Hi from North Arkansas

Hi from North Arkansas,

I raise Rhode Island Reds along with two "Easter chicks" given to me by a neighbor kid, one Bar Rock hen and a White Rock rooster.  I have a small fenced in yard (100 X 100 or so) on a steep hillside in a rural neighborhood (full of abandoned houses) where the flock forages. 

Since they are overgrazing and most of the nearby houses are abandoned anyway, I'm planning to install another door onto the coop to let them forage in the overgrown areas outside and give my yard a chance to regrow. 

Beside a few abandoned houses, there is a nearby highway, and woods beyond that.  The only predators I've ever had to deal with were stray dogs, but they seemed to have disappeared in the past few months.  At night there are skunks, possums, and racoons, so I close my birds up at night. 

In spite of my steep property, I garden extensively, and I let the chickens occasionally scratch around mature crops to weed and eradicate bugs.  My chicken waste goes into the garden and my garden waste goes to the chickens. 

My coop is a converted log cabin style kid's clubhouse with a nest box addition and a small covered run pen for when the chickens aren't out.

Accessories I've made for them are a metal feeder (fabricated out of old metal ductwork) capable of holding over 100 lbs of feed at a time, nest boxes made from plastic soda pop crates, several waterers made from 5 gallon buckets (one is wrapped and heated with heat tape and works well in the winter), and a small rehab pen for the occasional omega female getting pecked too much.

Anyway, I'm constantly looking for ways to improve their lives as well as my own.  I'll post as issues or projects arise. 

TW

Thank you Michigan and Ohio!