Chickens | HomeDabbler.com

Category: Chickens
- The Best Backyard Chicken Breed There Is (And a Couple Others That Are Pretty Good)
  
  Posted at 2:10 am by homedabbler, on September 1, 2018
  In our more than 15 years of backyard chicken husbandry we’ve tried a lot of breeds. And if you’re a beginner, you should too. It’s part of the fun. Thumbing through the Murray McMurray catalog – “Ooo, look at the mop top on that Polish…oh, oh, check out that Blue Andalusian, it’s actually blue!”
  
  But when you’ve tried all those and you’re ready to settle in to an ideal breed for the average home chicken raiser, get yourself some Buff Orpingtons.
  
  They have it all. First, they’re beautiful. Buttery yellow, pretty red comb, full plumage. They’re just nice to look at.
  
  Next, they’re nice, which is not true of all breeds (I had an Araucana once that was certifiable). Very mild mannered and docile, perfect around kids, these girls are sweeties. I say “girls” because you don’t need to, nor ever should, have roosters.
  
  Buffs are also very hardy, in hot and cold weather. They’re just tough. And long-lived. Ours routinely live five years or more.
  
  Last, they lay like the dickens. A healthy hen in her prime will lay five eggs a week or so, creamy tan-shelled chicken embryos.
  
  Get Buff Orpingtons. They’re the best all-around backyard chicken breed there is.
  
  Pretty Buffs.
  
  A couple other options
  1. Rhode Island Reds – lots of the same characteristics as Buffs, but a little more temperamental. Hardy, long-lived layers though.
  2. Plymouth Rocks – great chickens as well, just not as pretty. Sorry, we’re shallow.
  Mostly, have fun
  
  Especially if you’re a beginner. Try those weird breeds and see what suits you. But in the end, I think you’ll agree that a good flock of Buff Orpingtons will make you happy.
  
  Kevin
  Posted in Chickens | 0 Comments
- 3 Common Chicken Myths Debunked
  
  Posted at 12:05 am by homedabbler, on May 29, 2018
  
  Have you been thinking about building a little backyard coop and getting a few chickens but your neighbors or friends say they’re too loud, they stink, or will generally ruin the neighborhood for some reason? Well fear not, because here are the top three chicken myths I’ve heard in my 15 years as a chicken hobbyist and why they are complete hooey.
  
  Chickens smell bad
  
  No they don’t. At least not if you tend your chicken yard well. Chickens themselves don’t smell like much of anything. I don’t know if it’s because they are birds or what, but they don’t. What people are referring to here is chicken manure and yes, it does smell if it piles up. However, there are a couple ways to avoid this:
  
  1. Have a dirt floor in your coop
  
  If your chickens have adequate space to range during the day (and they should), they will just poop on the ground and you’ll never know the difference (unlike, say, dogs). Where the manure can accumulate is your coop (where the chickens sleep). Chickens digest food 24 hours a day and likewise poop around the clock. So, you will notice that their manure can get really heavy where they sleep. However, if you have a dirt floor in your coop, the manure just bio-degrades and there is almost no smell at all. However, there is a better use for all that black gold. Which brings me to #2…
  
  Collect manure while your chickens sleep. A little gross, but works great.
  
  2. Collect the manure and use it
  
  That’s what I do. Chicken manure is a prized fertilizer, so why let it go to waste? Simply nail some boards under where they sleep, let the manure collect, and rake it into a tub once a week or so to compost. You will smell the manure when you first rake it up, but trust me, it is not a big deal and you can’t smell it even a few feet away. Your neighbors certainly won’t.
  
  Chickens are loud
  
  When people say this, they really mean roosters are loud. And they are, very. Fun fact: Roosters don’t just crow at the break of dawn. They crow around the clock. It’s maddening.
  
  Which is why we don’t have any. Nope, we banned roosters from our flock years ago and it was the best thing we ever did.
  
  A flock of hens do talk all day long, it’s true, but they mostly mumble to their feet and each other. They will cackle a little when they lay an egg, but just for a few minutes. In fact, a happy clucking flock can be quite soothing. They are certainly much quieter than a barking dog, and every neighborhood has at least one of those.
  
  So just have hens and problem solved. This, of course, leads to the next myth.
  
  My beautiful, dude-free flock.
  
  You must have a rooster to have eggs
  
  Uh uh. Think about it – the female of every species makes eggs. The question isn’t whether there will be eggs, it’s whether they will be fertilized. So, if you don’t have a rooster, you won’t be able to hatch your own chicks, but that is overrated as well, and there are more reliable ways to get chicks.
  
  We haven’t had a rooster in over a decade and we collect eggs – from happy hens mind you – every single day.
  
  Get some chickens
  
  If you want yard chickens but any of these objections has been holding you back, take heart.
  
  They are myths.
  
  Kevin
  
  Posted in Chickens | 0 Comments
- 4 Solid Reasons to Buy Chicks Instead of Hatching Them
  
  Posted at 1:44 am by homedabbler, on April 16, 2018
  Yes, it’s fun to hatch your own chicks. And yes, it’s neat to watch that mother hen fuss over her babies. But here’s why you should just buy day-old chicks from the Farm & Garden anyway.
  
  1. Store-bought chicks are vaccinated.
  
  Chickens, like all animals, are prone to certain diseases. Vaccinations are proven to help. And yes, I know that if you have a small backyard flock that doesn’t have much contact with other flocks that there is a relatively slim chance of infection. However, once you get a sick flock it is hard to eradicate the offending parasite, bacteria, or virus.
  
  You can vaccinate those babies yourself, but why? Quality breeders vaccinate their day-olds against the most common poultry diseases, including coccidiosis, Newcastle’s disease, and Marek’s disease, nasty buggers all. Just let the pros do it.
  
  2. Store-bought chicks are sexed.
  
  We banned roosters from our yard years ago (see #4), and our all-hen flock is fat and happy. When you buy chicks, you can choose male or female, and you are almost guaranteed to get the gender you want (with occasional surprises). When you hatch them yourself, it’s 50/50. And trust me, if you end up with more roosters than hens (in fact, you need at least five hens to every rooster), you will have some miserable, and abused, girls.
  
  Professional breeders “sex” chickens shortly after hatching, and separate pullets from cockerels. In fact, reliable sexing can only be done in the first 24 hours. You can do it yourself, but that is beside the point. If you want eggs, you only need hens, and if you end up with a bunch of roosters, you essentially just have the feathered version of The Outsiders roaming your yard running up your feed bill.
  
  3. Store-bought chicks are cheap.
  
  I buy from my local Farm and Garden, and we pay like $3 a pop. You can even order them through the mail. And the more you buy, the cheaper they get.
  
  4. Roosters are jerks.
  
  As mentioned, we banned roosters long ago and our flock has been better for it. Roosters are only good for their ability to fertilize eggs and look cool. And if you buy chicks, you don’t need fertilized eggs.
  
  Every time I say this, someone tells me about the super sweet, docile rooster he or she has, who cries at sunsets and writes sonnets to the hens.
  
  Not buying it. Those same people usually tell me how they also carry a shovel to the coop with them just in case they need to defend themselves. It’s in a rooster’s DNA to be an overly protective, aggressive, cranky ars. That works in the wild, but not in my yard. I shouldn’t have to protect myself from my property. Now, have I seen roosters that are less aggressive than others? Yes. Would I turn my back on them? No.
  
  A full-grown rooster can weigh upwards of 10 pounds, can jump six feet in the air, and, besides having clawed talons, has a set of pointy spurs the size of your pinky. AND THEY ATTACK CHILDREN. FROM BEHIND.
  
  And to dispel a couple common rooster myths:
  - You do not need a rooster to “keep the hens calm.” If anything, roosters stir the hens up, jumping from one to the other like a scene from Jersey Shore. Hens can take care of themselves nicely, thank you.
  - You do not need a rooster to have eggs. The female of every species produces eggs, just not fertilized ones. If your girls are healthy they will lay themselves silly, rooster or no.
  Raising chickens is one of the great joys of my life, and over the years we have learned what works and what doesn’t. Buying chicks from a reputable supplier is a winner.
  
  Kevin
  Posted in Chickens | 0 Comments
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