Backyard Chickens

[balloo93]

My Cousin's girlfriend/line-in has them at her house. We get fresh eggs whenever we want. They taste damn good compared to the store bought eggs.

You do have to build a solid enclosure. Herr dogs don't bother them and they stay outside a lot, so that may also be what is keeping them safe.

[Austin]

For the record a little known fact on fresh eggs, you have to wait to boil them till they are a day old. Some people say longer.

[nettak]

Here's a good website for chicken related supplies:
Murray McMurray Hatchery
You can also pick out and order chicks. I have done this in the past and had good results. We had a feathered cochin rooster that was absolutely hilarious...he was somewhat small but thought he was king. We also had a small bantam rooster that all of the hens loved...he would try to lead them out into the woods...kind of the "bad boy" thing.

Make sure you have a safe place for them to go at night....I would let ours out of the pen during the day and in the evening shoo them back into the hen house. They were surprisingly easy to herd into the pen.

For boiled eggs, they do much better when they are about a week old...much easier to peel.

[Bigbud]

Now thats just great...hope you don't move into my trailer court!

[nettak]

Originally Posted by Bigbud

Now thats just great...hope you don't move into my trailer court!

????????

[Keith]

Backyard chicken raising is becoming a growing hobby even the suburbs. There are some LARGE forums out there dedicated to it. Glad to see the growing gardening/backyard farming culture.

[Austin]

Originally Posted by Keith

Backyard chicken raising is becoming a growing hobby even the suburbs. There are some LARGE forums out there dedicated to it. Glad to see the growing gardening/backyard farming culture.

It's causing issues too, Ontario recently made it illegal to have chickens.

Don't quote my on the Ontario part, it was in Canada.

[brnickels]

We have had a dozen chickens for about 10 months now. They have provided us with both eggs and quite a bit of entertainment. The "ladies" have been laying since August. We average 8 to 10 eggs a day. The eggs are quite good and a hit with my friends and co-workers. To cut down on the noise we opted to not get a rooster. If there is one drawback it's the hens are all democrats. They spend all day softly clucking "BAARRAAKK, BBAARRAAK". I've threatened them with a swim in the "Hot Tub" but they persist.
As for the breeds I have three, Rhode Island Red, Plymouth Barred Rock, and Americanna. The Reds lay LARGE brown eggs, the Rocks will lay brown or pinkish brown eggs and the Americannas lay sage green, blue, brown or pink eggs.
There is a supplier in Cameron Texas, Ideal Poultry ( IDEAL POULTRY - Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Guineas, Bantams, Chicks, Turkeys, Poultry, Birds, Fowl ). We haven't used them yet but I know several people that have. You might want to check out the magazine "Backyard Poulty" as well. . Good luck with your flock!

[jeremy1]

here are my pet chickens,also the one who lived for 15+ years is the white one(with the black one in small pic),her name is powderpuff since she is white.

the other picture with dogs are our pet chickens as well(powderpuff is not in that picture)

[AustinTexasXJ]

use to raise some chickens and quail for a few years back in the day. and farm fresh quail eggs? mmmmmmmmm!