Hay, I have heard, is better for bedding than straw because it is not hollow.
Hollow = places for mites etc to live in and grow.
I have always been told that for nesting boxes, hay is the better way to go between the two.
My husband is starting to make plans to build our Ladies a new run this summer. He was looking at using treated lumber, but I don't know if that is safe to have around the Ladies or not. There are big notices saying that it has arsenic used in treating it, and that you need to use safety...
Sweet PDZ is awesome... you can get it from feed stores etc. It comes in pellets or in powder and its used to get rid of ammonia smells. I have used it in my bedding for years for the Ladies and it is amazing. Won't hurt them if they eat it, or bathe in it etc. Do a search on it here on BYC or...
We covered the floor of our coop in sheet linoleum and stapled it down. Worked like a dream and made cleanup extremely easy. We covered it with shavings and sweet pdz/DE.
So, living here in the Pacific Northwest, it can get downright cold.
We live in an area that tends to get the convergence zone...so many times we will get the snow, ice, rain, and general winter ickiness that others in the next county won't. The girls tend to give us the stinkeye when the snow...
Starting a new coop this summer since the original one has decided that it is done and over with. We have pretty much decided to get this shed from Lowe's
http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/095317/095317182945.jpg...
Happy Birthday Chicklettes!
Monday, 27 July 2009 they were a week old!
Apparently, as a pressie, Momma Esther decided that it would be a lovely day to go outside for the first time into the run. This was also the week that here in the Pacific NW we had record breaking heat come thru :( In...
We got our little ones on 22 July 2009 from My Pet Chicken. They hatched that prior Monday, 20 July 2009. We had 9 little ones...2 Plymouth Rocks, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 2 Black Australorps, and 3 Easter Eggers, all hopefully pullets. We had 2 Easter Eggers left from our prior flock...and Esther...
I just used a large moving box the last few times. I have also used the portable/foldable dog kennels that we had in the garage for them, just lined the inside and bottom with something ...I think was cardboard....to keep the chicks from slipping thru the holes until they were too big to do so...
Check kitty for IBS. I swear to god my kitty had the WORSE poops you have ever smelled in your life... paint peeling off the wall bad He is on premium food, I mean really the cats here eat better than we do. No grains, just good healthy food. But it didn't help.
Took him to vet, and they ended...
We are not showing anything, just going ot go have fun and DH gets to listen to my Xmas list of poultry I love to look at all the different breeds in person, and see the artsy crafty stuff...and of course a little bite to eat here and there!
It isn't as big as Puyallup fair, but its still...
My guess is coon.
Every time we had a loss to due predation so far, it has been one that was grabbed thru the wire and yanked right thru. It stopped after we got the hardware cloth installed on the fence on the run. But yes coons love to pull them thru and do the deed that way...we never saw...
I love the smell of melons...I just can't eat them
A bite or two and I am dying in the restroom with cramps and not fun stuff going on. I can handle the juice alone in small quanties tho so... I am assuming an allergy or sensitivity of some sort. Lovely...
But anyway those melons sure LOOKED...
The ONLY thing I have seen my girls "play" with <if you can even call it that> is one of the cat toys that you roll around and it drops treats. Again, food motivated. They are really not playing-type of critters. As long as they have something to keep them busy <food oriented> they are usually...
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My oldest EE is almost 8...she goes back and forth between having a beard and not much of one. When she gets a beard, it looks scragglier every time. I see no signs of mites or of other birds plucking her...so have to assume hers is from age. She does look in the face like an old lady...
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SOUP!!!
Chicken feet make the best soup EVAH!!! they add a great depth of flavour and they gelatinize the soup and make it so healthy .... chicken feets are good for that
Well, I can't answer the question about facing the windows...but looking at my Ladies and my friends flocks, they all like to sit and stare at the wall lol Every single blessed one wil sit and stare at the wall at roosting time, even tho they had a choice to sit and look out the window as they...