Recent content by droopy

so i was planning on processing my meat birds today but when i got up there were white feathers all over the yard:( luckily for whatever reason i put the kids pet brahmas in the main coop for the first time yesterday

I would inform the nieghbor that "now that I have to keep my LGD inside at night ALL animal intruders will be shot" that will probably keep thier dog in thier yard

so my town only allows me to have six birds if i have a permit. i never got the permit but followed all the rest of the rules they had.... til now. i'm going to pick up some meat chickens from tsc this sunday and was wondering if the males will start to be noisy before they go to freezer camp...

i am trying to plan where i'm going to plant my hops rhizomes this spring and up the outside of the chicken run would be perfect but i am pretty sure the girls would not allow it to grow. am i right or will the high aroma and acid content of the hops deter them?

all of a sudden i have one hen that every other day or so has been laying a robin sized egg. normally i get six full size large eggs a day from my girls. could this perhaps be the runt of the litter not getting enough nutrients? they have a compact flouresent light on a timer to give them about...

i just bought a couple heated flat back buckets from american livestock supply. the prices and shipping were both very reasonable. i figured the five gallon would be good for the pyrennees and a two gallon in the coop for the girls

Quote: thats definately the truth! my pyr goes thru a 50 pound bag of food in no time flat. although i believe the large amounts of food are helping keep the critters away since i throw the landmines in a radius all thru the woods that but against my backyard and so far the large dog scent has...

my great pyrenees watches over my flock all day. the only time shes been even remotely snappy at any of them is when one of the pullets thought she could refuse to leave the dogs laying area where blanca(my dog) can watch over the whole yard without having to get up. she just lays there all day...

i'm in southern maine but right on the coast so we don't stay below zero for too long of a stretch usually. pretty long time period below freezing though. i'm sure i'll end up utilizing a low tech solution like a heated dog bowl but have fun building things so i was hoping it would work to build...

the chickens would never see the moving water as it would be inside of pvc pipes that have nipple waterers screwed into them. my biggest worry would be that the nipples would leak

i was wondering if anyone has tried the "moving water won't freeze"theory with nipple waterers? i have a food grade 55 gallon plastic drum and being a boiler repair guy can get a used circulator pump pretty easily. i was thinking if i ran maybe 1.5" pvc supply from the bottom of the barrel thru...

thank you. they are getting layer pellets and an additional can with oyster shell and have had all hard shells so far just trying to cut a bit of costs here and there whenever i can ty

was wondering if anyones tried this. i live right on the coast of maine and have access to as many oyster shells as i need since a cousin and a friend both work in local oyster bar. can i just take fresh shells and smash them up with a 12" hand tamper? i will probably give it a try since it...

finally three days later there was another egg in the nest. i thought the first egg was small and kind of wierdly shaped(oval like a racetrack not like an egg), the second egg was perfectly shaped but even smaller than the first. i'm assuming this is fairly normal and just a sign she's on her...

my six hens are almost 16 weeks as well and i got 1 small egg the other day but nothing since. the one that laid it has been squaking non stop and squats if approuched but not laying anymore