Old farmer vrs Country gal

[Bigbluefrog]

So I watch my chickens, feed them daily, clean their dishes, treat their health like bumble foot or whatever health. Wrap an ankle put on aprons for their back.
And worry!
Then the farmer
Good feed, clean water, cleans the coop 2 times a year.
Picks the eggs.
The farmer doesn't fuss over his chickens like we do- let's them run around bare backed. Farmer Joe says the chickens are healthy.

Am I missing something?! Seems like less fuss is working for him- or maybe he has the same drama but doesn't notice it.
I want less drama!

 

[FrostRanger]

Both styles work, I don't think one is necessarily better than the other, just different people with different situations and different birds

 

[Mrs. K]

When I started out, I worried and fretted, but I began to watch and really think about what my chickens were telling me.

At one time, I put aprons on chickens with the best of intentions, until I realized that bare back chickens bother people more than chickens, and that they really didn't like wearing the aprons. That the aprons could cause problems too.

I thought baby chicks needed heat until they were fully feathered, now I have them down and in the coop and run with out heat by 3-4 weeks. They are much healthier running in a big area rather than 'safe' in a small tight area.

I don't read the disease and emergency page here. I have had chickens for years, and a lot of that IMO should be handled with a mercy cull, not a medical treatment.

I like to watch my chickens, I have birds that have been raised under a broody hen, that I have never touched. I don't check crops, I don't stick tums down their throats. I don't wrap ankles.

I firmly believe that a chicken that is eating, active and has bright eyes is healthy. If a chicken is not - she should be pulled from the flock, and if not better, dispatched. I have done one for that reason in decades of chicken keeping.

I have found that soft-shell eggs tend to get better with treatment in a week, and in 7 days if you do nothing. That people have almost no influence on egg laying, and diet very little, if the bird is not on starvation rations.

I believe that sunshine and fresh air are as important as feed and water. I have found they do not need feed 24/7, nor water. Warm water is nice, but truthfully, if they get fresh water once a day, they do just fine.

Shade and water is very important in hot weather, shade all day long, as it moves with the sun. But I have never taken ice to my birds.

I do not expect my birds to live forever, or even for 10 years. Right now I do have Mrs Feathers - an excellent broody hen who is going on 7-8 years. But she is the exception. I keep a flock the birds come into the flock and leave.

Me and farmer Joe are pretty close, but I tend to broom out the coop 4-6 times a year. If I would ever get over this cough, it needs it now.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

maybe he has the same drama but doesn't notice it.

Or reacts to it differently.

 

[5Australorpasaures]

Food, water, shelter and cull the gold brickers and unhealthy. Same way Grandmom did it. Always been livestock not pets to me but I don't fault folks doting over their birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Farmer Joe has livestock, you have pets. People with pets tend to think of them as family members, worry about their emotional and mental wellbeing as much as their physical wellbeing. They draw emotional comfort from each individual and want to give that individual the best possible life. The way I've seen some people feed their pets I'm not convinced they really understand how to feed them to be healthy. I'm specifically thinking of a cat owner that fed the cat so well that it was grossly overweight. He really loved that cat, maybe too much. Most pet owners don't do that but some livestock owners aren't the best either.

Some people with pets seem to think that anyone with livestock instead of pets is abusing his animals. I'm talking about horses, sheep, and cattle as much as chickens. From some of the posts on here they seem to think people enjoy abusing livestock. Any farmer worth his salt knows that animals are more productive if they are fed, watered, and housed appropriately. They do not starve their animals for the fun of it, they know their animals are more productive if they are not hungry all of the time. They try to keep them content. Dad really enjoyed taking care of his plow horses. He seemed to enjoy currying them and rubbing them down. But they were livestock and when one got too old to work he was replaced.

While farmers or ranchers may even know individual animals quite well, they realize that things happen, especially if you have a large number of animals. It is a business. They have to decide if they treat a disease or injury or if it is best to remove that animal. The decision to remove an animal is not taken lightly. While you may consider anything happening to your babies as something that has to be managed immediately they have an understanding of how likely it is to take care of itself, or if it is really a problem.

They are your animals. If you want to manage them as pets and take great care of them, go for it. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. You should draw emotional support from them.

 

[PrettyBirdRocky]

I always remember the story of my Mammaw telling on my Great Pappaw and his huge dislike of bantams. Every year they would buy 100 chicks from the mill, raise them up for the farm (middle of nowhere, farmland, woods, creeks) for eggs and butchering. they had barn to roost in but we're free range and how my Pappaw hated the year they traded with a neighbor (down the road a ways) for bantams and the "bloody bantams" always roosted in Pappaw's tractor, then shoo them away and possibly have a chicken dinner.

Sounds so simple. Yet where we live our girls have an enclosed, covered run(about to add on more too). They wouldn't last a day in our neck of the woods- too many dogs and wildlife, and neighbors are too close. So I'm sure the chickens act differently in each environment too.

(ETA: what Ridgerunner said)

 

[DonyaQuick]

The missing thing is that the less fuss method will involve more turnover in the population. At any given time, the population will be healthy, but in part because birds with non-trivial problems will have been removed from it. No special needs birds being accommodated, etc.

I would also expect some difference in the temperment of the birds too. I have many birds that would live in the house and sleep in my bedroom if they could. And then there are a couple of birds that, despite being raised exactly the same as the others, are much more just a ball of instinct and reflexes even though they're still friendly. If I had a whole flock like those two, honestly I'd just have to let them do their thing and intervene a lot less. My desire to fuss is strong but those two are actually logistically difficult to fuss upon. Instead, I mostly have birds that get audibly upset they don't get their expected hug quota per day...so fussing over them is rather easy and therefore abundant.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have a whole flock that does not like fussing. Those two would fit right in! haha To each his own way. I just love to watch mine, have no need to cuddle. But I love to watch our cows, and horses too.

As for ranchers - my dear hubby has been chopping ice - as in a 3 x 5 foot hole in the water in several places every day for his cattle to get water. Now if you think that only cattle are drinking there, well you would be wrong.

He does feed them, he loves healthy cattle, with shinning coats and energy. Soon they will be calving, and most of them will calve entirely on their own...due to breeding, good health, and adequate food.

To each his own way of doing things.
Mrs k