Livestock!

[spirithawk06]

Yeah. I know people who don't watch when their horses are getting bred and it causes problems. I have a horse from a rancher who would leave his stallion out with the mares year round and there were babies every winter in the worst part with no shelter. That bothered me but the police wouldn't do anything about it. All of my critters have shelter they can go into to escape the weather. If you artificially inseminate, then there's no reason to be having babies born during the winter months, and the colder ones at that!

[TxCat]

One caveat: I've worked a ranch and I've handled livestock but it's been quite a while.

FoxHeart Acres is finally ready for a chicken coop. The dogs outgrew their old pen so we plan on reinforcing the fencing with chicken wire so that the birds cannot exit, roofing it, and then putting the coop inside this 10x10 foot enclosure. What I need to know, since it's been so long, is the following:

1) full grown chickens, day old chicks, fledglings, or eggs?
2) Rooster or no rooster?
3) Which breeds (we want something relatively calm --- I hate Rhode Island reds and Bantams --- which is good for eggs and meat. Also need to take into account Florida's tropical summers)
4) If we do need chicks or eggs, what kind of incubator setup is best? Do we need to buy one or can we cobble one together with a box and the right heating element or bulb?

[Jenn]

1. Age would depend on how cold it is likely to get in the very worst part of winter where you live (I don't know which part of Florida you are in). Whatever that temperature is, lower it by at least 15 degrees just in case you get the worst winter in history for your area - young chicks have a hard time with sudden abrupt weather changes and from what I remember living there for a few months, at night the temperature can change drastically.

2. Do you have neighbors who will complain? What are the zoning regulations where you live? Do your research and be armed with knowledge ahead of time. Hens don't need a rooster to lay, we keep one solely for protection for the flock.

3. In all honesty I would think that breed/temperament will also depend upon if you get adults or chicks. We have mutt chickens who are mixes of barred rock, jersey giant, easter egger, ameracauna, white leghorn, and new hampshire reds. Of all of these, (who have been handled daily since they hatched), we have one barred rock pullet and one new hampshire red/white leghorn mix who are the friendliest. All of them can be handled easily and none are flighty. Jersey giants are very calm and laid back in general if you are going for purebreds who lay good sized eggs and are big enough to be meat birds, while barred rocks are smaller, they are very good layers and will also do for a good meat bird. Any of these types should do fine in Florida. One word of warning, a friend recently moved to Florida and lost nearly half her flock to insects and spiders down there within just a couple of weeks, she is now battling poultry pox within the flock as well.

4. I can only tell you about the one incubator I have, which is a Brinsea Eco 20 - and I LOVE it. It keeps temperature very steady and I know just how long it takes for water in the trays to evaporate and need refilling to keep the humidity steady. I know people who have done well with homemade incubators and others who have had nothing but heartache, so it really depends on if you are willing to try and go with trial and error, knowing you may have a few bad hatches before you get it right.

[GlassWalker]

Seconding everything Jenn has said. Right on.

Just as an afterthought, here's what I've found from raising some flocks; Tailor your Chickens to what you want to get out of raising/caring for them.

Spoiler

Do you want eggs or meat, or dual-purpose? Brahmas, Standard Cochins and Orpingtons are adorably awesome and very calm - but they take a long time to mature for meat (at 6 months or more) and can be poor layers. Sometimes the larger breeds do not tolerate heat as well and I know Florida doesn't get scorching hot, but it sure gets humid hot (provide lots of shade and water, even misters). Easter Eggers (aka Americana, Ameraucana), Marans, Anconas, Wyandottes, Barred Rocks (Plymouth Rocks) and Leghorns are good to great layers, but there is so much discrepancy between temperaments in these breeds (Leghorns and Anconas are 90% flighty).

Will they be free-ranged? Take into account you'll want a breed that is alert. Half of my Easter Eggers and Patridge Rocks are in la-la land while my Leghorns are always cautious outside. Hens often have a hard time watching out for dangerous things... Which brings us to our next topic, the rooster!

The rooster... such a love hate relationship. Here's the thing with Roosters, you have to decide what you want from him. A human tolerant rooster tends to be lax in his guard duties over the flock (not always the case, but my experience). However, I adore being able to enter the pen and coop and have him greet me and curiously watch over my duties. I don't have to worry about him backstabbing me with a spur as I'm trying to set feed or collect eggs. Aggressive roosters are fiercely protective over their ladies and this is a life-saver; he will literally give his life to save the flock to defend from coyotes, hawks, anything... oh, and you! It's difficult to find a happy-medium of personalities, but they're out there. Either way, roosters are good with about 5-8 hens (be aware they can be mount aggressive, and rip the feathers from the hen's neck and saddle by constant breeding). They can coexist with other roosters with hens, but make sure there's enough to go around and there's not much competition (there will always be a dominant rooster). I find roosters tolerate each other better if raised as cockerels until mature.

As far as incubation goes... it's so fun... I would do it every 21 days but my Husband would kill me, lol. I have a Hovabator Genesis... and it's about as simple as heat-up, fill humidity trays and relax (you can even buy an automatic egg-turner!). Certainly you can have success with homemade incubation, you just have to persevere to find the perfect set-up and be aware that either set-up will bring you bad hatches.

[Jenn]

A good point about roosters - Ours is a laid back (with people) white leghorn, who while he doesn't love being touched, he is not aggressive toward people. He will however stand up to anything he sees as a threat to his girls - I've seen him send them inside when a hawk flew over, and he once flew over the temporary fence we had set up in one of his attempts to make himself look bigger to my wolf hybrid (who wouldn't hurt a flea, much less a chicken, but the rooster didn't know that!). His expression when he realized he was on the wrong side of the fence was quite comical.

Making sure you have plenty of space for everyone is important if you don't want squabbling among the flock; most people generally go with 4 sq feet per bird in the coop and 10 sq ft per bird outside of the coop. My flock of 13 birds currently has 225 sq feet inside the coop and 1000 sq ft outside - which is more than adequate, but I also prefer they have enough room in the run to keep grass in there and not be a big ol' dirt pen. They still squabble from time to time as pecking order is adjusted, especially with my young ones coming into puberty right now.

[TNHawke]

A note to add about NOT having a rooster. If you don't need fertile eggs and don't have a rooster, and do have several hens, one of the hens will usually step up to be the cock. She will often start crowing, although it doesn't sound the same as a rooster crow- like, roosters tend to have a descending call, my top hens always had an ascending one, and much shorter notes. Like... a rooster is an ER ER-ER ER-EERRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr, a hen crow is more like rawk-er-awk-awk ER-AWK-AWK.
Anyways, that hen may stop laying.
I never had a top hen become people aggressive, but she did always protect the flock from cats and dogs and hawks, whether any of those animals were actually a threat or not.
When we had two roosters though, one was very laid back and the other was a psycho! They were both barred plymouth rocks. Oddly, the aggressive rooster LOOKED like a hen, which was why we had initially kept it.

[Flitzflew]

I keep goats and chickens. Both are more of pets than livestock since they all have names and were not bought for any produce, eggs/milk/meat.
The two original goats, Charlotte and Emily were given to my parents as wedding presents. Then Charlotte died so we bought two new goats, twins called Dudley and Daisy. Emily died a few years later. I don't have much advice on keeping goats since they were more pets than livestock. You need a field for a start and HIGH fences, goats, especially Anglo Nubians, are good at jumping fences. Get more than one animal, goats are herd animals and need a friend. I've had lots of experiences with goats, for a start they are not aggressive but they are very greedy. Also warning a female goat in season will go many miles looking for a mate, make sure it cannot get out of the field, you will not enjoy trying to find her again.
We got the chickens because we found a stray cockerel in our field. We called him Harry and bought him three hens for my birthday. We had a henhouse but the chickens roamed free in the whole field. In the end two were got by the fox, including my favourite Hecate. We then had to pen the remaining two, Harry and a Maran called Hepzibar. There pen is massive though it has now been split in half due to more cockerels. We hatched four of Hecate's eggs and got two hens and two cockerels. Sadly the hens died due to sickness but I still have Hemlock and Hickory the two cockerels plus Harry, Hepzi and multiple other chickens. I know from having chickens that you can't rely on them to lay eggs because at the moment they are not laying any. For chickens you don't need a cockerel unless breeding or one turned up at your house and no matter how many times he attacks you you don't have the heart to get rid of him. If you do get a cockerel get a placid breed like brahmas or cochins. My brahma hen is ridiculous, on the first day we had her (bearing in mind she had never been handled before) she decided I was mum and sat on my lap. Now she jumps on me or pecks me until I pick her up and give her a cuddle. Warning, though brahmas are the soppiest and friendliest breed of chicken (in my opinion), they are also very big and cannot be kept in every chicken run.

Mod edit: Eggspam removed

[spirithawk06]

Goat update: Looks like my girls didn't breed when we thought the bucks got them. Thankfully, no kids since we just had an unseasonably cold front come through! Still have no clue when/if they were bred. We quit trying to keep them in their pen or on tie outs. They get out every time. My back yard is fenced in though, so they stay there.

My birds are on a laying strike and have been so for going on 2 1/2 months now! I have Rhode Island Reds, Red Stars, and some Easter egger mixes along with a single buff orpington and not a single one of those girls is laying. They are usually laying more right now because the weather isn't quite as hot and I only usually have a small hiccup or two when the fronts come, but nothing at all this time. It sucks because I have a market for the eggs and I can't come through with them. Luckily, my customers are friends and understand.

My recommendation for a breed would be black australorps but the blacks have more trouble keeping cool due to their color. I loved their temperament and they're awesome egg layers. Unfortunately, I lost my roo to old age and my remaining hen to an animal that got into their pen, either a possum or a coon.

[TNHawke]

@spirithawk - How old are your birds? Are they getting all the nutrition and calories they need? Have any been to the vet to check for illness?

My goose was the only one who would stop laying for the winter, my hens, and my friend's hens always laid all through it, so it is weird that yours have stopped.

[spirithawk06]

We upped their intake and are about to add lay pellets to see if that is the problem, but now I noticed I'm missing 5 birds. We had to put one down. I think she had a broken /messed up vertebrae from something. Couldn't walk straight and was in obvious pain. The hawks have been getting bad though and we let ours free range for the most part. My birds are a range of ages from just turning a year to 6-7 years. I know the older ones are probably getting past their laying years but my younger birds should be laying at least a bit. We don't have any vets who will see chickens in our area. I'll fiddle with their food and see if that helps. We have also had really cold snaps very early this year, so that could also have something to do with it. I'm down to 10 hens. I had 16 at the last count and had nearly double that before. Some, we're losing to animals. We just killed a possum that was snooping around a couple of weeks ago eating our animals' food. However, some, I know are human trespassers. My horses are even acting up and we chased off a couple of trespassers twice already at night. Can't catch the suckers to press charges though.