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  1. Q

    Hawk detergent

    We use deer netting that's made to protect bushes and run it overhead in the chicken yard. It comes in 7' wide rolls, it's light, and it's black, so it looks less awful than the hawk netting you can buy on line. Deer netting is also far easier to work with than hawk netting, which is a...
  2. Q

    Do chickens really like to be held?

    None of mine like it. Barred rocks, sapphire splashes, brown leghorns, and prairie bluebells: all hand-raised, hand-fed. The bluebells are by far the worst and nearly all of them still act half wild after 18 months of getting treated like royalty. Many of the other breeds will "assume the...
  3. Q

    Comment by 'QODTMWTD' in article 'Caring for Chickens in Summer: Tips for a Happy and Healthy Flock'

    We're in east Texas and get both high heat and humidity. Our coop makes up 1/3 of a small barn. We installed a big exhaust fan high on the wall on the barn side to increase the airflow through the building. We keep a floor fan blowing across the floor of the coop, toward the roost bars...
  4. Q

    Clear poly roof for run?

    Clearly the DOH people realized that you were the sane, honest one. Unlike the crank next door.
  5. Q

    Clear poly roof for run?

    Wow. Between the neighbor and inspector you found a couple of real d-bags. Sorry you have to endure that ongoing aggravation and tension. Building inspectors are just tax leeches: Even when they know the code they don't hold builders to it because that's complicated, but they have no problem...
  6. Q

    Clear poly roof for run?

    It looks great with the clear plastic roof. What was your neighbor's problem? And how is that plastic roof any different than having a plastic roof on a shed, from the neighbor's perspective?
  7. Q

    Clear poly roof for run?

    For over a year we made do with a heavy duty white tarp nailed down to joists over the run area, but it was starting to get ripped from the wind and it was starting to leak. We just had the run roofed in sheet metal panels. At first I was a little disappointed because it was slightly darker in...
  8. Q

    how to select the right coup and run. I have been looking at tractor supply at coups and runs for about 14 to 16 chickens, why only 3 nesting boxes.

    I have 28 hens and 20 total nest boxes. The boxes are the two-tier metal type and there are two sets of them. The birds regularly use maybe 8 of the boxes. There are probably another 8 that they never use, and the rest get occasional use. All but one of my birds (a runt) lays; the oldest are...
  9. Q

    Anyone else have picky eaters?

    That's funny. Mine didn't like pelleted feed, but they didn't exactly refuse it. They just used it up a lot more slowly. They do really well on Purina Flock Raiser crumbles. They've got a big yard for hunting crickets, frogs, and mice, which they love almost as much as mealworms. Same for...
  10. Q

    What is your favorite hatchery?

    We've ordered only from Hoover's Hatchery twice, 8 months apart. All 30 chicks from the two combined orders arrived alive and healthy and stayed that way. We have 28 birds now because two brown leghorns died, one at 6 months of age and one at 8 months, and the hatchery was in no way...
  11. Q

    Do you Clean out poop from the run?

    We use old wood shavings in the run after they've been cleared out of the coop. The run has a dirt surface so we rake the old shavings periodically to stir things up. The run's covered but the sides are just hardware cloth so in many places the shavings get wet when it rains. Mixing the wet...
  12. Q

    Integrating chicks into flock at 4 weeks old.

    ...was no bloodshed and virtually no conflict. The pullets were happy to signal their position at the bottom of the pecking order. All that said, it *was* a PITA and I'm glad to know that with escape hatches built in to their expanded brooder the next batch of chicks will be able to integrate...
  13. Q

    Silicone mat on the bottom of coop for ease of cleaning?

    It's absolutely possible. We use something very similar: foam playpen mats. They lay perfectly flat, they're light, and they come pre-made with creases that allow them to fold up flat for easy transport in and out of the barn. They're also really easy to cut to size with scissors for the...
  14. Q

    Poop hammock-not going to work

    We use foam playpen pads cut to size under the roost bar and under the ladder roost. They're made to fold up and also to lie flat, so every morning we fold them up, carry them outside, and hose them off, then hang them to dry in the barn. At night they go back down under the roosts. I...
  15. Q

    How do you get your birds to be so friendly?

    I've had chickens for only a year and even though they all get the same treatment they've been really variable even within breeds. It also seems to vary by age, in that they go through stages of being more or less okay with humans. When they were still in the brooder they were mostly skittish...
  16. Q

    Portable AC in the coop?

    We’re near Texarkana. We use a portable AC when the temp gets over 90. It doesn’t cool anything but the immediate space in front of it, but the birds seem to appreciate the cooler airflow. We also use a box floor fan and a wall exhaust fan. I put ice in a mini swimming pool with 2-3” of...
  17. Q

    Disabled Chickens Forum

    Good idea. I had two pullets with lameness issues this past spring and was disappointed by the lack of information out there. There’s a need for better prosthetics and temporary bracing devices, too.
  18. Q

    When to get new chickens?

    We bought our first batch of day-old chicks at the end of August. The second batch came in the first week of March. The timing for both groups worked out well; we picked those times randomly when the urge for chickens struck. I wouldn't add new chicks in cold weather, though, which around...
  19. Q

    Review by 'QODTMWTD' in article 'Jen's Hens'- A Southern Texas Coop'

  20. Q

    In process coop build, would love metal roofing advice.

    South Dakota Guy is right: Metal roofs will drip condensation, sometimes even if they're lined. Spray foam will keep them from dripping inside the coop, but I don't know how practical that is for a smaller application. We're in east Texas and it gets very humid every night in the summer. The...
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