I have a Blue Orp roo and a mutt up for grabs - I need to free up space to use as grow out pens. The mutt is half English Orpington and I'm not sure what his other half is, possibly Egyptian Fayoumi. He is not small, however. The Orpington is a LARGE bird. Both are non-aggressive to people, and...
Sounds like a great project! I started with a small 48qt cooler build and already wish I had a larger incubator. I look forward to seeing how this comes along. :)
I walked out this morning and saw a big 13+ lb Orpington acting like he was mating a hen, but I didn't see a hen anywhere. Suddenly my little 2 lb Egyptian Fayoumi shot out from under him, jumped on his back, pecked him in the head before launching off and then calmly started foraging as though...
How high is your fence? Are her wings clipped? Can she sort of scoot out from under the fence or through a small gap, or get up on top of a structure or something and leap over?
I'm not sure I can guide you in figuring out the cause of death - but on really hot days I find a frozen water bottle plopped in their waterer, as well as a tray of water with another frozen bottle in it for them to stand in occasionaly, really helps. Plenty of access to shade, TONS of...
My big blue Orps were fighting yesterday and one of them got a 3/4" tear on the outer edge of his wattle. It bled surprisingly little and I put antibiotic ointment on it when they were roosting last night and this AM. It's black-ish from clotted blood and the torn bit looks like it's shriveling...
Deep litter helped for me, as well as making sure they all have ample coop space and excellent ventilation. But by far, fermenting feed has been the best stink reducer I've ever utilized. They seem to poop less, and it doesn't smell nearly as bad as when they were getting dry feed.
And as...
Here she is. I don't know much about Barred Plymouth Rocks (other than having owned them, of course) but she's quite pretty for a random visitor. I wouldn't be disappointed if my hatchery girls grow up like this.
I was out on my porch having my coffee and I noticed a chicken roaming around the coop. My instinct was "Oh no! How did that one get out! Did I forget to latch the ramp?!" and quickly turned to "Wait, that barred girl is way bigger than my Fayoumi... where'd she come from?"
I went out with...
That's pretty great! I keep meaning to do similar things but I know I could never build one that tight with my brand of patience ;) I've always wanted external nest boxes but I'm afraid the eggs will have issues in severe cold - though that's probably just a good excuse for not breaking out the...
The nice one is red with white trim, double paned windows and all that jazz. The bigger one is a combination of red, white trim, missing paint, unpainted add-ons, dirty translucent corrugated roof panels and still has a God awful blue tarp over the run from Winter time. Guess it's time to break...
I use that black plastic netting of the sort people use to keep deer out of gardens and birds out of blueberries. It's pretty darn cheap, but can be distracting if you're concerned about the aesthetics of the whole garden :-P
...flock raiser as adults anyhow - but part of me feels that perhaps I'd get faster results if I could coop them up alone and better control their feed. Is that negligible? I don't mind an extra week of feeding, but I would be ****** if I ended up slowing them down considerably. What do you...
Do you mean that two of them leak in the sense that water streams out of them unchecked? Do you have any way for air to enter the tank or does it rely on the nipples themselves to suck up air as water comes out?
Most nipples unscrew in the middle, and contain the ball and what not that makes...