Recent content by nellynelly

  1. nellynelly

    Composting in the chicken run?

    we cover our finishd piles with plastic sheets. if not, the chcikens spread it out all over the run looking for bugs and such. from obervation, they ignore the activily composting (hot) piles, and focus on the fresh pile (material dumped 3 days /week) and the finshed product, which has more bugs.
  2. nellynelly

    How to dry out a coop?

    Yes. Dry leaves work great for bedding.
  3. nellynelly

    wood chipper-recomendations/regrets?

    besides the advice that you often get, buy as big as you can afford. any recomendations on HP of the motor?
  4. nellynelly

    raising feeder for faster growth?

    i am happy with the current rate of growth, just seeing if others have heard of raising the feeder "trick". they are lazy birds. they have access to a run, but i have not seen more that 10% outside at a time. when do they start laying eggs? how many hens would i have to keep to...
  5. nellynelly

    raising feeder for faster growth?

    just wondering if raising the feeder for faster growth is something others have heard of.
  6. nellynelly

    wood chipper-recomendations/regrets?

    i am looking to buy a woodchipper. the current front runner has a 13 hp honda motor (basically this unit ). they have smaller motors, and china knockoffs (@ 1/2 the price), but my usual thinking, buy quality, and buy it one time. i am not sure if i need so much power. anything over 2"...
  7. nellynelly

    raising feeder for faster growth?

    let me start by saying we are doing our first batch of meat production birds, and they are scary. at one month, you can clearly see the oversized breast growth, like no other birrd i have ever raised. this might be the last, i might just go back to the slow growing duel purpose...
  8. nellynelly

    Dual purpose roosters, when to butcher.

    i just ate a 2.5 year old roo. after an hour in the pressure cooker, he was good eating. i have tried to cook them other ways....but for me, the pressure cooker is the only option now.
  9. nellynelly

    ate my favorite rooster

    RIP big red. It had to be done. i needed to get fresh blood into the flock. he served his purpose very well and expanded a flock from 10 hens to over 30 in the last 2 years. a few of his sons are in another flock, so his line will continue. i cooked him in the pressure cooker and made...
  10. nellynelly

    humidity is 52% max looking for tricks/tips

    i added a few more rags, and repositioned the one that is draped (so that the fan blows at it), and it helped a bit. i am up to 55 or so. when i add hot water, it spikes to 60-62% and than slowly drops over the next few hours. the fresh air vents are more of a product of poor construction...
  11. nellynelly

    humidity is 52% max looking for tricks/tips

    i can not get the humidity above 52% (today is day 18). i have a 9 x 12 baking pan in the bottom of my homemade incubator which is filled with terracotta rubble (an attempt to increase surface area) and of course water. the pan covers about 35% of the floor. i just installed a rolled up rag...
  12. nellynelly

    A Brinsea for my birthday...Manual or Auto Turner?

    i like turning by hand (not each egg mind you, but egg flats). i feel that if it is overly automated, one (myself) would tend to ignore the process and might miss something (i.e. egg oozing nastiness or temp swings)
  13. nellynelly

    3rd time is a charm

    i am trying the third "test" run for my home made incubator. The 1st run i had humidity problems (could not keep it high enough), and hatched 1 of 12. 2nd run i had a power outage on day 18, and the temp dropped to 85, hatched 0 for 24. hopefully the 3rd will be more successful. the...
  14. nellynelly

    budget chickens

    i just realized that my "country" flock only costs about 30 cents a day to feed. the flock has about 25 chickens! the only input we buy is corn, they get about a cup a day. the run includes our compost area, which gets waste from 3 restaurants and all of our farm waste (animal bedding...
  15. nellynelly

    are the goners?

    put eggs in the incubator last night. this afternoon, power outage for about 7 hours (temp down to 75 or so)......should i toss the eggs or do the have hope? thanks
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