So lucky to find a such place. Are all members here very fond of chikens raising?

My English is not very good, so I can only read slowly. So till now I don't know whether it is a site for commercial activity or absolute interests sharing?

I hope it is the later.

Because I like chicken very very much, I always want to find somebody to discuss such topics. But in my hometown, people raise chicken just to earn money. They think it is a little funny to have so deep feelings with chicken. They think chicken and eggs are both dishes on table. I understand them but still feel lonely.

Since I grow up with chicken, I know many chicken's stories. I want to communicate with all friends fond of them. Could I do so here?

As what I said above, my English makes me typing an understandable article veryvery slow. I need time. Thanks to everybody.

First I would like to tell something about how to sex chicken.

The below is what I have posted in another post:

In my hometown, people usually prefer hens more because hens can lay to earn more money for them. Their ways to distinguish a cock from a hen is------grasp the chick's claw to make the chick lifted upside down.

A cock will struggle to raise his head, while a hen has no actions.

Well, females are always gentle than males. :)

i love my chickens and could never see myself eating them!! the eggs we do eat but never the chicken!! i have frizzled silkies and some aricauanas (SP) what kind do you have and how many?

Hi Jessw, nice to see your reply.:)
what are the frizzled silkies and some aricauanas (SP)? Can you give some pics? My English is rather wretched.

About frizzled silkies, I can imagine some. But aricauanas....?

The chicken what I raised are all chicken blooded from my hometown. We call them "village chicken". They are different from what I see here. They are thinner and shorter maybe due to nutrition. I raised them before. After I moved to a city, I have no chance to raise chicken. It is prohibited. It is a very very.... thing to leave those lovely fellows.

I will try to find some pics of them.

PS: well, it is sorry to tell I am not resistant for eating chicken. They cooks and I eat. I can't understand myself, either.

Can't upload a pis from my personal computer?

I select a pis from internet which are most like our "villiage chicken'.

"Village chicken" is also named " grass chicken", because they like to seek foods in grass.

The hens in my hometown are most yellow.

Look, they are always so thin.

Some fat hens in the site is to be envied by our "village chicken".
How can they grow so big and strong? Just like a small dog.

Sometimes we can find a fat middle-aged lady. :)

The red color on her wing is a kind of mark of her host. It is often to see such marks.

I ever had a hen like this lady. Very very fat! She lays almost everyday! And always double-yolk eggs.

I miss her. And my Id is for her: Bigfat.

She was not deceased, but killed.

Because one day she suddenly crowed like a cock! A neighbor told my father that was not a good omen.:(

She likes peanuts. I think too many peanuts changed her sex.

Twins.

How lovely!!!!

My mum said the rooster is too ugly :lol:

In her opinion a rooster should be tall and thin, while this gentleman is like a ball. :lol:

bigfat...that is such a cute family portrait. :D Even though my dogs and cats get along, there is NO WAY I'd be able to take a pic like that.

bigfat.....Your chickens are so pretty. And your "family" looks so cute together!! How did you manage to get them all standing still together? I like chickens and want a chicken pen but am trying to talk my husband into doing it. Jess has silkies and they are so pretty....like a ball of fluff. You can look them up on the internet. Where do you live? I live in Tennessee, USA. Glad you are joining us. I love to hear everyone's happy and funny animal stories.
Ellen

Well Ellen and Sadie, I am very very sorry to tell you that the family pic is not mines, but one of Robyn's friends' . You can find other pics of this family in this site. :unsure:

To manage chicken and dogs together is rather easier than cats and dogs. Because chicken are really gentle.

Along with its weight, its temper changes. Fat chicken usually have good temper and like quiet.

I now have no chicken. I fed chicken when I was a child. My wish is someday I own a house and feed chicken and upload their pics to share with friends.

The children in my childhood presented many stories to me. I will miss them all my life. And I will try to tell those stories here if anytime. :)

PS: I am from a small town in China. My townfellows don't treat chicken as you. People in my town all think chicken are most easy-raising animals. We usually to feed them with unhusked rice. The unhusked rice is better to chicken than rice.

As what I said above, one of my hens changed to be male.
I don't know the cause.
Because I like her very much, I fed her with the said best food-peanuts. Finally she became too fat. Maybe it is obesity that caused her sex change?

Or a hen should not eat too many peanuts?

Hello, Bigfat. You can certainly share your stories here. I am glad that you admire and respect some chickens. I too am guilty of eating chickens. My mother says it's okay because "I didn't know that one." I would rather be a total vegetarian (I am a partial vegetarian) but it's hard to break what you're used to. My brother's wife is from China. She will eat any animal. That bothers me or, as we say, "That gets my goat." I wonder where that saying came from.

Are any of the photos ones from you? Or, are they all from the internet?

Chickens absolutely cannot change sex. They may change behavior though and become more aggressive. I suspect that your hen did not crow or somehow was able to crow. I have never heard of that before. Maybe it was some other chicken who was crowing? Peanuts are high in fat so should only be fed as treats.

Here are some photos of Ameraucanas:
http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Arau/BRKAmer.html

They are also called Araucanas or Easter egg chickens although there are some variations.
http://feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Arau/BRKAraucanas.html

My older rooster, Sugar, is an Easter egg chicken. His sister laid green eggs.

That beautiful rooster with the dogs is a brahma. They are bred to be rotund (fat). In China, you probably have breeds such as game fowl. Do you have ones like this?
http://feathersite.com/Poultry/Games/China/BRKChinaGame.html

That family portrait is so cute, whoever it belongs to. Bigfat, we would love to hear your stories. I eat chicken too, but could not ever eat one I had seen alive. I could also be a vegetarian....I feel so sorry for the cows, pigs, and chickens. My 22 year old daughter ate chicken with bones for the first time about 3 years ago at her friends house. When she got home....she says, "mom, you are not going to believe this but I had chicken that had bones in it!!" All I buy are boneless chicken breasts, so she was in for a shock when she saw the bones! HA
Ellen

i will go take some mor epictures of my chickens. the do not fly well and are very very fluffy!! they really dont look like a chicken. i also have pymgy goats. i eat chicken once in a blue moon becaus ei am like you all dont like to!! where i live they have tyson chicken barns. the smallest chicken barns here are 200,000 per barn and i think that is so cruel!! you see them loading them on the trucks and knowing where they are headed that just makes me so sad!! i think of my chickens that run to greet me and ride on my shoulder and love to be socialized (for now!!) and cant stand the thought of all thoose other ones just being loaded and killed!! i am to soft hearted!! when i was younger my dad bought a calf to raise for meat and i wouldnt let him take her to the market!! we had had her since she was like a week old and then he was just gonna go kill her i couldnt so we ended up keeping her as a pet and she died happily in her sleep of old age! that shot me on eating meat!

Hi Robyn, I find the idiom" That gets my goat" from Google:

The idiom I understand comes from the world of horse racing.
Racehorses are supposed to be highly-strung animals; they have a lot of nervous energy and it is a big job trying to keep these animals calm. In the old days, horse trainers used to put a goat in the stalls of these animals in an effort to keep them calm. The two animals used to bond and very often the horse became attached to its companion - the goat.

To ensure that a horse did not perform well in an upcoming race, what many rival horse owners used to do was to steal the goat the night before the race. This used to upset the horse very much and as a result it would underperform in the race.

So when you say that someone has got your goat, you are comparing yourself to the horse rather than the goat itself.

And THAT is the origin of the expression "gets my goat".

All my photos here are form Internet.

I have no camera in my childhood, so my chicken have no pics left. That is a great pity. I would like to record every minute after I have my own house and chicken in the future.

The 2 links can't be reached. :huh: So I still don't know what they are like.

Why call them Easter chicken? Are they found in Easter?

The brahma is really like an indian. :lol: I remember the trousers they dressed are usually so fat.

I am even not a partial vegetarian. I like eating pork and fish. Everytime I comfort myself "I don't know them." Just like you.

And Robyn, would you tell me which province your sister-in-law comes from?

Wow Ellen. It is surprising.

During your daughter's 22 years, she never met an alive chicken?

I had thought there were many many Kenturky Fried Chicken in US. And the chicken wings they sold are boned. It is surprising.

In my childhood, my mom thought the best nutrition is chicken's leg. So I ate many many chicken legs. :(

Jess, :o I can't understand what they are: pymgy goats, blue moon, ei, tyson.

And what does this sentence mean:" i eat chicken once in a blue moon becaus ei am like you all dont like to!!"

There are always wretched lives througout the world, such as African children. The only thing we can do is to be kind to lives living with us, whether they are human or not. :(

I had the same experience with you. But unfortunately the chicken died painful finally. Till now whenever I recall him, I can't help my tears.

I will begin my recalling for my chickens in my childhood. It is a great pity I even have not one pic of them. I will seek some pic like them from Internet.

First, Big fat. A light-yellow hen with a pairs of feather trousers some like the Brahma.

My lovest. She comes to my family when she is an adult. But her temper is so good and soon we become good friends. That means, she runs towards me everytime she finds me. I am even awarded for an article writing her because my teacher think it is moving. :lol:

The greatest advantage is her temper. She is always so polite and clean. Sometimes we must admit chickens are different from chickens just like persons different from persons. Some chickens are born to be dirty and lazy, and some never.

Bigfat undoubtly is a diligent hen. She almost works everyday, ususlly double-yolk eggs!

She works hard, and she has a wise brain, too. She knows how to make human happy.

She usually lays in a box in our room at noon when we are having a noonbreak. After she lays, she leaves the room quietly instead of "Gega Gega". It seems she knows it is not welcome to bother others at noon. :lol: Sometimes I pretend to be asleep, and she will never "Gega Gega".

One noon, I wake up from the break, and find she just lays. Also she finds me awake. Well, she begins "Gega Gega" loudly. Because she knows it is not disturbance to "Gega Gega" when I am awake. She wants to be praised by me for her laying. :lol:

Birds usually have some periods pursuing for love. During the period the birds will never lay. My mom is very worried about this. She hates the hens doing that to reduce eggs. It is surprising that Bigfat never has some period. She is really efficient. Sometimes I think it is because she is too capable, and cocks don't like capable women.

Furthermore, Bigfat is not concerned about her figure. She is greedy for any food and has no other movements than laying.

Her most favorite is peanuts. Oneday she jumps onto a 1-meter high table to seek a bottle of peanuts. This makes my dad very angry. Sure it is a blemish in her splendid life. We had thought she should be a polite lady forever.

She grows too fat, and I decide to exercise her. I start a new feeding way. I hangs the vegetable high and lure her to jump. Each time she almost reaches the vegetable I lift higher. She is always the one who jumps lowest among her brothers and sisters. Too fat.

One morning she crows like a cock. Our neighbor says that is not a good omen. So my dad kills her. They finds there are much yellow grease in her body, too much. Mom blames me for feeding her too many peanuts. I feel sorry to her, otherwise she will not be so fat and finally crows. I can't help my tears. But I dare not let my parents find I am sobing, otherwise they will laugh at me and think I am not hign-minded. I treasure 3 pieces of her tail feather. But they are lost when we moves.

Bigfat has a calm attitude always. Sometimes I think she is like an old aunt who knows much of life. Sometimes I know she is only a poor chicken who can't grasp her fate.

The saying of a 'blue moon' comes from the 2nd moon in a month. It happens once in awhile that 2 full moon cycles will show up in one month. So the meaning has gone on as 'that it might happen again'.
A chicken example: your 5 year old chicken always laid green eggs, today she layed a pink one. You might say 'it would be a blue moon when she lays another pink egg.' Meaning it might happen, but not likely.

Well, thank you Sadie. I never heard such a saying. Is it an old saying? Thank you.

I googled it for ya, it's about 400 years old with different meaning changes thru the centuries.

Bigfat, I checked the links. They work for me. Maybe it's a problem on your computer.

The Easter egg chicken is called that because here, on Easter, we dye eggs varous colors. So, Easter eggs are eggs that have color. An Easter egg chicken lays colored eggs, either green, blue, or pink. Mine laid light green eggs.

My sister-in-law is from the far north of China, near Korea. I don't recall the name of the city off hand.

Perhaps Ellen's daughter had never ordered from KFC or other fast food chicken places. My brother says KFC is extremely popular in China. Wherever he went, there was one, and they were more classy than here, more like regular restaurants than fast food. I'm sure the chickens were just as tortured though. He also said there were almost no animals left that he saw in China. Over three weeks there, the only free/wild animals he saw was one bird and one rat. He was mostly in the cities though.

Hens won't stop laying during breeding season. They in fact lay most of their eggs during that time. The relationships my roosters and hens have is certainly not love. It's more like rape, especially with Speckles on his screaming mother. She stays on the roost most of the time to avoid him. But, roosters are very protective of their hens. Two of my roosters died defending the girls. One rooster was killed by a hawk and saved his girl. The other was killed by a fox but could not save his girl.

Hens do stop laying during their yearly molt when they lose their feathers and put in new feathers. Some molt twice a year. They will also stop laying if it's too cold, they're sick or too old. I have two hens. One hasn't laid an egg in about two years! The other laid one a day from spring to about September and then stopped.

The yellow stuff inside Bigfat the chicken was probably fatty deposits and perhaps a fatty liver. Too much fat from peanuts could have been a factor.

Bigfat, Yes my daughter saw live chickens in her life. I guess she thought when we buy them in the stores they are always boneless. You have very interesting posts. I look forward to more.
Ellen

To Dear All:

I can't type long articles these days. Because I want to change my job, so now I am busying finding a new flat to move.:) I will continue a.s.a.p.

I have many opinions to discuss with Robyn. Well, next time. :o

Your roosters are really bravers! Admire them!!! We now seldom find hawks in my current city. The most common animal, or should be insects, such as cockroches. :lol:

Maybe some internet servers are prohibited in China.

I know ducks and geese lay green/white eggs. I never see a green chickegg. And blue??Horrible!! Can you give me a pic?

Pink eggs are popular in China. We all think pink eggs are nourishing than white eggs. Our village chicken always lay pink and small eggs.

About eggs, how do you cook them? Each Festival, my mom boiled the eggs with tea. We call it Tea-Egg. Very delicious! :lol:

There are a KFC near my company. I seldom go there, because I have eaten too many times.

It is really difficult to rent a flat in my current city. Most flats will take about 1/3 of my salary while they are only about 30 meter square. I don't think my salary is too low. At least I am at a middle level among all people living in this city. So, I have no time to complain for the chicken's small cage/wretched fate in the market. :angry: I am still busy finding new flat.

"Hens won't stop laying during breeding season. "?

In my memory, almost every summer, there are some hens stopping laying. They "Gege Gege"ed all day to find a room to hatch. Do you know how we deal with them?

First method: My mom puts a feather through their nose! And give the crazy hens a complete cooling bath! And throw them far away! All the hen's friends run away from her frightenedly. :lol:

Second method: We tie one of the hen's leg higher onto a table or a door knob. The hen stands one day like a ballet dancer. :lol:

I ever saw a small rooster planned to rape an old hen. He failed, and the old hen pecked him angrily. :lol:

Here is a photo with the green egg my chicken had. I don't have photos of other colors.



To boil eggs here, we just boil them!
When my hen decided to have babies, she still laid an egg a day. Once she started sitting on them, she stopped laying.
Tying up the hen's leg sounds mean to me.

oh my gosh that sounds extremely mean!!!!! wouldnt ever do that!!

It is different between our hens!
Once my hens decided to have babies, they stopped laying.

If we don't treat them with the said 2 "mean" ways, they would stop laying for a long time even without hatching.

In 1960s' and 1970s', the villigers' life is not rich. Their common life relies on the eggs. They sell the eggs for all life cost, such as buying salts\clothes, paying for education, etc. Most families have no more economics source. So people get the habbit to keep the hens laying as long as possible.

The chicken in our town are not looked as pets or lives. They are just egg-makers/meal-makers. :ph43r:

I can understand this. Different values grow in different environments.

Go on with my lovely chicken.

After Bigfat died, My mom and I both feel very sad. We bought 2 hens. One is white, the other is yellow-black. We call the white "Snow", the yellow-black "Sparrow". Maybe they have blood relationship, maybe not. They are teens when come in our family. I always think Snow is the elder sister of Sparrow.

Sparrow is very fierce. All the chicken in our yard(we share a yard with about 20 neighbors) are afraid of her. If she is a humanbeing, I think she is a lazy modern woman enjoying cosmetic and entertainment. She is really lazy and stops laying for about 200 days a year. Whenever she see others eating, she will drive others out and enjoy the food alone. Her eyes are big and round and black and deep, so even my Dad admits she is beautiful. She has bad temper, always pecking others. Except her outlooking, she has no merits. Of course she is always tied up by my mom. Finally she was killed by my father and became a dish. ;)

Though Sparrow is well-known as a robber among the chicken in our yard, she is afraid of Snow. We feel surprised about this, because Snow is a gentle hen who devotes all her life to Egg-Laying Enterprise. She eats little and lays many. From some aspect, she is greater than Bigfat. Till now, all my memory about Snow is the scene that she sits in the grass box laying. We seldom see her walking, eating, voicing. She is really a Labor Model. Finally she died of unknow reason. Oneday she sits in the box as usually, and suddenly her head drops. Instantly My mom hugs her out of the box and feeds her rice. But too late, she died quietly. We buried her. She died earlier than Sparrow. I don't know how to describe her in words. In her short life, we never see her pecking others except Sparrow. A Great Labor Model!

2 months after Snow and Sparrow come to my family, an uncle sends an old yellow hen to us. At that year,1989?, our country strictly applies JIHUASHENGYU(Family plan, one family one child encouraged. If more children, penality!) . The uncle wants to have a more male baby, so he leaves his hometown to flee from the penality. He gets some support from my parents. To express his thanks, he send the old yellow hen to us. We call her "Yellow". She is old then, but she accompanies me longest time!

Of course, "Yellow" is bad-treated by Sparrow even at first meeting. I find chicken look down upon those who are thinner, uglier, or freshmen. Each time we buy a new chicken, my mom will lead her to visit the old ones: Hug the hen to make a bow to the old ones. It is laughable. But my mom believes its effect. I think no use. Once Sparrow sees "Yellow", she will chase and peck her. How nonsense Sparrow is! "Yellow" is almost bad-treated by all chicken in our yard. Poor!

Oneday, things change. "Yellow" gets a higher position. Do you know the reason? B)

Robyn, how do you find your hens are ready to have babies when she is still laying?

"When my hen decided to have babies, she still laid an egg a day. "

Bigfat,
I find your life interesting and so different from ours. What town do you live in? What can you tell us about China? I am sure it is very pretty there.
Ellen

When my hen was ready to brood (sit on eggs to hatch them), she would sit in the nest box for longer and longer periods of time. During this time, she still laid an egg a day. Then, after about a week, she sat on them all the time instead of just a few hours a day. It's normal for a hen who is not ready to be a mother to lay and run off with no time sitting on the eggs. Once a hen goes totally broody (sitting on the eggs), she will not lay more eggs normally. She will only get off the eggs for a few minutes each day to eat and drink and go to the bathroom quickly. A brooding hen looks like she's dazed and in another world. But, try to touch her or the eggs, and she will attack.

Do you live in a pretty part of China? I think you said you lived in a city. I know that a lot of China that used to be pretty, like many parts of the world, has been really destroyed by people. All over the world, many wild forests, fields, etc. have been replaced by buildings and destruction. When my brother was in China, he went to the Yellow Mountain. He said it was still pretty there. But, the cities he went to, he said they were worse than any city slum he had seen in the US. There was trash everywhere, and people went to the bathroom openly in the streets. There were parts of the city though for tourists that showcased fancy buildings and such that still were in good shape. I guess it depends on where you go.

Hi Elen. I feel very relaxed when I come here after one day's hard work. I like people who like chicken as me. :)

Before 16 year-old I grew in a small town which is near the longest river and the biggest lake in China. Annual biggest task of our town is to prevent flooding. :lol: When July comes, people begin to strength the dike. Every four years there must be a big flood. You can't imagine it! Government assigns the army to help us. Some young soldiers, stand in water all day to fill the dike with sandbags. People in my town all respect these young soldiers very much.

My mom ever tell me a story about her pig. When she was still a little girl, a flood came in a summer day. All villigers began to flee. My mom fed a fat pig. The pig was too greedy for foods and didn't move a step no matter how people beat it. Finally people had no way and gave it up. After all persons had moved onto a safe position, the flood came horribly. People saw the fat pig was flushed by the water and struggling in the water. As you know, pigs could float on water for a while due to their thick fat. But they could't keep a long time. At that time, a dog raised by my mom dashed into the water and saved the pig........I didn't see the scene with my own eyes, so I could't describe the scene detailedly. My mom said the dog was dead of cold caused by this rescue.

It is not because the dog loves the pig, but because the dog loves his host and finds his host worried about the pig. I think so.

Well, come back to the point. I am now living in a big seashore city. Not all places in China are pretty. ;) I will continue telling these if any time, but now I have to go out to see a flat to be rent. ;)

Dear all ,

I have to stop this topic for a period, because I just bought 2 baby ducks.
http://z2.invisionfree.com/Fishpondinfo/in...?showtopic=2167

It is really busy for me to prepare for a new job meanwhile seeking a flat and taking care of ducks.