Hello From California - BYC member new to SS

[frustratedearthmother]

yea I have never butchered any of my chickens ( I am wuss lol)...

The first one is the hardest!

Eggs are good! We eat a lot of them around here too...and sell them...and give them away...and feed them to the pigs...and feed them to the dogs... Unless, of course, it's this time of year when its too hot to move, and they're starting to molt, and then I have to beg (and threaten chicken soup) to get a couple a day.

 

[baymule]

I have 10 hens and get 6-8 eggs a day. 4 of the 10 are old, 2 of them are pets, 2 need to go into the soup pot. When I let them out of the coop, they RUN to the porch and hide under it all day. I keep a tub of water for them and the dogs.

I have 50 Delawares, most of which turned out to be roosters. going to butcher them real soon and get them off the feed bill. BTW, these are the meanest darn chickens I've ever seen.

I have had games before, they lay well, brood their babies, and are a true SS chicken. They don't have much meat on them, but I am sure they could be used as surrogate broodies in a SHTF situation.

@frustratedearthmother what breeds do you have, which do you like the best and why?

 

[Jshubin]

Thats okay I am used to chicken talk...

That cool about all your breeds, you obviously have a lot of experience raising / butchering chickens. I really need to start eating mine, I have too many, but I have stronger parental attachment to mine.

I have always been interested in the thought of feral/landrace breeds. If I ever get really big property (only 1/2 acre right now) I would have a giant herd of chickens running around living off the land. All sorts of breeds, and just let natural selection sort out which genetics are optimal for self sufficient wild chickens. (Predators dont seem nearly as bad in California as other states from what I have noticed talking with my other BYC friends).

 

[baymule]

Just get some Icelandic chickens. They were left on an island, forgotten about and left to fend for themselves. They are pretty too!

 

[lcertuche]

JSHUBIN, I too belong to BYC. I'm also new here. Wow, sounds like you have a lot of irons in the fire. I imagine in California you get a good tax break on the solar improvements but I doubt you would in Arkansas. I have a SIL in Porterville and I guess there is a lot of fires now. I hope the drought is better. Here it is like a tropical forest this summer with rain almost every day and pretty cool nights. Usually summers are really hot and no rain in sight for days at a time. I'm loving it!