Part 2 is up! Thanks for all your great ideas! -- 10 MORE Things To Know About Backyard Chickens: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XcNCKKQJ3a4.html
I really liked that video and I have one question. I'm curious: You say chicken raised in natural environment produces eggs with much more nutriment that those bought at the grocery. Do you have a link for any scientific analyses confirming this?
Can confirm: Chickens are guard dogs. When I had a small flock of hens (RI Reds), they were mischievous little devils that would peck/nip at everyone except me. Anyone else in the yard was fair game for them to torment. So much so, that when a small black bear wandered into the yard while I was tending the garden, the hens put themselves between me and the bear (before I'd noticed the bear). When I got up, the chickens charged at the bear, pecking at its head and flapping wings in its face. I didn't know bears could run that fast, but that thing tore out of the yard into the woods quicker than I could have made it to the house!🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔🐔vs 🐻= 🤣🤣🤣
Our Roo will start screaming the second someone or something he doesn’t know pulls into our property. Now when he sees me or here’s my truck pull in he will crow until I let them all out of the coop. Lol
I have 6 RI reds and I'm so impressed by them! They are so smart and love to be cuddled. Its fun to watch them and learn their pecking order and communication. I have a brand new respect for chickens.
Well thanks for sharing that story!!! Taking care of your gal's really pays off! So when people try to make you feel silly for being good to them.... Well you just tell them the time they probably saved your life!!!!!!!!!!
3 tips I'd like to add here that I wish I knew at the beginning: - To deal with fluctuations in egg production due to season, age etc, learn to store eggs thru "water glassing". RU-vid has a few good videos on this easy method. - Reduce your egg cost to under 50 cents per dozen by trying to incorporate natural feed anytime possible. When you weed your garden, toss the weeds into the pen. Start a worm bin that produces black gold for the garden but also tons of worms as feed. Chicken tractors are awesome in getting free food too. Even a bug zapper can produce a bit of food overnight. Get creative, just avoid citrus and onions (sour crop issues) - The best breed for your climate and temperatures is one with the correct size comb. A large comb is best in hot climates. The blood flow thru there cools the chicken off. Very small combs, like in this video, are best suited for very cold climates where the summer is short. If you switch that around the small comb ones may die of heat in Florida and large comb ones may get frostbite in Wisconsin. Hope this helps. I agree with not letting analysis paralysis get you. Good luck!
@@leskinney5544 I suggest using something with thermal mass. As an example, using a dozen old cinder blocks for a small partial wall/pen. As the sun warms up the blocks, they slowly release that heat at night so in the winter that may help. In the summer, if you keep the area shaded, the blocks will stay cooler than the rest of the area and you may find chickens snoozing under the cover next to the blocks. Some people use electric heaters and lights inside their coop during the winter, but I cant justify the fire risk. I've seen semi-open coops in the coldest of climates because air flow is more important than temperature. In your climate, I would suggest small comb breeds and during the summer provide lots of well ventilated areas that are shaded and plenty of water available.
I wouldn’t call it a myth per say, but in my experience, you can keep a happy solo chicken! Our leghorn we rescued from a meth addicted neighbor has never met another chicken in her life and was raised with a German Shepherd and Pitbull. It’s truly amazing how “dog like” her behavior is now. She comes when called, scratch/pecks at the door when she wants to come inside and even takes naps on the dog bed on top of the shepherd. Admittedly the chook doesn’t like to be in the yard by herself, but when the dogs accompany, she’s very content to scratch for insects. I have in fact observed the dogs digging a small ditch for the explicit propose of letting the cukuroo have a dust bath in it! Solo chickens just need surrogate family to live happy healthy lives!
My two cats came back with a chicken one day. They are all great friends and sleeps inside in the cat tree. They all stay together all day. The only problem have been it’s turned out to be a rooster and we live in suburbia. It’s ok now because we have adjusted their internal clock by light level so they don’t get up before 9. If we get more complaints we might consider chemical castration but most neighbors are very positive and their kids visit almost every day.
I had the same experience with a "stray" chicken. Oddly enough, I lived in town when this occurred. I came home from getting groceries one day and there was a young pullet walking around my yard. She was a really pretty 3-color breed (never looked it up). I assumed she fell off a truck, since no one in my neighborhood had chickens. While I was carrying in my groceries, she followed me into my house and perched on the back of my recliner. Lucky for her I have experience raising chickens. The year was 2020, so I really could appreciate a new friend. Since I was working from home, she became a constant companion. She would snuggle under my long hair when she was cold, made friends with my dog and followed me everywhere. When it was time for me to move AGAIN, I gave her to a little girl who lived on a farm. I went back to visit her once, and she was laying on a blanket, snugged up to the girl, who was just chilling with a book. She never would integrate with their flock, but preferred her little girlfriend.
i live on an over 50 acre land with my grandma and growing up i’ve always took care of chickens, specially bantams :) most 19 year olds go to party’s on the weekends then there’s me spending the whole day outside hanging with my chickens ahahah i just fell in love with the cute little things and grew attached, i might as well consider them my kids lol i’ve spent paychecks on food, treats, and supplies for them with no regrets 😂😂 i let them roam free in the yard whenever there’s nice days, i’m constantly checking them making sure they’re healthy and researching my dad thinks i’m nuts lol but i love learning new things about them they’re really such smart and special animals
I started with 4 chickens then I thought they were really cute so I got two more. Then about 7-8 months later I started working at tractor supply during baby chick season. Needless to say I now have 11 chickens and love it
When it comes to protection from predators. I use the standard military blue print for my chickens Land mines, claymores, razor wire, motion activated turrets, boiling tar(and feathers), assault squirrel catapults, trenches,a moat that has sharks with lasers mounted to their heads. They’ve been trained to use a switchboard for the claymores, resenting and firing catapults,and in trench warfare. But there’s a young upstart in the flock. He wants to take over the homestead for himself. And Rule with an iron hand. Trained in guerrilla tactics, wanted for trafficking narcoberries, chicken trafficking, henitution, illegal fights,he ambushes his unsuspecting master. Always planning, and every night he tries to take over. His name: El Polio Loco.
Yeah, we had someone like that. HAD. Little bugger would follow you around looking nonchalant and all innocent like, until you turned your back, then - WHAM! - a two inch claw right where you didn't want it! He could hit hard too! Punched through gumboots and all! The bruising on my wrist one time was worse than the hole he put in me. Called him red, coz he was a red Hyline rooster. Man, multi-animal dynamics can be funny. Got a muscovy drake at one point - called Count Quackula - and he earned his name! He would chase Red around and beat him up for fun, which calmed young Red down quite a bit. Had to break up a fight one time between The Count and two adult turkey toms: he had one tom by the tail, which was dragging him around the yard, and the other tom was chasing The Count trying to peck him off the other tom. The Count was a madman! Swapped him out for another drake that was hopefully a little more sane. Red attacked the missus one too many times, and that was it for him. Ambushed him late one night, and took him out of the gene pool. Kept the girls in line, though, and the predators away. Don't miss him at all really, except for the cat and mouse games that he and The Count would play each evening.
For winter we would use subpar potatoes. Every morning we would cook up a pot of potatoes and when it cooled enough to touch we'd feed them the warm potatoes. It's anecdotal but it seemed to improve our winter yields and the chickens loved it! Also it saved the potatoes from the compost heap. If you want to compare quality look at the yolk colour. A rich deep yellow, orange or reddish yolk is a healthy egg. (Feeding chickens red peppers produces reddish yolks). Most commercial egg yolks tend to be pale yellow.
chickens are awesome! Litterally one my favorite projects of all time. I went all in as a total nube, oredered 14 chicks online. Ordered 14 hens...still ended up with a rooster but even that was not a negative. I can't imagine buying just 3 or 4, need 6 minimum, chickens need friends. I raised mine in a relatively small pen, that meant ALOT more cleaning, but that worked out too...all that went to the garden and all the garden weeds went back to the birds. Even though I couldn't let my birds roam free due to preditors, they had a constant supply of new things to pick at, some days I even walk down the road and gather wild raspberries for them. So I didn't run into feather picking issues, I kept them busy with new things to explore. That flock is long gone, but now I have new land to build a new farm and chickens are inbound...I just can't wait!
This is the second one of these "know before you get chickens" videos that I've watched. And I have to say, thank you. What I'm learning is that raising chickens is not for me. Maybe when I was younger it would have been. But I'm not physically able to do the work needed anymore. And I don't have the money to put into it. I'm good with my cats and my dog. And I'm better off buying eggs from someone else who is able to raise them. I'm glad to know that now.
Beginner setup is 3 hens,1 rooster, 1 guard dog, a big bedroom/coop, a big outdoor garden/ free range area/rotating pastures place, and of course a food and water troph.
I started out 4 years ago with a pair that free-ranged but I just could not stop buying chicks & hatching eggs! Now I have apx. 200+ and have 5 incubators running right now lol. That pair I started with created a monster but I have found a way to turn it into a thriving business that I LOVE LOVE LOVE doing so it worked out lol. If not for Predators I'd have around 2k chickens.. no joke, I get hit hard every Spring.
I recommend becoming friends with local hunters. I go to various farms every year and Bow hunt Vermin (Racoons, Foxes, Coyotes) and the only thing I "Charge" is some spare firewood from their woods, that I collect and cut myself, and the pelts from the critters I shoot. I also usually get a couple chickens, or eggs, but all I ask is the Pelt (From what I hunt) and the Wood collection.
I agree with everything you say execept the "They are so easy" part. As a person who had indoor/outdoor cats all my long life, I can tell you one thing, even with a fantastic auto door to handle that part of the job, taking care of chickens takes a lot of work but, more importantly, you now have a daily - or twice daily - chore that YOU CANNOT forego ANY DAY FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. Thinking of going for a couple of weeks to see that newborn grandchild? Not so fast buster! Feeling so sick you need to stay in bed for a day or two? Too bad. You've got chores. Broke your ankle? AWWWW. Guess you're going to learn how to dance with crutches on.
Think she is comparing to other farm animals or farm hobbies. I think they are ten times easier than other farm animals and chores. To add, I think ducks are ten times easier than chickens lol.
Something I was told as a kid by a family who's had chickens for a few generations, dont feed chickens cracked eggs. Chickens love eggs and if they start getting used to eating eggs then they'll eventually start cracking their own. Also, don't need to refrigerate home grown eggs unless you aggressively clean them.
As long as you crush them up so much they can’t tell it’s an egg you won’t create egg eaters in my experience. But I always hardboil eggs and smash the crap out of them before I feed them back. Never had an egg eater.
My experience was, even if they ate eggs regularly, they maintained a strong aversion to breaking them open themselves. It's usually one individual in the flock doing the breaking if you get that problem. At the sound of an egg cracking they would all go hyperalert, and mob the site where it landed, pushing their heads down in a circle, lifting them to swallow with yolk running down their beak comically. Once I ate a fresh yet "bad" egg and it gave me an aversion to eating my own chicks' eggs, even after figuring out why. There was a big dead opossum carcass in the undergrowth that they were eating. This made the yolk taste strongly like carrion. I had hard boiled the egg and my GF bit half of it and I ate the other half. We both went chew-chew-chew-STOP... looked at each other with wide eyes for a second, then both simultaneously turned forward again and spat the eggs out with a loud messy PATOOOFFF! I noticed when they got into and ate my onion starts, the yolks tasted onion-y. Yolk production leaches beta carotene from every part of the chicken's body, so feed them grated carrots as a supplement. During an egg laying cycle, a hen's feathers and legs get more and more pale and dull looking. Then her egg laying cycle ends, she molts and starts putting out new brightly colored feathers and her legs go from dry and pale to moist and orange/yellow again. Then she starts laying again and the next cycle is under way.
I've known people that threw cracked eggs on the ground for the chickens to eat decade after decade and never had a problem with that. You do get a rare chicken that will crack eggs but that happens whether you give them eggs or not. I'm going to put this one under the category of old wive's tales.
I I’ve had backyard chickens for about three years now. I have learned so much from on the job training with my girls, but one thing I wish I would’ve been a little more prepared for are the common sicknesses that chickens get, and different things you can do for common sicknesses that might save on some vet bills.
We are looking into "water glassing" but you can also freeze eggs (no, not in the shell!). scramble a dozen eggs with a tsp of salt and pour them into an ice cube tray (we found a couple with large cubes so we get about 1 egg/cube, helps when your baking and the recipe calls for, say, 3 eggs, 3 cubes = 3 eggs, easy). once they're frozen we pop them out of the ice cube tray and put them in zip lock bags. I also saw a video where they put a number of scrambled eggs (what ever number works for you) into a zip lock and then froze them (freeze them on a flat surface so they're easy to stack in the freezer) and when you need them don't thaw them in the bag, peel the bag off the frozen eggs and thaw them in a bowl. That way you don't leave egg in the zip lock. I'm also experimenting with fermented feed (like probiotic fermented food) it seems to have increased egg production and the chickens love it. Here a link to a study done on fermented feed. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-k-qs4-J2kdY.html
I started water glossing last yr. It has been a God send to me. I put in a 5 gal bucket in my kitchen and that works well. So easy to do also, and I heard chickens will go up to 25$ very soon. Eggs will also become scare and very expensive.
I eat eggs everyday and started freezing them during the shortages of 2020. 1 large egg = 1/4 cup. I crack and mix about 8 eggs per pint jar then freeze
We just picked up 10 chics of 5 different breeds Barred rock Amber link Silver lace Wyandotte Plymouth blue rocks Pearl starleghorn So far so good, let the adventure begin.
I had a pet chicken when I was a child and I taught her several tricks My family is from the countryside of my country and taking care of chickens was quite easy, probably because the weather was just fine and there are very few predators here, the only special thing they were provided from time to time were the ashes from the oven so they could bath more luxuriously. No one talked about different breeds either but all of this was about 50 years ago
One thing I wish I knew before building my first chicken coop was that I needed to consider my SECOND set of birds. What I mean is, I built my coop, put birds in it, but then after two years I wanted to add chicks to my adult flock and everything I read told me that I needed to raise my new chicks next to my existing birds, but keep them separated by some wire mesh. This is impossible using any basic coop design. Your average coop design has one door for the birds and one sleeping space, but to introduce new birds, I need two doors, two sleeping spaces, a wire mesh separating them and, most importantly, a way to remove that wire mesh at night when the youngins' are old enough to join the flock without disturbing them while they sleep.
Thank you for this video! I wish I had known about sparkly windmills and sparkly garland to hang around the yard to keep predator birds away. We have an urban "sort of" homestead and we let our chickens out to free range in the yard when we can keep an eye on them, since we have dogs in the neighborhood. We used to let them out all day long, but had an incident with a dog and can't do that anymore. We had hawks dive down for the chickens until we put out the windmills and other garlands about 2 years ago. Since having these in our yard, we haven't had any problems with predator birds. I am so excited to share that we have 2 chickens in our flock that we raised since chicks and are about 9 years old. They were both still laying eggs last summer, stopped during the winter and one has started laying again (our good old Leghorn, Sunny! The Plymouth Rock, Clucky, is the other old lady we have)
“Chicken math” is a lot like fishing math. My wife teases me that over my lifetime of fishing, the fish I caught - mostly trout, salmon, bass, perch, and bluegill - the true cost per pound of the small amount of fish we actually ate was probably over $200/lb. Ha ha!
When I was younger I'd ask my aunt why we didn't put new hens with the old flock. She told me that the old flock would relentlessly bully new hens! It was a surprise to me how hens are like highschool girls, gosh
I love roosters! My flock actually started with two roosters and an old hen! They had quite the dynamic, they were allowed complete free range of my yard which is about a quarter of an acre and we never had issues with predators until people started dumping raccoons in our area.. my boys never once fought and they would rarely mount my hen which was sweet of them cuz she was like 6 years old... Yeah I've got nearly 18 chickens now four of which happened to be roosters (two bantam and two standard) and I love them all!! I only planned for 10 all together but the addiction is real
I really enjoyed your talk. One of my neighbors has a lot of chickens. The last batch--three that survived tend to love jumping over the fence every day. I have enjoyed them so much. I found out today that they don't go into my neighbor's yard much anymore. They roost in our orange tree next to their property. Wow, I didn't know they slept in the tree. I have seen them get into the tree but I thought it was just temporary. My neighbor said they come over to get mash. But they come back over to our house to eat the bugs in our lush yard. We have a main backyard and a separated fence to the second half that has a garden. Most things are in pots. The chickens love pecking around the pots. Now that I know they're sleeping in the tree, I plan to get them some shelter as our neighbor gave his blessing to let us house them. I'm so green behind the ears. I appreciated your talk. We don't live out in the country side. It used to be more rural. But we have a half acre. We feel blessed compared to so many families.
Great video and info! I wish I would have known about chickens needing dust baths! Our chickens got lice the first year because we were not intentional about making sure they had a dry/dusty area to go to.
I really enjoyed your video. I have had chickens for years, this will be the first year I have had chickens in AZ so I am going to learn what it is like to keep chickens in hot weather. I am a victum of chicken chreep. I only wanted to start this experiment with 4 chicks but somehow I wound up with 20, not sure how that happened. But, hay, chickens are fun [I think a chicken told me that].
We've found that the lightweight breeds do better here in AZ, the Mediterranean type breeds do very well for us too, the heavier breeds really struggle in the heat.. Making sure they have shade and and a lot of cool water is essential of course. I bought a misting system for the hottest days and it lowers the air temp around it by about 20 degrees. They love it.
I would add, people should begin researching chicken illnesses and wounds beforehand! That way you have an idea of what to look for so you can catch problems quick. Also, BIOSECURITY! Very, very important. learn it, plan for it, implement it. It will keep you from potentially losing your whole flock.
Good point! We lost several of our favorites to some mysterious illness. Also, they got what we think was chiggers while I was pregnant. It was awful cause the chiggers loved me.
@@nancyfahey7518 I had never heard of it before ours got them. We assumed it was some kind of mite until we looked at them under a magnifying glass + we also read that mites don’t bite people. Our chickens got garlic every day. We treated them naturally.
@@lauranilsen8988 hey Laura ....so the garlic really helped??? Also was wondering how you gave the garlic to your birds?? Did you put it in the water or did you just feed it to them raw?? Thanks....much appreciated!
I really enjoyed your video and found it informative! I have 5 baby Silkie Bantams (Petunia, Dolly, Rosebud, Daisy, and Big Bird), hopefully all female and 3 weeks old. I went with Silkies because if they aren't broody, they lay 2-3 eggs/week and they're 3/4 size eggs which is a good amount for me and my daughter. The chickens are supposedly very quiet (so far, not so!). They're molting and changing color! Big Bird was a definite yellowy buff and is becoming white. My cream-colored girls are turning gray with black. My medium gray is turning lighter gray with black. My black chick is turning bi-color black and dark gray. I didn't expect that! I recommend anyone getting chickens for the first time to get the coop and run in place BEFORE the chickens come. Don't buy some little thing that's way overpriced and not big enough. I've never built anything before and I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, saw straight with a line drawn, everything is a bit out of square, and there's nothing level anywhere BUT I built my coop & run myself. People need to think about things -- do you want to be up every morning when the sun comes up to let the chickens out of the coop? Get an automatic door. Be able to reach the eggs from outside the coop. Make sure the water coming off the roof flows toward the back if your nesting box is on the side. Make your access easy so that cleaning is easy. Have enough room for double the number of chickens. Make it predator proof.
Really appreciate your videos! Your chicken videos are what made me have the confidence to get chickens for the first time this year. Got 6 cutie baby chicks and they are getting big so fast! All healthy and happy :)
I live in South Florida (Vero Beach) and I'm getting ready to start raising chickens. It is mostly hot and humid right now, and It's that way the majority of the time. I will just make sure to keep ventilation as a main priority, and give them cool water and cool treats. Also, I am getting breeds that are built for this weather.
I have had my chickens for 3 years and found that getting a plastic owl has been the best deterrent from hawks coming in and having a snack. Here in Utah we have so many hawks and they will come into the city which I didn’t think would happen. Chickens are on everyone’s menu.
One thing that I have found, and I'm sure it varies depending on where you live, There are so many vets that don't care to deal with poultry. I've had to become a homestead vet where my chickens are concerned. There are injuries, illnesses and all sorts of things that will come up. After having hundreds of chickens over the years, I'm pretty good at caring for problems that arise, and I'm so grateful for Google! Lol.
I never comment on videos, but I want to say the biggest “I wish I knew before I got chickens…” was my dog rolling in the chicken poo on a frequent basis, my dog aims to please but doesn’t seem to understand that we don’t like that. Our dog is mostly indoors and our backyard isn’t big, but there was one day our dog got bathed three times!!! 🤢 But sometimes she’ll go a couple of weeks without rolling in the poo. Not that we wouldn’t have gotten chickens (or the dog) If we had known, but a heads up would’ve been nice. Lol
Chickens need granite to break down their food. If they aren’t able to find hard tiny rocks that will help them then they will have health problems such as egg bound. Also make sure your coop has plenty of ventilation and has roost that they like. Most chickens like to roost on the highest roost. If you get a coop with roost close to the ground then they may not use them and they will just lay on the ground, which I’ve heard that it’s not good for them to not roost in the night. They usually are pooping while sleeping. I’ve seen one of my chickens with a dirty feather butt with poop hanging. I’m pretty sure it’s because she lays on the ground. I thought it might of been gleet. Make sure to have something’s in stock for chicken medical emergencies. Research, examine and look at plenty of opinions before you do anything to your chickens.
this is my first year with chickens, 10 chicks on reserve of 2 different breeds that will fit our temperament and climate :D your videos have been a great jumping off point!
I have 5 nuggets and so far so good. They have a wonderful heating lamp and my husband insists on filter water LOL. Honestly though they're wonderful and we're building them a wonderful coop. I agree with the chicken addiction. I seriously want more but the town we live in only allows 4. Thanks for the video!!!
Thank you mainly for your compassion caring practices with your chickens. Wish I could keep roosters where I live, because I love the sound of their crowing and don't understand why people dislike that so! And why the sounds of lawn movers and leaf blowers are tolerated over the beautiful rooster calls.
In our area you can't have roosters because people use them for fighting and they're trying to stop that, it has nothing to do with the crowing. We are limited to 6 hens. We're looking into getting chickens, but we're in a rental so everything would have to be easy to break down and move if we move.
true, they are beautiful too.. but try having a rooster outside your bedroom window in the middle of the night when you are trying to sleep, it is an experience for sure!
The difference is most blowers, lawnmowers, chainsaws, etc don't go off any time of the day or night. Roosters crow whenever they want. I had a neighbor that raised 50+ roosters and it was a nightmare 😫
I'm an Aussie so you have to know my post is going to be very different! I had a good mate years ago who came from the Netherlands and he told me that one the most relaxing things to do if life is stressing you out too much is to go and watch chickens! One day I was up at his 20 acre property inland from Brisbane and he was showing me some day-old chicks he had bought. We sat there looking at them and drinking beer - and the next thing I knew, 3 hours had disappeared! And none of that had anything to do with drinking beer. When I had chickens of my own, I could easily lose an afternoon just sitting, watching them and drinking a coffee. If you want them for eggs or meat or just as pets, chickens will deliver all the time!
❤️🐔we are getting chicks in April! I'm so exited, this would be our third year getting chickens/ducks. i can't imagine not having them by now. we live in the middle of nowhere so luckily we have no limits! Great video! I loved it!
As a chicken owner I have a great tip that I just learned: Get carrots, cracked pepper, and red cabbage from Walmart (cheapest) to supplement your feed. That’s how you get extra dark and rich yolks.
I’m from Racine Wisconsin and I’m new to the country life in Atlanta I have about 30 chickens and I’m a newbie in the game I just wanna say I love watching your videos and the information you give
If you do another one of these I'd suggest adding: 1. How long it takes to get eggs is probably longer than expected (for most people) and of course every breed is different. Some might be surprised when they get baby chicks instead of adult layers and it takes nearly a year before they see their 1st egg.
@@psilverz4848 Agriculture is destroying the planet. It is very frustrating how much miss information there is on this topic. Grazing can actually sequester far more carbon than forests at a much, much faster rate. If we grazed animals on a large enough scale, we could actually mitigate all human emissions. Growing plants can not do this. Plant agriculture uses massive amounts of fossil fuels and unlike grazing cattle, it doesn't mitigate its own emissions. The soil microbiome is killed with chemicals and that dead soil is lost rapidly, causing complete land infertility and desertification. Grazing animals is the fastest way to replenish these lands, bring the microbes back, give nutrients back, rehydrate, break up impaction, and build soil faster than any other process. It would take nature decades to build the amount of soil made in a couple of yrs of Grazing.
The Struggle is REAL! Predator struggle that is... my BIGGEST challenge in northern Florida is the "DEATH from the SKY" dynamic. I solved all night time predation with my dogs.. but the assault from the air is unrelenting! We even had a Red Tail Hawk fly UNDER MY HOUSE to get a hen.. I hate keeping them all cooped in the pens, but the air assault is so challenging.
From what I heard hawks hate crows (to the point of where they’ll avoid them) so maybe try getting some crow-looking chickens? (Sumatras look pretty similar)
Make friends with ravens - a nesting pair of ravens (or even crows) will absolutely not tolerate hawks and owls in their territory. These birds can have issues on their own - such as egg stealing and chick predation. I've never had chick predation but I also don't let them outside when they are takeout size. There are ways to dissuade egg-stealing but in my opinion donating a few eggs is a small price to pay!
Your videos have helped me a ton, I’ve had previous chicken experience (large flocks) but am starting a flock at a property I manage for the first time in years. It’s more daunting when they’re 100% your responsibility lol. So I have 25 total, 10 are straight run so… roosters galore. I’m definitely jumping in head first, but it should be fun. Amish coop arrived Friday and I’m building the run when the weather improves. Thanks again for the great videos, your enthusiasm is contagious btw. :)
I’ve had chickens for a year and I got older ones from a friend that they were getting rid of due to age. So my what everyone should know is you are going to lose some. Especially having a larger flock. They get egg bound or get infections and sometimes they just drop dead for no apparent reason! Yes when that happens check your other chickens clean your coop. Do all the necessary precautions to make sure it wasn’t a catchable sickness but after you have done that. Don’t beat your self up because you think you failed. It’s going to happen it’s a part of the homestead and take it as a learning moment and then move on. I lost 1 due to mites and one due to old age this year. I can’t tell you how badly I beat my self up for the mites. But I treated it and now everyone is healthy as can be. I still obsessively check for mites with a flashlight every night 😁
I am a new chicken owner Rhode Island Red they came last Friday 10 in the mail...purchased galvanized tub and starter kit with brooder etc. pretty color eggs...we want more chickens later on great thought process we are vegetarians and have no plans on eating them. Love eggs 🥚 ✊🏾❤️❤️❤️✊🏾 new subscriber here...
Hey my wife was vegetarian/ vegan (whole food, quinoa, hemp and avocado style, not the oreo soy burger style) for nearly 12 years and had both hormone (vitamin d3 and k) problems even though she supplemented. She also had problems with her teeth due to lack of the bodies ability to perform mineral and vitamin uptake on a veg diet. The eggs (raw in raw milk if you can) are some of the single best things you can put into your body. I would highly recommend reconsidering your diet and eating the eggs.
I wish I had known that breeds known for being super quiet can still be super loud when they are excited. My county zoning allows chickens but my HOA restrictions do not. We got Buff Orpingtons known for being stealth chickens. But every time I open my back door they think someone might be bringing them something new and exciting to eat, and all of a sudden there is a chorus of Bwaahhhh's! LOL Thankfully we back to private property, have green space on one side and a deaf old woman on the other. But ours haven't even started laying yet, so I'm worried when they do it will be loud enough for neighbors across the street to hear.
I just like the clucks and purrs... so relaxing... I worked for a guy that had chickens, rabbits, ..... other animals. first 30 min and last 30 min of every day was caring/feeding them. It was my happy place before/after work.
Maybe the most important thing to keep in mind make sure you have a secure pen .My neighbor has 6 hens with a very secure pen and henhouse in addition to a hot wire around the fence.Keeps the varmits out.
I wish I known the feed would be so expensive, I would have made the alfalfa patch larger. I wish had known about egg bound and vent infection, but thankfully I found videos on the internet. I wish had partially covered the chicken run to protect the chickens from the temperature extremes; snow in winter and hot in summer.
I'm getting chickens from my boyfriend this year. I'll hatch them so I will have them since their first day of life to their last. They'll be my first so I'll only start with 4-5. I'm very excited. They'll have a coop but they'll be outside freely in day time
What are the end of life processes? What is the life span / egg laying period? Do you keep your chickens until their natural life ends? Thank you for all you share !
Normally the egg laying span is 3 years and then their egg starts to slow down. And keeping them till their natural death comes all depends on what you have them for and if you want to harvest or cull them fo meat. Also I agree silkies are not good for egg production but they are awesome mothers
I just found your channel because I'm obsessed with learning about chickens and want some in the near future. We live in an apartment atm. But I LOVE your videos! Thanks for so much knowledge :) I can't wait to be able to get chicks!
Totally agree with all of this! #10 so helpful for newbies I'm sure. I grew up in WI and now in FL so I feel your pain with the cold but there's pros and cons to living everywhere I suppose. ♡♡♡
We got 34 chicks from an auction we went to, about a year ago, and got no eggs for 3-4 months but since then we have had nearly 2 dozen every day, and so far i think we have had about 2,000 eggs plus, These little girls are great producers, love to eat all your food scraps, and leftover vegetables, by free-ranging from our garden. Every one of these little workers have worked without complaining unless I am late with their feed, and they never have gone on strike, but are consistent produces of these little ovals of food. They are fed all they can eat and seem to be very happy. None of these will die of old age or disease, and they will not end up in any pot that i have. I will not be digging 34 graves for them, as i do not kill animals, unless in pain, so working on that problem when the time comes........... Then there are the 3 ducks, Quackers and his too mates, that's another story.
We are down in Tennessee, starting to see the thinning of grocery shelves and bought 10 road island reds and am already running into the pecking problems. Looks like I'll have more work ahead building a bigger coop/run.
This video almost cost me my marriage and my home. Word got out that I was trying to pick up chicks on my day off, and NO amount of explanation to the wife seemed to work. :(
#4 was the unfortunate lesson I had to learn the hard way. I was unaware we had occasional bobcat. Until I no longer had my small flock. Needless to say, while the chicken wire and paddock fencing was sufficient; the plastic bird netting on top was no match. Everything... Everything tries to eat them. That was a sad lesson.
We had a bobcat slip into the coop during the day. We were even outside that day. When my husband put the chickies to bed that afternoon, he shut them in with the bobcat.
get better wire from a hardware store chicken wire is garbage even chickens can fly over or dig under it if something on the over side they want. use heavy paving around in to stop digging under and need a sealed top as well bird netting not going to do shit
@@natstar7864 My coops have always had the same design (2x4 wire on wood framing)for the sides, floors, and roof. No entry whatsoever. They can dig under, but only fine a wire wall. I have to add dirt to the coop floor from time to time as they did down and expose the wire. No problem tho. I have 18 total.
Also if you have a hunting type dog (we had a male Doberman) we aware that you may need to keep your chickens away from them… I lost my 3 “girls” just when they were about to start laying because my young son left the fence gate open…
EXCELLENT VIDEO... and the price of EGGS are UNREAL right now... I paid $6.25 for a doz eggs!! Not Happy. Thank you so much for sharing this great video.
Love your channel! I've got some experience with flocks in the past, but I'm starting my own now.. I have two groups of chicks, 14 are 5 weeks old and 11 are 4wk old. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but the older ones are fully feathered and in the outside coop now, while I've moved the other group into the larger brooder. I need to get them out of the basement, but the size difference is concerning and I'm not sure what will happen. The younger group is all chicks and the older group is straight run golden laced wyandottes and some leghorns.. so there will be roo's in there.
I went to Safeway yesterday to get JoJo and they said it would be a 9 min wait. I went next door to check out Wilco. They had $1 chicks, I bought 38 and then went to the next Wilco and now have 61. Woke up this morning and wondered what they had at others and now I have 101 chicks. 🙏
Excellent video! Gotta love "Analysis Paralysis". My son is just now building a coop to house 8 chickens which will be arriving the first week of April. He has never kept them before. So, I sent him the link to this video. Thanks for posting this. 👍👍🐓🐓🐓🐓👍👍 P.S. Just subscribed to your channel!!
If you’re making a stationary coop with an enclosed range, make sure he digs down a little ways and puts the chicken wire down in the ground a little ways to discourage predators. We had a dog that kept crawling under the chicken wire and then the chickens would go out through there and we lost a lot of chickens.
I saw someone put smooth rocks in their chick waterer. It keeps the chick's from accidental drownings.. if say anywhere from pebble to quarter size rocks would be fine. 😊 I don't have chickens yet! So for now I'm doing all the research I can! I also live in Wisconsin, so I'm glad you spoke about winters! ❤🐥
I bought 23 x 11 week old roosters last week (only 6 were about 11 weeks, the rest were probably 7 weeks even though the farm tried to convince me otherwise). They only cost me $3ea..., but they were kept in terrible conditions, all pecked backs, I went to butcher 1 yesterday and I thought gee its light..., nearly no meat on the breast and that was AFTER I had been pouring the food into them for over 1 week. Consequently they get a reprieve for another couple of weeks. Chicken maths..., I started with 3..., I now have 39 (including the meat birds) 11 chicks and 28 eggs in the incubator. ha ha. I breed Black Copper Marans, Vorwerks and Crested Cream Legbars..., I am retired (forcibly unfortunately) so now-a-days I play Mr. Mum and look after the flock...., love it. One of the biggest myths is NEVER wash you eggs for incubating..., if you have a dirty egg you can lightly wash it and dry it off with a clean towel. There is a pheasant farm (pheasants lay their eggs everywhere on the floor) that not only washes them..., but washed them with a detergent and antibacterial wash and had a HUGE increase in hatchability. (I can supply the link for the farm if anybody would like it). I now wash any dirty eggs and mark them with a black texta (X) It is extremely rare that that egg doesn't hatch..., more likely just not fertile to begin with. You will do more harm putting a dirty egg into a warm moist enviroment which is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria..., and don't be obsessed about the humidity when hatching chickens (ducks are different)..., especially in the first 18 days to lock down anywhere from 40 to 60% is fine and just increase it to 70% on lockdown. Love the channel, great vid.
Got our first 4 in March of 2021, as of today I’m up to 21, and already gave away 6 or 7 🤣 Love em, sitting in the yard watching them has become an evening routine for my whole household. Great video, all kinds of good tips.
Great job! Very thorough, and pleasantly delivered. 😊 we’ve had chickens in the past and look forward to having them again soon. Really enjoyed your video. Thanks for sharing!
“Social and Clingy” I can relate! Me and my family have 7 chickens that live outside of our fence (because of our old neighbor letting us), we have gone through many “generations” of chickens. When we got down to 5 chickens, we decided to get 2 more from out neighbors that live behind us since they have chicks and chickens. When we went to get them, there just was a batch of 1 month olds in a cage. We picked out 2 olive eggers (who are now named Snowy and Maple) They grew up being buddies, and love to be by each other. It’s so cute to watch them grow up by sides😍 Now that all 7 are together, they’ve become a whole flock💗
Amazing video editing, mate! I work in digital marketing and I love your skill set on show with the editing here. Really great work. Please keep producing more :) (PS - I love your content... I don't have my chickens *yet* but I have a stock pile of empty egg cartons in my cupboard and an excitement towards owning my own poultry sooner rather than later... I just need to build a coup)
I'm considering starting up raising chickens and now I'm flooded with chicken raising videos in my feed. Lol this one was by far the most educational one I've seen so far. Lots of great tips that I appreciate hearing especially just starting to considering doing it after a while of just admiring homesteading. I wanted to start this year but I don't see that happening yet. What are those pretty fluffy headed chickens! They look like they have feathered hats on. So gorgeous.
We live in Georgia, God’s country! Our chickens lay all year long. We do nothing but free range totally organic feed. We make sure they get grass throughout the year along with all types of vegetables. We have never seen a drop off in eggs. Even though it gets cool during the winter here, if you feed them right and give them enough pasture they will lay all year long.
Just listened to your podcast. I love Marans (specifically French Cuckoo Maran)! I had one in CA and when I moved to MN I made sure I got another. It’s the one breed I would like to have more than one. I agree they are not underfoot, but they are quiet and not aggressive (even though my “Odelette” is the largest she is by no means a bully), plus the eggs… 👍
I have been following your account for a while now and I so appreciate all of the information you have provided! I would love to hear if you had any insight on how your chicken care changed during / after pregnancy!
Also in WI Here, and have had chickens for 7 years? 1) I found they do NOT need as much work as others said, and they do great! 2) Mine free range, on 2+ acres, right by County Forest. I lost my first one to a hawk attack last Fall. I did not have a rooster at the time. I do think they help protect the hens. I saw my old rooster William round up and call to the girls in times of danger, he was a great rooster! I did include a rooster in my chick order coming up. 3) In the Spring, Summer and Fall, my feed costs are close to none, they always have feed available, but seldom eat it, they must find enough free ranging. 4) They are fully addicting, and the eggs are amazing! Enjoy!
Just got our 10 Easter Egger girls on Friday. Chicken math is already a problem! Building a 4x10 coop similar to yours so they’ll be ready to move in around 6 weeks (weather permitting).
I love that your chickens allow you to pet them. Mine allow me to pet them and pick them up and I talked to him and scratch underneath their bills and I just love chickens
This is a great video! Thank you. I’m in Southern California on 2 1/2 acres and plan on getting 4 chickens. I’m fencing in a 10 x 60 ft area and netting some trees so they can fly up them. I need to buy a shed and convert it into a coop. This video gave me hope. We plan on rescuing the chickens. P.S. It was in the 90’s last week. We weren’t happy to have it lol.
First time chick mom. I ordered 10, and 16 were delivered, Azure & Black Copper Marans! Love each of them. How often do you handle your babies? I try to rotate at least once or twice a day, holding and spending time with 3 chicks per day. And each day changing up which ones I hold. Any suggestions?
This is my first year and my chicks are only 5 weeks old right now so I know almost nothing 😂 We got 12 and tried to hold every chick for at least a few minutes a day. The kids helped a lot with that plan. I learned that when they were in the nursery and we would hold them, they freaked out if our hand was coming down from above onto their backs but if we put a hand down on the bottom of the pen, palm up and they could see the hand coming, they were less nervous. Kinda like scooping from under their body instead of activating their predator reflex I guess. While mine were in the nursery, I seriously questioned if I would have hand tame chicks because they didn’t seem to want anything to do with being held- especially once they got enough wing feathers to flutter. Now that they’ve moved to their coop and run, I go out once a day in the mid-late afternoon with treats and I say the same thing each time I’m walking up. Now, those same hand shy chicks will fly onto my hands, shoulders, head, you name it! They will even call to me if they see me in the yard! What started out as delivering an afternoon treat has now turned into me sitting in the run for a hour and watching all the personalities. After they eat, they all take a turn coming to visit with me. Some just come close and look, some jump in my lap and sit for a preen and others want to be on my shoulder talking about what’s in my hair 😂 I’m hoping that building trust with them will be beneficial when I allow them to roam the whole yard and need them to come back when I call. Good luck!
@@tabiterr Thank you! I will definitely try coming from underneath in place of over handed. Making progress though, started to introduce treats & finally got one to eat from my hand.
Roosters are very good for protecting hens. My grandma had very mad and angry one who would attack a fox. Her chicks even went to forest and most of them survived (thanks to a rooster)
Chickens are from the tropics where they have longer days year round. Increasing the light to get chickens to lay more is actually reproducing conditions similar to where they originated from and should have no ill effect on them.
I love all of this information and especially that you are also in Wisconsin! So grateful for al of this as we are embarking on beginning chicken raising! So excited for this. Love the chickens I have known through the years and my kids to are thrilled to finally be able to have our own friends
