Chicken Addiction

Skinny rooster · Post by **Skinny rooster** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 12:26 am

I only have three (count them) three teensy weensy little bantams. So woo hoo I am going to judge all you people (now). What are you people nuts? Looney tunes, missing a bale off your wagon, spending so much time with chickens that you may start to lay any day now!?! Hahaha, that felt good.

On a serious note, it really is addictive, I constantly warn young people getting into the hobby, I see the signs in some beginners. I actually know people that had their family life ruined by one spouse's addiction. It's not something new, I even read a piece somewhere that was written years ago about the addiction to poultry. If you are hatching now (without a plan in mind), that makes me worry for the person doing it. If you feel concern then there could be a problem. I went through the same thing, got back into chickens with four hens, then 5, 8, 9, 18 and after that it was a blur until suddenly I had over 200! I realized one day that I enjoyed the 4 to 18 birds the most so last year I was back down to about 40 and that was good until I had to sell this fall. Hoarding I think is something completely different, every documentary I watched about hoarding, the animals are often not taken care of that well, the people are slightly suffering from some form of mental illness, like depression etc and the need to have so many animals often comes from an unhealthy place. I can't tell you what to do, I'm just here for support and to say "I understand what you are saying".

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:30 am

I hear you Kathy. Fortunately I have a hubby that does the birds too because I'm not allowed to clean out anymore. For those that don't know it took me a BIG health scare to start worrying about my birds. We have it all under control with plans in place for them and it's doable. Back in July I got a mammogram which looked the teeniest bit different from the last one. Many more tests, biopsies and a lumpectomy. Day before Thanksgiving I got officially diagnosed with BC and they did a second surgery to check nodes - YAY all clear. I'm currently very lucky to be eligible for a "soft" chemo regimen and targeted therapy (only about 18% of tumours are like this). I am doing well on the chemo but no babies in the house until late March earliest (so if I set the Sportsman in ...). Here is how lucky I am - last year if I'd had a mammo too small to be found, next year - likely in nodes so PLEASE don't put those mammograms off.
BIG THANKS to everyone who supported me and the show really helped keep my mind off things too!
Didn't mean to hijack thread but that is how quickly things can fall apart.
Oh and the surgeon said when I requested he leave the boobs looking like I was 20 again, that it was beyond even HIS powers.

Happy · Post by **Happy** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:42 am

KB I applaud you for your strength and your positive attitude. It's easy to fall into the "why me" but here you are proclaiming to be lucky (and I 100% agree with you!). I believe in the power of attitude and positive thinking. Glad to hear you are on the road to recovery.

Post by **Home Grown Poultry** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:48 am

good stuff KB!!!

the year before we moved here was when I looked into my goals and found myself getting rid of a few breeds and most of the eye candy. I decided I was only going to breed one breed of chicken, my Reds, the BSW turkeys and the JMF Jumbo qual. I'd keep my water fowl, 3 geese and 3 grey call ducks and if they bred and reproduced themselves then fine I can handle it.

here at the new place I added a pair of Pekins, some really good quality meat ducks, perfect. and I also breed the LB Leghorns for more white eggs. I havent counted all my birds but I'm sure I'm well under a hundred with about 30 grow outs for the freezer, turkey n chicken.

I think I'm staying right on track. chores only takes about 30 mins a day which is way less than 3 years ago when I decided to cut back.

I think Ross' s advice is the best. its still lots of fun and nothing is suffering

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:25 am

I wonder if some of the so called addiction to poultry, isn't really an addiction to "acquisition " of poultry.
We all go thru that first rush of wanting two of everything, because some birds are just so beautiful...
when reality hits and we realize we can't have all of them and the selection process starts and we narrow it down to one or two breeds in one or six varieties, we become more tuned in to the actual birds and try to keep them happy and healthy, which means no overcrowding and that brings down the numbers to a more or less reasonable level,
BUT
some people just stay at the hooked on acquisition level, and because birds are cheep or free it becomes a bit of a hamster wheel...
this can take few years of feverish activity, and then they are out, never really experiencing the pleasure of well bred home flock, either wisely purchased or purpose hatched.
SR put it very well.

WaupoosCowgirl · Post by **WaupoosCowgirl** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 9:26 am

Every time I start to think holy crap what am I doing nature kind of steps in. Three weeks ago I thought what am I doing with 10 call ducks wandering around the yard and then there were 6 and now for the last week we have have 4, thanks to an owl. Sad I know but the 4 that are left have finally decided that going in at night is a great idea. Also most of my original girls have died off now from old age. I culled a bunch of roosters, a first for me, so I look at that as some progress. I spent a lot of time this fall just watching and interacting with my chickens while doing chores and have decided on 4 breeds that really bring me joy and those are what I will focus on. I WILL NOT place a hatchery order this year just to get a colourful flock. I will breed my 4 breeds this year and then next year narrow down to 2...This is my plan and I am sticking to it! I have also set a hard line of 60 birds period at any given time, that is really all I should be housing square footage wise for happy chickens, which was my sole reason for getting into poultry in the first place, happy chickens who lay healthy eggs!
In case some are wondering on the breeds I have selected: French Black Copper Marans, Speckled Sussex, EO's, Gold Laced Wyandottes oh and my Mottled Java "Serendipity" project...ok I know that is 5 but nature will take care of somebody over the winter, I just know it

Post by **Killerbunny** » Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:39 am

I waited 2 yrs to get the pure lines of BSWs I wanted and fate stepped in when an order to the US was cancelled due to AI. I have those birds now as my initial breeders and they were worth the wait.

Ontario Chick · Post by **Ontario Chick** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:34 am

Soooo, Jan, after we all had this heart to heart, did you come to any conclusions ???
I was actually inspired by your post and have made some changes in the way I will proceed with my breeding plans for next year, so thank you for the nudge.

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 7:09 pm

Ontario Chick wrote:QR_BBPOST Soooo, Jan, after we all had this heart to heart, did you come to any conclusions ???
I was actually inspired by your post and have made some changes in the way I will proceed with my breeding plans for next year, so thank you for the nudge.

Yes. I think. Firstly, I have decided NOT to order more Appenzell Spitzhaubens from Performance Poultry, even though I REALLY want some. Of the 10 I ordered last spring, I have exactly zero left. A couple were taken by coyotes, but the rest all either died in the first week after getting them (they arrived with the worst pasty butt I could even imagine) or survived to puberty and then died suddenly... necropsy showed underdeveloped (or missing) gonads and undersized off-colour kidneys in all. I suspect heavy indiscriminate inbreeding, so am going with my head over my heart...but I reaaaaallly want them...but I don't NEED them, which brings me to number 2: My bantam project. I probably shouldn't have started it, and I probably shouldn't continue it (little buggers take the same amt. of time to process for less return) but I won't give them up. I had a goal in mind when I started it, but very quickly lost sight when I had a yard full of little jewels running around, and kept EVERYONE either because I wanted "just a few more pullets for eggs", or "just too cute to cull". The tiny cockerels with their lap-chicken friendliness and their chipmunky voices, tug at my heartstrings. Well, no more I say!!! I will keep only the birds that may further my goal, and freezer the rest. Number 3: stop letting birds brood/bunk outside of the barn proper, as this fosters the illusion that I have more space than I actually do. Now that everyone is in the barn for winter, it's pretty clear that egg-hatching was out of control this past year. It's easy when you've got 12 broodies at once all doing their thing and all spread out; but then snow flies and there's a hundred juveniles

ing indoors and eating you out of house and home. Also to this effect, I will not incubate eggs before January or past July. I've said that one before, but this time I'm pretty sure I mean it

#4: Clean the Milkhouse in the new year,and convert it to a slaughter/butcher room. That way, cold or wet weather will not be an excuse to not get a kill done. #5: Get breeder pens built to segregate pairs and trios. Flock breeding is fine for the layers, but doesn't work very well for my serious breeding. If I want to get better quality and faster in the long run, I need a better idea of who exactly is producing what and with which. For example, I know which cock sired Lurch the Giant, but not 100% sure which hen produced the egg. If I knew, I could hatch many more of her eggs and fewer from hens that usually produce crappy cockerels. So, as soon as butchery is reasonably ready, culls will be made and then breeding pens thrown together. This will also help better keep track of total bird numbers BEFORE they reach the "holy s**t!" moment. I think this will be especially important for the sneaky ones that like to hide nests in the worst possible spots. Always seems to be the best birds that do that (and then get eaten by predators), no doubt out of frustration when I take their eggs. No more. If they're closed up for breeding, they can't hide, either to get eaten nor to turn up with 14 chicks of unknown paternity lol!
#6, and this is a big one: I need to cull earlier. In the layer flocks and the bantam pen, I've become fairly proficient at guessing what a bird will turn out like colour-wise, based on down colour. I've also become darn near expert at sexing by about 6 weeks old...there is Leghorn blood in many of them, and the males are very sexually precocious. By 6 weeks there's a marked difference in comb size, even if they're not outright crowing yet, as some do. I need to get over my "d'awww, how cute" feelings, and do the deed before they breed. I do not need to feed all the cockerels for 5 months or more. There are lots of excuses (like when an itty bitty boy snuggles under my hair), but no real reasons.
I think that about covers it. I'm sure I will add more as I think on it more or as different issues pop up as they tend to do :D

ross · Post by **ross** » Mon Dec 12, 2016 9:03 pm

Hmmm also putting all the roosters in one big display pen no hens does solve the repro problem .