Search results for query: *

Mine goes directly from the coop into a compost bin. Once a year that compost bin gets put into my garden. If you don't compost put an ad on Craigslist and somebody will buy it from you or at least come and load it up for free and haul it all for their garden. I would never throw it in the...

Hay and straw or not cheap where I live. I use pine shavings in my coupe and my nest boxes. Volume wise it's cheaper than hay or straw and it works great. The stuff I use is not a real small flake and I've never had a problem with chickens eating the shavings.

I buy new 10/20 flats from my local hardware store and different cell count trays to fill them. Mostly 36 cell trays but also some 72 cells. They are cheap and reusable. $1.44 for the 10/20 flats and $.77 for the different cell trays. If needed as they grow I up-Pott them into larger 3 and 1/2"...

I'd bet money it was a weasel attack. It had one kill my whole flock many years ago and it was the same kinda thing. Didn't eat much just killed them to kill I guess. BTW you shouldn't be relocating those raccoons. Either dispatch them or leave them alone altogether. Your just passing on your...

After reading all this talk about electric fences I thought I'd throw in my two cents. My chicken run is completely covered in extremely heavy duty netting so I don't have Predators getting to my birds. And we don't have raccoons or fox is in my area. But I put electric fence around my garden to...

It's been about 3 years since I got back into keeping chickens again and I haven't lost one yet to a predator. Under this theory I should be spending $0 on Predator management as I have $0 in losses. But yet I still have a live trap set for small predators and a multi catch trap for rats and...

So you are saying you're using your chickens as bait to test whether or not a possum can get to them? I guess I value my chickens a lot more than you do! Now I understand a person doing what they can to predator-proof their Coop run etcetera. but I also think if you have predators lurking...

Take this for what you will because there isn't an opossum within a thousand miles of me. Possums can be a threat to your chickens that much I know. Just because somebody hasn't had a problem with them doesn't mean they won't in the future. If it were me I would do things to dissuade the possum...

I keep a Victor "tin cat" multi catch mouse trap around my coop. I've only caught a handful of mice in it but I guess that means I don't have a lot of mice around. The nice thing about this style of trap is it catches multiple mice and is easy to use. Open the top throw in a little bit of grain...

That's cool as well. I wanted my laat name on mine which is why I got the one I did. Well that and I like to tell people all the time that I have happy chickens and that's why I get so many eggs. whatever Stamp a person uses I think it's a nice added personal touch and let's them know that...

My average size for a dozen lately has been large though there's been a few medium eggs in the mix.

That's one of the reasons for getting the sexlinks. A coworker has some and his laid right through molting. I keep them on supplemental light so they don't really take a winter break. This worked good with my last batch but those were EE's, Barred rocks, and RIR's. They slowed down with molting...

I just bought an electric heated one from premier1 that I'm trying out. It has horizontal nipples and while I have mine hanging which works for me it could easily be set on cinder blocks or the top of a 3 gallon bucket. In fact the manufacturer's information actually states that it can be set on...

I've got 10 hens five black sex links and five Easter eggers and yesterday I got 10 eggs. Five green ones and five brown ones. These new girls I've got are laying machines I'm enjoying gifting away all my excess eggs or trading them to others for baked goods and other things!

I've currently got ten laying hens 5 black sex links and five Easter eggers. And they've been laying like crazy this winter. Yesterday I got 5 brown eggs and 5 green eggs for 100%! YEA!! Normally I don't sell my excess eggs I gift them or trade them. But after reading a post here recently where...

No I don't believe it would be enough of a draft to bother a hen in a nesting box. And you need a bit of a draft to pull that moisture out. Having it on the opposite side will ensure that it pulls the moisture out from the entire coop. If both vents are on the same side the air may just...

I'm not a carpenter or an expert on building. But in my opinion yes you should put more ventilation on the back side. But put it at the top also. This will create a slight draft which pulls the moisture out but doesn't put a draft directly on your chickens. That's how I would do it anyway...

Thank you! That helps a lot. I guess I'll stick to our plans and raise new chicks every other year using their age from birth to mark two years. My parents love the fresh eggs and so I've been giving them lots of fresh eggs (when they're not playing snowbirds for the winter). My dad built a...

So this year I switched it up and got some different breeds of chicks in April I've had Easter eggers before but I also decided to try some black sex links. Previously I had Barred Rocks, Rhode island reds, and Easter eggers. I'm loving these new birds and their laying like crazy even in winter...

I sure wouldn't trust any sort of open flame near or inside my coop. In my honest opinion that's just asking for a fire!