The Conservative Cave
Current Events => The DUmpster => Topic started by: franksolich on October 14, 2010, 11:00:31 AM
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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x4076
Oh my.
It's really odd, primitives calling chickens "stupid."
hedgehog (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-13-10 02:50 PM
Original message
Do I have a really dumb bunch of chickens, or what?
I've kept hens and roosters for about 20 years. From time to time a hen will get broody. In twenty years, I think my hens have hatched a grand total of 20 chicks! The one hen who hatched four chicks insisted on perching with them overnight in the lilac bush. Some critter picked off the chicks one-by-one, then got the hen!
So, this summer, a little banty decided to sit some eggs. She's been at it since Labor Day. Generally, there is another hen sitting in the box with her; usually another banty. Now, I found the remains of two eggs that had hatched, but never found a sign of the chicks. Then a third egg hatched, but the chick ended up at the edge of the nesting box. I think it may have died from exposure.
So, does this banty just like sitting on eggs? Is raising a chick a learning process?
Warpy (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-13-10 02:57 PM
THE DEFROCKED WARPED PRIMITIVE, #09 TOP PRIMITIVE OF 2009
Response to Original message
1. I guess instinct only goes so far and if they hadn't been raised by their own mother hens, they don't have a clue what to do with a chick after it hatches. Likely they died of starvation because Mom didn't have brains enough to feed them.
So yeah, they like sitting on eggs.
LWolf (1000+ posts) Thu Oct-14-10 08:42 AM
Response to Original message
2. My broody hens have hatched out 35 or 40 chicks in the last 5 years. Not every egg hatches. If eggs don't hatch within the time the hens' biological clocks dictate, they will abandon the nest. If an egg hatches late, after the hen has left the nest with the chicks, she doesn't accept the chick. If there is a problem with a chick, and it can't follow her when she leaves the nest, she'll abandon it.
My 2 broody hens are protective and do a good job raising the chicks. Not coincidentally, their maternal instinct turns off like a switch about the time the youngsters are fully fledged. Suddenly, they aren't protecting them any more, and will chase them off of food.
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It's really odd, primitives calling chickens "stupid."
You just described the primitives and their way of thinking. :cheersmate: :-)
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Typical response by the primitive who goes into something without any appreciation of the process. Blame someone or something else.
We have a chicken expert on this forum, so I will limit my remarks to the facts that only 70 to 80% of fertilized eggs hatch with even the best equipment and care. For backyard breeders who do everything right and use broody hens, the rate is only about 50%. Same for hobbyists who try to incubate the eggs at home or in a classroom.
There is good FREE information online and from any county extension office, but it does take EFFORT once one knows what to do. That may negate the positive of the "free" stuff.
I wonder if a DUmmy would make the relation of trying to run a business (chicken producers) when 20 to 30 percent of your product fails.
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Yes, chickens are stupid. They'll let you catch them and chop their head off.
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Yes, chickens are stupid. They'll let you catch them and chop their head off.
heh! You haven't chased many chickens after the first one "gets" it, have ya! hehehehehehe!
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The egg didn't fall to far from the DUmbass.
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The egg didn't fall to far from the DUmbass.
Yep! "Stoooopid is as stoooopid does"!
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Well, really, ALL chickens are stupid. Hedgehog doesn't seem a Hell of a lot brighter than them, either.
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Well, really, ALL chickens are stupid. Hedgehog doesn't seem a Hell of a lot brighter than them, either.
Totally unrelated story..
Last Saturday I went to a junkyard in Rhode Island that I have pretty good luck with, and I made my way to a back section where they keep scrapped Subarus as I needed to pick a headlight connector for the wife's car ( the rubber covering on hers rotted, water got in and the connector shorted and melted ) Anyway.. As I'm chopping the harness off the car, Behind me I hear SQUAAAAAAWWWWW !!!! I turn around and there is this feral rooster and a few hens who have claimed this dead Subie as their roost.
I decided if the thing didn't leave when I shook my fist at it, I was going to teach it how to fly with my foot. Unlike the primitive's stupid chickens, this rooster and the hens chose the correct option.
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Well, really, ALL chickens are stupid. Hedgehog doesn't seem a Hell of a lot brighter than them, either.
Chicken is good eatin. Hedgehog, not so much.
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Yes, chickens are stupid. They'll let you catch them and chop their head off.
Not really. It's kinda like herding cats. The best way to do it is go into their coop in the morning before you open the door and pluck them off their perch.
As for hatch rates, I still haven't figured a winning formula. Hens do the best job but they will reject sick or unhealthy chicks (even when they seem perfectly healthy to us). I've tried bringing these chicks in and raising them with other chicks but they rarely survive.
Broodiness is an extremely strong instinct. Hens will set for months with very little food or water. Sometimes one poor hen will set on eggs forever and then right before the chicks hatch another hen will decide to sit with her. If the interloper is a dominate hen, she ends up being the adobtive mother. Other times the two will raise them together. Often one of my hens will run off and set on eggs in the brush. I'll think she died or something and next thing I know she'll emerge with chicks in tow. Last year I had a sex link that did that and they're bred to NOT get broody. Go figure.
Just like any other bird, they'll seek a safe place for their chicks. A tree seems a logical choice for any bird. Some just seem to prefer sleeping in trees. They are still birds, after all. Generally they get picked off one or two at a time but I'm not going to climb a tree to get them. Sometimes I've been able to retrain them to go in the coop but some you just have to let go.
Chickens aren't the most intelligent creatures on the earth, but some are smarter than others. I have a couple of Speckled Sussex hens, Hattie and Jenny Any Dot that come running when I come out and will crouch down to be picked up and will follow me around carrying on the chicken version of a conversation. They also manage to get humans to turn over bricks and rocks so they can grab the worms hiding underneath.
Cindie
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Totally unrelated story..
Last Saturday I went to a junkyard in Rhode Island that I have pretty good luck with, and I made my way to a back section where they keep scrapped Subarus as I needed to pick a headlight connector for the wife's car ( the rubber covering on hers rotted, water got in and the connector shorted and melted ) Anyway.. As I'm chopping the harness off the car, Behind me I hear SQUAAAAAAWWWWW !!!! I turn around and there is this feral rooster and a few hens who have claimed this dead Subie as their roost.
I decided if the thing didn't leave when I shook my fist at it, I was going to teach it how to fly with my foot. Unlike the primitive's stupid chickens, this rooster and the hens chose the correct option.
We had an old grey rooster at the farm that would catch you with your back turns and flog you on the back of the leg.
He tried that option on me one time, and I punted his rooster behind thru a barbed wire fence.
From then on, whenever I passed him, he was quite vocal about my presence, but never attempted to sneak up on me.
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They also manage to get humans to turn over bricks and rocks so they can grab the worms hiding underneath.
Cindie
Sounds like they have you well trained. :-*
I've been thinking about building a solar/wind powered chicken house, but if I do, I'll buy live chicks from McMurray Hatchery or some such place.
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solar/wind powered chicken house
Vermont Moonbat.
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We had an old grey rooster at the farm that would catch you with your back turns and flog you on the back of the leg.
He tried that option on me one time, and I punted his rooster behind thru a barbed wire fence.
From then on, whenever I passed him, he was quite vocal about my presence, but never attempted to sneak up on me.
I know what you mean. Some roosters just need to be kicked across the yard a few times until understand who the alpha is.
Cindie
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Sounds like they have you well trained. :-*
I've been thinking about building a solar/wind powered chicken house, but if I do, I'll buy live chicks from McMurray Hatchery or some such place.
Stromberg's has a nice variety too. The ultimate dream place to by chicks from because she does so much work improving genetic lines of heritage and rare breeds is Sandhill Preservation Center. (http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/catalog/chickens.html)
Cindie
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A buddy of mine lives out in the country, and has some chickens...one rooster. The chickens will be food, so they have no names, but the rooster does. His name is Obama, because he is half black, half white, and F's everything. :-)
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A buddy of mine lives out in the country, and has some chickens...one rooster. The chickens will be food, so they have no names, but the rooster does. His name is Obama, because he is half black, half white, and F's everything. :-)
lol :cheersmate:
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A buddy of mine lives out in the country, and has some chickens...one rooster. The chickens will be food, so they have no names, but the rooster does. His name is Obama, because he is half black, half white, and F's everything up. :-)
Much better. :rotf: