Chickens

[Mike Langford]

Gordon,
Here's a link on the website Tim posted for you......It's well thought out and designed and I think they have plans available also.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/wichita-cabin-coop

It's well written with LOT's of great pics!

[Jim Koepke]

Well Jim, the question begs to be asked, what does one with a chick that turns out to be male? Grow big enough to make soup? Return to seller?

Google > capon <

There is always BBQ.

Maybe they think they are going to the priesthood when someone calls them a fryer (friar).

Then there's broilers and boilers.

Chicken pot pies, serve them with fries.

I also like chili verde chicken burritos.

1 - 2 Table spoon olive oil or any cooking oil
1 Onion
1/4 -1/2 cup of chopped up jalapeño chilies (Mezzeta has hot and tamed jalapeño pepper slices, this is what I use.)
1/4 - 1/2 cup of diced celery*
16 oz jar of verde salsa.
2 Chicken breasts (I have not tried this yet, but pork could be substituted for the chicken.
Chopped fresh cilantro
Burrito shells

Start by setting a medium sized to large frying pan on a burner set to medium heat add oil. Dice the onion and place in the pan. The pan will need to be stirred often while preparing and adding the following ingredients. Chop up the jalapeño chilies and add to the pan. Chop and add the celery. Remove the bones from the chicken breast, chop into small pieces and add to the pan. Add the salsa to the pan. I will add some water to the jar to rinse out any remaining sauce and add this to the pan. Stir and continue cooking until the sauce comes to a light boil, then reduce heat.

Chop up some fresh cilantro.

To soften the burrito shells get them damp on both sides and then put one on a plate and cook in a micro wave for about 30 seconds. If adding cheese add about 15 seconds to melt the cheese on the burrito shell.

Scoop a few large spoons of the chicken chile verde into the burrito shell and sprinkle on a bit of cilantro. I like things a bit hot so I will add some jalapeños before rolling the burrito.

This is also great on rice.

*recently I didn't have celery and substituted lovage. Lovage is a perennial plant that not only tastes like celery (on steroids) it helps to stop heartburn.

jtk

[Gordon Eyre]

Lot's of good thoughts and information. Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond.

[Gordon Eyre]

Gordon,
Here's a link on the website Tim posted for you......It's well thought out and designed and I think they have plans available also.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/wichita-cabin-coop

It's well written with LOT's of great pics!

My son and his wife went through this together and they loved it. I suspect they will want me to come out to their new house and help them build this coop. It is well designed and thought out. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks Mike.

[Mike Henderson]

Someone may have posted this, but when you order your chicks, make sure you specify "sexed", otherwise you'll get mixed. The hatchery has the ability to check the sex of the baby chicks and give you all females, if that's what you want. You don't need a rooster for eggs. We used to order baby chicks and they'd come 100 to a box - usually they sent you a few more than 100 - and we rarely had a rooster in the bunch. The extra was to account for shipping mortality and errors in sexing.

If you get regular mixed lot, you should expect to get about 50% hens and 50% roosters but what you'll really get is a lot more roosters since the hatchery has a lot of male chicks on hand.

The sad reality is that there's a lot of male chicks that no one wants.

Mike

[Kevin Godshall]

The sad reality is that there's a lot of male chicks that no one wants.

Mike

Here's a funny (?) story to illustrate your point: We had a family close by that decided they needed to raise ducks. One of their children couldn't have chicken eggs, but duck eggs were fine. They ordered their ducks very early in the spring. When they arrived, there were 6 chickens in with the ducks. They called back to inquire "Why the chickens?".

The company replied that baby ducks don't ship well in the cooler weather, so they include "free of charge" baby roosters to keep them warm. It is up to the customer to decide how to deal with the extra baggage........

[Kevin Godshall]

Along with Mike's point about specifying hens and not mixed lots- The family really needs to do some research into the breeds as well. Some are better layers, some are more hardy, some are more social, some are better meat birds, etc etc. Backyard Chickens forum will give all the opinions, and one really needs to understand that all chickens are not the same.

Also, one needs to decide whether or not to include a rooster in the flock. Again, there are pros and cons, but each situation is different and needs to be evaluated as such. FWIW, a good rooster will fight to the death to defend the flock vs invaders, but he won't shut up long enough to let one sleep past 5am...........

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

This site has a lot of useful info on chicken breeds, temperament, egg production & colors:

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html