Reviews by Dokdream

Enjoyable guide to Living with Backyard Chickens. They really do have individual personalities! The daily need for care is not a chore, especially when you have the opportunity to interact with the girls -- and a roo or two. My blood pressure has dropped to normal since I began my flock. You can't put a price on that.

The only part of this article that I find helpful is to make your decisions based upon your flock's circumstances. Here in So. Cal., our winters can be chilly, but no snow. The birds become acclimated to warmer weather so when we have rain and low temeratures, it is an uncomfortable novelty to them! I insulate the top of the hutch with foam panels and use hardboard or plywood to protect it against pecking. I also use a small heater to keep the temperature up at night. During the day, the girls free-range. While the coop is designed for 3 - 6 birds (from Tractor Supply), the hens huddle at night anyhow, so actually a dozen would likely be comfortable there. (I'm enlarging the coop in the event they do desire more space; its up to them.) I keep the hutch dark at night so as not to interfere with their normal light-based hormonal system. Our flock is for egg-producing, only. They do NOT join us at the dinner table so there may be a difference in philosophy between us and the writer of the article.

Terrific article! I have tree-rats. They live underground, coming up at night to eat the citrus fruit in our trees. Several eggs being incubated disappeared on successive nights. The weather was warm so I left the coop hatch open. When I closed the hatch, no more eggs disappeared. Of course the run was protected with hardware cloth, but I'm sure the vermin got in some other way! I've tried live traps and glue traps to zero avail. They ignore the live traps and run right though the glue traps. I'm going back to snap-traps in a cage with openings too small for the hens to get through. Of course, even with the greatest bait, the rats are wary. I was even thinking of a BB gun, but they move so quickly and the foliage is so dense, I doubt that I would hit any. Problem also is they look really cute and I honestly don't want to kill them. (But I have to get them to stop hanging around my girls!)

Yes, good article. Our girls have the run of the yard during the day; placed in the hutch at night. NO ARTIFICIAL LIGHT!! Still have access to the run below. I recycle the egg shells for calcium. I've discussed protocol elsewhere. I hang ears of corn for them to play "tether corn," which they like. Also homemade sourdough bread on occasion. Happy, healthy, good layers, and endlessly entertaining. My BP goes down when I spend time with our girls.

After readng the article, I'll only feed my chicks the kernels and discard the husks. Why? Because our girls have access to a nice "pasture," full of vegetative matter as it is. The addition of husks to their diet would actually be a negative, which is really my take-away from the article.