/Chickens General/I didn't notice a dedicated thread for Chickens, so I figured I'd start one. This thread is for all things related to Chickens, your strategies in raising them, the types of genetics you favor, the environmental threats we have to worry about, and how to prepare for an economic and social collapse.Post all your chicken related Questions and Insights, help other anons establish their flock, or pick up new information for your own use.Resources:>Survival Chickens.https://thesurvivalgardener.com/free-range-survival-chickens-is-here/>Harvey Ussury Managing a small scale Flock:https://themodernhomestead.us/>Intro to Heritage Breedshttps://youtu.be/uhhEenOL0g0?si=n2U0fWQT-_-g0fIj>Why Modern Chickens are Defectivehttps://youtube.com/shorts/BozHTpN0w64?si=rtZckljFBNj7zrKy
>>2878741OP loves cock
>>2878741I just started a flock of about 17 Icelandic Chicks, they are about 3 weeks old, and had a pretty good hatch rate from the 24 I ordered online.They all seem healthy, and I put them in an outdoor brooder/mini coop at just 1 week old.I got them because they are super flighty and have good Foraging abilities, and I think there is a lot of purpose in preserving their genetic purity. However I want to make sure they are as Good as I can get them before I set them out on their own.I intend to let them go Entirely Freerange, meaning no coop, just trees, some small shelters for ground cover and egg laying, where they will survival entirely upon their own merit. I live in a highly dense predator environment equipped with Bears, Wolves, Hawks, and even Eagles from time to time (Which I've heard are the worst).My birds are almost fully feathered at just 3 weeks, they forage like crazy, and they are super flighty anytime I try to interact with them, which I think is good.Just curious if anyone else has experience with Freerange Survival Chickens in high Predator Environments. I fully expect to lose a few to natural conditions, but my goal is to use only the Icelandic genetics to create a locally acclimatized line that will be self sufficient and able to provide for generations to come.Also, how many chickens should I have in a freerange flock to where I don't have to worry about inbreeding so much?
>>2878745>flock of about 17Are these quantum chickens? Is 17 just too high and you keep losing count?
>>2878746What? Are you saying my flock is too small?I intend to purchase more, this is just what I'm starting with. I'd like to get at least 50 birds, and I'd like to expand to have even more if they do well. I just don't know how many I'm going to need to have good genetics, or if I just let them do their thing and have nature prune them for me.I've done a lot of research but I'm still fairly new to this.
>>2878745I never imagined i'd one day be the anon that shits on a parade but i'm fairly certain your entire flock will die when the word gets around in the predators villain bar where everyone is mad hungry, if the first guy visiting doesn't end up butchering all of them. I haven't done any chicken raising so it's not like i know what the fuck i'm talking about, but would you suppose chicks with high foraging and flight capabilities were bred in iceland, where there are no predators whatsoever? Would you care to imagine normal chicken could have gotten naturally selected out of those that stayed put in their little caged up coops, where they had the best odds of safety and survival?Couldn't you get like a dog or something so when some jackass comes along they'd bark and you could grab your firestick and mincemeat 'em instead of playing god or larping like a fucking chicken hitler?
>today OP loves cocks but is somehow not a faggot
>>2878750No, coop bred chickens are typically the first to die when hardship hits, they have weaker immune systems, plus without foraging abilities, broodiness, and other traits, they are incapable of fending for themselves.The book referenced in the original post, Freerange Survival Chickens, goes into the history of Rome and what happened to all of their coop chickens when Rome collapsed. Looking into the history of Gamefowl, and especially their origin in Jungle Fowl in South Asia, there are many breeds that came and have survived well in a freerange environment, if not thrived.Now, I am fully aware of using Icelandics in place of a more defensive landrace, and this is the weak part of my strategy. However, I am providing them an abundance of trees and ground cover to sleep in and take shelter from predators.I have so many trees in fact I'm not really worried about ground predators, so much as I am about aerial predators. Icelandics can roost as high up as 30 feet, and even as chicks they've already maxed out the heights I gave them in as little as a week. I'm relying on their evasive abilities more than their defensive abilities, and hoping that natural selection will over the course of generations make them even more well suited for the environment.We will have dogs and other large livestock eventually, but as good as I can get them to survive on their own the better.As a last note, pretty much all chickens were Freerange up until about 100 years ago, so what I'm doing isn't exactly new, but genetics is a big factor.>>2878754Those are some pretty birds anon. What are they?
>>2878761Brown sexlink ISA Brown I wanna say?Most of those are gone now. That was during my heyday of 60 burds.We’re desperately trying to move so I’ve been whittling down the flock.I’ve got 21 birds now: 1 duck, 1 turkey, 1 rooster, 12 mature hens, and 6 pullets that should start laying in a couple months.The pullets are black sex link and California whites. Turkey is a heritage bronze.
>>2878761I’ll check that survival chicken book out. Good call on Harvey usery he’s the fucking man. Joel Salatins old shit is good.Check out the mating and breeding of poultry by Harry lamon.It’s a hundred years out of date but that’s fucking what you want. The peak of poultry knowledge before fag ag took control.
>>2878741i raised 40 chickens in picrel this summer. they were grass fed except for 30 minutes/day they were given meat chicken food. it was a huge success. ended up with 39 seven to nine pound chickens dress weight. the most expensive part were the chicks (cornish cross), so i bought some cornish game hens to breed with my barred rocks.
>>2878770cornish game hens, they cost $30 each, so im gonna try to hatch some to sell
>>2878768>It’s a hundred years out of date but that’s fucking what you want.Honestly from everything I've seen, Chicken keeping has been pretty consistent all throughout history, only with the development of modern AG have things changed so drastically, typically limiting backyard poultry keepers and strengthening these mass producers.I honestly trust anything that is older than 100 years than most of the new information.Hell, they had incubators even in ancient Egypt.I'll be sure to check it out.>>2878770Hell ya anon. I did something similar with picrel out of random materials that were just lying around. It's supposed to be really good for brooding chicks because it gets them used to the pathogens and all the other good stuff in their environment at a young age. I throw a handful of weeds in there and some chick starter everyday, usually sprinkle it on some logs so they get used to looking for insects inside the wood, and they dig like crazy.Only thing about this is that it's not so easy to move on bumpy ground, especially where I'm at we have moles that tear up the ground (Which Salatin doesn't mention, but is worth noting for anyone trying to do this).Once they get too torn up you just leave em in one spot for sequestering later chickens you want to mate, brood, whatever.Only other problem is my cats won't bugger off from the sides staring in at them lmao.
>>2878766How well do they do in the winter? I've heard good things about them for egg laying. That's sort of the trade off of what I'm doing, my chicks will be good layers but nowhere near what a sexlink is.I know a lot of people preparing to move just because of the droughts, fires, and absurd laws popping up everywhere. Hope you stay safe and active anon.
>>2878776Last year I didn’t put any light out and lost a couple. As long as you keep them covered and dry you should be good for winter.I’ve completely rearranged (this will be the 7th time) and I’ve settled on a system that is working better so far. I had to keep my roosters separate so I made four separate areas with an enclosed hallway.I’m going to eventually do a clan system and have three separate groups and one overflow. My biggest issues are predators; coons, possums, foxes, and dogs.I have nesting hawks in my oak but they don’t ever fuck with the chickens… HeyHey the Rooster will fuck em up.
>>2878778How big is the rooster? Mine should reach up to at least 5lbs, but I haven't had a full grown rooster so I'm not sure how big they should be to be a good deterrent for Hawks.I hear the clan mating system is good for a small flock, but that sounds like a lot of work to keep them separate. What do you do to keep them separate? Just some fencing or separate coops? My birds are so flighty I'd have to make enclosed spaces to keep them in.
>>2878775This isn’t a bad modern source but yeah fuck these mass producer mother fuckers right in the cloaca. My great aunt was a lady scientist back before there were lady scientists. Like went to college and grad school in the 30s. I was raised on her farm every summer until I was 16.Survival of the fittest. I don’t recommend that approach for your own immunity but you want birds that can stand the cold, stand disease, and fight or try to fend off predators. I cull for aggressiveness towards humans because we have a six year old. Three strikes and you’re out. I get spurred three times and your soup motherfucker. >>2878776I forgot I mainly do it for dual purpose. We eat any old chickens so I don’t mind if they beef up but my sexlink lay like crazy. My buff Orpington is six years old and still lays twice a week and she’s a tank. One of the first birds we got during lockdown and she’s survived three companion rooster and fox/dog attacks, got loose and lived in the bush for six weeks before I just found her outside the coop one day decided to come home. I like having a rainbow flock of backyard mongrel birds.
>>2878779I have a large carport I converted into a pen and have it broken up into four areas using recycled pallet panels wrapped in wire with a separate door for each area. He’s kind of a chonk now but I’ve had bigger. I’d say 5-6lbs easy.
>>2878780I've actually read Pic Rel, it was a good introduction for sure.>you want birds that can stand the cold, stand disease, and fight or try to fend off predators.That's why I chose the Icelandics, they canhandle -20, have good healthy genetics for strong immunity, and they are very flighty for roosting and avoiding predators (Though as mentioned not as much aggression or spurs, also the best Winter Laying bird around).I hear most people prune aggressive or excess roosters. I'm doing Freerange though so I've heard you can keep more roosters provided they have enough space to chase eachother off.>My buff Orpington is six years old and still lays twice a week and she’s a tank.That sounds like some genetics you want to keep. Have you gotten chicks from her?>I like having a rainbow flock of backyard mongrel birds.That's another reason I like the Icelandics, they are visually diverse even though they're all fundamentally the same breed. The research I did indicated that compared to Heritage Breeds and Landraces, the Barnyard mix isn't as strong health wise, but still better than most other contemporary birds. Whats been your experience with Mutts? How easily do you avoid health issues?>>2878781Gotta love the scrap builds, those are the best. Do you alternate them being on pasture or just keep them all inside most the time?
>>2878782I try to cull for aggression but I need a couple new roosters. I’ve had the best luck with hand raising them together so they have a pecking order from the get go but some birds are just assholes and can’t be around people. I supposed if you had enough space it wouldn’t be an issue but like I said the best luck I’ve had with roosters is raising them together from egg or keeping them completely separated.>Have you gotten chicks from her?I have! She’s hatched out two rounds and might be broody again but she’s on isolation because she picks on all the other chickens rooster included.>Whats been your experience with Mutts? How easily do you avoid health issues?Mutts are far far better than “purebred” in my experience. I tried to do Cream Legbars and I love them but every single one had some fucked up toes or thin/misshapen eggs. There just isn’t enough genetic diversity in the breed where I live and I’m not paying a premium for questionable birds. I like black australorps, buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island reds, Plymouth rocks (get big roosters), white, brown and black sex link, basically whatever is on clearance at Tractor supply for now until we’re someone better. I have only had mystery die offs during the birdagedon 2022-2023 and it want bird flu. A whistleblower called the place I got feed from out for spraying the bags. I switched to a small feedmill and haven’t had any die offs that weren’t predator related since.>Do you alternate them being on pasture or just keep them all inside most the time?I let them out every day but I alternate which groups so I don’t over graze and kill all the green in my small yard so I have them out every day but no more than 6-7 at a time every third day. Know what you’re feeding them!Always supplement your feed with wild bird seed high in corn and sunflowers. Big egg loves fucking with the amino acids in feed.
>>2878745I hatch 500-800 chickens a year of various breeds.I have coops and free range during the day.With 17 birds it doesnt take much for your entire flock to disappear. Even a low number of "i only lose one a month!" means theyre all gone in a year and a half.Broody hens in the unprotected open is a death sentence.Winter without supplemental feed is a death sentence.Theres a reason there are very few land race breeds.
>>2878786They started getting busted fucking with eggs in the 90s and call it a conspiracy even though it’s a fact.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysine_price-fixing_conspiracyThen they did it again in the early 2000s and got busted again.https://www.reuters.com/article/world/us/us-egg-producers-sued-for-alleged-price-fixing-idUSTRE48P80D/They got busted again in the teens for poisoning them.https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40878381And most recently.https://ncnewsline.com/2026/07/01/no-yolk-nc-ag-jeff-jackson-settles-antitrust-lawsuit-for-3-million-eggs/Oh no wait MOST most recently.https://time.com/article/2026/08/15/eggs-recalled-for-salmonella-upgraded-to-highest-fda-risk-level/
>>2878786Legbars are good in my area but marans have issues.Nothing sucks more than spending big money on having eggs shipped and then you have a crappy hatch.
>>2878779Here’s a pic. Excuse the mess we had a lot of rain now I’m mucking out.It’s a 10x20ft structure with 4 4ftx10ft cages inside.Enough room to comfortably fit ~2 dozen birds or cramped 3 dozen.
>>2878786>Mutts are far far better than “purebred” in my experienceYa that's the downside of a lot of heritage breeds from my research as that many of the once strong healthy lines have been inbred, yet another unfortunate casualty of Mass Production.Have you ever considered growing your own food for them? Might be hard depending on the amount of land you have but its a damn good way to ensure you're going to have food for them if anything happens to the system.That's the reason I chose Icelandics, because if I do it right, they have the potential to forage for 100% of their diet year round. I've been watching the behaviors of the Wild Turkeys and apparently they food on nuts and digging through the snow for goodies, so my goal is to get my birds to do the same.>>2878789That's a lot of chickens. How many acres do you have them on?Ya 17 is defintely small, but we have the mobile coop I showed and another big coop, so I'm debating not letting them fully freerange until I have the stock needed to replenish themselves (Whilst avoiding inbreeding too).I've considered doing nesting boxes, but from what I've read of others doing freerange they just let them rest and brood wherever they find that's safe, be it in the barn or under some shrubs.>Winter without supplemental feed is a death sentence.We definitely plan to supplement them for the first few years, but I also intend to plant some trees that will leave nuts and other goodies for them, so that overtime they will have their own food source. Lots of compost piles too.>Theres a reason there are very few land race breeds.I mean so many of them were wiped out by big AG, but ya, it takes a lot for chickens to get acclimatized enough to survive in their environment. Still, I think if any kind of collapse happens, I'm going to be a lot better off if I can actually get them to be self sufficient.I expect a lot of trial and error, but definitely need a bigger flock.
>>2878832Oh hell ya dude, I admire the grit.Some of the folks I've seen have multiple coops, so being able to make your own out of scraps is a big bonus.
>>2878770Where I live a fox would dig under this in about 2 hours
>>2878847>I think if any kind of collapse happensThere will never be an apocalypto scenario.
>>2878905i have dogs
>>2878910Societies and Economies have always collapsed anon. I'm not talking doomsday scenario, I'm talking about just preparing for the inevitable decline of civilizations, which happened to Greece, Rome, Babylon, Egypt, and potentially other unknown civilizations.There is cause to consider the collapse of this system to be more dangerous than in the past, but yes, the world isn't going to end. We have to be ready to rebuild it.
>>2878944Oh anon we won’t be around to rebuild it. It’s our duty to preserve what knowledge we can and teach our children the same until a time when people can rebuild again. I for one advocate for a return to tribal feudalism. Rise and rise again until lambs become lions.
>>2878990
>>2878990Both things can be true at once, and striving to have both the skills and the resources we need should be our focus. In order to build a heritage, i.e. truly pass on information, we have to build healthy homogenized communities with a shared set of values, and provide them with what they need to thrive. I think strong self sufficient chickens are going to be a big boost in such a scenario, especially if you want strong self sufficient people.>>2878995You really don't have to wake up that early depending on what you're doing. People tend to over-complicate the work, or choose more difficult and time consuming ways of doing things.>I.e.Why would I mow the lawn if I can just get some sheep, or let a neighbor or community members sheep graze on my land?Why would I spend time and energy digging a bunch of wells when I can set up a rain water system to water my trees and plants for me?Why would I spend time and money on insecticides and herbicides when I can pull my own weeds and have my chickens eat all the bugs?Why would I try to ward off Birds when I can get a few barn cats that are capable of feeding themselves?Why would I spend money on fencing when Rocks and regenerative Trees and LiveStock Dogs exist as an alternative?It might be a lot of work to set up a decent system, but once it's up the maintenance isn't as hard as people make it out to be.WAGMI
>>2879009Nice pipe dream>Why would I mow the lawn if I can just get some sheep, or let a neighbor or community members sheep graze on my land?its a giant pain in the ass to have people wondering around you yard all the time, plus its a pain in the ass moving sheep around. i already have goats and they dont keep up with the yard>Why would I spend time and energy digging a bunch of wells when I can set up a rain water system to water my trees and plants for me?i did all that but it hasnt rained in 3 months so im using my well right now>Why would I spend time and money on insecticides and herbicides when I can pull my own weeds and have my chickens eat all the bugs?chickens eat all the flowers and fruit and even with insecticide the bugs win sometimes. i use neem oil and this year the bugs destroyed half my garden.>Why would I try to ward off Birds when I can get a few barn cats that are capable of feeding themselves?only rational/realistic thing youve said>Why would I spend money on fencing when Rocks and regenerative Trees and LiveStock Dogs exist as an alternative?lmao ok spend 10000hrs moving rocks instead of pounding a post every ten ft and stringing some wire up. you definitely will be waking up at the crack of dawn to build your rock fence to beat the heat. also dogs cost alot to feed.i say all that from experience
>>2879017>its a giant pain in the ass to have people wondering around you yard all the timeOkay, I've seen people that have done it and it works for them.>i already have goatsWell there's your first problem. Goats are notoriously unruly. >i did all that but it hasn't rained in 3 months so im using my well right nowMy point was that you can rely less on wells if you plan better, not that you can or should go entirely without them. One good rain and enough rain catchment can fill up your containers for quite awhile.>chickens eat all the flowers and fruit and even with insecticide the bugs win sometimes. i use neem oil and this year the bugs destroyed half my garden.You can put some simple cover over what they might eat, or remove them from the garden when its time for things to grow in. Greenhouses too are also a thing. And your chickens also need to be good foragers. One good example is Termites, they might not get them as effectively when they're in the trees or wood, but if you set them out around the time the bugs are flying around trying to reproduce you can greatly restrict their population.>lmao ok spend 10000hrs moving rocks instead of pounding a post every ten ft and stringing some wire up.Ya, that's what I'm doing. In the long run, I'm building something that I won't have to upkeep. It might take awhile, but by the time it's done I won't have to do it hardly ever again, so the time investment grants me or future generations more time down the road.>i say all that from experienceI respect that. My only point is that we can and should think outside the box a little, or communicate our different strategies and ideas to maybe find better solutions in the future.There is nothing new under the sun. And just because something doesn't work for you doesn't mean it won't work for somebody else.The point is to incentive trial and error and critical thinking, rather then trying to discourage people from setting out all together/
You can't develop a true landrace in a "yard". Youll hit major bottlenecks like relying on a single dominant rooster.There are already plenty of breeds that do well free range.And where do they get water?How are chics going to get water without drowning?Chickens are really good at foraging for insects but believe it or not- the grasshopper population in your yard is not infinite.What kind of grass do you have? They are not the same nutritionally.
>>2879081Oh, no I don't have a yard, I have some good acres, most of it full of Aspen, so there is more than enough space for multiple roosters.Water will be supplemented until I can manage to set up a pond.>How are chics going to get water without drowning?The same way they do when they're wild. Morning Dew, insects, puddles, etc. I do intend to set up a pond eventually, but I don't mind supplementing this until then.With any large body of water, we would probably have to break the ice in the winter or supplement it some other way.>the grasshopper population in your yard is not infinite.We have a pretty rich insect ecosystem, lots of spiders, flys (Larvae), and a ton of ants, and more. Also have multiple compost piles around the place to give them plenty of areas to dig through to find insects. I've also considered trying to cultivate my own worms, but this is still pretty far into the future.>What kind of grass do you have? They are not the same nutritionally.I'm not too familiar with the varieties yet, but we have quite a few, and weeds. I've been grabbing different varieties to throw into my brooder and they seem to like most of it.Another consideration is getting Sheep or some other cattle. The chickens will go behind their poop and eat up the bugs or the eggs.There is also a burrowing beetle and potentially termites in the area, which while they can't get at them most of the year, during the Termites mating season and I think the Beetle they fly out to mate, and if you have your chickens out around this time I've heard they tend to run around catching them.https://youtu.be/bzeNne-rkYw?si=WrDv8aZXYV45UXyy
>>2879088you are a larp and gay. people like you wash out in a few months, life isnt a youtube video.
>>2879095I got a buddy that just got birds and decided to get six ducks and four chickens.He absolutely refuses to listen to sound advice and while I am rooting for him I will take pleasure is saying “I told you so.”The best teacher is experience and failure.Rise and rise again.
>>2879095>>2879099People kept freerange chickens for thousands of years dudes, even my grandparents had them. I fully expect failure, that doesn't stop me from trying. Better to try then raise defective mutt chickens that roll over and die at the slightest threat.
>>2879118>People kept freerange chickens for thousands of yearsThey also spent 12 hours a day outside, around the property where predators could see them."Fox in the Hen House" was in English print in the 1500's.The Chinese had chicken coops 8,000 years ago (thats not a rypo).Icelandic
>>2879120Landraces were designed for minimal human intervention. If Chickens were truly this fragile, they would not have survived this long or spread to every part of the world to become such a staple of human society.The existence of the Red JungleFowl, the original Chicken, is proof that they are very much able to survive on their own without intervention, and that's why people domesticated them in the first place.Landraces might not be a 1 for 1 with the Jungle Fowl, but most of them Have Spurs, large wings, and are exceptionally predator aware. You don't have to take my word for it, but look into the amount of people still doing Freerange all over the world, even today, and who have been doing it for decades without much challenge.Contrast that to Coop Chickens, which the Romans among many others had, as you mentioned, who every time there is a social or economic collapse typically all die off en masse because they lack the supplies or the instincts to survive.
>>2879124>Landraces were designed for minimal human interventionBy definition landraces are ferals that evolved without human control.And chickens are very weak.There are wild horse populations in the U.S.There are wild burros.Wild steer.But there are no feral flocks of chickens wandering the great plains.The Icelandic lanrldrace breed only developed because of the lack of predators in that part of the country.Jungle fowl are extremely sketchy and aggressive birds. Comparing jungle fowl and long Island reds is like comparing a husky and a chihuahua. A pack of husky might survive if you released them in the Rockies.A pack.of chihuahua, not so much.
>>2879135>without human control.Minimal human control.Chickens didn't leave their native land in the first place without human intervention. All of the landraces were still subject to a degree of human intervention, and they were initially selected for Cock Fighting, highlighting traits such as aggression, size, and longer spurs.Most chickens, especially landrace chickens, can regain these traits if subject to the right selection pressures. The youtube channel SagesmokeSurvival does this by crossing Icelandics with another variety that has long spurs. I'm doing this by investing in Icelandics, giving them ample coop space and resources, and slowly integrating them into the environment where natural selection combined with my own selections will overtime bring out the traits they need to survive on their own.Comparing them to chihuahuas is a false equivalence, they are closer to Huskies, and in this case the Junglefowl would be comparable to Wolves.For clarification, I'm simply using the Icelandics as the genetic baseline that I want these adaptions to occur from. As they are now, they do need my help to survive.However, the traits that my baseline has is as follows:>Flightiness and good Wingspan relative to their size, and the ability to Roost in tall trees.>Phenomenal foraging ability, with the potential to get at least 90% of their diet from the environment.>Broodiness and mothering ability, greater than most modern chickens.>Cold Hardiness, with same accounts describing them surviving as low as -20.>High predator and environmental awareness.>The ability to produce a greater quantity of eggs in winter compared to other birds.>Wide range of colors, giving them a lot of options for natural camouflage.True that the only wild flocks of chickens exist in Florida and Hawaii which is closer to their original habitat, however even their natural habitat has tons of predators, and I've personally seen several examples of people doing freerange up north.
>>2879139You would do better with releasing pheasants or turkeys.Humans have spent ten thousand years domesticating chickens to be productive.You're not going to hit some mystical balance point where your forest chickens are leaving fresh eggs for you every morning in the grass with the survivability of central.park pigeons.Youll have wild fowl that found a better place to live 5 miles away or a very happy neighborhood pack of coyotes.
>>2879141Icelandics can lay around 180 Eggs per year.Productive egg layers can be sequestered in a coop for personal egg use, and reproduced with whatever rooster we find ideal to create stronger generations. Most people just go out with a basket in the morning and collect eggs from various laying points around the yard. That's basically where easter egg hunting comes from, is parents sending their children out in the morning to collect eggs for breakfast. Eggs that aren't found can just be allowed to go broody, that way they are naturally replacing their population.Furthermore, they don't tend to stray away from where they feel secure. Provided they have enough shelter and water, they will naturally want to stay in the area. You might occasionally get a brave soul that ventures out, but if they aren't killed they tend to return.https://youtube.com/shorts/6cXtQu_hFtA?si=16F9sSvhdXYrajqx
>>2879172Ya im sure that vast wealth of knowledge you've gleaned from hatcheries trying to sell birds is spot on and not convulated in any way.I mean, what do I know- I've only been running a registered chicken farm for a decade.Good luck.
>>2879177I buy from local or more personable sellers, and made sure to check which of the 4 lines of Icelandics I was getting. My birds already show the signs they were supposed to, so I got what I paid for.Hatcheries are typically fake and gay.I'm sure you know what you're talking about, it's just that I'm not going the conventional route that you have, because from my experience (From the poultry my family has raised) it seems deeply flawed and outright corrupted since the industrial revolution.So it seems we're going to have a fundamental disagreement in philosophy.
I have 10 hylines I rotate around my orchard as fertilizer and pasture improver. Apparently the bird flu has made it here, what's anons experience with it overseas? What am I in for?
>>2879566They claim bird flu has a 90%-100% mortality rate and is spread by everything from pigeons to vultures.They've euthanized flocks of ostrich because one tested positive.And yet there is no massive die-off of wild populations of social species....
>>2879612I only had birds die when they were actively poisoned.Always source your feed and scratch grains from separate places and always supplement your feed with something extra. My latest fun feed experience.I broke down and was too lazy to drive to get feed and thought “screw it I’ll get some from tractor supply.” Opened it up and nothing but mold.Never again.
>>2879621I stopped buying feed from tractor supply and I stopped having random hatchlings (and even full grown young adults) die.Other anon mentioned his boss wanted him to spray pesticide on the feed in the warehouse. I wouldnt be surprised if that was considered normal for some feed franchises.
>>2879654I’ve gotten birds from TS before and I’d say 70 percent had some kind of foot/leg issue or just plain died. Never have I ever had chicks just up and die like that. MAYBE one or two but never as many as this year. I just kept taking dead birds back and getting new ones.
>>2879659Ya their chics are horrible.I did a small hatch once and had like 20 birds. Stopped off at TS and they had some polish and something else I wanted. Wound up with about 15 birds across 3 types. Put them with my new hatches. Within a week all 15 birds from TS had died but not a single one of my own hatchlings.They tend to have birds not easily sourced locally so I still get suckered into buying some every once in awhile. And I still have a few that were good birds (bought 4 faverolles almost a decade ago and 3 are still alive) but your 70% average is probably about equal to my experiences over the years.
>>2879566What do you do when the Orchard starts producing fruit? Do the chickens avoid the fruit, or do you sequester them during this time?I have a tall fenced in area I would like to use as an Orchard/Food Forest but I'm not sure how effective that would be if my Chickens can just get in and eat up all my fruit. My birds are super flighty so there really isn't any keeping them out.
>>2879769Theyll strip blueberries that are low enough to jump to. So everything about 2 feet off the ground and under.Theyre not going after apples or pears.Cherries are probably safe because even though they can make it up to a branch theyre not going to be walking along branches and stripping them
I had a double possum attack get into 2/5 chicken areas. Chicken wire rusted at the bottom and they punched through.I got one but the other got away with a bird.Lost two and a third probably won’t make it. Rooster is beat up and bloody but probably gonna be fine.Pretty bummed.
>>2880215I lost 2 flocks to a neighbors dog.It really sucked.My pens now have concrete footers with hardware cloth embedded directly into it.
>>2880229I feel that pain.I got the perimeter secured as best I can and put a light on the coop. They won’t sleep well tonight but they wouldn’t sleep well with a possum or coon. Luck o the Irish to ya!
>>2880229I got his faggot friend that tried breaking into the other chicken area about half an hour ago.I don’t like killing possums but I also don’t like when they kill my birds.
>>2879612Exactly, birdflu is being used for control and to mandate the use of an endless cycle of mrna vacine boosters to make pharmaceutical companies more profitable, just like the plan was for covid and people.The birds they are always most adamant about killing are those that survived bird flu and developed immunity. That tells you EVERYTHING about their motivations.
>>2880294Marek's is a real and potentially flock destroying virus and ive actually read "you should not attempt to breed birds resistant to Marek's".We really do live in clown world.
Does anyone like to cuddle and hold their chickens?
how do I convince mum to let me keep some chickens?
