Reviews by WannaBeHillBilly

What an ingenious way to build a no-waste feeder!
I wish i had seen this article before i build such a feeder out of a Rubbermade plastic container.
Nice pictures, one understands immediately how it works.

Lot's of pictures which explain all the steps you went through during your steep learning curve. Very nice to read, love the »relax« part!

Short and very precise instructions how to wash a chicken. However we all would like to see a picture of the author being all wet and covered in feathers after attempting to wash one of her chickens…
Or at least a chicken in the clean-water bucket!

One of the very few coop-links that doesn't only show the shiny new coop and run, but also what the elements do to that after some years. Very honest!
Good pictures of the construction steps that are very useful for own DIY projects. Don't worry about hash comments and try to learn from the past, use better material and paint and next time put on the shingles in the right orientation - made that mistake myself too…

Four stars for building such a cozy and sturdy coop for your chickens. Respect!
One star as credit for future improvements: We all would love to learn more how you built the coop, more pictures of the insides, what material was used, what kind of protection against was implemented.

In its current state i give the article four stars, building a cabinet incubator for a staggered hatch is a great idea, so you can produce chicks every week. One star credit for future improvements!
I like to see more details: How did you construct the cabinet? How did you install the egg-turners? What are you using as a heat source? Where will you hatch the chicks? (Those two plastic baskets in the bottom?) How is the temperature controlled?
And pictures, pictures, pictures, please! I have a similar idea of a cabinet incubator/hatcher in my brain to raise my own ducks and would love to use some of your ideas.

Not wearing a tin-foil hat, but that »Investigation Notice« from the CDC emits a foul smell:
Either somebody urgently needed to prove that her/his job is irreplaceable or, and i believe this is the more likely explanation, the egg-mafia begins to feel the effect of people raising chickens and ducks for eggs in their backyards, thus buying less eggs at the stores.
It would not be the first time that corporate America makes large »contributions« to try to influence regulations to their favor…
But i'm ranting! Back to the article: Very well written and puts the number of cases in that »outbreak« in a better context. And i must agree, calling fifty-two (52!) people an »outbreak« is as ridiculous as banning dihydrogenmonoxide (DHMO).

Very nice written and with explanatory pictures in the right place. I learned something new today, thank you very much.

Really! What a great idea to build a chicken-moat around you veggie garden! Where did you get that idea from?
A short but precisely written article, lot's of pictures and a great implementation of a great idea! I like the storage for the hay-broom and the rake.

Very good example of how to build a ridiculously expensive priced piece of equipment yourself for a fraction of what it would cost at the store.
Nice step by step guidance, supported by good pictures.

Brutally honest in things you should know before you decide to own chickens, spiced up with enough humor to keep you continue reading. I particularly like the sentence about the aggressive and non-aggressive roosters.
Some pictures of proven equipment would enhance this article very much.

What a great built! That looks like the »Happy Chicken Inn« hotel. I love the exterior look, it looks like a saloon from an old western city. I wish something like that would work for my ducks. Maybe i should steal your ideas and then tell my wife "Now that we have this beautiful coop, we just need some chickens"? As a chicken, i would want to live in such a stylish and safe home!

Your story reminds me of my story to duck addiction! - I never wanted to have animals, responsibility, shoveling poop... But the ducks convinced me quickly that its worth it!
Four stars for the article as of now and one star as a credit for the pictures, i hope you will add.

An excellent collection of ideas and thoughts of how to construct a bird-house, what materials to use, having electricity vs. not having, insulation and so on.
I like especially the idea of planing ahead for an emergency. You hear it in the radio X horses were killed on the freeway when their staples caught fire and they ran off in panic. You won't hear about the chickens, ducks or other birds that died in accidents after being rescued from a burning coop, but i'm sure there are many.

That looks like an excellent piece of craftsmanship! Four stars for that.
But a Brooder/Hatcher combination? How do you maintain the high humidity, necessary for hatching?
And is the lamp used for light or for heat? - Because you also have a heat-pad inside the brooder part. That is a very interesting combination, i have seen Incubator/Hatcher combos. Please give us more details and more pictures! Thank you very much in advance.

I gave you five stars, four for the current article and one a s a credit and motivation to add some pictures of that three bin compost maker. I have 17 ducks who produce an endless amount of poooop and we have the same kind of cr@ppy soil here too, loam with shale-rocks and clay below and i am desperately looking for a compost solution. - On top of that i have almost no flat land…

That's a very interesting topic! There have been cases of fertile female Mules reported that have given birth, so why should a Phicken not be fertile? Still i would like to see some reliable sources…

I did not know that you can store eggs without refrigeration for such a long time.
The idea of harvesting clean eggs is good, but won't work with ducks! I explained my ducks so many times the purpose of those boxes in their house - the ignore them and lay their eggs wherever they just pop out.

Namasté! - Cool re-use of old furniture, it looks very solid and easy to understand how you screwed things together. We have some crap cabinets too…