random questions, all answers appreciated!!!

[foxmfan1]

K, this is my first "flock" of chickens. I got three lil ladies two and a half weeks ago, so far they are doing great, their feathers are coming in and they are getting bigger, every day. I started to "free range" them the third day I had them. They get at least two or more hours a day outside in their free range pen, I talk to them and try to get them to respond to my voice, as I throw chick feed out. they let me hold them and sometimes freely jump into my hand. K so here are my random questions

I live in texas, very hot during the summer, which is what I am trying to get them used to, its already over 80 degrees during the day, ,i have a tractor coop so i can move them around my yard, and yes, they will always be in the shade, but in texas its 90 plus degrees in the shade.? what should i do to keep them cool and alive, during the summer months

also, I want their purpose to be more weed / pest control,and egg production so i want to free range them more and less feed. SO what should i be adding or taking away from their diet to encourage this, I have seen threads which say grit should be added, question, is , what is grit, and what and how should i be adding this to my ladies diet. ?


and i have read alot about sand boxes, I only have three, how big should I make their box , because, trust me, my ladies, will have a sand box!! my ladies are two rhode island reds, and one white leghorn just fyi for size ing : )


k last question, i
, I have a raised bed garden, how do I maximize them, should i let them free range in it?

my goal is to become a sustainable urban living household. i got the water collectors, the organic raised bed gardens, my lil ladies, will hopefully provide eggs, and fertilizer, I plan on getting a goat for milk and cheese,

any tips ideas, or general knowledge is appreciated!!!!!

 

[flo12345]

Congrats on getting into chickens!! Warning: It's a little addicting

When I started I had 3 and now I have 11! Okay so on to your questions!
Okay let's see keeping them cool......
Make sure they have nice coolish place to dust bathe, my chickens love a good dust bath when it's hot. It will get a little dirty, but put a dish\pan of water out for them.
Don't really know what to tell you for your next one..... hmmm

Sandboxes... I like that idea! =D
Size wise I would make it roughly 4' by 4' or 5' by 5'.
Are you going to be letting them for 2 or 3 hours and then putting them in the chicken tractor? Or will they be out all the time when they are adults?
If they are free ranging all the time it will help the heat factor because they can pick the spot they want to dust bathe.
hope this helps!

 

[GoldenCometLady]

I would like to address the question about the garden. Chickens can wreck havoc in your raised beds. They will completely unearth newly planted seed and young plants. They also eat the plants so can make short work of your garden in no time. I would advise fencing of your garden where the chickens do not have access to it.

If you will have a coop the old bedding can be helpful in the compost for your garden. Also the goat droppings from the goat shelter would be good too.

Best of luck with your chickies.

 

[Judy]

Good advice about not letting them in the garden, not while anything you want is growing. They love most all your veggies, if they happen to let any seedlings get that big. On the other hand, after harvest, chickens can do a lot of good in a garden, eating insects, adding fertilizer and doing some tilling. We let them in last year when the tomatoes were too full of bug stings, etc., and they had a ball finding good tomatoes, never mind all those great bugs.

I've never made a dust box for mine. They love to make their own, in a bare, shady spot. In the summer they do it partly to get at the cooler earth below the surface, I'm convinced. Sometimes I kick the dirt over an old spot for them to do it all over again.

We have days over 100 every year here, and I haven't lost a chicken to heat, knock on wood. I make sure they have plenty of shade and breeze. My coop is large and kind of like a wind tunnel; they sometimes go in there when it is hottest, I believe for the breeze, even though they have good shade outdoors. I run an inexpensive box fan all summer (it usually has to be replaced at least once a year.) Obviously, they need plenty of fresh water -- and they will drink a lot in the heat, even turn their droppings a bit watery sometimes. I've played around with leaving milk jugs full of ice around, turning on water sprinklers, making a wading pond for them, all without success -- although I'll still run the sprinkler a little while on the worst days, just so the soil will be cooler til the sun gets over.

I don't think you need to worry about what to feed them to encourage them to forage. Mine have always eaten less feed when they had good forage; pelleted layer feed is not their first choice.

If I were building now, the coop would be positioned so I could let them either into the garden or their yard. I might even divide the yard so they could be in one half while the other was replanted. I would plant some kind of ground cover like annual rye when they were in the garden. As it is, we built a 3 sided shed in the garden, and carry them back and forth twice a year. (They never need a 4 sided building in this climate, not for protection from weather.)

 

[LTygress]

As a quick planting/gardening note, I believe potato plants are a VERY good thing to plant inside of their pen/coop. It doesn't hurt them to eat the plant, and the potatoes themselves often keep growing with very little greenery on the surface. Potatoes also do good at FERTILIZING the ground, and loosening it up for other plants. Plus, they tend to grow VERY fast, and they can handle most climates. I actually plant them INSIDE of my 200G lizard terrarium!

To plant them, simply get a bag of potatoes (any kind, but russet is a good starter) and put it in a dark place until they all start growing good "eyes". Then cut the eyes off with a good chunk of potato behind it (to nourish the eye until it takes good root). Plant it completely under the soil away from where the chickens like to take a dust bath (full sun is best for the potatoes), water it, and let it go.

As an added bonus, once the potatoes have been dug back up, you can mash them up and feed them back to your chickens. Mine LOVE mashed potatoes!

 

[JennT]

To maximize them in the garden bed, I would age their compost and add it in. To keep cool, try keeping melon like cantaloupe and watermelon really chilled and give to them as a treat.

 

[foxmfan1]

I am going to try and let them free range, as much as possible only supervised, so they will free range on my days off, and as much as possible when i come home in the evenings. but otherwise they will be able to freeely go in and out of their coop too their run. the plan is to just move the tractor every couple of days. just worried about the heat, and their diet. I apprecite the feedback about the garden, lol I was just goiing to let them free range, in it, haa haa, disaster averted!!!

 

[flo12345]

Best of luck with you chickies!