What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

enthralled by chickens

I have lost it finally. Duckmang got me 4 chickens for my bday this past summer and now I'm in deep.

I am now up to 45+ chickens, 3 muscovy ducks and 2 rabbits, on top of my 2 greyhounds and dm my bf of almost a decade. And regular common barnyard chickens are not good enough. I have ayam cemani (rare all black chickens) and American white bresse and we have begun to learn to caponize (castrate chickens) and 2 of my ayam cemani roos have had the crow reduction surgery. 2 white bresse go in soon.

I noticed quite a few chicken people are coincidentally cannabis people too.
 

blastfrompast

Active member
Veteran
I raised 25 ISA Browns a while back...had them for 4yrs..

19 of them ended up going to an old farmer down the road after those 4 yrs for stewing meat...

1 ended up going to a new family. Her name was DRUMSTICK.

She was my "test chicken"...just about got her head bit off by my GSD as a chick during dog/chicken introduction training...so she kinda grew on me. She was a bit lighter than the rest and was extremely friendly.

She went to a home where the lady painted her toes...lived in the house most of the time and got treated better than some dogs.... When drumstick died the owner vowed to never get another pet...

Strange how some people get attached to chickens....but who am I to judge.

Me...I find them tasty..and they make great eggs....

Not a fan of roosters tho....short of procreation their only other use is in the stewpot ;P
 

Babbabud

Bodhisattva of the Earth
ICMag Donor
Veteran
wifes nickname for cats are chicken... here chicken chicken chicken
 

redlaser

Active member
Veteran
Picked up ten chickens in april this year, all different kinds. a silky and a frilled silky rooster and some mericana's and I forget the others. Doing it for the eggs but they are pets as well. One is all white and will follow me around the house, sometimes it will walk around inside the house to check things out.
 

Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I get a pretty good kick out of people buying a chicken for eggs, only to have it become a part of the family as a pet. There are forums out there for this type, mention chicken salad as an alternative to a burial ceremony or cremation and the whole might of their blithering whining will come down on you.

Oh the things cityfolk come up with... next they'll be raising cows for companionship.
 

nattynattygurrl

Natalie J. Puffington
Veteran
Great thread DK!! :)
The only thing that would make it better, is pix!! Please allow me to live vicariously through your chicken pix!

Picked up ten chickens in april this year, all different kinds. a silky and a frilled silky rooster and some mericana's and I forget the others. Doing it for the eggs but they are pets as well. One is all white and will follow me around the house, sometimes it will walk around inside the house to check things out.

A silky!?! :jawdrop: Oh, now I demand chicken pix! That is my dream chicken!


Caution: “blithering" ahead!
Since we got acreage a few years ago I have been resisting the urge to get chickens, goats and especially donkeys- (my favorite 'farm animal' and would-be protector of anyone else in the yarden, they kick ass! LOL) If I thought I might have even a sprinkle of the fortitude required to deal with the death that is certain to follow, I’d have a yard full! We have a really nice chicken coop/mansion the previous owners put in and never used, but hearing about their occasional difficulty passing eggs, cut short my dreams of chicken-eering. Noticing my neighbor goats suddenly “disappear”, has been tough enough. :cry:

I suppose in this day and age, we aren’t all cut out for “farm" life. Bwah bwaaah.

Maybe all of you pro-chicken-eers can change my mind? :tiphat:
 

resinryder

Rubbing my glands together
Veteran
I have about 70 of them. And 7 ducks. Ducks are pissing me off with muddying up the waterers tho.
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
everyone likes chicken..if you plan on eating something don't name it....I never had any probs killing a chicken..wasn't my fav thing nor did I get any satisfaction other than a full tummy....yeehaw...my friend back east raised all kind of birds and I got to try all of em..cant get fresher than killing your own....he did have a machine for de feathering tho with little rubber fingers..
 
Whoops, well I have been so busy! One of my chickens won a blue ribbon at the Denver County Fair. I'm in super deep with the chickens now.

I have 4 roosters in my basement with get this, crow reduction surgeries. I have rare ayam cemani, svart honas and white bresse roosters. My lines are from greenfire farms and I have a chicken vet!!

I raised my chickens with my cannabis outside. I also have honeybees!! It was a challenge trying to keep my chickens and turkeys out of my backyard veggie/cannabis plants.

On growing news I picked up yet another 315w cmh for my gardens and have been switching up my styles. No till, bokashi, making my own fermented nutrients. Gardening and backyard urban homesteading takes up all my time.
 

Attachments

  • 20150903_173747.jpg
    20150903_173747.jpg
    90.9 KB · Views: 39
  • 1454291624144.jpg
    1454291624144.jpg
    44.6 KB · Views: 36
  • 1452612328771.jpg
    1452612328771.jpg
    102.2 KB · Views: 39
  • 1442065320607.jpg
    1442065320607.jpg
    138.7 KB · Views: 41
  • 20151017_125207.jpg
    20151017_125207.jpg
    117.8 KB · Views: 41
I also raise chickens for meat as well as eggs, but posting processing pictures here might not be looked upon kindly :) but we have been producing most of our own food this past year. My bf built me huge raised beds in the front yard and people come from miles around to look at my front gardens.

We're thinking of building a short fence for the front yard so I can move my runner ducks to the front yard for slug control. With how much rain we've gotten 2 years in a row the slugs are my new constant battle growing outdoors. Plus ants farming aphids on plants.

I have to be careful what I use to combat pests because I have bees too :)
 

Attachments

  • 20150907_203029.jpg
    20150907_203029.jpg
    69.8 KB · Views: 39
  • 20150903_173222.jpg
    20150903_173222.jpg
    79.7 KB · Views: 43
  • 1441333030595.jpg
    1441333030595.jpg
    52.7 KB · Views: 36

Green Squall

Active member
I'm curious in your opinion DK, what do you think is a fair price for a dozen fresh eggs? I'm asking because the prices are all over the place where I'm from.
 
I charge $6 for a dozen eggs that are organic non gmo and pasture raised on custom milled feed I get localky by the 1000 lbs. I also ferment their feed and it seems to make the poop disintegrate into the bedding rather than large piles of poop.. and it seems I can use it in my garden without aging it so much and don't burn my plants.

I'm striving for a true closed loop lifestyle in the city. I have lost trust in the broken food system.
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
I have been wanting chickens for years..now that all my other birds are gone I just might get a few chicks...the local organic nursery has them..they are so cute ,,then not so cute as they grow...I need a new source of birdshit,,the eggs would just be a side benefit...now if I can only get my german shepard bitch to not eat them....yeehaw...I think I can have like 3 in the city but no roosters/males
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
I need to do some chicken research also some bee research..theres a new hive setup out thats neat...the combs are plastic and have 2 parts theres a drain on bottom and handle..turn handle and it seperates comb allowing honey to drain right out into jar..no spinning it....yeehaw..I like bees
 
Top