Recent content by David LaFerney

I put the leaves in all at one time, and it's a little fluffy at first but the chickens don't have any problem dealing with it.

So, I am now trying 3 different kinds of rollout nests and I'm starting to see results... A "curtain" to hide the eggs in the till from view helps a lot. The "switchback" double incline design is compact and not hard to build - and the same unit could be used as either a front or rear...

A curtain of some kind to get the eggs out of sight sounds like a good idea - and coincidentally I just did that earlier - not long enough ago to know how well it works. The double back incline till is actually a great idea. If I had started that way to begin with. I might try it anyway...

I recently built some rollout nest boxes, but I need to make some changes to the design so that the eggs roll into the till more reliably, and so that the hens can't reach in and try to fish them out - often breaking them in the process. Obviously I need to increase the slope and make the till...

My covered run is 12'x12' - put about a foot of leaves in there last fall, and it has worked great. It very quickly got shredded up pretty fine and reduced to about half of the original volume. We throw scratch feed on it, and the chickens constantly dig through it - manure gets mixed in and...

Partition off part of it so that you can limit the chickens access to that nice large area. Plant grass or spmething and after it grows don't let the chickens over graze it. The ideal thing would be to have multiple paddocks so they can take turns recovering - even if that meant just cross...

I do realize that hens will lay for several years before they stop. But by replacing them every year (in theory) we get to enjoy having chicks, we can get a good price for the year old layers, and the buyers get a good deal on healthy animals in the prime of life. Also, since I don't have any...

Originally Posted by Kevmac How many chickens have you got, Dave ? 9 Hens only. Our setup seems pretty roomy for them so a few more - probably a dozen - would probably be alright in it. But our 9 hens average 7 eggs a day which is more than we can possibly use, so we will probably raise...

Thanks Kevmac, I did a good bit of research and put a lot of thought into it before I built it. I was kind of surprised with the popularity of chickens as a hobby that there aren't some (professionally) well designed small flock floor plans around. Or if there are I didn't find them. I guess...

I built this last fall, and have been using it long enough to have some ideas about what I do and don't like about it. The covered run is 12'x12' which seems to be plenty for our 9 hens even when they can't go out to play for long periods of time. Last fall I put a foot or more of litter -...

We started last year with chicks from the local farmers co-op, and have had great success, and lots of enjoyment from them. Our chickens are black and red sex links and we had 100% success raising them and consistently get 7 eggs a day on average from 9 hens - no rooster. So, we have...

My roofed run is mulched with fall leaves - about a ft and a half in oct have become about 6 inches now. It keeps it clean and odor free and gives them something to do. You generaly don't notice any poop at all. Clean run=clean chickens=clean eggs.

If you want to grow black oil sunflowers just buy some as birdseed and use them for seed. I broadcast some over a 50 by 50 ft plot one year and when they were ripe a huge flock of goldfinches demolished them. It was great.