Surprise!!!!!! have some chickens!

[schmism]

So we have an old guy next door.... like 85 or something.... Really nice guy, hes got a bunch of horses, sheep, chickens etc.

So we've started to get more "neighborly" with him now that we are spending more time out at the property (almost full time now).... With our big garden going full blast, we started tradeing produce for fresh eggs....and we mentioned how I wanted some chickens eventually....

Well we see him leaving his place about the same time we take off sat morn to run some erronds.... And we end up catching up to him in town bout 30 min later..... He says, oh ya, i dropped off another dozzen eggs, and ive got some chickens for ya in a cage at my place ill bring them buy later!

True to his word, on sunday he brings over our first 2 chickens!

ive got really good labs, and was concerned about how they would act around them. After the inital 'OH BOY BIRDS" reaction, stacy (the yellow one) seemed to take well to them and quickly seemed to take up guard duty, spending hrs standing, sitting, laying within a few feet of the cage watching. Zeuse my yonger lab, is a bit more excited about them, and usually likes to "point" when he sees them in the cage after hes been out of sight of them like first thing in the morning.

I have a small shed out back that i COULD press into coupe duity, but instead im going to knock together a tractor for the two of them to rummage around the yard in tonight. With the dogs around im confident they will keep cridders away, pluss my neighbors on both sides also have chickens so......

for all the pics in non-resized format (56k warning)
Index of /pics/07-23-07

 

[riptides]

Kewl,

Ya gotta like old timers like that and their attitudes.

Wish more people would get "nieghborly".

-Mike Z.

 

[RobertN]

Post about building the tractor. I had never heard of one, until I actually saw one a couple months ago. Interesting idea, and good use of the chickens.

 

[Highbeam]

I am midway through building a tractor for my 5 chickens. The girls have just started laying since they were bought as chicks this spring. It's not that we are health nuts or want to get into chicken farming, for us it was our 2 and 4 year old girls that get to see where those white orbs come from with all the yellow stuff inside that daddy puts on his toast. A very low cost and low risk animal to have around. Worst case, we eat 'em. Ours are Rhode Island reds and buff orpington chosen for their gentle nature and big eggs.

 

[LMTC]

Used to have several dozen, primarily Araucanas. They lay a green shelled egg, very distinctive taste (I love them) and they are very protective of their eggs....I used leather gloves to collect them. They are also very aggressive fowl and are not likely taken by a predator unless asleep. One of the most amazing things I have seen in nature was one of our Araucanas and a huge (8# or more) hen of mixed background driving off a Great Horned Owl late one afternoon. I think they just so startled the owl with their attack that it left in confusion, as they surely weren't capable of much damage.

Nothing quite like the fresh eggs, and those chickens will destroy the bug population.

 

[RoyJackson]

ive got really good labs, and was concerned about how they would act around them. After the inital 'OH BOY BIRDS" reaction, stacy (the yellow one) seemed to take well to them and quickly seemed to take up guard duty, spending hrs standing, sitting, laying within a few feet of the cage watching.

Yeah, probably thinking "...wonder how I can open that cage..."

 

[pat32rf]

Don't chickens love 'maters?
#954 is a beautiful bird but what is that green thing(with headlights) in the background?

 

[Thomas]

Morn schmism.
Good neighbor and farm fresh...can only get get better.

By the looks,the lab and chickens are setting some ground rules...could be most interesting.