TO GET PROPERLY LAID

Fact sheet
http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/2003/archives/2003/roadtests/birds/cross_bred_chooks
Hens will produce their peak amount of eggs in the first three years. The economics of keeping hens longer than this period is often offset by the feeding costs. Less eggs will be produced on equal amounts of feed.

The last chook we had musta been 8 years old. dinna get many eggs for the last 2 years but i wasnt allowed to get rid of her. died last spring. literally fell off the perch.

well, after our chickens go through a 3 to 5 year period of 5 eggs a week, their production slips waay back to maybe 2 a week and maybe 3 moults pwer year. They are pets to us so we get new egg layer chicks and let em all get to know each other slowly. The old hens act like pack leaders and teach the younguns where the best paths are, the best places fro dirt baths , the best shade, and the places NOT to go. Very little training by us.
Ive got no experience with getting hens from commercial egg producers (or whetjher they even do that around here) Usual egg production houses are 80 to 100000 chickens and Im not sure these guys take time to sell you 10 chickens. I do know that Campbells soup buys lotsa spent birds for their lines of soups and gravies and bearing packing. Ive got one chicken in our pack that is 10 years old, she likes warm water in the morning and m,y wife caters to her needs.

we don't get as much estrogen involved in our decisions here.

and I make a mean chicken dinner...

after 3-4 years Layers become Stewers, time for dumplings.

there are a lot of small farmers around here with chickens.

my friend from when I was cooking at the bar, her dad has a bunch. Ima go out there and see how he does what he does.

I'm guessing he might would sell me a few.

still makin' up my mind, we are...

We once tried to cook an old bird. It was not a gustatory delight, unless you like the flavor of rope. We used to raise a coupla ducks for food, the scovy ducks from your back yard are the best flavored and textured. None of this expensive restaurant grey looking ****.

I googled this up.
Address: 1434 Idaho Rd.
Williamsburg, Ks. 66095
Contact: Terri Papatheodore, Joanne DeRosa and Azure Smith
Email: keeponcluckin at yahoo.com
Phone: (785) 746-5433
Directions: We are almost always home, but calling ahead is a good idea. We are about 50 minutes south of Kansas City off I-35.
MapQuest Map

We specialize in natural, free-range eggs. We have almost 600 birds now and plan to add a few hundred each spring. Our chickens are fed an all natural diet, free of animal products, antibiotics and hormones. The chicks are cooped until they are fully feathered, then they are turned into a fenced yard for a couple more weeks. Chicks and adults are all cooped at night to protect them from predators. We have three custom-built insulated coops complete with roosts, nesting boxes and fresh air.
During the day our layers and fryers have access to 160 beautiful acres filled with all kinds of bugs and frogs to eat.
We have a variety of breeds including rare breeds. The majority of our eggs are brown, but we also have green and a few white. We usually have a small supply of double yolks on hand. We also have live fryer roosters available for sale.

Olathe, Kansas (Larger Kansas City Area)
"Camp Creek Farms"
Contact: Rick or Cindy
Address: 29050 W 127th Street
Olathe, Kansas 66061
Phone: 913-884-6374
Email: [email protected]
MapQuest Map

Camp Creek Farms is a small family farm southwest of Kansas City. We sell fresh, organic, brown, green and white eggs from our free range hens. We feed our hens an organic mix that produces great eggs. We have eggs for sale all year long. Contact Rick or Cindy with any questions.

Cedar Vale, Kansas (Larger Wichita Area)

"Sparks Family Farm"
Address: 30085 345th Rd
City, State: Cedar Vale, Kansas, 67024
Phone: 620-758-2483
Contact: Dave Sparks D.V.M.
Email: drdave at sktc.net
MapQuest Map

Three generations working together to produce free range eggs, free range broilers, free range heritage bronze turkeys, all natural beef, small fruits, and vegetables. We have farm fresh eggs as well as broilers and beef available year round.

EDIT: this may also be usefull
http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/lvstk2/mf2390.pdf

Cedarvale is greater Wichita area like Tulsa is...

that's down by where I get wood. I will check it out when I go cut in a coupla weeks.

Not certain. Who'd ever thought they would freak out in Kansas?

Fred Phelps?

U brought up the subject.
Y r u withholding information qua the Pa. weather ?

I answered the underlying question about it being too cold in PA to rqaise chickens out of doors. I said that was incorrect, so you can assume that the weather is what?

I did not see that post;
sorry if I overlooked it.
R thay comfortable with sub-zero F. temps
and deep snow ?? (I imagine that Pa. weather = NY weather. Yes?)

I had chickons in Arizona long ago, but thay were never
confronted with deep snow. Thay were confronted with heat.



David

Two of the people I work with at the liquor store keep chickens. They, too, regard them as pets and do not eat their retired hens, but, rather let them live out their lives. One backyard chicken farmer is a renter while the other is a homeowner. When a chicken dies of old age, he buries her at the edge of the yard and plants a perennial over her grave. I like that idea.

The farmers who make the yogurt I eat grass feed their cows and practice milk sharing. They say that keeping the calves with their mothers reduces vet bills because the moms teach them about avoiding electric fences and poisonous plants.

When I took the bee keeping class last year, I got to watch the 8 heifers being raised by the farmer across the street from the apiary. They played a game that looked like tag. The chickens owned by the farmer whose barn the yogurt maker rents (for a gallon of milk a week which is used to make butter, also sold at the farm) play. I've seen the chicks raised by another area farmer disciplined by their mothers. Natural farming is a beautiful thing.

not gonna buy chicks from Atwoods.

not sure what kind they are, but they only sell straight run.

I don't wanna buncha baby roosters to mess with.

In another century, I had a law office out on Long Island.
I remember dining at a very old restaurant nearby, dating from the 1600s.

Once, I came out after dinner and I saw a mother chicken
with her baby chicks surrounding her, out in the grass
outside the restaurant near the parking lot, where I 'd parked.
I went back in and bawt the family some bread
which I distributed to them, in the grass.

On another occasion, on my way in,
I saw the mother chicken standing on the curb
of the road leading from the parking lot to the street.
She was carefully looking in both directions,
and when traffic was clear, she and her family
rushed to the other side, and mounted the other curb, to safety.

It was my impression that thay resided in some naboring property.



David

Good post, pom.

frank zappa

Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock!
Ahahahahahahaaa
Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock!
Somebody, please, please!
Help I'm a rock, help I'm a rock...
Wow man, it's a drag being a rock
Help I'm a rock...
I wish I was anything but a rock
Heck, I'd even like to be a policeman
Hey, you know what, you know maybe if I practised, you know
Maybe if I passed my driving test
I could get a gig drivin' that bus and pick some freaks up
In front of Ben Franks, right!

Help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop!
(Help I'm a rock...), help I'm a cop, help I'm a cop!
It's a drag being a cop, I think I'd rather be the mayor
Always wondered what I was gonna be when I grew up, you know
Always wondered whether or not, whether or not I could make it,
You know, in society, because,
You know, it's a drag when you're rejected
So I tore the cover off a book of matches and I sent in
And I got this letter back that said, UHU, AHA

It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here
Because I been checkin' it out, baby
I checked it out a couple a times, hmmmmmmmm
And I'm telling you
It can't happen here
Oh darling, it's important that you believe me
(Bop bop bop bop)
That it can't happen here

Who could imagine that they would freak out somewhere in Kansas...
Kansas Kansas tototototodo
Kansas Kansas tototototodo
Kansas Kansas
Who could imagine that they would freak out in Minnesota...
Mimimimimimimi Minnesota, Minnesota, Minnesota
Who could imagine...

Who could imagine
That they would freak out in Washington, D.C.
D.C. D.C. D.C. D.C. D.C.
It can't happen here
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
It can't happen here
It can't happen here
Everybody's safe and it can't happen here
No freaks for us
It can't happen here
Everybody's clean and it can't happen here
No, no, it won't happen here
I'm telling you it can't
It won't happen here
(Bop bop didi bop didi bop bop bop)
Plastic folks, you know
It won't happen here
You're safe, mama
You're safe, baby
You just cook a TV dinner
And you make it
(Bop bop bop)
No no no no
Oh, we're gonna get a TV dinner and cook it up
Go get a TV dinner and cook it up
Cook it up
Oh, and it won't happen here
(No no no no no no no no no no no
Man you guys are really safe
Everything's cool).
Who could imagine
Who could imagine
That they would freak out in the suburbs!

I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool
I remember (tu-tu)
I remember (tu-tu)
They had a swimming pool.
And they thought it couldn't happen here
(duh duh duh duh duh)
They knew it couldn't happen here
They were so sure it couldn't happen here
But...

Suzie...
Yes yes yes--I've always felt that
Yes I agree man, it really makes it...yeah...
It's a real THING, man
And it really makes it
(Makes it)

Suzie, you just got to town,
And we've been, we've been very interested
In your development.
Forget it!
Hmmmmmmmmm
(It can't happen here)

Thanks. These are all nice people who care for the animals.

Is that you, Suzie Cream Cheese?