Thanks for all of the ideas, and those photos are amazing. We saw a hawk circling our street today. I'm not sure if it was the same one, but what does that matter, really... Right now, we are going to only have them out free-ranging when we are home and within earshot of the yard or actually...
Our 6 hens often free-range in out larger, urban, fenced backyard. Today, I heard complete mayhem from the hens, only to witness what appeared to be a hawk swooping through the yard. I ran out and scared if off our fence, and didn't lose any hens. (The main target, however, appeared quite...
Our Easter Egger hen (one of three hens, about 9 months old; no roosters) is missing her neck feathers in the front and slightly to the sides of her neck. This is a fairly recent finding. Could it be that she is being pecked by a bully or an illness? Ideas to manage/treat/prevent? She...
We have a buff orpington whose eggs are fine. The Easter egger just started laying, and when I've cracked those eggs, they smell rotten (but they are fresh). I haven't even eaten them, just thrown it all out.... This hen is in the exact same environment and has the same feed as the buff...
IT'S NOT TOO COLD FOR THEM HERE, AND IT IS **WICKED** COLD OUT THERE!!!!!
We are in MN and have had a heck of a winter so far with record snowfall and horribly cold temps. Our coldest air temp (this is not including windchill, mind you) was -30 F. It was a great day for fun science...
As a chicken newbie entering our first winter with chickens here in chilly MN, I found these pearls of wisdom from Jim very reassuring. I had been uneasy with the idea of heating a coop (fire/safety concerns, mainly), and am going to follow his advice and not heat the coop. (We have two Easter...
Ok, I think I have pics of the tractor-now-going-to-be-stationary-home on my BYC page. I think I correctly pasted one of those pics on this post as well.... Take a look at it if you'd like!
I tried to make my own page to post pics of the chicken "tractor." However, the pictures themselves do not show up on the page; there is only a red "x" where the photo should be. I have watched the tutorial and did everything exactly the way it is described, so I'm not sure why I can't post...
No, we don't have a garden tractor, so it is just my hubby and I moving it by pushing with every ounce of our being. There is just no way we are going to be able to keep this as a portable unit, so I am resigned to making it stationary. Since there is a bottom edge to the entire structure...
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I was also thinking about some kind of barrier... So my plan is perhaps some kind of barrier, some pea gravel, then a good layer of sand on top. I've been wanting to put nicer sand in my kids' sandbox; perhaps I'll give the chickens the old stuff then! I have been handed a great big...
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There won't be any sprinkler heads directly in the area where we'd put the coop/run; we kind of lucked out there. There will be one on each end, several inches to a foot away from the structure itself. We may be able to adjust the spray so it is not directly watering the area, but it...
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So do you think I should keep this monster as a permanent coop and have a tractor on the side? We do have a fenced yard (6 ft fence), and we have let them out to free range. I would plan to still have them free range as often as possible. So maybe ditch the tractor idea for good, let...
AND...something I forgot to add to my post just above:
We do have a glass window on one side of the coop. Unfortunately, this side will have to be near the wall of our garage once we make this tractor move to a permanent location. We will obviously lose most of the light, but if this is still...