Recent content by John Canfield

They are doing well however we had a lavender americauna (sp?) expire in the egg hutch. Not a clue why but have been egg bound. They are good egg producers as we are getting anywhere from 7 to 12 eggs a day and the eggs are quite large. The Carolina Coop continues to be a wonderful design and...

Here's a current pix of the Carolina Coop, the fenced in run around the grove of oak trees and in the background is our water well 'pump house' . The pump house has two pressure tanks, softener, filter and water wells valving (we have two wells.)

Sorry for the late response as I'm super busy and I don't get email notifications. Anyway... Yes, spray paint everything beforehand except for maybe the 2x4 wall 'studs'. I painted the studs after assembly. When I call painting finished is when every wood surface is painted, and I mean...

I’ve had to put down baby antelopes and it’s really hard to do. Once in a while I’ll have one that loses the use of their hind legs, usually an adult but not always. That fawn was struggling to get up to run from me. One time I found a baby antelope in the barn dying from cold. I put a heating...

8x24 will be a very nice size. Don't know if you are planning on water and power but if not, I highly recommend you do that. I started with two bales of hemp which worked fine but after about three months we added another bale and I have one in reserve. My morning routine is to look for any...

Interesting you mention that. Our 'pet' axis deer (dehorned and castrated) hates little kids. He will raise up on his hind legs but that's as far as it goes. I put myself between the kid and the deer to protect the kid. So no more kids around that deer. Otherwise he's like a 150 pound puppy dog...

Hi guys! I've been remiss in not posting here occasionally. The numbers: 22 chicks, 4 cockerels and 18 pullets. We're getting about 4 eggs a day now! They are mostly laying in the egg hutches but occasionally on the hemp bedding or even in the run. Not sure what we're going to do with the...

It's all in the numbers: Our chickens are 13 weeks old We have 22 chickens Our 22 chickens are eating 50 pounds of feed in 11 days :barnie

Sounds enticing but I'll pass :p

Great idea, thank you! A chicken-keeping friend suggested we place a head of cabbage in the coop - wow did they love that!

Yes, from Cackle rare breed assortment. I think you have it accurately narrowed down to these two - I appreciate your investigative assistance :bow . I didn't take very many pix of the chicks but look at this one I found - looks very similar to the Cackle Jungle Fowl chick: Junglefowl chick -...

Our as yet unidentified cockerel is feathering out and I suspect he'll have long flowing tail feathers. His crowing is still way funny but it's improving. At his 11 weeks of age he's showing no signs of leadership among the flock but maybe this characteristic will later develop. Here's the boy...

Added a bit of coop bling - stars on both gables. Also added three hooks in various positions in the run so we can hang stuff to amuse the chicks. Wife bought a small watermelon which should provide entertainment for us and the chickens. Scout the guard Lab in the foreground. He's not...

Dumb girls - only the rooster and one or two lavenders apparently spent the night in the penthouse (the roost). He was also out the door about 6am so he's got it figured out. Maybe the rest of the flock will follow at some point. I wanted to discuss why we placed our coop in its orientation, it...

Your kind comments are greatly appreciated! My brother-in-law (sadly passed way too young) had a beautiful ranch and went all-in with chickens. He maintained a rooster will keep law and order among the hens which I've never forgotten. So if ours is a good fowl citizen, we'll keep him.