Reviews by BDutch

A dust bath for chickens is mainly to clean the feathers and to be less bothered by parasites. I would not add any food. For qual I would make such possible in a sepate free-range bin if you dont have a dirt floor.

For my chickens I add a few tablespoons of diatomaceous earth to the sand for a dust bath. That helps well against feather lice, bird mite and such. The mealworms and grains go in the run. This way the chickens live quit naturally in a run if they can't free range. Always happy to scratch the soil.

Two times I had a grown up rooster who took care of offspring but eventually had to go. Because of the noise and because of there agressive behaviour. I allready used an advice to hold a bossy rooster to the ground. This worked well with one rooster. The other one was more flighly and I chased him whenever he jumped to me. But this was not enough to hold him back. Now my flock is without a rooster.

Next time I want chickens I buy fertile eggs and try to keep one rooster for the 3th time. With these advices I'm sure it will work out. A rooster collar for night-time will keep my neighbours happy. Roosters are allowed in my town when there is no one complaining. And also if noise is reduced from bed time till morning.

Just curious I started to read the article about racoons (wasbeer in Dutch). Thought: "happy we don't have them around here" .

But Germany is close and digging the internet I found they are a threat in the nearby future here as wel.
Thanks for the warning and info.

Great article. I should have read 'this', abouth the pecking order before I added chicks to my older chicks.

My experience:
When I started with chickens I bought 5 chicks, 6 weeks old. After a month or so, 3 apeared to be male allthough he claimed they were all female. Agreed with the seller that I could trade them and I added younger chicks, also 6 weeks old. I didn't know this could cause problems.

The younger chicks were having a hard time. A second pen where the older chicks could not enter gave them peace. And in the end it worked out well. Although there was another cock. Which was not the intention.

I kept the rooster until the following spring. Untill a hen was breeding on fertilized eggs. The rooster had to leave the flock because of the noise.

Since then I always had new chicks with natural breeding. From fertilized eggs or by keeping a rooster till april and a hen gets broody. So nice to see a mother hen nursing their chicks. This never gave a problem with introduction.

Luckily I never had problems with giving away the young roosters for their beauty or to pretect flocks of sexed hens (hybrids).

Beautifull get-along work. The coop is great for a few small bantam chickens. The run however, is in my opinion, only big enough if you can let the chickens free range a couple of hours each day. But for rabbits this is a great outside space.

I did things the other way around. Started with rabbits. For the kids. When there run got undermined (the rabbits eventually made holes in the floor boards) and the small rabbit coop got rotten, we bought a new chicken coop for the rabbits. This included a small run. But the rabbits didn't have eternal lives. After the rabbits 4 small Dutch chickens took over the place.

Tips for another addition:
- a chicken garden / square meter container with grass and herbs. Made with beams and mesh on top. This way, they can peck a little green every day through the mesh.
- Berry bushes. For shelter and treats in summer.

I also have an old garden bench in the run. But I'd rather not sit on it because of the poo. A real chicken swing was too difficult. Now the swing has a 3th rope to keep it a more steady.

I have 8 small bantams, in a coop (3m2) and run with lots of shelter (15m2). They are allowed to free range a few hours a day when someone is at home.

I do like the warning. Important because of the consumption of chicken eggs and meat. The explanations are good too.

But in my opinion: Chickens should not be given antibiotics unless it is clearly a bacteria that couses the sickness and is a threat to the flock. If you or the vet has any doubt on the sickness, its often useless to give antibiotics. The chicken will die or get better anyway.

Giving chickens enough space and a healty and fresh environment prevents sickness.

The abundant use of antibiotics in hobbying and farming couses health problems for people. An increasng number of bacteria are resistent for all antibiotics. Hospitals, dokters and nursing staff (at least in Europe) have a lot of issues with this.
Farmers and people who work with live stock have more often resistant and dangerous bacteria as other people have.

Very good. Recognizable at several points too having 6-9 small bantams.
I have found a solution on this issue:

If we need to leave them in their coop because it’s too wet (for them or for us), or we just don’t have time to get out there and let them out,

Click to expand...

I made a sliding chicken door with a pulley and automatic dooropener between the coop and the run. It opens at sunrise and closes at sunset. So in daylight my chickens can choose to go outside. In the run they have a few shelter spots.
The chicken guard is also handy for chickensitters if we are away for a few weeks.

I've got no words for this.
Hope youre aliens are doing great in their space ship and on earth ground.

Great space for your chickens! I always love it when people re-use materials.
At first I was conerned about the size and emptyness of the run. But its very nice if they free range during daytime.
I have one concern though. It seems a hell of a job to clean if you get bird mite in the coop.