About how long would a 50 pound bag of feed last 4-5 chickens? Using the unlimited auto feeder. Been thinking about getting a few.
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My girls had an egg break in the oviduct. Ends up with peritonitis and sepsis even if you get them through the immediate crisis, unless they get hormone therapy to stop laying. Which has its own health issues and not something i would choose. We opted for euthanasia once the prognosis was obvious. I think it happens with the ultra production hens because the movement of eggs through the fallopian tube/oviduct gets out of synch.
I also let them rest in winter, we freeze eggs to have for the slow season. Im going to try water glassing this year too
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Depends on if you free range or not. If the feed is their primary source, i would say that 50 would go for about 8 - 10 weeks.
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Saw a YouTube vid on those birds, they produce some stunning colored dark brown eggs. How are they temperament, production wise?
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After about 18 years of allowing our hen house to deteriorate, we hired an Amish carpenter to renovate it.
Before
During
After
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Now that’s dark…
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pretty calm. they are big birds with big breasts so they make good dual purpose breed. egg production is average at about 220 per year of medium sized eggs. wife wanted them for the egg color. they are the same age as r.i reds and easter eggers that we bought this spring yet the r.i aren’t laying yet which is odd.
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Thanks, how long do they take to get started laying, about 4 months after hatching?
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i mistakenly got a r.i roo in the mix.so far hes been cool towards me. next spring im going to hatch out some of the maran eggs in the incubator. i bet a r.i /maran cross would give a good amount of eggs and also be a good dual purpose. a r.i / easter egger would be a funny looking bird. one of them has blueish / gray plumage with red neck hackles and black beard. the other has a more barred wheaten color with the black beard. the TSC folks must have picked the wrong chicks when filling my order. they are kind of cool though. they lay a smallish light green to blue green egg.
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Great size, looks solid!
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Very nice. How many and what breeds of birds do you have?
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Currently just over 100, including roosters and youngsters. A dozen breeds represented and quite a few mixed breed birds. Some live in the barn instead with ducks and a few turkeys.
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Egads! He’s trying to breed a turducken!
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You are right. It does need more windows. Great suggestion. 
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Do you have any Black Lava breeds? I believe that is the breed name. It is a pretty neat breed and becoming more rare almost extinct. Something like only 500 or so exist.
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Black Java? No.
The breeds we own or have owned are those listed with illustrations and “Our Birds” comments on Henderson’s Handy Dandy Chicken Chart, the World Wide Web’s first chicken chart, created by me in 2001.
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Fantastic site. Congratulations on creating it. I have a friend is starting up his little farm and is looking for chicken varieties to buy. I will give them the site and let them check out your handiwork.
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My birds spend most of their time in the run. I used to let them out to roam almost every morning but we’ve lost to many to foxes in recent years. I tell my daughters that part of raising chickens is losing them but that doesn’t ease the pain of losing their favorite birds (RIP Banana). The oldest has been handling it better. Especially seeing fox kits in the neighborhood which cements the “foxes need to eat and feed their babies” sentiment.
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yep. its not their fault we raise these fat , easily caught birds in their backyard. cant blame them for grabbing a easy meal. why i dont free range even though id like to.
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