so after a few glasses of wine, DWIED asks:

"so chickens are birds right?

how come they lay eggs everyday, and all other birds only lay once a year?"

the all knowing, all seeing, maha DIED responds....the answer can be revealed through pondboss.......

That's actually a pretty easy one. Just like Condello Bluegill, people have been breeding and crossbreeding chickens for thousands of years. There are basically three types of chickens -- those for meat, those for eggs, and those known as "dual purpose."

I have egg chickens that are extremely prolific, but my hens would never think of sitting on an egg to hatch it. However, not all the instincts have been bred out of our rooster.

Ken

And I thought this post was gonna get me fresh eggs for breakfast,and then maybe fresh fried chicked for lunch.

Tom,

You are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My wife and I just finished up some fresh breakfast eggs from our chickens. I'm now off to start getting 400 chicken halves on two grills we fired up about an hour ago. We'll start serving at 11:00 AM.

Ken

P.S. Actually, all are welcome to come taste our chicken. We are setup on US Route 50, about 15 miles west of Winchester, right on the WV/VA state line. This is a benefit for a family with some serious medical costs not covered by insurance.

You're a good man, Ken. I hope the event is a success for that family!

I love to hear charitable stories. Soon all our medical will be FREE, but we still wont be able to afford it.

ok ken. i actually told DWIED its because they been domesticated. she axed well how does that work? thats as far as my little brain went and time to turn to pondboss.

so 10000 yrs ago some loin cloth dude took a some chickens. those that laid eggs once a month were kept and those that laid once a yr were eaten. then his great great grandkids bred the "once a monthers" until they got "once a weekers" and so on and so on until you had daily laying chickens?

somehow this seemed more interesting last night.

somehow this seemed more interesting last night.
Its not too early for the wine,then it will be interesting again.

Chicken? Who you callin' chicken?

Many species of birds will keep laying eggs if the prior ones are removed from the nest or the chicks die.

i guess i knew that eric, come to think of it, some our turkey hens have laid multiple times in the spring (after foxes or whatever messed thier nests)..

theo gallus gallus..

24 billion chickens...........

I hate chickens. When I was real little, they used to send me out to gather eggs. There were always a couple of hens that I had to move to get to the eggs. They always pecked me and I had been told to never get my face near because they would peck my eyes out. I hate chickens.

Most ground nesting birds will renest if their original clutch is destroyed... Many times in the fall you will see a flock of turkeys with very different sized YOY birds. The big ones are from original nestings and the little ones came from second attempts... So many hungry coons, skunks, hogs, snakes and anything else that wants to eat an egg!

I second Dave Davidson. I hate poultry! My Mom raised chickens, pheasants, geese, ducks, and the worst - turkeys. Mom was into free range birds before it was the "proper thing to do." The turkeys would come running and attack us when we went to the barn to feed. They could take chunks out your legs through your blue jeans. We use to grab them by the neck and hammer throw them in self defense, and they'd come running right back for more.

Nothing like an angry tom bird!

Yes, sometimes they just kept coming back over and over until you wanted to strangle them.

With turkeys, all you have to do is spray a water hose up into the air. The turkeys will think it's raining, look up, hold their beak open til they drown. honest.

given the choice, gimme the hammer throw

If laying hens are receiving proper management, the most common reason for reduction of lay is a reduction of light. The reproductive state of all birds is strongly regulated by the amount of light that they receive each day. If hens are to maintain a constant state of egg production, they must be subjected to at least 16 hours of light every day. This light can be provided from sunlight, artificial light sources, or a combination.

Interestingly, the Rhode Island Red / White Rock sixlink hens that we now have, did not slow down one bit this past winter. We have no supplemental light (or heat), and there are no windows in the coop. In over sixty years of being around barnyard chickens, these are the most prolific hens I've ever seen.

We got them as 1 day old peeps about this time last year. They started laying in mid-August. Ever since then, we've averaged over 8 eggs per day from the nine hens -- and one rooster.

Additionally, this small flock is pesky friendly. I can't work on anything outside while they are running loose. They've got to inspect (or eat) everything.

you guys were so great on this question, rather than start a new thread, i'll follow it up w/ another DWIED musing generated through the miracle of fermented grape juice.......

so last night, says DWIED "we've lived here 15 years. we have all kinds of babies around here, geese, ducks, deer, all kinds of birds.....how come i never seen any turkey vulture babies? where do they nest? are they like other birds with nests in trees?

DIED responded "honey, really, dont you know they self clone? they replicate at full adult size. there are no such things as turkey vulture babies"

so who wants to dispute the wisdom of DIED?

please continue...

I had a buzzard with chicks on my property for the last two springs, I couldnt locate any kind of nest...One thing for sure...FUGLY! Not too far from me they have wild chickens, I would be curious to see how they live and breed.

Sgt, thats interesting you've seen the vulture youngins. we never have. we have dozens maybe hundreds of adults. if something dies in the pasture or even in the dense woods, they are on it in no time. they must live close by. i've seen just about everything else. hoot owl babies are a hoot.... and pretty fugly too

I saw two the last two years...I didn't want to get too close because mom was hanging around....Nothing goes to waste with buzzards around....I shot a 400+ boar hog last year and the carcass was gone in three days

Only a mother could love this....

Gotta be a widdle Condor?

It's supposed to be a turkey vulture baby but then again how would I know the difference?

D.I.E.D.
From my scant memory banks I seem to recall that buzzards have very wide range. 7 mile radius? Add each neighbor and his neighbor and you have a batch of buzzards, then they might migrate to Sgt 911's place to have kids before returning to your digs to dine.

ewest is right on, as usual, take an egg, produce an egg., here and I am guessing else where if food is abundant, lots of eggs, if scarce few if any.

I remember being in Kernville one time when there were 1000s of hawks, they were on their way to somewhere and were just resting up or fueling up?

The cutest/ugliest thing I have ever seen is baby roadrunners.

chris? your pets? i see what you mean Sgt...man they are FUGLY.....future carcass cleaning machines.

i cant wait to show that pic to DWIED.

i'm still kind of surprised i never see the babies. they roost around here very often. its common to drive out in the morning and see them sitting on the fence posts waiting for the sun to come up. i need to grab a pic of that. when the sun hits them, they spread their wings to soak it in.

I went to HS in Bakersfield, we had a cabin just over the hill from Kernville near Pine Flat (White River actually)

Chris's photo is really cool. The head looks just like an aduts. The head doesnt grow much either.
A new use for buzzards I found out last year. No more waiting for large red sliders(death by drowning) to float to shore, or going out and netting floating ones. When they get to shore, the buzzards pick them very clean.