Chickens

[J.W.P]

It would be cool to have sum Chickens in survival

[J.W.P]

i need an omelet for breakfast

[conanjaguar]

13 hours ago, J.W.P said:

i need an omelet for breakfast

Ptarmigan eggs should satisfy that craving quite nicely . Or maybe canned/powdered eggs?

[Bearimpaler101]

On 8/28/2023 at 7:29 PM, J.W.P said:

It would be cool to have sum Chickens in survival

NO!!!! I have enough of those fleaba....*clears throat* lovely animals every day.

[Smellyfries]

I was hoping you'd be able to find ptarmigan nests hidden in hillsides, eggs would be nice for a few recipes.

[OwlhouseHylian]

CHICKENS ARE NOT FLEABAGS. THEY EAT BUG FOR HYLIA'S SAKE!

[Nikikeya]

I actually checked (cause I was gonna ask to be able to make coops for ptarmigan to get eggs) But unlike with chickens Ptarmigan only lay during a short time in spring.

Chickens would be wonderful. goats or cows for meat and milk/cheese. Sheep for wool. 

I could just forget about finding stupid Astrid and move Will to the farm house in Pleasant Valley, and live a peaceful life ranching and merking all the bears and wolves that come too close to the barn. XD 

[J.W.P]

I see all these farms but no animals to go with them; I want to farm.

[twyn1]

Chickens are hardy, but the extreme cold & wind would be a definite challenge. They can get frostbite on their feet and head/wattles. Also need to take into account the wolves -- you'd have to have a very safe enclosure with buried/high fencing, including over the top.

I've been watching a guy rebuild a cabin up in the Italian Alps. He has chickens (started with 4 but lost 2 due to dog attacks (& idiot owners)) -- he has solar panels & a backup generator & has hooked up a heat lamp to keep the coop at a warmer temperature & also a coil that keeps their water from freezing over.

You'd need to have decent food for them; the corn, oats & maybe fruit would work but they need some protein too, so maybe the dog food or meat scraps. You could also give them cooked eggs, but that's a little weird/creepy. Or there could be "chicken feed" added to the game.

It would create a purpose for all that bundled hay laying to waste in the fields, good for bedding and the coop floor.

I really do like the idea ... but how would you "find" the chickens? 

[J.W.P]

 

At the Pleasant Vale Farm or other local farms.

[twyn1]

I don't think they'd survive that long without human interaction ... they'd either starve or become wolf chow. Maybe something the "trader" could sell or barter?  

[J.W.P]

Chickens are resilient animals that lay one egg a day, allowing them to repopulate quickly.

[ThePancakeLady]

1 hour ago, J.W.P said:

Chickens are resilient animals that lay one egg a day, allowing them to repopulate quickly.

They are fairly cold-tolerant, but not at the temperatures we see in game in Stalker and Interloper. We would need a way to keep them warm- more than just hay. They need a constant source of water- which would freeze (?) if the coop wasn't heated in some way.

And i am chuckling a bit at the idea that every chicken egg is fertilized and is going to produce a chick. Hen will lay eggs daily even without being bred- almost all of the eggs you get from the supermarket are unfertilized eggs, so no surprises when you crack the shell. We raised Guinea hens and chicken for eggs and meat on our farm, They did not mind the snow every winter, but we did have to have a heated barn for them to be in when it was well below freezing, and we did have to provide them more feed in winter so they would have the extra calories to produce more body heat on their own. We only brought the roosters in to breed selected hen when we needed to mix up the gene pool and keep the population steady for egg laying, and to replace those butchered for meat. Adult chickens can go for a few days without food or water before they start dying, but they are not going to be healthy or happy, and the chances for fights between birds will go way up.

Yes, it could be super-simplified for game mechanics sake, but we would still need some way to keep them fed, watered and reasonably warm if we are out wandering for a week- they won't last that long, and having immortal chickens would be rather immersion breaking for me. 

On 5/1/2024 at 5:30 PM, twyn1 said:

I don't think they'd survive that long without human interaction ... they'd either starve or become wolf chow. Maybe something the "trader" could sell or barter?  

That would be a possibility- but where is the Trader getting them from? They would have the same problems with them as we would. Plus the mental image of shoving chickens in my backpack or travois to get them back to base just makes me wince. I think sticking to the idea of possibly finding powdered eggs makes more sense and would save a lot of player frustration. Rare food find similar to canned corn or canned ham.

[MaiveTheSheep]

As far as the repopulate quickly, their are only 2 types of animals I know of that lay eggs that can reproduce asexually (so fertile eggs without another) but they are both lizards
New mexico whiptail lizard (only females so kinda no choice)
and some monitor lizards even the largest, komodo dragon, have been shown in captivity to be able to do this as an option, but i don't know of a monitor lizard species that can survive that brutal cold (i mean maybe hibernating, but they aren't going to be active) and i don't know if people want predators in the game that have a bleedout venom where even bandage isn't enough and need a coagulant to treat. (though there are medicines being researched by the venom and komodo dragons blood being better antiseptic then current medicine for "super bugs" so the idea of some survival game using that seems nice to me)

as far as animals that can be used for stuff both cows and some sheep species have extreme tolerance to cold blizzard winter (more so sheep). the cows needing more hay, the sheep needing less but if you sheer them for wool in the winter they are likely to die, both can produce milk which can be heated to pasturize it (safer) and if you have the proper tools can make cheese. but with those long winters like 500+ days, going to run out of hay/alfalfa
and the fact that wolves will attack them, same with bears. though both prefer sheep to cows, i dont know with the wildlife seeming more hostile that they would survive long.

[Pyroxene]

I don't know if chickens have enough feathers to withstand -30 °C

[ThePancakeLady]

51 minutes ago, Pyroxene said:

I don't know if chickens have enough feathers to withstand -30 °C

You would have to craft each one of them a mini bearskin bedroll, little mini bearskin coats, find them tiny little chicken-sized insulated boots, teeny tiny wool toques and mittens (can chickens even wear mittens?), and knit them chicken-sized fisherman's sweaters. And give them all little hatchets to fight off the hungry wolves- hoping there isn't a sudden revolt amongst opposing chicken factions over who gets the last of the chicken feed.

Could be a fun mod, though. 😆