We HATE our chickens . . . how long do they live?

[freemotion]

Don't mean to hijack but has anyone ever had their chickens kill small birds (like chickadees)?

Yes, when I had mine in a pen covered with deer netting they would get small birds. Saw a broody hen with chicks kill a chipmunk once, too. Ick.

 

[rockdoveranch]

OMG!

I am remembering the chickens I had in the 1980s out on a little track of land that I visited once a day to feed and play when I could. They would rip each other apart if one got the tiniest little cut that bled. Actually, I have no idea how they would get cuts as I have never seen a cut on our chickens out there . . . MAYBE . . . the cuts were from them beating up on each other. They were given to me by a neighbor out there who HATED them!

How do we eat such vicious animals.

They were good with the kids though! The kids loved playing with them.

They were in a large chicken yard at first and eventually free ranged all the time. They would pick through the horse poo to eat bits of grain and bugs. My current chickens have never gone into the horse pasture and picked through her poo for bugs. All they needed to do was walk through the barbed wire.

 

[elevan]

Don't mean to hijack but has anyone ever had their chickens kill small birds (like chickadees)?

Yes, when I had mine in a pen covered with deer netting they would get small birds. Saw a broody hen with chicks kill a chipmunk once, too. Ick.

Thanks. I've been finding a lot of dead chickadees lately by the coop. And almost every time I find one of my broody hens feathers by the dead bird. I've never seen her do it but suspected that it was her....otherwise my mind goes rampant about predators around my chickens...but I'm pretty sure it's her.

 

[dianneS]

Don't mean to hijack but has anyone ever had their chickens kill small birds (like chickadees)?

I've seen my chickens chase other birds away. I guess they see them as a threat to their food supply, but I've never seen them kill any. There were some grackles in the coop this morning collecting feathers for their nests and the chickens didn't pay them any mind.

 

[foxywench]

honestly if you dont enjoy them and there not laying well theyd be dog food or stock...you could put one in a slow cooker for about a week, but id personally off em, pluck em and cook em up for stock or just off them to the dogs.

my personal opionon of keeping livestock is it you dont enjoy it and its not earning its keep its just wasting space and its time to go...be it sold on or processed.

 

[meme]

I have 35 chickens, and I have no problem with them, but they live 6-10 years.My oldest chicken I have right know is 7, and she is the nicest chicken!

 

[freemotion]

Don't mean to hijack but has anyone ever had their chickens kill small birds (like chickadees)?

Yes, when I had mine in a pen covered with deer netting they would get small birds. Saw a broody hen with chicks kill a chipmunk once, too. Ick.

Thanks. I've been finding a lot of dead chickadees lately by the coop. And almost every time I find one of my broody hens feathers by the dead bird. I've never seen her do it but suspected that it was her....otherwise my mind goes rampant about predators around my chickens...but I'm pretty sure it's her.

Hmm....If I didn't see the hens with the birds/chipmunk/mice/etc, I'd never know it....because they eat every bite! Often I don't see the kill, but see them chasing each other around and one has the carcass in her beak, running in front of the pack, head held high, remnants dangling. Ew. I will be eating "mouse eggs" for breakfast.

 

[elevan]

Yes, when I had mine in a pen covered with deer netting they would get small birds. Saw a broody hen with chicks kill a chipmunk once, too. Ick.

Thanks. I've been finding a lot of dead chickadees lately by the coop. And almost every time I find one of my broody hens feathers by the dead bird. I've never seen her do it but suspected that it was her....otherwise my mind goes rampant about predators around my chickens...but I'm pretty sure it's her.

Hmm....If I didn't see the hens with the birds/chipmunk/mice/etc, I'd never know it....because they eat every bite! Often I don't see the kill, but see them chasing each other around and one has the carcass in her beak, running in front of the pack, head held high, remnants dangling. Ew. I will be eating "mouse eggs" for breakfast.

Mostly I've found just their wings...the rest are gone. But I have found 2 whole, dead birds.
It only started after she went broody. It's during the day only. And the fact that I usually find one of her feathers near...it's gotta be her, right?

And I give up on thinking about what they're eating...I mean they scratch around and pick through poo and just he worm eating is gross enough!

 

[MissDanni]

If you liked them I'd say to put them in the barn and try to tame them a bit more. We have roosters than run all over the place and we make a habit of picking them up when ever we can get a hold of one.

However, if you really are fed up with them, it may be time for "freezer camp" and some yummy chicken pot pie.

 

[More of a BYC person]

Seriously, we HATE our chickens. How long will they live?

We bought 10 chicks April 2005, 5 Barred Rock and 5 Rhode Island Reds; all pullets. As tiny chicks the Barred Rock were so mean to the Reds that they drew blood and we had to separate them until they were big enough to go outside into the chicken yard.

Back then the chicken yard was a ways back through the woods. That first year something killed 5 of them, probably a coyote, and we have had the other 5 since.

They free range during the day and at night they go into a yard that shares a fence line with the big dog yard. They no longer go into the yard out through the woods.

They refuse to lay where they are supposed. They are always under foot. When I go to put them up at night holding a can of gain for them sometimes they fly up at my hand. Sometime they fly at me for know reason. Sometimes they BITE me drawing blood and bruising. I have even had them go at me like an old mature rooster would, trying to spur me with no spurs.

We treat all our animals kindly and with respect so I assume they are simply acting like rural chickens.

Way back when I lived in the middle of Houston I had a lovely Rhode Island Red hen that lived in the yard and house with my Boxer, 2 Goldens and a rabbits. They all got along and in the pecking order, the hen was over the youngest Golden. Poor dog! She thought she was a dog and lived to be 11.

Our hens are 6 now. Am I looking at 5 more years of bad, bad hens?

Sell them If you don't want them. Go to BYC and post an ad, or tell them you just need to get rid of them. Do they have laying pellets all the time? Do the have nest boxes? If their always under you, the just want a little love