Recent content by MountainPea

Trouble is that they free range, and we definitely don't want cats. Seriously considering rat bait set up in pvc pipes (so that the chooks don't eat it). I'm annoyed that I now have to deal with this!

How do I rat-proof our chook shed? Or is it just a matter of getting the eggs before they do?

Our chooks free range during daylight hours. I wasn't able to collect our eggs until 4pm today, and when I got to the chook shed each of the four eggs that were laid today were scattered around and the contents eaten out, with a big hole on the side. Our chooks have never eaten their own eggs...

Ours are free range all day so putting fresh grass clippings isn't an issue. They didn't even seem to notice it when they headed back in there to roost yesterday. Hadn't considered the moisture though. The clippings I used probably are on the damp side due to recent rain. It's early spring...

I have decided to go with this idea. I was way overdue to mow the lawn around the house, so I started yesterday and have tipped the clippings in the coop already. Still have more to do today but it won't be a problem filling the coop floor as there's a lot more lawn left to mow. One question...

Once upon a time, our chicken coop was obviously a shed of some sort. It's a decent size and has a concrete floor (I'll try to upload pics). Until the other day, I had hay down on the floor. It worked fine, although I think that mice were getting in there; I found tiny little tunnels in some...

Can chooks lay more than one egg a day?? This morning there were 7 (from 7) in the nesting boxes, then one of the girls laid a sneaky egg in the calf shed, and I found one in that same spot that I suppose she may have laid there yesterday. Not 100% sure. So, today I actually collected NINE...

6/7 today. In fact most days we get that many...fairly impressive seeing as it's the middle of winter here.

I spoke too soon yesterday, today I got 7/7, so they are indeed all laying! Woo!

Yeah I'd use straw, it's a bit harder for them to toss aside. Also it could just be that the shell was a bit thin, maybe? I've seen my daughter drop an egg and it was still in tact (she's 4, so it was dropped from a height of a couple of feet). And yet one day one of our eggs had such a thin...

Oh really? I suppose it makes sense, especially since it's winter here now. The least we get is 4.

5/7 I think we're still waiting for one to lay as the most we've gotten is 6/7.

4/7

5 from 7 today, one of our girls laid her first ever egg today!

How awesome are the eggs from free range chooks?! I'm new to chicken ownership so this is all still a novelty to me. I just had soft boiled eggs and toast for lunch and oh my goodness they were tasty! This was just the top of the yolk, it was actually quite big. Can't believe how good it tasted