Got a friend who asked me to write a bit on chickens and give
some “Ranch Reality” to all the online hype. It is a pity these days that there
is so much misinformation in the way of folks wanting to have Hobby Farms and
finding new ways to invent the wheel. But folks, it just doesn’t work in Ranch
Reality!
So…here we go, got some info for those inquiring minds of the
internet as to good ole fashioned ranching and farming practices.
A friend told me that folks are feeding their chickens
hardboiled eggs and yogurt to stop pasty butt on their chicks. Well…I can’t say
that it works or it doesn’t, but if you are dealing with 4-14 chicks maybe that
isn’t expensive or difficult for you. But man oh man, how expensive and
difficult that gets when you have 50-200! AND let those chicks do what God
intended them to do and that is peck at dirt! ~smile~ So, it’s real simple and
cheap, go out in your yard and pick up a handful of dirt with a little grit in
it or sandy soil and put it into those crumbles! Put it in a pan and let them
scratch. You’ll have healthy happy chicks! God knows what He’s doin’ y’all! Ranch Reality right there, I’m tellin’ ya!
Another tale of Ranch Reality (and I may have blogged this
one before) is that when you see chickens running around free and not fenced
into a run, ranchers/farmers only leave their meat chickens roam that way as
they never collect the eggs and if some chicks are hatched from the eggs,
GREAT! We grab up a meat chicken and have dinner that night. But, we don’t let
our laying hens roam. They are still considered “Free Range” if they are in a
run and that is exactly what you’ll get in the stores…they are free in a large
“run”, not in cages indoors but also not running all over the property. Why?
Well, as my husband told me, “You’ll have rotten eggs and dead chickens!” so, I
experimented on my friend’s advice years ago and guess what? We had rotten eggs
and dead chickens…hmmm. That is, if you have eggs or chickens at all because
you will be fighting for them with other critters that like them just as well!
Namely, raccoons, coyotes, owls, hawks and snakes just to name a few. Yep…best
forget that and get some Ranch Reality in your life! Make a hen pen which is a
“run”, the size depends on how many chickens you have. Never put too many in a
pen or you’ll have cannibalism (shhh…no one likes to talk about this but
chickens are the small version of a T-Rex). So, for anyone who is a vegetarian
you may feel a little less feather friendly if you knew what they really do!
LOL!
Well, y’all…join my blog and receive much needed info! I
won’t blow up your email as I don’t post real often. But if you have a
question, be bold and ask me on or off the blog. I’m here to hear Y’ALL!
