Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[Mommy 2 Wee Ones]

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Hunter0704 - Did a cut & past of this for my Chicken Tips file. Thank You!

 

[BWKatz]

Gypsi I feel for u. We just got our truck back from the shop after being wrecked. Tonight went out and it wouldn't start. Spent 3 hrs getting a new battery. Oh well that's life LOL

Question for old timers... do u paint the inside of ur coops? I see people painting it white so it'll be bright for them when they have to satay in it in the winter. and they say it prevents mites. Why would u paint a bright color when they sling poop all over? I have various wood grained laminates and was thinking of just leaving it as is. I don't have problems with mites.

 

[nuttyredhead]

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Sorry to hear about the back luck you are having. My truck has been broken down in various places in town in the past 4 days....towing day is tomorrow. Cant figuere out whats wrong with it. Glad to hear you can fix the wiring yourself! THat will save you some money!!!!! Good Luck!

 

[HenCrazyMom]

I love love love this thread. I read each and every post. I learned alot and got some great ideas. I hope this one continues.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

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I never have. Never saw a neeed and I'm pretty lazy. Lots of pictures on my page and my barn/coop page.

Would I? I don't see anything wrong with it. If paint was free and I had someone just dying to paint it for me? Sure.

 

[emvickrey]

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I never have. Never saw a neeed and I'm pretty lazy. Lots of pictures on my page and my barn/coop page.

Would I? I don't see anything wrong with it. If paint was free and I had someone just dying to paint it for me? Sure.

I can just see it now. All the chickens with white feet.

Currently I have to keep mine in their pens because of the number of hawks hanging out lately. I was outside when one tried to get into the duck pen and when it discovered it wasn't getting any supper from there it moved on to the pigeons. Of course no luck there either. Luckily I had decided NOT to let the bbs silkies out of their pen that day. They've been locked up since. Almost all my pens have a covered run attached. The bbs silkie pen is one that hasn't gotten it's run added yet so I was letting them out.

On the subject of the pepper helping with egg production. I've read a few posts that stated that it made the egg production go up. I did try it once and my girls didn't want any part of it. So I don't know if it works.

About worming chickens, I worm mine twice a year. Although until about a month ago I never saw any worms in their poo. My orph pullets actually expelled round worms in their poo. I use Wazine to worm mine. I also read a couple posts that stated that feeding pumpkin to the chickens is a natural wormer. So every year around halloween I bust a couple pumpkins and hand out large chunks to each pen. I have 8 pens so it's more like 4 pumpkins. I give them Wazine in the spring just after the rains stop and in the fall just as the rains are starting.

I saw a post where somebody found a worm inside an egg. I sell eggs for hatching so the last thing I want my customers to find is worms in the eggs or bugs on the eggs. And I certainly don't want my birds to be sick at all. So I take precautions.

 

[bird/wire]

Good Gravy ya'll, I just read the whole thread. Thanks to everyone who posts here.

Keep it coming, and do not hold back and more photos! You guys are making me feel like I might be getting my chicken keeping sea-legs.

Lots of GREAT stuff here, but I wanted to chime in with my perspective. This thread is NECESSARY!

I started with my backyard chickens early last spring and ran around looking for advice and information and all everywhere I could find it.

I needed a chicken mentor and I did not have one. There is a couple a block over from me who is doing the same thing. We just jumped in to chickens without anyone to help us or answer questions. As you do. When you must.

So I have pestered everyone who would admit to knowing anything about chickens. I apologize sincerely to anyone who got eyestrain while rolling their eyes at me while I was pestering them with silly questions.

I just did not want to do anything wrong, and certainly did not want to care for my animals improperly.

I knew I had a lack of knowledge and was desperate to not screw things up or embarrass myself or kill all my chickens.

I had only raised pets and small humans before...both of which I had been really emotionally bonded with. ;-)

I tried to follow everyone's well-meaning advice. I tried to separate wheat from chaff.


I went to the feed store and pestered clerks, emailed farmers on Craigslist, and the internet, read a bunch of stuff, and I picked up a few nuggets of knowledge and lots of conflicting opinions that made my confusion much worse. I drove 60 miles one way to buy 2 pullets and I really drove that just to see a real chicken operation and talk to a real chicken person. I learned a lot in the 15 minutes I was there about what I did not want to do and what I did not have the space to do...

All that effort to do the right thing and I ended up spoiling the crap out of my chickens worried all the time about disease and plagues and where to get and administer the meds and de-wormers? and sterilizing everything and the feed! O my lord the feed!

I'd been reading the BYC forum for about a year, but the whole thing is very large and I would search my topic of choice and read and read. Dangerous!

I started reading this thread and took the chicken I had in the house out to the coop the same night. She did not die. Is still alive today when I saw her last. I also ordered 25 chicks for later this spring and have made arrangements to have the ability to cull my flock if the need arises. I also now know I need to scrap and rebuild my coop this spring.


A week later (!) I have finally finished reading this thread and I am not frantic any longer that I am doing it all wrong.

Thanks to the mods for keeping the thread going, thanks to those who post the levity that breaks up the squabbling and thanks to the squabblers for vetting the advice posted and having the temerity to post a conflicting opinion while still keeping it polite.

 

[southerndesert]

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I am pretty sure this one post sums up why Bee started this thread and why BYC put it back up after it got somewhat side tracked..... The wisdom compiled in this thread is amazing and even all us folks tagged as "OT" are learning as well and I too thank those that take the time to share here.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I never saw a need to paint the inside of buildings for a long time.
I have since started putting a a couple good coats inside new buildings and gone back to painting inside old buildings.
I have one building used exclusively for brooding and, if no new chicks are going in, I grow them out in there too.
Between flocks, I'm very careful to fully disinfect the building. Most of my coops are made with cheap OSB inside and that dust adheres to every crevice. Now with the walls painted, I can pressure wash and disinfect the insides without soaking the wood. All that dust and poo comes off much easier now.

 

[speckledhen]

Painted interiors are much easier to disinfect. Though we never did it in the past, I have started painting the interior of any new ones we build with Oops! paint from Home Depot, which keeps it very cheap (and extremely colorful, LOL!). I used oil-based exterior paint inside the newest one on walls and floors, cost $5 for each gallon and only $1 for the pint of that pricey Behr paint with primer, which is usually $16/pint, used on the nests. The latest one is a lovely combo of seafoam green, violet and bright yellow gold.

One bit of wisdom I do want to impart is that the molt can make any small issue a huge one, which is why it's imperative that your birds are in fit as a fiddle as they go into the molt. If there is any small problem, it will be multiplied by tenfold when their systems are depleted from the molt. If a bird is already suffering from some ailment when the molt begins, you may have to resign yourself to losing it. Crop issues can be a big one.