes the sweetest lil silky.

If you have the time and resources, vs money to spend on over priced eggs, they are a good hobby/investment/pet.

[Dr.3D]

I had a pretty good flock of chickens before the neighbors dog came around and killed around a quarter of them. (I saw him running away when I opened the door and saw the carnage.) I caught him there the next week doing his dirty work and nailed him with my shotgun. (That dog got my turkey hen and four little goslings along with around five chicken hens.) Typically I would have the goslings in boxes till they got bigger, but it was a nice sunny day and I was looking out at them occasionally to see they were doing fine. (I know there are birds of prey around so I was watching pretty closely. Apparently I was not watching closely enough that day.) (I guess I didn't hit the dog squarely enough with the shotgun shot or he wouldn't have gotten halfway home before dropping over in the ditch.) I hate hurting dogs. I love them to no end and it really pisses me off when people don't take care of theirs.

The neighbor was really upset and the next week, when I wasn't looking, the chickens got out in the road and of course, the neighbor ran over them.

I went out to pick up the dead and half dead chickens and as I was wringing the necks on the half dead ones, he drove by and told me he was sorry he had run over my chickens. I told him it was OK because you see, they had gone where they didn't belong. (just like his dog had)

BTW: I didn't know who the dog belonged to or I would have talked to the neighbor about keeping his dog at home. Since I didn't know who the dog belonged to, I figured the law saying any animal found to be molesting livestock is considered a varmint and thus the owner of the livestock may shoot it. This is why I shot the dog. I didn't know who it belonged to and couldn't catch it to call someone to take it away. It would have gone away and come back another day if I had not solved the problem right then and there.

[tmosley]

I've been seriously considering getting some myself. Luckily, I have a hurricane fence around my backyard, so there is a much lesser chance of a neighborhood dog getting in. I would just have to worry about MY dogs, any of whom would probably kill a chicken in an instant for fun, if not for food (I caught one the other day with a half-eaten rabbit).

[GunnyFreedom]

Rabbits also multiply like...well...rabbits, and make for a good source of meat.

[rancher89]

I understand about shooting the dog, we had a neighbor whose pig kept getting loose--I kid you not, this hog would root around in not only the vegetable garden but around the foundation of the house. I was pretty understanding, and the guy gave me a pretty good size hunk off of it when he slaughtered it. I was not as understanding about his pit bull running loose and it did get a few buckshots in it's direction and I did complain mightily about it (I had a 2 yr old at the time) He ended up giving the dog away.

BTW his chickens would stray also, a few ended up roosting on the other side of the creek behind the house, my then hubby (#2) blasted away one day and nary a peep was heard from that day forward. The other bad thing was the poison the neighbor put out to kill whatever was "poaching" on his chickens got eaten by our dog, the good things were the dog survived and he payed the vet bill.

[Alex Libman]

Yaay, cheap cholesterol! ;)

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

[MsDoodahs]

I worry that keeping chickens would draw the coyotes too close in...

[angelatc]

Yaay, cheap cholesterol! ;)

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

AH, the product of the mainstream media and their "science" reporting.

After 20 years of maligning eggs, they quietly changed their mind about that several years ago. If you blink, you missed it.

http://www.goeim.com/edelman/incredibleedibleegg_press_release/02-06-08/index3.html

[olehounddog]

I got around 50 pullets that should start laying in a couple of weeks.:)

[Alex Libman]

AH, the product of the mainstream media and their "science" reporting.

After 20 years of maligning eggs, they quietly changed their mind about that several years ago. If you blink, you missed it.

http://www.goeim.com/edelman/incredibleedibleegg_press_release/02-06-08/index3.html

They're talking about eating 1-2 eggs per day (70-140% FDA daily value of cholesterol - as much as a humongous beef stake). If you're trying to make it through the winter with some storable goods & some chickens, you'll probably end up wanting more eggs than that.

BTW, eating raw eggs is generally safe for people with healthy immune systems - the Japanese do it all the time. Mix with some soy sauce, pour over rice.

[FindLiberty]

Try pork... it's the meat of kings!

http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/Pork/

[Ozwest]

They're talking about eating 1-2 eggs per day (70-140% FDA daily value of cholesterol - as much as a humongous beef stake). If you're trying to make it through the winter with some storable goods & some chickens, you'll probably end up wanting more eggs than that.

BTW, eating raw eggs is generally safe for people with healthy immune systems - the Japanese do it all the time. Mix with some soy sauce, pour over rice.
I disagree,

Food scraps will feed your chooks.

And if you provide warm and comfortable shelter.

They will lay.

[Ozwest]

Garden snails, after a week in confinement with plain flour are delicious!

[Ozwest]

A week in a container with plain flour "cleanses" the snails.

After that, do as the French, and quickly saute' them in garlic and butter.

[tmosley]

I disagree,

Food scraps will feed your chooks.

And if you provide warm and comfortable shelter.

They will lay.

The limit of 1-2 per day is imposed by the fear of cholesterol, not the lack of eggs from the chicken.

But that's all bullcrap anyways. If you are worried about cholesterol, just drink a glass of red wine each day.

[Ozwest]

What?

No escargot conniseurs?

[Ozwest]

The limit of 1-2 per day is imposed by the fear of cholesterol, not the lack of eggs from the chicken.

But that's all bullcrap anyways. If you are worried about cholesterol, just drink a glass of red wine each day.

Fear of Cholesterol?

You must have a trainer.

Keep eating processed foods.

They are good for you.

[Dr.3D]

Yaay, cheap cholesterol! ;)

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

The whole cholesterol thing is a bunch of crap. It is the Lipoprotein(a)[LP(a)] that does the damage and it can be controlled by taking L-lysine and L-Proline to bind up the receptors for those two amino acids. Also, if you get enough vitamin C in your diet, you will not have problems with your arteries being damaged enough to expose the walls to the collection of the LP(a).

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GRUIiYlziw

[amy31416]

What?

No escargot conniseurs?

Tried them just for grins at a swanky restaurant, wasn't that impressed with the texture. The butter and garlic part was good though.

Overrated, IMHO.

[latkinson6]

What?

No escargot conniseurs?

where I live, in the northwest, we get huge slugs.
like as big as 6 inches. few people know this, but they
are better than snails! and plentifull year round
if you know were to look.

throw one in the coop and watch the chickens
go grazy!!:D

[Acala]

I just got some chickens for the first time a few weeks ago. 4 buff orpingtons. Nice animals. They aren't laying yet. I laid in a couple hundred pounds of feed as well. Unless I screw up, I should have plenty of eggs for the next few years. I need to screen in the porch. They are crapping all over it! That is about the only downside of chickens that I can see.

I figure there is a reason that the poorest people in the world all seem to have chickens. Must be survival value there.

[Dieseler]

I understand about shooting the dog, we had a neighbor whose pig kept getting loose--I kid you not, this hog would root around in not only the vegetable garden but around the foundation of the house. I was pretty understanding, and the guy gave me a pretty good size hunk off of it when he slaughtered it. I was not as understanding about his pit bull running loose and it did get a few buckshots in it's direction and I did complain mightily about it (I had a 2 yr old at the time) He ended up giving the dog away.

BTW his chickens would stray also, a few ended up roosting on the other side of the creek behind the house, my then hubby (#2) blasted away one day and nary a peep was heard from that day forward. The other bad thing was the poison the neighbor put out to kill whatever was "poaching" on his chickens got eaten by our dog, the good things were the dog survived and he payed the vet bill.

The funniest thing I ever heard at the time, when I was a boy was when a neighbor called and told my Dad that one of our hogs was about to turn his house over.
Big Ben was a hoss of a Hampshire, curled tusks and all.
He was scratching his back under the corner of the guys mobile home lmao.
:D

[123tim]

Our chicken thinks that it's a duck.....What's a Ron Paul supporter supposed to do about that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmKa64ZAISs

Our Indian runner ducklings were packed with chickens for warmth during shipment. All of the chickens survived but only one duck. The one chicken that we kept took quite a while to figure out that he wasn't a duck. (The second duck in the video is from shipment #2 which had an even worse survival rate).

By the way...Indian Runner ducks are supposed to lay an unbelievable amount of eggs. Does anyone know if duck eggs are as good as chicken eggs?

[Dr.3D]

Our chicken thinks that it it's a duck.....What's a Ron Paul supporter supposed to do about that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmKa64ZAISs

Our Indian runner ducklings were packed with chickens for warmth during shipment. All of the chickens survived but only one duck. The one chicken that we kept took quite a while to figure out that he wasn't a duck. (The second duck in the video is from shipment #2 which had an even worse survival rate).

By the way...Indian Runner ducks are supposed to lay an unbelievable amount of eggs. Does anyone know if they're as good as chicken eggs?

As I understand, Ducks should not be kept with chickens when they are young. I heard they will pick up diseases from the chickens and die off if you do put them in with chickens.

I may be wrong about this but that is what I heard.

[123tim]

As I understand, Ducks should not be kept with chickens when they are young. I heard they will pick up diseases from the chickens and die off if you do put them in with chickens.

I may be wrong about this but that is what I heard.


I'm certain that you're right.

We never really got a chance (to find out) with either shipment because the first order came late because of tornadoes somewhere along the delivery path - the birds were too far gone to survive. The second order actually came early, but something terrible must have happened during the shipment...they were all dead except one when we got them. We decided (after this) not to order any more birds through the mail.

The two remaining ducks seem really healthy now.

[Dr.3D]

Does anyone know if duck eggs are as good as chicken eggs?

From my experience, duck and goose eggs are richer in flavor than are chicken eggs. It could be they have extra oils in them, I'm not sure but I really enjoy duck and goose eggs.

You have to be really good at finding them though, as I had to look around the yard, under the bushes and such to find the duck and goose eggs. Once you find where they are laying them, it isn't quite so bad but sometimes they do find different places to put them than where you found them the last time.

[youngbuck]

Yaay, cheap cholesterol! ;)

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

Completely untrue. Do you're own research.

[123tim]

From my experience, duck and goose eggs are richer in flavor than are chicken eggs. It could be they have extra oils in them, I'm not sure but I really enjoy duck and goose eggs.

You have to be really good at finding them though, as I had to look around the yard, under the bushes and such to find the duck and goose eggs. Once you find where they are laying them, it isn't quite so bad but sometimes they do find different places to put them than where you found them the last time.

Thanks! I'm really glad to hear this.

Would you happen to know if you can tell the sex of a duck by the way that it sounds? Our first duck has a really high "squeak" but the second duck (which was supposed to be a female) has a completely different "lower" voice.

I hope that I'm not hijacking this Chicken thread by talking about ducks.

[Dr.3D]

Thanks! I'm really glad to hear this.

Would you happen to know if you can tell the sex of a duck by the way that it sounds? Our first duck has a really high "squeak" but the second duck (which was supposed to be a female) has a completely different "lower" voice.

I hope that I'm not hijacking this Chicken thread by talking about ducks.

Well, I always noticed the male duck would act all goofy at times. He also had much brighter colored feathers. He was a mallard though so I wouldn't know about white ones being brighter colored.

What I mean by goofy is that he would almost sound as if he was laughing and move his body around in strange ways while doing those sounds. It would be great if you noticed the male mount the female and then you would know for sure. Then if I were you, I would get a cheap polystyrene incubator and start a set of eggs in the early spring and see if you could hatch more of them. A brooder is also nice to have and you can hatch the eggs in the incubator then move the chicks to the brooder and keep them there till they grow feathers. I did that with my chickens and was able to get a fresh supply of chickens every few years. It is interesting to see the different colors you get when you let them crossbreed.

[revolutionman]

my biggest problem with chickens is that they can get sick and die easily unless you have the time and money to take immaculate care of chicks and even older birds, they can just develop sicknesses and keel. Fortunately thus far, for every chicken that dies there is one sitting on 6 to 8 eggs. maybe one or two casualties among the chicks, the rest will reach maturity. Hopefully most of them will be hens, any excess roosters will become soup when they become big enough.

My first attempt at raising CornishxRock was unfortunate to say the least. I bought 5. 1 took ill as a chick and died. The runt never grew too big and died after about 3 months. A rooster that I had, one of them dropped dead before I could dress it. I dressed one, and before i could get around to dressing the other one, the damn thing started laying!! I still have it, shes a massive 8 lb wrecking machine permanently stationed by the feed and water, unless shes laying. Needless to say i wont be raising meat chickens again unless I have to, which isn't the case because it ends up being more expensive than just buying slave chicken at the supermarket.

My dog won't hurt my chickens, but if he gets his way into the coop he'll eat the eggs!!

as far as cholesterol, get real. That is a big worry in our current sedentary life styles, but in a survivalist scenario, you'll eat every egg you get your hands on and not think twice about it while your working your ass off just to live. Everyone in my family eats two farm fresh eggs every morning, plus the excess that we sell off to neighbors at $2 a dozen. Why should we purchase expensive imported eggs from chemically enhanced livestock originating in Zephyr Hills Florida, when we can own chickens, or at least buy eggs from friends and family that own them.

So much of the wealth on this island is whisked away to the US by the American corporations its sad. They pay the flaccid PR minimum wage, but charge the same prices for their goods and services in any State, but that's a topic for another thread.

I'm far more concerned with fluoride in the tap water, high fructose corn syrup in everything, and the BGH in the beef, than naturally occurring cholesterol in eggs.

[Kade]

I had a pretty good flock of chickens before the neighbors dog came around and killed around a quarter of them. (I saw him running away when I opened the door and saw the carnage.) I caught him there the next week doing his dirty work and nailed him with my shotgun. (That dog got my turkey hen and four little goslings along with around five chicken hens.) Typically I would have the goslings in boxes till they got bigger, but it was a nice sunny day and I was looking out at them occasionally to see they were doing fine. (I know there are birds of prey around so I was watching pretty closely. Apparently I was not watching closely enough that day.) (I guess I didn't hit the dog squarely enough with the shotgun shot or he wouldn't have gotten halfway home before dropping over in the ditch.) I hate hurting dogs. I love them to no end and it really pisses me off when people don't take care of theirs.

The neighbor was really upset and the next week, when I wasn't looking, the chickens got out in the road and of course, the neighbor ran over them.

I went out to pick up the dead and half dead chickens and as I was wringing the necks on the half dead ones, he drove by and told me he was sorry he had run over my chickens. I told him it was OK because you see, they had gone where they didn't belong. (just like his dog had)

BTW: I didn't know who the dog belonged to or I would have talked to the neighbor about keeping his dog at home. Since I didn't know who the dog belonged to, I figured the law saying any animal found to be molesting livestock is considered a varmint and thus the owner of the livestock may shoot it. This is why I shot the dog. I didn't know who it belonged to and couldn't catch it to call someone to take it away. It would have gone away and come back another day if I had not solved the problem right then and there.

You know, the old me probably would have been upset... but you showed great principle with the way you treated his running over of your Chickens... good stuff.

[123tim]

Well, I always noticed the male duck would act all goofy at times. He also had much brighter colored feathers. He was a mallard though so I wouldn't know about white ones being brighter colored.

What I mean by goofy is that he would almost sound as if he was laughing and move his body around in strange ways while doing those sounds. It would be great if you noticed the male mount the female and then you would know for sure. Then if I were you, I would get a cheap polystyrene incubator and start a set of eggs in the early spring and see if you could hatch more of them. A brooder is also nice to have and you can hatch the eggs in the incubator then move the chicks to the brooder and keep them there till they grow feathers. I did that with my chickens and was able to get a fresh supply of chickens every few years. It is interesting to see the different colors you get when you let them crossbreed.


Thank you for the advice.

I guess that I just have to wait for this and see what happens.


With all of this talk about eggs and cholesterol has anyone ever heard that the plaque from your teeth will actually build up in your arteries if you don't brush regularly?

Here's a link about this:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57994.php

[klamath]

For future chicken farmers this guy has some pretty good ideas. He has published a number of books.

Joel Salatin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Joel F. Salatin (born 1957) is an American farmer, lecturer, and author of several books, including You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef. He raises livestock using holistic methods of animal husbandry, free of potentially harmful chemicals, on his Shenandoah Valley farm, Polyface Farm, in Swoope, Virginia. The meat from the farm is sold in a direct-marketed fashion to consumers and restaurants.

His farm is featured prominently in The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, 2006. His unconventional farming practices and the beliefs behind them have drawn wide attention in the alternative agriculture community since, particularly where sustainable livestock management is a concern. For example, Pollan became interested in Salatin because he was intrigued by Salatin's refusal to send food to locations that are not within a four-hour drive to his farm (i.e. outside his local "foodshed").

Joel Salatin believes that "if you smell manure (on a livestock farm), you are smelling mismanagement." For instance, Salatin recommends that chicken houses' floors should be provided with one foot of sawdust or fine leaf chippings, into which the birds scratch their droppings, and the droppings decompose leaving no odor.

Salatin, a self-described "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer" produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. He considers his farming endeavors his ministry, and also writes on his farming philosophies and the negative impact upon his livelihood and lifestyle of what he perceives as an increasingly liberal socialist approach that our government and regulatory agencies take toward farming.

[Anti Federalist]

Wow, how'd I miss the chicken thread?

We have about 30 laying RIRs and six Redstars, which are a cross between a RIR and a New Hampshire Red, and one big bad ass rooster named Tubb.

Started off with 50 in a mixed run of chicks from Murray McMurray three years ago, slaughtered off all but two of the roosters, the aforementioned Tubb and a Pencil Tip Brougham, who later died.

Very little loss, these birds are hardy as hell and can stand cold weather down to about 10 degrees before you need to add external heat. Every so often one will get egg bound, if you catch it soon enough some vegetable oil in the vent may help, but usually this condition is rapid and fatal.

Big mistake, mixing birds. I bought the six redstars from a farm in Mass, they were healthy but still managed to bring some sort of ailment with them that all the birds ended up getting. They were all logy and unthrifty for about 3 weeks and then recovered, all but that other rooster.

This spring we hatched 20 new birds that are all doing well.

Huzzah for chickens, the survivalist's "manna from heaven"

The male and female Rhode Island Red
http://4imgs.com/329/x/DORIRP_FULL.jpg

[revolutionman]

Huzzah for chickens, the survivalist's "manna from heaven"

true that brother.

[Mckarnin]

I probably eat 8 eggs a week. I also eat lard from a local farm, yellow butter, whole milk and meat. :-)



Yaay, cheap cholesterol! ;)

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

[XNavyNuke]

I probably eat 8 eggs a week. I also eat lard from a local farm, yellow butter, whole milk and meat. :-)


Originally Posted by Alex Libman
Yaay, cheap cholesterol!

Seriously, if you use whole eggs as a major food source, your arteries will clog up fast. What do you do with the yolks?

Same here. The entire egg vs serum cholesterol levels is a matter of debate.

A Prospective Study of Egg Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Men and Women (http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/281/15/1387)


Conclusions These findings suggest that consumption of up to 1 egg per day is unlikely to have substantial overall impact on the risk of CHD or stroke among healthy men and women. The apparent increased risk of CHD associated with higher egg consumption among diabetic participants warrants further research.


Wild-Type Food in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
The Columbus Concept (http://www.springerlink.com/content/q7230g0l14250582/)



Aside from high cholesterol levels, eggs are rich in unsaturated fatty acids (FA) (≥60% fat), which may reduce blood cholesterol response. Egg composition may further influence blood lipids and endothelial response when high in antioxidants and monounsaturated FA (MUFA), which may reduce the LDL-oxidative response (by ≥30–40% compared to regular high-poly unsaturated FA [PUFA] eggs), or rich in n-3 FA, which may reduce postprandial lipemia (PPL) and resulting ED and inflammation.

“Paleolithic,” “wild,” and/or traditional “ethnic” eggs, which are higher in MUFA, n-3 FA, and antioxidants than industrially-produced eggs, could offer functional advantages within current egg recommendations, possibly even leading to new guidelines to benefit the general public and/or specific population segments.

XNN

[constituent]

I worry that keeping chickens would draw the coyotes too close in...

do y'all have prairie chickens up there?

does anyone know if they're a good food source? are they "protected" or anything?

[Dr.3D]

With all of this talk about eggs and cholesterol has anyone ever heard that the plaque from your teeth will actually build up in your arteries if you don't brush regularly?

Here's a link about this:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/57994.php

I think that is a bunch of hooey. I talked to my physician about what my dentist had told me about that and he laughed out loud.

The plaque on your teeth is nothing like the plaque found in arteries. The only similarity is in the name.

Arterial plaque is the result of not having enough vitamin C in the diet. If you check the amount of vitamin C in the blood of animals that produce it in their livers, they have a huge amount more than people do in their blood. Somehow along the line, humans lost the ability to produce vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) in their livers.

The minimum RDA of vitamin C the government recommends is just enough to keep you from dieing. It is nowhere enough to keep you well though. Nearly all of the people in the world are suffering from a mild case of chronic scurvy.

Vitamin C is required to produce collagen and that is required to repair the arterial walls when they become damaged from having blood pumped through them. When their is not enough collagen, the body responds by repairing the damage with a surrogate substance called Lipoprotein(a) (also called Lp(a)).

Yes, Lp(a) is a cholesterol but not all cholesterol is harmful. Lp(a) may be bound up with L-Lysine and L-Proline and then it will not be able to stick to the damaged arterial walls.

Please view this video of two-time Nobel laureate, Dr. Linus Pauling speaking on this subject. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5dba4DK0e4

I presently take sixteen grams of vitamin C, eight grams of L-Lysine and two grams of L-Proline divided up into four doses every day. This is probably more vitamin C than is required but it is my understanding if you can take it and still not have loose bowels, then you are probably needing it.

When starting out taking vitamin C, you have to be careful not to start taking too much too fast. Slowly build up the amount you take over a month or two. If you get loose bowels, reduce the amount till that clears up and then slowly increase the amount till you get loose bowels again.

The same goes for stopping taking vitamin C, you need to do so gradually. Your body gets used to expelling the excess vitamin C and if you stop too quickly, it will continue to expel the vitamin C at the rate it was and you will have serious problems from doing it that way. Always taper off the amount you take. Never stop taking it all at once!

If you are interested in further information about how Linus Pauling developed a cure for heart disease, please search the web and learn more about it.

[MsDoodahs]

Salatin, a self-described "Christian-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer" produces high-quality "beyond organic" meats, which are raised using environmentally responsible, ecologically beneficial, sustainable methods. He considers his farming endeavors his ministry, and also writes on his farming philosophies and the negative impact upon his livelihood and lifestyle of what he perceives as an increasingly liberal socialist approach that our government and regulatory agencies take toward farming.

Don't know if you guys realize this, but Salatin was also a RON PAUL supporter. I posted some info on that ages and ages ago.

:)

[pacelli]

What?

No escargot conniseurs?

Love 'em !

[dannno]

Yes, I might actually consider eating chicken on occasion if I owned them.

Don't care to buy it in stores, though. I'll take the tofu, please, much better ;)

A lot of chickens are horribly mistreated. Good for you, having your own.

http://www.animalwritings.com/images/free-range-chickens-01-sm.jpg

http://animalrescue.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/chickens.jpg

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/chicken_farm.jpg

[Anti Federalist]

Don't know if you guys realize this, but Salatin was also a RON PAUL supporter. I posted some info on that ages and ages ago.

:)

How could he be anything but?:D

[revolutionman]

Yes, I might actually consider eating chicken on occasion if I owned them.

Don't care to buy it in stores, though. I'll take the tofu, please, much better

A lot of chickens are horribly mistreated. Good for you, having your own.

yeah these are my chickens...

http://a985.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/20/l_e80a8aa3e8d3524885a8be831ee7eaf0.jpg

and some chicks
http://a537.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/77/l_b6222f85638e0864c3b354a7f6c091d0.jpg

physically ending them is the hardest part. I dont chop off the heads, i yank the neck and immediately open the throat while its hangin upside down. According to the people who taught me how to do it, it actually facilitates blood loss and makes the whole cleaning proccess easier. I've heard that the killing gets easier over time, but unless i really have to, once was enough for me. i know how, i could do it in a pinch, but its not my new hobby. I prefer the breeding and collecting of eggs. i do eat store bought chicken still, but i feel better about it since I treat my own chickens very well.

Industrial meat chickens are very short lived, 4 months i think. they are bred to put on weight really fast and mature quickly so they dont live very long. they get to 10 or so lbs and its off with their heads. i still have one of these running around.

Its the egg chickens that are debeaked, their wings are clipped, they live for up to two years in a tiny cages and then killed when they've outlived their usefulness. Eggs are where the tragedy is.

[clytle374]

yeah these are my chickens...

physically ending them is the hardest part.

Someone told us about a humane way to kill chickens and it should be painless. Take a sharp knife through the mouth into the brain stem, then cut the throat.

We got our first chickens back in January. A mixed batch of 25. half were a bread that grew fast for meat, the name sounds like cornish-x-rocks, they were generally unhealthy 3 died young. To big to walk well. So we have 12 layers left, just starting to lay actually. We have one that had to be hand feed and turned into a pet and we named it goldie.

We got a second batch a few months back. Two weeks ago we put them in a caged in area in the chicken coup to get used to the older birds. About 5 days ago we left them in with the older birds and goldie attacked, so we isolated her and everything was ok. We left her out two days ago and she killed one little bird and tore another up pretty bad. None of the others fight or peck each other.

Is there anyway to rehabilitate a homicidal chicken? It is about the sweetest bird, at least to people, and I don't think we could eat her.

[Dr.3D]

Is there anyway to rehabilitate a homicidal chicken?

From my experience, the only rehabilitation for a homicidal chicken is to eat it.

The same goes for any chicken you find with egg on it's face. (egg eating chickens)

[klamath]

Don't know if you guys realize this, but Salatin was also a RON PAUL supporter. I posted some info on that ages and ages ago.

:)

I posted info on Salatin last fall trying to get some of the people in his ares to recruit him to the movement. Now why didn't you tell me he already was?:D

[constituent]

seriously, atwater prairie chickens, good food or no?

[FireofLiberty]

Chickens really are an incredibly easy to have and resourceful animal. Get a rooster and a few hens and you'll have plenty of eggs and a bug free yard. They also eat ANYTHING. I have a hen and a rooster where I live now and she lays at least two eggs a day and they spend their days walking around the yard eating bugs and grass. When I have left overs they'll eat (and chickens will each just about ANYTHING) I put it out in the yard for them.