yeah i realize that but was hoping to let them free range all summer but they did alot of damage the last couple days. tom. ill have to go rake everything back. i guess ill have to let things grow up more before trying it again. they looked so happy lounging on the lawn all spread out. lol! was picking cherries and throwing the damaged ones to them. we became close friends after a half doz. cherries. if they dug up in the shade under my pines it would be ok but they dug under my honey and blueberries. both shallow rooted.
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Yes that wont work so i understand.
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This is Zelda. She is the only chicken that I have let out of the coop to forage in the yard.
I physically put her out the first time because she is kind of a pest to the other hens when food is involved.
Today she voluntarily came out for a few hours.
She acts calm when my dogs go past her so hasnāt triggered them to chase her.
She has the Muscovy drake Brutus as company.
He is waiting for his duck hen to come out with newly hatched ducklings.
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Some of my hens should be laying any day soon (22 weeks). I have two flocks, one that were straight run from a local lady and the others hatched myself. The hatch was mostly cockerels, and all except one have mild temperament. That one ladā¦ maybe he will behave differently in a bachelor flock, maybe he will be the first bird weāve ever culled. Iām hoping he will mellow when heās away from the girls.
The birds from the local breeder are all incredibly good temperament; the cockerels are feeling their oats, but allow us to pick them up and take care of them as needed, and are very friendly. The breeder said she bred aggression out of her lines and that seems to be true. One of them is so gentle he frequently coos at me and loves head scratches.
I was quite ill for awhile and got behind on contracting with someone to build a more permanent coop with run, so Iām scrambling now before it gets cold. The mobile coops we have are just not winter ready. I bought some sweeter heaters to hang above the roosts. Iām trying not to be picky, but had envisioned a double coop/run structure with storage room and now Iām just hoping to get a basic building up.
Iām not looking forward to trying to integrate the boys from the two flocks and girls, but I think everyone will be happier. Theyāll each be in a permanent structure over winter and then in spring in the mobile units. I also bought netting to drape over our annual garden fence to turn them safely loose for a bit and help end of season clean up. The chickens love watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, ripe tomatoes, and black soldier fly larvae.
Edited to add: I have one hen that flies to my arm when called. She might be my favorite.
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Out of my 40 or so chicks i ended up getting 4 roosters. I removed 3 of them and gave them away yesterday. I am keeping the gold laced wyandotte rooster as he is pretty cool and stands on a log that i have for them to play on and wants me to pet him. The other 3 roosters were nonstop harassing the hens and i like peace more than chaos. I think they do also.
Their play area is about a 120X80 fenced in orchardā¦ where i have a dozen trees planted last fall.
I think they have killed about half of those trees by debarking the trunks. They also dig up the dripline and want to dig out the trees.
With so much area to enjoy they love under the fruit trees the most it seems. They want them gone.
This area is planned to get about 50 trees so i will have to replan and put wire screen around each treeā¦ im not sure if the debarking was because they were young or its just a thing with chickens. I havent seen any intel on it so far but its definately happening here.
I made some nesting boxes out of milk crates and pallet boardsā¦ so far its going wellā¦
I got the idea from this pic
I am using leftover wood shavings from when they were chicks to bottom the nests along with a piece of cardboard in the bottom to fill the holes.
14 eggs a day as of nowā¦ but i have 2 hens that lay eggs at about 5am from the roost and drop them on the groundā¦not sure if thats their scheduleā¦going forward.
Kalmbach laying feed is their favorite. I tried naturewise for awhile but it turns to dust too fast. The Kalmbach holds up and makes less of a mess that they clean it up more than the naturewise.
I have tried all of the scratch feedsā¦ even Henhouse reserve.
I think this is the best option as it is actually layer feed in disguise.
They tear it up and its an excellent scratch grain as they eat every single drop of it. Whereas some of the other scratch grains there are some things that they just dont likeā¦
Fat happy hens that lay eggs and give me happiness and joy other than the destroying of my fruit trees.
I put about a wheelbarrow load of woodchips in their henhouse each week and remove a wheelbarrow that is loaded with poop and feathers. It goes in as woodchips and comes out as compost almost.
So i think this is a good trade and will reward me with things i grow instead of buying fertilizers.
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My hen that was broody for 3 or 4 months has broken her brood, but has also started a hard molt. It looks like a raccoon got a hold of her and tried to rip her through the cage but she got away. I had to look it up because I thought she was dying. Apperently after severe broodiness or high stress, chickens can hard molt, and some chickens just molt more extreme than others. Iām just glad it doesnāt mean shes sick.
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If I have an established group of free range domesticated ducks, would it be a problem to add some chickens next spring?
Our free range ducks and chickens live together. They donāt interact all that much. We use the same precautions in introducing new birds as we do when they are all the same species. Biggest problem for the chickens is the mess ducks can make, but if they are all free range that should be less of a problem.
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Fair enough. Yeah, after having ducks for 6 montha, I see why everyone says they are messy. They are!
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i added some onyx ( r.i. red x australorp) strait run to my flock about mid summer. lost 4 chicks initially. medicated their water and the rest survived. i have 3 roos and the rest are hens. a very chill breed. even the roos are non violent. my older easter egger rooster constantly runs them off from his girls. i need to cull them soon but they are so nice looking and relaxed. i can just about touch them before they move away with very little contact from me. the hens walk right between my feet with no fear. they started laying a few weeks ago. got them back in may. i will hatch some eggs this spring to replace 6 old hens i culled a week ago.
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My favorite hens are Speckled Sussex. They are almost like dogs and follow me everywhereā¦ are the first to greet me at the gate and want to go with me when i leave. Also one of the more cold hardy as well as one that lays all winter.
I like my California Whites alsoā¦ they seem as smart as the Speckled Sussex and seem to always be scratching or doing something productive.
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My husband and Brother helped me put this together sunday afternoon. I plan on using it for a winter chicken run. It was on sale earlier this year, but I donāt remember what I got it for in $$.
Luckily we donāt get a ton of snow where I am at (usually just a couple inches), and I have plenty of wood blocks to weight down the ātarpā. I will probably put chicken wire along the inside around the bottom, but I am still thinking about it.
I will have to cut a slit for this tunnel OR my husband said I could flip the whole thing around and put the end over the run I have now. I am leaning towards just cutting a slit. 'Cause I want to use that door.
I was also entertaining the thought of reinforcing the frame, since I have heard they donāt hold up too well.
I used to raise chickens when I was living at my grandparentās old house, but we moved away 10+ years ago. My wife wanted us to get chickens for the kids and I begrudgingly agreed. We are in a more suburban environment and we quickly attracted rats by using old fashioned ways to feed. I spent a lot of time researching treedle feeders and settled on this one. It seems to be far and away the top choice at the backyard chicken forums. Iāve read that it can take over a week to train chickens on a Grandpaās feeder but with this one you just need to place each chicken on top of the treedle, then do it again the following day to be sure. If even one of them understands it theyāll all learn and the rats will be shut out. Itās made by a hobbyist in Oklahoma. Some of his stuff is now made in the Philippines as well.
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If you have ratsā¦ then if you take away the feed they might start eating chickens/eggsā¦ i have heard tales about that locallyā¦ and seen stuff in my chicken forumsā¦ YMMV though.
My wife insisted that I renovate our chicken coop when I installed our solar power system 3 years ago. At the time I wasnāt too keen on the task, but lately Iāve taken it more seriously. Iām guessing weāll be getting chicks next spring.
Over the last couple weekends Iāve worked on building the chicken run next to our old coop. Last weekend I dug post holes, all of them about 2ft deep and 10in across. Considering the soil is somewhat rocky and mostly clay it made for hard work using a post hole digger.
Iām spacing 4x4x10 posts about 6-7ft apart to be the base to where the chicken wire will be attached. The run is about 14x13ft square.
This weekend I had to re-dig some of the holes because the run wasnāt square, that sure was fun! But after that I concreted 5 posts in. Each post required about two 50lb bags of Kwikrete.
Hereās a few pics of the coop, inside and out and my work over the weekend. I used levels and mason line to keep things lined up. I started about noon today and finished about 6:30 this evening. Pretty tired but happy with the results.
Outside of the coop, still in pretty good shape considering itās at least 30 years old.
Inside, showing roosting poles. Floor is mostly okay, nesting boxes need replaced tho.
Some pics of my handiwork so far. Still need to set a couple more posts, one in between the west side of the run, and another at the east end for a gate Iāll be building.
My helper, he actually got in one of the nesting boxes, but got out when I saw him. No egg production thoā¦
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My small ārunā looks similar to yoursā¦ it was exhausted within a couple of weeks of any sign of life. My small run has a door that leads into a fenced in orchard as their large run. And that will be nearly exhausted of everything living within the next year. They are fed beyond wellā¦ as well as about 20lbs of scratch each weekā¦ not to mention i wheelbarrow woodchips laden with bugs and stuffā¦its still not enough for them it seems.
They have built themselves several dust bath holes as wellā¦
I am pretty sure that they have killed 6 trees in that fenced in orchard so farā¦ they are obsessed with digging them outā¦ as well as debarking the apples.
So hardware cloth will go on new plantingsā¦ that is already in the works for the planting this coming month.
The big question is how this chicken orchard will fare. I never planned on them killing the treesā¦ the goal was for them to help them.
I figure at least all larvaes and bugs will be goneā¦ and alot of manures should help the orchard floor at some point (if it ever rains).
I am up to about 10 wheelbarrow loads of woodchips laden with manure from the coopā¦ that will be nice manures for things going forward.
I am sort of worried about cold survivalā¦ (if the prediction of brutally cold winter is true).
Butā¦ i may be onto something in the coop floor. I think the woodchips laden with manure give off heatā¦ at least i know it is much hotter in the coop than when i walk out the door in the mornings. The floor seems warm to the touch as well. So perhaps the composting will create enough heat to provide warmth.
Perhaps some greenish hay will also helpā¦ with free heat?
My coop has windows that i can open and close with screens (old trailer windows)ā¦ so i can at least control wind chill i think.
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We wonāt let them free range unless weāre home. We work most of the week, so I wanted a big place for them to get out and get some air. This run is already pretty barren except for a bunch of black walnuts falling on it. Once itās covered and enclosed, the walnuts wonāt be an issue.
Yeah Iām guessing if you use hay or chips for flooring, that itāll break down along with the chicken poop and get composted. And compost will warm up as it breaks down.
Iām already looking into automatic chicken coop doors, roll away nesting boxes and transparent roofing for the run.
Howās your egg production been going?
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I am at 19 per day right now.
One hen lays at about 5 amā¦ and there are a couple of hens that lay at 5pmā¦ strange.
I have one hen that wants to lay in a marigold planter box that is attached to the doorā¦ ive not caught her yet but she must go thru alot of work to get up there.
Speaking of whichā¦ The marigold planters that i have next to the windows this past year somehow kept most all flies out of the henhouse. I do know that i had a ton of flies before the marigolds floweredā¦ and almost none after. Not sure if that is science or coincidence.
Ive tried Nutrena and Kalmbach back to back and they seem to prefer Kalmbach. There is a little dust around the feeders but they even try to get that with the Kalmbachā¦ and not so much with the Nutrena.
Purina Layena looks good alsoā¦but the internet folk dont seem to like it muchā¦ not sure why.
Hard to find the Purina ingredientsā¦but someone posted this recently.
I have tried Kalmbach and Nutrena and local as well as several other scratch grains. They eat them all and really run to me when i am givingā¦ and enjoy the heck out of all of themā¦ however i think the wise move for me is to use this feed as scratch grainā¦
Wheat Middlings, Cracked Corn, Whole Oats, Dehulled Soybean Meal, Roasted Whole Soybeans, Whole Milo, Corn Gluten Feed, Oyster Shell, Black Sunflower Seeds, Calcium Carbonate, Soybean Oil, Whole Wheat, Dried Peas, Yellow Corn, Peas, Salt, Lignin Sulfonate, Propionic Acid (a preservative), DL-Methionine, Dried Bifidobacterium thermophilum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Verxite Granules, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yeast Culture, L-Lysine, Sodium Selenite, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Silicon Dioxide, Oregano Essential Oil, Thyme Essential Oil, Rosemary Essential Oil, Star Anise Essential Oil, Dried Bacillus subtilis Fermentation Product, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Manganous Oxide, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Ethylenediamine Dihydroiodide, Citric Acid (a preservative), Mixed Tocopherols (a preservative).
The smell is incredibleā¦ Rosemary/Thyme/Oregano/Basilā¦
I have tried Henhouse Reserve a couple of timesā¦ they arent that crazy about some of the stuff in it.
I know several other folk that raise chickens and they feed the cheapest walmart or TSC stuff that they can buyā¦ with probably similar results but i am just not that kind of shepherd.
Same with their dogsā¦ they only feed Coonhunters Pride or whatever is cheapest.
A few years ago i went to a ladies operation that sells eggs locally. To get her manure. She had buildings where the chickens were housed with about 3 feet of shavings in the floor that almost knocked you down. Feed was threw on top of that floor of shavings and the chickens ate amongst their feces etc.
Every 6 months or so the buildings get mucked outā¦
So the cost of her shavings and the cheapest feed and the fact that the eggs are brown in colorā¦ allow her to have āfarm fresh eggsā to the public.
YMMVā¦ im sure that there are much better and much worse ways to shepherd a flock. I just try to ensure that everything is as happy and safe and free as possible.
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