Recent content by Folly's place

Electric fencing! Much less expensive that anything else, if it's allowed where you live. However, it won't keep chickens in. Woven wire fencing is great, and can be installed with wooden corner post assemblies and steel posts in between. We have it here, with electric on top, for our horses...

WOW! Very bad news, need to test mine... We have eggs currently being tested for lead levels, and never considered rubber dishes as an issue. Mary

All good advice already here, i can't add much. Love Salmon Favorelles though! And I agree that cockerels raised in a mixed age flock tend to learn better manners, even if there are no adult roosters involved. With an infant and a toddler in close contact out there, make your life easier by...

There's no way we would fund and install fencing for that neighbor, especially electronic fencing, which requires effort by the dog owner to make it all work! These dog owners are in the 'zero effort' category! Better and more useful to upgrade security for the chickens, and remove repeated...

We have Underground electric fencing for our dogs (Invisible Fence) and for our first seven dogs it worked great. Our eighth dog, a shelter mutt, decided that killing our chickens was more important that getting zapped by the strongest collar possible. We added a Ft. Knox physical fence, with...

Too soon to know, but it might be an issue. Maybe only requested birds? Another two months before then. Mary

Electric fencing is great, if installed correctly, and LEGAL where you live! Small children next door too? Be careful about this, or anything you do. Safe coops and runs are necessary to protect your chickens from predators besides the neighbor's annoying dogs, and as mentioned, "good fences...

I'd be a lot more concerned about ticks on me! You can use permethrin on your clothes, and on your chickens, as directed, and of course wear long pants and all that too. Here in Michigan we can have individual ticks that were imbedded (on use matters!) for five common tick borne diseases...

We feed Purina Flock raiser, with oyster shell and grit on the side, and have for decades. It's important to look at the mill date on each bag of feed before purchase, and get products that can be used within a very few months of milling. Also that the feed is stored properly both at the...

I absolutely wouldn't feed raw meat, especially any poultry, from the grocery store. Cooked, fine, not raw. There's a high % of nasty bacterial contamination in commercial raw chicken, it's why we are careful handling it in the kitchen! And I'm not handling dead raccoons or wild rats enough to...

A few years ago we had a couple of rats invade our coop, kill three nice pullets, and eat eggs. We eliminated their access, and removed the rats. my bird's lives, and my health, are way more important than the lives of wild rats. Domestic rats are delightful critters and excellent pets. Wild...

I've been bringing chocolate cake (the regular kind!) but seems like two cakes is a bit much. Maybe I'll do something else this year. Cucumber salad? German potato salad (the only kind!)? Ideas? Mary

A commercial poultry flock infected in Newago county, Michigan. Mary

AI found in a commercial flock in Newago county. :barnie Mary

He's a total jerk!!! Mary