Way Offtopic :) Does anyone have Chickens at home?

Well, my wife and I are proud parents of (4) 10 month old hens and (13) baby chicks about 3 weeks old. Does anyone have any chickens on here?
If so I am beginning a Poultry Management app as a fun side thing to help us track our Egg production.

I can’t be the only crazy one on this… :slight_smile:

Some friends of mine who live in the next neighborhood over have chickens. They love the fresh eggs, and their kids treat them like pets.

They did sort of take over the back yard though - had to fence in the whole thing, and wire up some heat lamps etc to the coop at the back of the yard. (it gets pretty cold here in Idaho in the winter).

More work than I’m interested in, but if you can make it a hobby you enjoy, I hear the eggs are outstanding.

They are so good since they are ultimately fresh and free of possible bad things like bleach exposure etc. They taste better :wink:

If you are looking for testers for your app, I can certainly ask my buddy if he’s interested in tracking production etc.

Thanks Kimball. What you see if how far I am :slight_smile: I was just curious to see what other Xojo developers also had some chickens :slight_smile:

I have another friend who used to live in Arizona who kept a bunch of chickens around just to help control the cockroaches… Turning icky bugs into tasty eggs - chickens are pretty amazing. :slight_smile:

My co-worker (hardware engineer guy) lives on a full-blown farm: Cows, emu, chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, at least 1 peacock, etc. He sits on about 20 or so acres, though, and was raised on a farm and has a large family to help with all the chores.

It’s fun to take my kids over there when a new calf is born to let them help feed it, etc.

If you do get your app to the point it is useful, I may be able to help you out with some testers or customers. :wink:

Thanks Kimball! Awesome!

I have 3 chickens (hens I think)… I’d have to go check the freezer to be sure…

haha nice Dave :slight_smile:

I’m chewing on a drumstick at this very moment :slight_smile:

Too early here (10am) for drumsticks… but that is a great lunch idea… thanks :slight_smile: [hey this is in OFF TOPIC :slight_smile: ]

18:10hrs here in London.
Drumsticks and pasta for me.

I’ll raise my hand. We have 1 hen, 4 roosters and just purchased 10 chicks (Rhode Island Reds). We love the eggs and it’s a great way for my sons to learn a little responsibility. We had 30 at on time, but the (bad) neighbors wouldn’t keep their dogs in their own yard, so we have lost most of them. We sell the eggs and people are always asking for more. Good money for a couple of little boys.

thought about it but the foxes & coyotes are so bad around here that neighbors who have had them for years have 0 left

our poor old 8 year old mutt is exhausted at the end of most days from chasing them away all the time

Can you not keep your chickens in an enclosure?

You’d think that’d be sufficient - amazing to see how the foxes & coyotes still manage to kill the chickens through the fencing and then eat them. Short of wiping the coyotes & foxes out, which is only a temporary measure - maybe lasts 2 weeks before another pack moves in, or building a fully enclosed steel barn (which large commercial operations have) the animals are amazing in their cleverness at obtaining dinner.
Poisoning them is restricted as it has an impact on all other animals that might clean up the remains and shooting them is dangerous as there are a number of houses too close together to be shooting.

So most of us have dogs - but the neighbors with the chickens dog was old & passed away over the winter & they have not acquired a suitable replacement - hence the foxes have moved in and are enjoying a free lunch.

Its good to have them free range at least in a fenced chicken run to get them happy so they lay eggs :slight_smile: Plus the smell gets out of hand in smaller coups with lots of chickens not getting out into a Chicken run from time to time.

My 7 ft fence around the run is good to protect them from Foxes, but… Hawks, possums, racoons, etc can climb and since our run is large we don’t have a roof for it. Our run has full time access into the coup for the chickens until night when we lock them inside the coup.

I also put down about 24 inches of chicken wire slightly buried outside of the fence to block the Foxes from digging.

My mum once put a padlock on the refrigerator, but I managed to circumvent it and eat all of the goodies inside :slight_smile:

We’ve actually even watched a fox open a latched gate
They’re actually very smart & quite good looking animals - so I don’t shoot or poison nor do neighbours
And they’re not aggressive towards people unless cornered

Coyotes on the other hand can be just because
They’re far more of a nuisance so we have a dog that loves to give chase but is smart enough to stop when he gets them far enough away

We have foxes in London, believe it or not.
They are often seen at dusk, skulking along the streets scavenging. I personally don’t have a problem with them, and I often throw leftover food out for the foxes, squirrels and birds, as I live in the countryside and they act like pets :slight_smile:

If I had chickens however, I would probably act differently.