Looking for chickens

[thaisail]

Just starting up on a rice farm in Chiang Khan area and we want to buy about 5 chickens to lay eggs. The wife wants hybrid chickens that will lay larger eggs in huge quantities. I just want a normal chicken that can run free around the farm and lay nice organic eggs that taste good. Not the CP eggs which look nice but don't have that organic free range chicken egg taste. If anyone knows where I can buy chickens like this in Chiang Kahn or Loei area, let me know. My wife thinks buying the small chicks is a bad idea because they need their mother because of cold weather. Others say buying the small chicks is fine. I am a beginner so I don't know the right  way to get started but just want to keep the wife happy.

[djayz]

If you do get young chicks only, no mother, then you will need a heat lamp to keep them warm for a while.

You can also ask in FB, there's a group called  backyard chickens Thailand. 

[FritsSikkink]

15 minutes ago, thaisail said:

Just starting up on a rice farm in Chiang Khan area and we want to buy about 5 chickens to lay eggs. The wife wants hybrid chickens that will lay larger eggs in huge quantities. I just want a normal chicken that can run free around the farm and lay nice organic eggs that taste good. Not the CP eggs which look nice but don't have that organic free range chicken egg taste. If anyone knows where I can buy chickens like this in Chiang Kahn or Loei area, let me know. My wife thinks buying the small chicks is a bad idea because they need their mother because of cold weather. Others say buying the small chicks is fine. I am a beginner so I don't know the right  way to get started but just want to keep the wife happy.

If you want to keep the wife happy, you buy the chickens SHE wants.

[Crossy]

We have the typical red "factory" hens along with a big white roo "Bruiser" (he was free). We got them point-of-lay, more expensive but you don't have to bear the mortality of the really young ones.

 

They happily free range with a secure coop at night and the eggs are delicious.

 

As noted above, get the chooks that madam wants for an easy life ???? 

 

[djayz]

33 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

If you want to keep the wife happy, you buy the chickens SHE wants.

But, what if she wants the wrong chickens? Then, later, she'd be unhappy. Why would you want to make her unhappy Frits? 

 

 

All in jest ????

Edited January 16, 2021 by djayz

[thaisail]

56 minutes ago, djayz said:

If you do get young chicks only, no mother, then you will need a heat lamp to keep them warm for a while.

You can also ask in FB, there's a group called  backyard chickens Thailand. 

I have made a request to join. It looks like they are in Chiang Mai but I am in a different Chiang. Chiang Khan!

[thaisail]

16 minutes ago, Crossy said:

We have the typical red "factory" hens along with a big white roo "Bruiser" (he was free). We got them point-of-lay, more expensive but you don't have to bear the mortality of the really young ones.

 

They happily free range with a secure coop at night and the eggs are delicious.

 

As noted above, get the chooks that madam wants for an easy life ???? 

 

How much does a chicken cost that is point-of-lay? My wife wants them like that! But these hybrid chickens scare me! I heard that KFC is trying to genitivally modify their chickens so that they will not have a head! I really don't want headless chickens!

[Crossy]

35 minutes ago, thaisail said:

How much does a chicken cost that is point-of-lay? My wife wants them like that! But these hybrid chickens scare me! I heard that KFC is trying to genitivally modify their chickens so that they will not have a head! I really don't want headless chickens!

 

The KFC thing is an urban myth. 

 

The "hybrid" chooks are just crosses between known breeds, they lay fertile eggs if you have a roo, but they don't go broody so if you want babies you need an incubator. The ones we got are easy to sex when a few days old, girls are yellow, boys are white.

 

Our chooks were 130 Baht each but we got them when our neighbour bought a lot so she got a good price. They took about 4 weeks to start laying after we got them so "point of lay" was a pretty loose description.

 

[djayz]

1 hour ago, thaisail said:

I have made a request to join. It looks like they are in Chiang Mai but I am in a different Chiang. Chiang Khan!

Nonsense. They have members nation wide. You tell them which province you're in when requesting info/chickens. A lot of members live in/around CM. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by djayz

[thaisail]

3 hours ago, Crossy said:

The "hybrid" chooks are just crosses between known breeds, they lay fertile eggs if you have a roo, but they don't go broody so if you want babies you need an incubator. The ones we got are easy to sex when a few days old, girls are yellow, boys are white.

Thank you for your chicken lesson. I had to look up "broody" on Wikipedia! 

[douglasspade]

I have Golden Comets for some time now, they are a docile layer breed that gives me more than 300 big eggs per bird in a year. Chicks do not need a hen but need a brooder, especially this time of year in Thailand. I recently got 62 to supplement my stock and they have done well inside ramen noodle boxes with rice skin substrate, 7w lights and waterers. Cleaned once a day.

[khwaibah]

9 hours ago, douglasspade said:

I have Golden Comets for some time now, they are a docile layer breed that gives me more than 300 big eggs per bird in a year. Chicks do not need a hen but need a brooder, especially this time of year in Thailand. I recently got 62 to supplement my stock and they have done well inside ramen noodle boxes with rice skin substrate, 7w lights and waterers. Cleaned once a day.

Have you vaccinated them against bird flue.?

 

[douglasspade]

1 hour ago, khwaibah said:

Have you vaccinated them against bird flue.?

I use a reputable hatchery that vaccinate all chicks before shipping them. They know if there is an outbreak with their chicks the gov will be coming around.

After 4 weeks I vaccinate the chicks myself with a broad based vaccine (duck plague, NDV , fowl cholera etc.) than can not be administered to birds below 4 weeks old. The cost is 130 Baht for a 'one time' dose. I redo this again by 12 weeks, then every 6 months therafter for the layers and the ducks.

 

The chicks has moved into a "safe zone" yard cage yesterday to protect them from cats and other game birds we have around. Also contact from other stock is nullified until I vaccinate. After 4 to 5 weeks they will roam free in the cage, and from 8 weeks on they are semi free range as I lock all my birds up 6pm to 6am.