# I just picked up



## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

40 *FREE* :2thumb: Golden Buff brown egg layers along (all 6 months old) with 22 roosters of various ages!

I'm thinking most (18-19) of the roosters are going in the stew pot ASAP, or in the oven.

I thought about making some into capons, but they're all too old for that... maybe that's what I'll do if I let the hens hatch some in a couple years. 

I'm no expert, but I think I should get 2 more years of good laying out of these at least before it starts to taper off. :dunno: I got them because their egg-laying 'was substandard'... I feel if I get 1 egg every 2 days out of each that will be more than plenty. :congrat:

looks like I'll be resurrecting an old clothes washer from the dump and converting it into a chicken plucker :ignore: just what I needed, another project  

even if they don't lay (I don't know how long they need to adjust before they are supposed to start laying, if anybody knows, please tell me), the price was right & I can always eat em'  :beercheer:


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

Wow! Congratulations on such a spectacular find! I'm pinching pennies over the winter to build a coop so I can start a flock in the spring.

I love your philosophy -



The_Blob said:


> even if they don't lay..., the price was right & I can always eat em'  :beercheer:


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## cajunmeadows (Oct 21, 2011)

They should start laying with in a couple months. Great deal and a good start to self reliance.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

I think the guy fibbed as to their age... these hens just finished molting last week so that means they are a year old (or more...  ) 

isn't that a little late in the year for molting?

I was taught that hens don't lay during molt also, so maybe he was inexperienced... or maybe I got flim-flammed? :dunno:

I just hope they're not like eight years old & done laying for good... I hope to get a new generation of layers :crossfinger: but if I don't... 

on a side note: the chihuahuas are having a field day herding them, if this doesn't work out I may try for a 'herd' of rabbits instead, or maybe 'also' if I feel ambitious since there is some synergy raising them both together


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

I don't know anything about chickens but in a worst-case scenario you can still eat them. If you can get fertilized eggs you can always raise a new generation of egg layers too.


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## brucehylton (Nov 6, 2010)

You get healthier chicks from older hens than you do with first time layers. I would rather lose a few every year than mess with all young ones.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

brucehylton said:


> You get healthier chicks from older hens than you do with first time layers. I would rather lose a few every year than mess with all young ones.


thanks for that, being able to have chicks _once in a while_ to renew stock will be a secondary consideration (for me) to having all those tasty tasty eggs... and meat

so far it's been a bit of work collecting birds that get out of the fencing, but I've found that putting out some feed helps a LOT 

sorry if my posts have rambled a bit, I've been up for almost 3 days looking out for coyotes, foxes, raccoons, feral cats, wild dogs, skunks, and whatever else is out there interested in *EATIN MORE CHIKIN*


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## HELIXX (Jan 2, 2011)

How about some pics Bob.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

We had chickens the whole time I was growing up and we always had to do the plucking the old fashioned way, how in the world do you make a chicken plucker out of an old washing machine?

Don't want to sound ignorant on the subject, but I am.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Davarm said:


> We had chickens the whole time I was growing up and we always had to do the plucking the old fashioned way, how in the world do you make a chicken plucker out of an old washing machine?
> 
> Don't want to sound ignorant on the subject, but I am.


I figure an old clothes washer to be perfect as it already has a frame, water inlet & drains, motor & gearbox, and a pre-drilled 'basket' -- basically, I'd insert some rubber 'spikes' through the holes after redrilling them, replace the plastic agitator tower with a rotating plenum with more rubber 'spikes', and make something like a *Featherman Chicken Plucker* or a *Whizbang*

here are some videos


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

We have stocked up on chickens already, now we will need a plucker.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

IIII-LOVE IT, if I had had something like that when I was a kid, I would be rich by now. Thanks Very Much....


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

VUnder said:


> We have stocked up on chickens already, now we will need a plucker.


 :congrat: I sure do hope these girls gain some weight like that... they're not laying yet, but they have figured out there are plenty of bugs & worms in the compost pile


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

You are looking at super chickens. The roosters "average" seventeen pounds. Sometimes you can't go in there without a 3' piece of plastic pipe to keep them at bay. They lay an egg a day on average. Those were about to be picked up, that is why the nests were raised and the rooster feeders are up high there in the middle. We keep them a year at a time, to lay eggs and send to a hatchery to raise more little chickens. A house like that usually gets 12,500 birds. We usually run four houses, but this year we run two, dad is in excellent health, but is wanting to slow down.


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*We had 5 of these*

They moved like the Raptors in the Jerrasic park movie, nice looking birds but the Hawks thought so to!! would like to try them again here on the new place

File:Egyptian Fayoumi at show.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Uh as for eggs? if they are laying they ain't 6 months old.. they have to be at least 10 months old as far as I know and that's from what I saw ours doing...as for age, we have 3 or 4 still that are at least 5 to 6 years old and lay nearly every day..one is a speckled hen that lays green eggs... big eggs to!...


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

HozayBuck said:


> They moved like the Raptors in the Jerrasic park movie, nice looking birds but the Hawks thought so to!! would like to try them again here on the new place
> 
> File:Egyptian Fayoumi at show.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Uh as for eggs? if they are laying they ain't 6 months old.. they have to be at least 10 months old as far as I know and that's from what I saw ours doing...as for age, we have 3 or 4 still that are at least 5 to 6 years old and lay nearly every day..one is a speckled hen that lays green eggs... big eggs to!...


they get em' to start laying at 5-6 months old in the 'factory farms' (hormones? :dunno: ) and of course keep em' locked up and deplete them of all their calcium to keep 'producing' like organic machinery... :gaah: unfortunately when less than 1% of the population provides the food for the other 99% disgusting measures like that are 'necessary evils' I suppose :dunno: maybe more people will take responsibility for their appetites (in more ways than one) but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

The_Blob said:


> they get em' to start laying at 5-6 months old in the 'factory farms' (hormones? :dunno: ) and of course keep em' locked up and deplete them of all their calcium to keep 'producing' like organic machinery... :gaah: unfortunately when less than 1% of the population provides the food for the other 99% disgusting measures like that are 'necessary evils' I suppose :dunno: maybe more people will take responsibility for their appetites (in more ways than one) but I don't hold out a lot of hope for that


That would explain it then...guess I'll stick with the free Range eggs we have...
It's funny..well not funny but ..that due to the "HOT" summer heat and no rain the bug population dropped or something did because the shells on our eggs aren't as hard as usual and the whites are a bit runny which is a change...yolks are still bright orange and they taste great...just some changes I've seen.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

HozayBuck said:


> That would explain it then...guess I'll stick with the free Range eggs we have...
> It's funny..well not funny but ..that due to the "HOT" summer heat and no rain the bug population dropped or something did because the shells on our eggs aren't as hard as usual and the whites are a bit runny which is a change...yolks are still bright orange and they taste great...just some changes I've seen.


maybe they need some powdered calcium supplements (aragonite)? :dunno: there's a bacterial feed additive that promotes calcium absorbtion and immune system health but idk what it's called... :gaah:

*aragonite is calcium carbonate


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## *Andi (Nov 8, 2009)

Late to the thread ... :gaah:

But awesome find!:2thumb:


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