How judgmental are you?

merlot we will have two of the DGC living with us so they will need to be child friendly.

I have silver-laced wyandottes, Bags They're pretty but daft as well .

Had a lovely Rhode Island Red called Henny Penny ,she never went broody,we had her from a day old chick,she used to come indoors and follow me around and talk to me,on a cold day we would sit around the log burner,on the settee ,,Labrador and chicken,on the rug,two rabbits,on my lap in the rocking chair 3 guinea pigs....getting carried away,but Henny used to come in to the bedroom in the morning and sit on the bed next to me,where I would stroke her and she would lay her egg for me,never any mess...also had ducks...Henny has now been adopted when we moved,but missed the character of chickens so much we adopted 5 from a neighbour who wanted to stop keeping them...

If you want child-friendly, most hens are fine, just watch out for the cockerels! Wouldn't recommend Scots Grey cockerels, though the hens are fine, if skittish. Ours was a good broody. The Scots Grey and bantam crosses were hardy. Chose to live outside in the trees rather than in a henhouse all through freezing winters. Black Rocks don't know the meaning of the word broody. The Wyandotte went broody but didn't keep all the eggs under her, so hopeless, duh!

The Black Rocks came into the house too. They are a good breed for families, especially if you want plenty of eggs.

My daughter was telling me about her rooster - he got very upset when one of his harem of seven hens managed to get into the garden and went AWOL for an hour or so. He was like a parent who has lost a child! She lets them out of their large compound to feast on the lawn, and he uses his wings to shoo them back in. They lay more eggs than she can use normally, but my 14-year old gd has developed a real interest in baking and uses them in her cakes.
I hadn't realised how interesting poultry can be, as well as useful. I especially liked their interaction with the kittens, which the cat hid under the hen house.

Oh* greatnan* I love the chickens They have great personalities,being a townie,chicken was just something on a polystyrene tray from tesco ,by accident we got into keeping them and ended up with 18 of various breeds,each had its own character,ours have corn and the yolks are rich yellow,they are free range I love to see our dog,rabbits which run free round our huge garden,and chickens all interacting with each other,we got lots of animals mainly to benefit Eisha,as I believe all children should grow up with animals,she only takes an interest to eat the eggs,but we get so much pleasure from them,I couldn't eat them,they have names it would be like eating my children..

I have a little flock of six Sussex cross hens - all red. I would never eat any of them either - two have almost stopped laying, but they still produce manure which is very good for the garden. Most days I get 3 or 4 eggs - just occasionally I get six.

They love their food - as well as laying pellets I give them various weeds, pieces of bacon rind, apple cores, and curl grubs when I find them (their favourite) They are not allowed anything from the deadly nightshade family (tomatos etc(

As the person who started this thread,and who worried a bit in the middle, can I say that I love the road it has taken from a simple question with lots of really good answers, via a lively debate, the wonderful nellie and finally to chickens - only on GN!

Brilliant!!

kitty

I agree if the thread has moved on as a natural course but both you and ninnynanny have no opologies to make over your comments. They were both valid points and questions.

I do have a nagging feeling as to why it changed so drastically after ninnynanny's post though. Oh dear I am off for therapy again. Hey Ho.

Haven't got any chickens, and don't want any. Am I being judgemental I wonder?

The neighbours all have chickens and I get used to seeing wheelbarrows full of dead ones being pushed up the hill for plucking / cooking.
Personally I like them best crisply roasted!

I think without knowing it we empathise with chickens . They appreciate the humdrum of daily life, put up with demanding blokes, proudly fuss over their babies and complain loudly if anything threatens them. If free-ranging, they welcome you with a smile by clucking happily when you return from a shopping trip like children wondering if you've brought them something nice. Their eggs provide you with nourishment for your nearest and dearest and they make you chuckle as they strut around sometimes looking like a granny at the seaside having trouble wearing flip-flops. When they are too old to be of any productive use, all they ask is for a happy retirement foraging and resting in the shade until their time is up and even then they depart to the happy chicken coop in the sky without fuss (or a large vet's bill)
What's not to love about a chicken?

Thought I would peruse the other threads. Don't know why, haven't time to cope with one.Note peruse (read thoroughly,carefully). Found I hadn't time to do even that. Only got the gist of what everyone was saying.
I find that I need not have bothered, it seems the same occurs on all threads (this I am assuming, as I admit to not having looked at all threads, but a regular sequence is apparent) they ricochet about like random electrons. Don't know if anyone else would concur but It would be better to just have an "open' thread where a subject could be mauled to death unless deviation occurred, and another tack followed. Oops! That is what is happening isn't it?
What thread am I on?
Don't bother to read a daily newspaper, I find they are all comics anyway. Having picked one up in the coffee shop to while away the time, I inevitably put it back in the rack, having hardly read more than a couple of pages. One tends to believe, or agree with what one is convinced of anyway.I opine that you believe what you want to, rather than what is correct,

There's nobody here, but us chickens! Cluck...

As long as it is only the subject that is being mauled to death.

deserving

At last I understand you

Pogs,
I refer you to the last 14 words of my post.
Greatnan,
Succinct. Chimes with what I advocate

Deserving - I am beginning to think we could be best buddies!

I must be standing on a sixpence and turning. Hooda thought it.

That's the best laugh I've had in days! Thank you, peeps

And of course.....it's all a matter of opinion, isn't it......?

My newly countrified sister-in-law has recently started to keep chickens and as she has grown so fond of them the family is no longer allowed to eat chicken (her sons have forbidden her to keep sheep or pigs). When the chickens stop laying she plans to 'retire' them and buy more. We joke with her about the way she treats her chickens like babies, but recently she had an 'off colour' chick that she took to the vet - and ended up with a £72 bill!! You can get a lot of eggs and a few good roasters from the supermarket for that price.

Me too, when

We had a little bantam cockerel,ginger with a rod Stewart hair cut,bless him called scruffy,he developed a cough so one Sunday saw me driving 12 miles to the nearest tesco for glycerine lemon and honey as it sounded a dry cough,poor scruff was off his food and his many wives who all fussed about him clucking about man flu,poor scruff was no better the next day so we took him to the vets,who sadly shook her head saying he probably wouldn't last,I was in tears she she calculated a dose off antibiotic of 00.1ml to be given in a pipette.I decided to give him a drop of brandy to make him feel better and squirted into his throat,an hour later he was strutting around crowing thumping his chest and goosing his wives,but he developed a taste for brandy,and around 4 every afternoon he would tap on the door with his beak,like a drunk at opening time and demand his dose of brandy,he wouldn't be fobbed off if wasn't brandy,he wouldn't drink it...