out/2560183.txt

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--- 2560183
/out/ I need some help.

Working towards self sufficiency and decided to get some chickens, got everything together and bought a 10 pack of chicks from Tractor supply as well as a coop. To keep it short tractor supply fucked up my coop order and today when I went to fix it they fucked it up again and accidentally sent me 10 more chicks.

The original coop I had planned won't house 20 chickens comfortably so I have no clue what to do. Any DIY coop plans or prebuilt coops for 20 chickens would be appreciated, or any other ideas of what to do with them. Don't think I could bring myself to kill them but I might be able to stomach giving some away.
--- 2560199
Kill them and eat them.
>Don't think I could bring myself to kill them
Well, too bad. That's "self sufficiency" for you.
--- 2560203
>>2560183 (OP)
Chicken math strikes again
--- 2560211
>>2560183 (OP)
They only lay productively for a few years and they can live for more than a decade. What's your plan for that?
--- 2560213
>>2560199
I wouldn't want to kill a laying hen, they're all prolific egg laying breeds. If I were to kill and eat any of them it'd be after they're past their prime. But these are just baby chicks, It'd feel like a waste to raise some egg layers from chicks just to slaughter them and eat em.
--- 2560216
>>2560211
If they stopped laying significantly I think it'd be possible to stomach culling them. I just can't bring myself to raise them and kill them as they are now since they're just babies.
--- 2560242
>>2560183 (OP)
craigslist or whatever, number of free chicks. someone will
--- 2560243
>>2560216
They are significantly better eating if they're under months old. They get really tough after that.
--- 2560261
>>2560183 (OP)
3 options I think. 

>1. ask around and/or put them on Craigslist or whatever you tend to use in your area. 

>2. Raise them, look which look the most healthy, keep those. Slaughter the rest and freeze the meat.

>3. get a bigger coop, and make sure you have enough space outside as well. Mix and match with options 1 and 2.

Also keep us updated anon, I love chicken. Dinosaurs, man.
--- 2560272
>>2560261
Got my family to chip in $200 each for a total of about $1000+ my own $600 so I've got roundabout $1600 to build or buy a better coop.

Looking right now into sheds that we can convert or prebuilt and have a few options, any recommendations for builds or prebuilt/sheds would be appreciated.

Also pic rel is 10 I current have they're about 2 weeks old at this point.
--- 2560288
>>2560183 (OP)
>The original coop I had planned won't house 20 chickens comfortably
If you have room for 10 chickens comfortably you have room for 20 chickens humanely. Chickens are retarded dinosaurs they don't have the same standards you do.
--- 2560300
Release the extra ones. Let them be free.
--- 2560353
>>2560272
You could build a palatial coop for that amount of cash. At least around here. 
An okay one of you have to pay labor.
>>2560300
Let the foxes, racoons and hawks do your dirty work for you. Plus they'll detick your yard very well.
--- 2560370
>>2560203
Why are they so dirty? Do you not collect them daily?
--- 2560375
>>2560370
They live with a large flock of ducks and those are dirty dirty birds. It's a gamble wether they'll come out clean from a day to day.
--- 2560454
You probably paid $6 ea at TSC, right? Sell the extras for $15 or $20 ea when they are old enough to leave the brooder. Someone would likely pay extra to not have to deal with brooding chicks. If that doesn't work, buy a second coop. If that isn't an option, check out the chickshaw. I made one and it worked for a while for my flock of 30+ until the wind flipped it over and busted it. To be fair, I had never built anything before and I made a lot of mistakes putting it all together.
--- 2560508
>>2560183 (OP)
>Working towards self sufficiency
>Don't think I could bring myself to kill them

Good luck
--- 2561021
>>2560183 (OP)
Are the chicks unsexed? Thats usually how they are sold. Just care for the 20 and wait for them to get old enough for you to tell which are pullets and which are roosters. Then kill all but one rooster but you dont even need a rooster, he'll just be useful for protecting your flock.

Another option is to build a cheap t-post and chicken wire fence and let the roosters fight to the death, the strongest survives and he'll protect the flock
--- 2561072
>>2560213
>prolific egg laying breeds
Like what, New Hampshire? That'd be up to 250 eggs a year per hen. Do you plan on building an egg fort?
--- 2561805
>>2561072
not OP but i got 2 rhode island reds, which lay up to 300 a year. We eat eggs every day so no forts for us :(
--- 2561811
>>2560183 (OP)
>I need some help 
Yeah, you need to stop being a limp 
wristed panty waist 

You want to be self sufficient? Fatten them up and slaughter the biggest birds. It's good to know how to clean a chicken
--- 2561813
>>2560353
How do other ground birds survive against foxes and birds of prey? How do turkeys exist?
--- 2561835
>>2560183 (OP)
Well if you had a cat you'd have 10 good meals for it.
--- 2561878
>>2561813
Turkeys can fly.
--- 2561959
Find a small local auction house that does livestock, find what days they auction and start making some friends with other likeminded folk
--- 2561980
Reminds me of the time I'd raise my chickens when I was little and my mom would kill them. That whore.
--- 2562081
OP here ended up giving the chicks to someone we knew who had room for em. Also we found a great guy near us who builds coops and got a great custom coop for the same price as the shit-ass tractor supply one.
>>2561072
I eat 4-6 eggs daily. Plus other family members.
>>2560508
At least you have the courtesy to label yourself eurofag.
>>2561805
Based bro, I love eggs, absolute superfood.
>>2561811
I'm a 6'1 190lbs autistic Adonis anon. Though I do agree it's a bit pansy, but sorry I just love animals.
>>2561980
Fuck that bitch, chickens are pure souls.
--- 2562083
>>2560183 (OP)
OP I know you don't want to kill laying chickens, but let me put it this way: The world has enough chickens, and they're very cheap. If you can't find someone to take them, kill and eat them. Millions on millions of baby chicks every single year. Grocery store is full of chicken. You can get a chicken sandwich or friend chicken damn near anywhere. Their value is very low. Kill the chickens.
>t. Grandad was a chicken farmer. Have have killed thousands.
--- 2562172
>>2560183 (OP)
theyre made of chicken
eat them
--- 2562381
It's not self-sufficient but why not just find a butcher to just bring extra chickens to and let him do the job? You'd have a supply of eggs and meat then without having to do the killing yourself.
--- 2562388
>>2560272
Where the fuck do you live? I built my coop that houses a 100 birds for $200. Learn to frame, build a square, make a wooden ladder and put it diagonally in the coop for roosting space, job done. With the extra money put siding on it and a nice roof. 
Also this
>>2560288
I highly doubt you can house 10 chickens and not 20 unless your coop is a dresser, which btw works, I have a dresser as a coop for silkies.
--- 2562391
>>2561021
>Another option is to build a cheap t-post and chicken wire fence and let the roosters fight to the death, the strongest survives and he'll protect the flock
Yes, commit a crime in every developed nation on the world instead of just giving them away or eating them, highly intelligent.
--- 2562396
>>2562081
>4-6 eggs daily
That doesn't seem healthy to me.
--- 2563125
Non meat chickens take a long time to mature so slaughering them isnt very practical because of how long it will take. If you can keep them long enough for them to be large you can slaughter them easily for some meat and some very good broth. Check craigslist and see if anyones getting rid of a doghouse you can put a door on or a shed.
--- 2563126
>>2560242
Yeah this will work
--- 2563129
>>2560375
What kind of ducks do you keep?
--- 2563213
>>2563129
Khaki Campbell and Pekins. But I'll impulse buy something else once and awhile. Sometimes the Pekins get so big they'll crush eggs so there's that.
--- 2563777
>>2560199
If you want to kill an egg lying hen, especially a young one then you are a retarded faggot LARPer but we knew it already
--- 2563791
>make my chickens freerange
>they kick the rocks in my garden bed up onto the grass
--- 2563793
>>2560370
I collect mine daily and sometimes they're covered in shit. It's normal.
--- 2563802
>>2560183 (OP)
Avian flu is appearing again-keep them and cash in
--- 2563822
>>2562391
Gambling is the crime when it comes to cock fighting. He's just allowing his roosters to cull themselves. Nothing illegal about culling livestock.
--- 2563823
>>2563802
bird flu is just as fake and gay as covid
--- 2563825
>>2560183 (OP)
Haven't read the thread yet so someone else may have said this already but I'd say keep the extra chickens and expand your coop or build an add-on section if you need to. 10 extra chicks is sweet if you can accommodate them. Good adult hens can sell for 50-100$ a head at trade markets... or you could let them stay egg factories and decide if you want to sell them later.
--- 2563952
>>2563213
>khaki Campbell's and Pekins

Based. I grew out 10 Pekins last year and butchered them all in the fall. I think I only have 2 left in the freezer, I dont know what recipe my wife uses when she cooks them, but my lord they are exquisite. Makes chicken taste like refried dog shit.

 Got 20 Pekin eggs in the incubator right now for this season.
--- 2563954
>>2563952
Nice I've been breeding Brahmas and Speckled Sussex for 2 years now, I raise good hens and roosters and take them to market and sell them plus billions of eggs
--- 2564193
>>2560203
Are some of those eggs for niggers?
--- 2564257
>>2560203
Holy shit your wall outlet is installed the right way up. I almost never see that.
--- 2564289
>>2560272
Why do you need $1600 for a coop, all the coops I have seen are extremely simple, build a frame made out of some 2x4 then put in plywood for the floors walls and ceiling. A box made of 2x4 with plywood for the walls. Then put some kind of roof on top of the plywood to keep it dry. The idea is more like a barn then it is shed. For the chickens to live just build a multilevel shelf inside with a ladder/ramp to each level. Depending on your level of rural and how much land you have just let the chickens walk around your farm or land. It's what 60% of the rednecks and farmers around me do.
--- 2564321
>>2564289
If you are resourceful in finding lumber and have some basic building skills then chicken coops can be almost free besides the time and energy... minus some wire for windows and back fence area etc
--- 2564322
>>2564289
Also yeah I have about 20 acres for chickens to roam around on that isn't taken up by other livestock and sometimes I feel like I don't need to feed them except in the dead of winter, I still throw out some egg layer pellet and scratch grain in the coop fence for the brooding hens but the rest of the chickens barely pick on it and seem to do fine just finding bugs and stuff during the day (in summer)
--- 2564360
>>2562396
You're right, he should be drinking some lowfat s o y milk like you
--- 2564362
>>2562396
4-6 eggs daily is perfect. I eat 5 eggs for breakfast every morning. Cholesterol worry is a Hebrew lie if you eat an optimal natural diet not stocked with goy-feed, corn syrup, and vegetable goil
--- 2564379
>>2561813
>How do other ground birds survive against foxes and birds of prey?
Actual wild chicken live in dense jungles and are good at running and flying. Turkeys hardly count as ground birds.
--- 2565210
>>2562396
>retard alert.jpg
--- 2565724
one of my chickens has a limp and doesnt lay eggs
another chicken doesnt have a limp but walks slowly, spends most of the day standing still in the middle of the lawn doing nothing, and is very docile almost too docile, she might be retarded butt she lays eggs (often outside the nesting box)

what do?
--- 2567038
>>2565724
Cull them. I'm doing 3 of my brown layers today. I might get an egg every other day from them, and one of them is sickly looking. So Im gonna turn them into dog food
--- 2567041
How do you know you dont have any roosters?
--- 2568415
>>2560211
>They only lay productively for a few years
Stop peddling someone else's bullshit. They lay for several years, 5-7 on average depending on environmental conditions.