Recent content by shawthorne44

  1. shawthorne44

    Broody for a week - Will the hen be fooled?

    We have 6 elderly Australope hens and one volunteer turkey (she just showed up and seemed like she'd been lonely). About 2 weeks ago after a couple of months of leaving a pile of ceramic eggs in a nesting box, Super Chicken went broody. We wanted one of the hens to go broody to help integrate...
  2. shawthorne44

    FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

    Ok, should smell like sourdough. I'll remember that. It might have been that I just assumed it would smell like beer, fermenting grains and all that. I can't really smell, which means I have to be deliberate about keeping smelly things and old food out of the house since my nose can't alert...
  3. shawthorne44

    FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

    I've never brought it inside, so it has never smelled up the house. But, the fermenting bucket smells vaguely beery so I assumed it would smell up the house. I have 19 chickens and I was using a 5-gallon bucket. Not filled, of course.
  4. shawthorne44

    Raising Chickens to Hens for the first time! (Maryland)

    On the question of when they are fully feathered. I just couldn't figure that out. So, I took a representative hen up to the feed store and asked. They were. Although if you do the Mama Heating Pad, it seems like it would come quicker. Also, people have referenced Chicken Math. This is...
  5. shawthorne44

    FERMENTED FEEDS...anyone using them?

    What about fermenting in Winter, i.e. starting a batch now? I did that this last summer, but I ended every batch when we had chicken-sitters. I didn't know I could dry out the bacteria. I've been wanting to start it up again but it seems so cold. When is too cold? Note, I am in the...
  6. shawthorne44

    Raising Chickens to Hens for the first time! (Maryland)

    When it is dark they will be roosting and not eating or drinking. Our coop is raised so they can wander around under the coop to stretch their legs. The run also includes the area in front of the coop. When we go for the weekend, we leave them in their coop/run area. The food and water...
  7. shawthorne44

    Hen won't come out of nesting box. Concerned that she is sick.

    Broody?
  8. shawthorne44

    Review by '' on item '12" Slide Top Feeder - 9814'

    While the chicks were still young enough to be indoors due to their heat requirements (and my ignorance of the Mama Heating Pad) they figured out how to kick off the top. We commented a friend of ours with a many more, but younger chicks about that problem. He said that their chicks didn't...
  9. shawthorne44

    Show off your chickens!

    Some good looking chickens
  10. shawthorne44

    Should I stock pile eggs?

    On the burritos, it depends on my mood. Either foil or saran wrap. Lately I've preferred saran wrap and toaster oven with the wrap removed. tortilla will toast a little. Sometimes I run out of tortillas so I will put the filling in a zip lock. Then when I get more tortillas, if I'm...
  11. shawthorne44

    Show off your chickens!

    Chicken_Bling by shawthorne44 posted Oct 19, 2017 at 5:32 PM The purpose of this photo was to show the Chicken Bling. But I love how it shows the fluffy butts.
  12. shawthorne44

    Should I stock pile eggs?

    My favorite way to eat eggs is breakfast burritos. So, in the fall when we had a surplus beyond what I could easily sell, I made batches of burritoes and froze them individually. Convenience food! Mine have already slowed down, though,
  13. shawthorne44

    Don't Breed or Hatch...Adopt!!

    The comparison shouldn't be to the age a chicken can reach in a very protected environment with medical care and unlimited food, as I think vast majority, if not all, of BYC chickens get. It should be to the expected age of a chicken in the wild. Three years seems on the high end.
  14. shawthorne44

    Thinking about free ranging

    We have a dog. A big dog with big poops. And 19 hens. The hens take care of the dog's poop by breaking it up, then it disappears. We have enough land that we don't notice the hens poop outside of the coop. So, for us, free-ranging means less poop.
  15. shawthorne44

    Storing Eggs Pointy End Down?

    Good to know. I've been deliberately storing pointy side up because I use an egg steamer and they have to cook pointy end down because the air sack end has a tiny hole pocked in. I noticed that if I turned the eggs, then the yolk always ended up in the center. I think I'll switch and just...
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