Recent content by possumqueen

I had a nest box mounted on the wall once, long ago. The girls laid their eggs on the floor underneath it. The best nest box I ever had was an old cardboard box full of straw. When it got dirty I tossed it on the compost heap, poop, straw and all, and put in another box. Cheap.

If you haven't already bought your plywood, perhaps you might try "oriented strand board," or OSB. Don't know what you would call it over there. It's made of flakes of wood glued together, and it stands up to moisture a WHOLE LOT better than regular plywood. It looks like it shouldn't last...

DEFINITELY cheaper than a dog or cat! Pets with benefits! But does it save money compared to just buying eggs and meat at the store? If saving money is your only reason to get chickens then forget it. On the other hand, yes, you CAN spend lots of money on them, but you don't have to...

Whoa! NCchicken, where you at????

Hey, Jessica! rcentner is right: foxes, dogs, cats, raccoons love fresh chicken, and they'll do what it takes to get one for breakfast! Take into account where you live and what kinds of wild/tame life you have hanging around. Here in my neighborhood I have the neighbors' dogs and cats...

I agree about the Seramas and that funky posture, but I saw one in Backyard Poultry magazine - a portrait of a white serama rooster - that almost made me change my mind. What a beauty that little bird was!! I'm getting OEGs myself. They look normal to me, but then I know lots of people who...

Quote: Smarsh hit it on the head! the shade cloth is permeable so it doesn't collect water, it lets breezes through so it doesn't blow around, and it's fairly soft so it doesn't make a lot of racket. It also stands up to sunlight a lot better than those blue tarps do. comes with grommets...

They look spangled -- black dot on the end of white feather -- I'm guessing silver spangled hamburg. . . . But that's a pretty big guess!

Whatever the color is called, it's pretty. Can't see his head well enough to tell about comb or muffs, but his body shape isn't quite right for an ameraucana. I saw somewhere on BYC how to upload pics so that we could just click on them and they would magnify. But I have the paws of a...

Putting the pole up as high as possible is not nearly as important as head room. Banties like to be up high, and guineas like to be on Mt. Everest, but I've had some of the bigger breeds who were content to sit on a 2x4 turned on edge just above the ground, because the bigger chickens can't...

Quote: I can take pictures for you if you'd like? ooooh! oooh!! yeah!!! pics please!

--------> all you newbies!!! Just goes to show you learn something new every day! I've been keeping chickens off and on all my life, and I've never seen a chicken pile! It sounds so cool! I feel like I've been deprived.

I've had chickens that would eat the cat's food before they even thought of their own. It's not bad for them, but it's waaaay more expensive than chicken feed, and it's coming out of your pocket. I might be thinking about what they're tracking through the dog's bowl, though. . . .

Quote: Fear not, LauraG!! There are NO lame questions! You have now elicited over a dozen answers to this question, including a couple I had never thought of (screw drivers, knitting needles) that I am now about to try! If you hadn't asked, what would we learn? yay!