chickens

I Had to put my wife off for this year, I have always had chickens as a kid and as a married man. Hatching my own. When we moved to our new home we had 3 hens we called the girls, The were a cross between black cochins ans Barred rocks
size of the barred rocks but the looks of the blacks, the feet were feathered as well.
Then the Foxes came and we had to get part with them .We have always left them free roaming, So this spring TSC had some Bramas and my wife wanted them right now
I have always sexed them using a magnet. Has anyone else used this method. You place a magnet on the end of a string, put it close to the body,but not touching, hold a still as possible, it will either rotate or move in a straight line side to side. Males side to side Females rotate.
I have used this to be 100pecent Correct.
Having raised birds , chickens wild waterfowl, Swans etc 30 yrs. plus... Have had contact with lots of old timers that use this method. I though of as the divining rod thing etc. But many things are not seen and not understood 100 percent.
I went to tractor supply to get some pekin ducks for a friend, he wanted hens.I asked an employee if I could borrow a magnet ,when she asked why,you should have seen the look at me . Thought I was Nuts. It will be even more strange when someone who wanted a mix of males and females ends up with all males at home.
Phil
 
Last spring my wife wanted a koi pond so I built her a 12x8'-3' deep pond and stocked it with fish. Then every frog within a mile must have decided that my pond was the cool place to hang out all night. Imagine having several hundred frogs chirping, croaking, etc withinn 60' of your bedroom window from 9PM to the 2AM every night. So four weeks later my wife has me dropping loads of fill dirt in the pond with the backhoe so she can get some sleep...

This spring she tells me that it would be neat to have chickens and a chicken coop and the first thing that I thought of was the frog pond disaster. I told her, "You know that in order to have hens that lay eggs, you need to have a roster, right? And you know that rosters like to wake up really, really ealry EVERY morning and can be pretty loud, right?" So, lets say that I am letting her sit on this one for a while...
 
No I mean long stories are good. :)

Sexing chickens with a magnet? Wow never head of that. I have seen sexing by checking the wing feathers and squeezing them till they poop and looking at how the squirt comes out the vent to tell males from females. There are experts that do it all day.

I am fairly sure those hens in the "egg factory's" have never seen roosters. :wink:
 
I am a major league skeptic in all things, I am not from Missouri but you are still going to have to show me.

I assume a rig of a small common 1-2" bar magnet on a thread sort of a crude compass is what you are talking about. I guess a compass wouldn't work cause you are talking about the center of the magnet precessing around or swinging not the magnet trying to orient itself any way other than north south. I have two dogs one of each other wise very close in size. I'll try it later.
 
I also was an extreme skeptic. I use a round small earth magnet, tie a hex nut on string, let the magnet hang from the hex nut. I usually touch the body of the animal softly to get it stopped from swinging, then hold off about 1/2" from the body. It will start slow and start swinging . Should only take a few seconds.
Just because we can't explain things does not mean it isn't true.
Phil
 
markwayne":elojwuwh said:
So males swing back and forth and females round and round? There is a joke in there somewhere. :wink:
Click to expand...
I have one particularly nasty rooster that sits on the eggs that the hens have laid. He also prefers to ignore the hens and molest the other roosters...wonder what the magnet will do for him??? :lol:

I'm gonna show this post to my daughter, shes going to have to test this!
One for Myth Busters for sure! :D
Mike.
 
Ok this is weird. I just tried the magnet trick on Sadie (female pointer/dalmatian, my rescue foster) and Houdini (Dalmatian male but neutered, his head shot is my avatar). A quick run with a GE dongle refrigerator magnet, thread on a paper clip to hold it, the technique seemed to work :shock: I am going to change magnets and set up a tripod to eliminate my hand movements and try it again when the dogs are snoozing so they will be still.
 
I have 5 RIR hens hope to get eggs in Sept. If you haven't already check out backyardchickens.com lots of info there.
 
my friend and i have been raising chickens for a couple of years now, all at his house because he has a barn. this year, we're building a coop at my house!

a couple of remarks, tho, about the posts:
1. i don't know about the magnet thing, but this strangely similar process definitely works... when my wife was pregnant, we didn't want to know the sex of the baby. however, a friend's mother insisted on trying this "trick":
take her wedding ring, put it on the longest strand of her hair you can find, have her lied down on her back, and do the same thing as the magnet "trick", except you suspend the ring right over her navel area. it proved true for both of our children... spoooooooooooky :shock: she was Dutch, and learned the "trick" from her grandmother when she was pregnant.
2. a rooster is NOT REQUIRED for hens to lay eggs.
3. a rooster IS REQUIRED to hens to lay fertile eggs from which chicks can be hatched.

thanks!
dave
 
I put an 4'x8' addition on chicken coop this weekend as we purchased 16 more barred rocks chicks and we have 10 RR hens laying already.
Question is when is a safe time to add the young chicks to the coop with the older hens ? :? ... I have NO roosters never had any luck with them from being mean :( ....I read when the chicks have all their feathers on to put them in while a little small but about how many weeks would be
safe? :)

thanks

:{_}:
 
If you have room after the younger birds are 3/4 grown and getting around very well.
Take one of the older birds and put them in the pen with the younger, try that first. By taking an older bird out of its territory, this will acclimate the younger to the older make sure there is adequate room or they will get smothered or trampled.
Make sure there is room that is a must,she (The Older bird) will want to seek out here group ,so a sight barrier may be a good Idea between pens. I have used this techniqe on Quail with good success. They are very territorial, and by interjecting the older ,this will give them a big SISTER. When you decide to put them togetther
hope this helps.
Phil
 
I am not a professional chicken master by any means, but everytime I have put smaller chickens in with bigger chickens the smaller ones got beaten up bad or killed. since you have added onto the coup seperate it untill the rocks are full size. then have a large door between the 2 halves. this way the next time you get more chicks the program and space is already set up.
 
i currently have the coop sectioned off but wanted to know if i should introduce them before the rocks get too big or if its better to do it when they get big. so
i'll probably wait till they are a good size compared too the reds and see how it works out.. thanks i don't want to chance it but the coop area for chickens is a 8'x10' seems like a good size for the 26 total chickens when adult right now the rock chicks have a small 3'x5' area fenced off till big.
thanks for the advice hope it works when the time comes!!! :D
 
Have 25 R I reds & 25 Barred Rocks a month old - hope to put the roosters in the freezer in another month or so then farm out the pullets and head south for the winter! Has been a fun project so far. Looking for a feed grinder tho so I can grind my own grain. W/start earlier next year! Dusty
 
when we got the RR chicks it was november and when we got the barred rock chicks it was july

liked when we got the in november had a huge box we kept them in the garage and me and my daughter age 5
kept an eye on them together every day and now the rhode island reds come to ya better than my dog
when you yell "come on girls" they come running like crazy at ya and when you walk over they squat down
for ya to pick them up they are definitely spoiled for chickens they never run from ya
 
ellens cub":1l5r3ji3 said:
I have 5 RIR hens hope to get eggs in Sept. If you haven't already check out backyardchickens.com lots of info there.
Click to expand...


Well right on cue my girls started laying in Sept. 3-5 eggs a day. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks ago, some dogs came into the yard while we were at work and made off with 3 of them and left a forth badly maimed. :big crying: We now only have 1 and she is very lonely. :censored: dogs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top