SAWEEET set up!!! And that EGG! Poor gal! I used to get one of those fairly often when the girls were younger, but the mega huge or double yokers are slowing down.

Do you hens free-range? Your large white hen certainly looks happy and well-fed! How many birds can you have in your coop? I've been thinking of another one... (arghhh)

Thanks for the compliments! We've never built coops or owned chickens before so I have no idea if I've got a good set-up or not! We're about 2 years into this.

2 of my birds are ok to free range. The 2 araucanas are way too crazy to let out. They are panicky little beasts that spook at just about everything. They'd probably end up on the other side of the river!

I only have 4 hens. I thought about raising up a couple meat chickens occassionally but I can't really think of a safe way to do it. Chickens are seriously brutal to newcomers. I had to separate one of them to medicate for about a week. when I put her back in, the others bullied her relentlessly. They wouldn't let her eat, drink, and pecked her to a bloody pulp anytime she left the coop. It took about another week before they lost interest and let her re-join the flock. It was traumatic for all of us!

The lady that's always given me chicken advice told me I could keep rabbits in the coop. She said its an old farmers tale that the rabbits keep chicken aggression (sounds so silly when talking about aggression in regards to chickens instead of GSDS) at bay. She actually keeps a bunch in with her own flock. This idea is growing on me. If I kept a breeding pair of rabbits in there, I could have lots of free dog and snake food. Hmn... I really must be crazy. I've got to research this idea more...

 Quote: Jessica Pedicord

A couple days ago, one of my girls popped out one of her biggest eggs ever, so I posted a pic of that too.

Holy cow!! Are you sure that hen isn't park duck?! Wow. I love the blue/green ones too... they come ready for Easter naturally dyed!

~Natalya

Rabbits, Hmm. Hadn't considered that as a dog food option. We had this old hen (8 years or so) and she was alone, as was our old rabbit, and we let them live together. They certainly both enjoyed the company, always hung out together- only issue was the rabbit got a bit dirty occasionally if he sat under the roost. But the rabbit for dog food idea... interesting, I like it!

 Quote: Kiersten Lippman

Rabbits, Hmm. Hadn't considered that as a dog food option. We had this old hen (8 years or so) and she was alone, as was our old rabbit, and we let them live together. They certainly both enjoyed the company, always hung out together- only issue was the rabbit got a bit dirty occasionally if he sat under the roost. But the rabbit for dog food idea... interesting, I like it!

Three does and one buck will produce around 90 rabbits a year, and their conversion rate for feed to meat is better than chickens.
Plus, their waste matter is great for garden compost....really, raising rabbits is *great*!

 Quote: will rambeau

 Quote: kiersten lippman

Rabbits, Hmm. Hadn't considered that as a dog food option. We had this old hen (8 years or so) and she was alone, as was our old rabbit, and we let them live together. They certainly both enjoyed the company, always hung out together- only issue was the rabbit got a bit dirty occasionally if he sat under the roost. But the rabbit for dog food idea... interesting, I like it!

Three does and one buck will produce around 90 rabbits a year, and their conversion rate for feed to meat is better than chickens.
Plus, their waste matter is great for garden compost....really, raising rabbits is *great*!

yea, but no eggs, 'cept from the special breed "Easter Bunny"

 Quote: Jessica Pedicord

I only have 4 hens. I thought about raising up a couple meat chickens occassionally but I can't really think of a safe way to do it. Chickens are seriously brutal to newcomers.

You are absolutely right about this. We have 30 at the moment, including 8 new little chicks hatched over the last few weeks by two broody hens.

If you want to raise meat birds, I would suggest looking into a chicken tractor and raising Cornish X during the warm season, keeping them completely separate from the rest of your flock.

That is SO cool! (kicking myself for moving to town)

Lots of folks have hens "in town". You can easily keep a few birds (assuming you are not in a condo or townhome...) in very little space. Maybe not meat birds, but definitely hens for eggs. Check into your local regulations first, although I know some folks have hens "under the radar" in areas which don't allow them...