What’s the deal with you chicken people??

[NatJ]

What's really weird is that my chickens love rice

Cooked grain? Yup, that makes sense.

When Rocky ( My barred rock plymouth rooster )was young,

The breed is Plymouth Rock (named for a particular place.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock

For one that is Barred (color), the correct form is Barred Plymouth Rock.
You can shorten it to just Barred Rock, but if you have the "Plymouth" at all, it is part of "Plymouth Rock" and not hanging out as a single word in any other random place.

 

[NatJ]

Oh, well I guess I learned that wrong Many many websites have said that avocadoes in general are toxic to chickens. Like, every part of the avocado. But, I didn't rely on one source, I actually read that on several sites. Let me tell you, a lot of websites are feeding chicken keepers wrong information Thanks for correcting me though

I agree, many of them do have the wrong information. Unfortunately, just going with the most common view is not a guarantee of being right. (But I tried not to just say "trust me, even though I'm just a random stranger on the internet with no evidence." That is why I dug up several sources, and tried to make sure they were ones that really can be trusted, not just one blogger copying another's errors.)

 

[fuzzi]

I agree, many of them do have the wrong information. Unfortunately, just going with the most common view is not a guarantee of being right. (But I tried not to just say "trust me, even though I'm just a random stranger on the internet with no evidence." That is why I dug up several sources, and tried to make sure they were ones that really can be trusted, not just one blogger copying another's errors.)

Agreed, don't accept what is told to you, verify as you are able.

Chocolate is supposed to be toxic to dogs. I had a dog who loved chocolate. She ate through a postal box and the cardboard candy box inside to get to its chocolate contents. She once ate through a Christmas stocking to devour a one pound Hershey's Kiss. Throughout her life she managed to gorge on chocolate. And she lived past 15 years old. It might be toxic to some dogs but never fazed her.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Agreed, don't accept what is told to you, verify as you are able.

Chocolate is supposed to be toxic to dogs. I had a dog who loved chocolate. She ate through a postal box and the cardboard candy box inside to get to its chocolate contents. She once ate through a Christmas stocking to devour a one pound Hershey's Kiss. Throughout her life she managed to gorge on chocolate. And she lived past 15 years old. It might be toxic to some dogs but never fazed her.

Ditto. I had a knuckleheaded Beagle that wanted the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the counter so badly, he ate through my good Tupperware, then ate every last cookie. The dumba$$ lived through it just fine.

 

[fuzzi]

Ditto. I had a knuckleheaded Beagle that wanted the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the counter so badly, he ate throw my good Tupperware, then ate every last cookie. The dumba$$ lived through it just fine.

I had another dog who licked the oven cleaner off the oven rack I had sprayed and set outside. She was very sick "both ways", but recovered on her own. However, her rear end was bleached white...and she lived to almost 16. Dummy.

 

[NatJ]

Agreed, don't accept what is told to you, verify as you are able.

Chocolate is supposed to be toxic to dogs. I had a dog who loved chocolate. She ate through a postal box and the cardboard candy box inside to get to its chocolate contents. She once ate through a Christmas stocking to devour a one pound Hershey's Kiss. Throughout her life she managed to gorge on chocolate. And she lived past 15 years old. It might be toxic to some dogs but never fazed her.

From what I've read, milk chocolate (like in most candy) is much less of a problem than dark chocolate or unsweetened baking chocolate. And of course the size of the dog matter too-- a big dog can stand more total chocolate than a small dog, although it might not be any more on a per pound basis.

So I don't deliberately give chocolate to dogs (exception: I'll let a dog lick out a bowl even if it has a little bit of chocolate inside), but I don't panic if a dog does get into some chocolate. I figure it's one of those balancing acts, trying to avoid major problems but recognizing that small amounts are not worth stressing about.

 

[Robinator]

Hi, first time chicken owner, I’ve got 4 red sex link pullets, and 4 chicks.
Is there a chicken breed underground that I’m unaware of? Like the Free Masons of chickens??
Before I decided to get chickens, I read EVERYTHING I could about them. And yall chicken ppl blow my mind with ALL the breeds and knowledge about them. Not just in this community. I went to the feed store just to buy another feeder. Ol man comes over “oh you got some me chickens huh. Well you need some bebop’s and floofloos, and maybe cross you some yummytums and plickados”. At one point I don’t think he was speaking English anymore. “What kind of chickens you got”? I was dumbfounded I said “mine are red”. I felt so.. ignorant. Seriously where/how do y'all learn about all these breeds? And why is it important? I feel like I’m missing something here. I want to be in the chicken know!

I've had 6 chickens officially for a year. They were mostly black and apparently siblings. Half became roos and half became hens. I don't know what kind of chickens are "black", there are probably a coupla dozen breeds that kick out black chickens. They've got pictures and posters and if you can get your chicken to sit still while you hold up some post office wanted poster of a matching chicken, you MIGHT be able to tell what it is. I bought every gadget and vitamin and chicken toy around. Most of my chickens died from not enough vitamins or playing with toys but the three left (2 black, 1 yellow) started laying eggs and fooling around about when they would be turning 7 months and I incubated 12, right about Halloween and ended up with 11 live chicks right after Thanksgiving. DO NOT INCUBATE EGGS IN THE WINTER IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A BARN OR GARAGE OR SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN YOUR LIVING ROOM TO RAISE THEM IN. Don't ask me how I know this, it should be obvious. I never found anyone but my sister who lives in WA who could tell me about chicken breeds, but you are really correct, why is it important? Unless you have those little clown chickens that are 6" high and don't lay eggs you can cook, I wouldn't worry. I have heard there is an official chicken hand shake, but nobody seems to really know about it. I could give you my sister's phone number but then she wouldn't answer my calls....by the way, I have no idea what red sex link pullets are, but they sound a little weird to me. My sister likes Orpingtons. Go with those. Good luck!

 

[NatJ]

by the way, I have no idea what red sex link pullets are, but they sound a little weird to me.

Pullets are females.
Red Sexlinks are a kind of chicken where the females are red, but the males are white. This is especially obvious when the chicks are young, like right after they hatch (very handy, if you want to buy only females.) The red/white colors get mixed a bit as the chickens grow up, but by then it is easy to tell males from females by other methods.

There's no magic or special technology involved, just clever use of some genes on the chicken Z sex chromosome (males have ZZ, females have ZW. Yes, that sounds backwards to anyone used to mammals that have XY males and XX females.) The chicken Z chromosome has some other genes that can be used to make sexlinks too, such as Black Sexlinks (females are black, males are black with white stripes).

 

[KayisforKale]

Mine love rice and they love meat of all kinds. I am kinda squeamish about giving them chicken. They aren't squeamish about it at all!
Their ability to pick bones clean is quite admirable.

Wait... Wait... Just hold up a minute...

You can give chickens meat with bones!? They do not eat the bones?

 

[KayisforKale]

Just remember. Never, and I mean NEVER, fall over in the chicken run.

I do that almost daily... I tend to trip or just flat out fall face down from vertigo, and my big rooster dashes over and starts trying to get my attention. The girls will sit on my back unless I get up right away, and big roo keeps little roo away, because even the big guy knows that the little one would love nothing more than to eat me.