What do Chickens eat?

Chickens eat lots of different things.  
When chicks are first born, they don't eat anything the first day.   When they are fully fluffy and a day old, they start eating chick starter.  Some people use Organic and some people use medicated chick started.  
When the chicks are old enough to go outside they can eat chick feed, bugs, worms, and vegetables.   
It is good to feed your chickens crushed egg shells to help make their eggs hard.  
If you have free range chickens, your dog might chase after them and kill them and eat them.  If they are free ranging, they eat lots of bugs out of the yard.  They eat ticks.  At night they will go  back to their nesting box for the night to lay their eggs. 
If you keep your chickens in a pen, you can still let them eat bugs and worms.  They also like almost anything you give them.  They will eat grapes, orange peels, table scrapes and even pieces of cooked chicken.  In the fall, they love pumpkins.   If you give your chickens onions they will taste like onion eggs.  
For treats you could give them Happy Hen Treats.   Here is a link where you can buy them. 
http://www.happyhentreats.com/qswzcijbp2nip3ns03vhz078gunkqc

You can also make your own treats by putting pieces of fruit, meal worms and other yummy things in ice cube trays filled with water and freezing them.  Give them one cube to peck at.  This gives them water and treats and gives them something to do.  

COWS

What are cows called before they have a baby?  They are called Heifers.
What are cows called when they give birth? They are called Cows.
What are boy calls called?  They are called Bulls before they are fixed.  They are called Steers when they are castrated. 
What do cows eat?  They eat grass and grain.
What do cows drink?  They drink water, like me and you.
What do cows do? They sleep, eat and poop.  

 

The chicks are here!

Chicken day has arrived!

I got my 3 Rhode Island Reds today.  Everyone else got theirs too.
       

     

My Rhode island reds are named Hope. Winter and Willow.   They have to stay warm. The temperature has to stay about 90 degrees when they are little.
They are the cutest little chicks ever.  This morning my dad, sister and I went to pick them up at 7 am from the post office.  They were chirping away.  They came in a shipping box for chicks, with holes and a heat pad.
When they are bigger, I will give them happy hen treats.   All if our chicks are hens.

Going to the Dogs

Today we are going to take a break from talking about chickens again.  Our chickens have been shipped and we are waiting for them to get here.  Hopefully tomorrow we will have pictures of our new babies.
In the meantime I want to talk about some different types of dogs and what kinds would be good for kids.

One of my favorite types of dogs is a Golden Retriever.  They are gentle and sweet.  Their temperament is reliable, confident, trustworthy and intelligent.  They are big dogs so if you have little kids be careful they don't get knocked over.  

Another one is a Labrador Retriever.  They come in gold, brown and black.  They are outgoing, even tempered, gentle and kind.  

Another dog I really like is the German Shepard.  They are watchful, alert, obedient, loyal and courageous.  They would be good protectors.  My cousin Grace used to have a German Shepard named Jett.  He was huge and very gentle.  He died when he got struck by lightning. 

Long Haired Dachshund are another favorite of mine.  They are so sweet and calm.  They are lovable and cuddly.  

Here is a list of dogs I don't think would be good for kids.
Chihuahua, pugs, jack Russell terriers, Chinese crested dog .  

I don't think an unneutered male would be good for kids.  I think everyone should have their male dog neutered.  Because if you are out walking your dog and a female is walking it wouldn't be good because male dog would go crazy.  

Here is a funny dog video.

Hens or Roosters?

When choosing chickens you need to decide what you want them for.  Some people want them for breeding, some want them for meat, others want them for eggs and still others want them just for decorations.  

If you want them for breeding, you need a rooster and a hen.  A broody hen is a girl chicken who wants to hatch eggs.  Some chicken breeds are more broody than others.  Buff Rocks, Buff Orpingtons and Cochins are good chickens to have if you want to raise chicks.  

If you want chickens for meat only,  you can use male or female.  Male chickens grow faster and are bigger, but sometimes taste funny.  Female chickens are a little bit smaller but taste good.  

Hens are the way to go if you want chickens for eggs.  You don't want a rooster because you might end up with a fertile egg and that is gross.  If an egg is fertile, you will see a bloody spot.  

If people want chickens only for decoration, you could have hens and roosters.  


I like Rhode Island Red hens best because they produce excellent eggs.  They don't go broody.   I only want hens because I want eggs.  

Roosters are aggressive and mean.  They also crow like crazy and wake you up early in the morning.  If you want to get woken up at 5am then get a rooster.  

You can tell the difference between roosters and hens by the size of their cones on the head.  A rooster will have a large cone, and a hen will have a small cone.  
The roosters will be larger than a hen also.

I will be selling large brown eggs when my chickens get big enough.  They come this week and I am so excited.   

Chicken Breeds......

Today we are going to talk about different chicken breeds.  Which ones are good to have for eggs, which ones are not good for eggs and which ones are for meat.

Let's talk about Rhode Island Reds first.   This breed is excellent for a beginner and I highly recommend this breed.  They produce nice, large brown eggs.  They are friendly and calm.   Everyone seems to like them.  

Barred Rock chickens are good egg layers as well.  They produce large, plentiful, brown eggs.  They are calm and make good backyard chickens.

Buff Orpington chicks are good egg and meat chickens.  They also make nice backyard chickens because they are sweet birds.  They also lay brown eggs.   These chickens are good for colder climates.

Red Ranger birds are good for meat.  They grow quickly and live well in a cage or free range.  

Now we will talk about breeds of chickens that just look cute but don't offer much else. 

Silkies only produce one egg per day and they are very small. These chickens are cute and make fun pets.

Last, we will talk about Modern game birds.  These chickens don't lay good eggs and aren't good meat birds.  They are only for ornamental purposes.  They look like part chicken and part human.