MK,
Welcome to Texas :D My best friend lives in West Texas and has Marans, Polish, Barred Rock, Rhode Island Reds, Americauna, and a few other breeds I am forgetting. She loves her chickens as much as I do, we are in South Texas though on the Coastal Plain. She has a large run for them but also...
I read a fascinating article on the NY Times about oregano & cinnamon bark oil being used as a substitute by a farmer getting away from pumping antibiotics into his chicken farm. I blogged about and the link to that article can be found on my site. You should always be careful administering oils...
Thank you Peanutsmomma, I am quoting you on my blog! Thanks for the idea I have hung rosemary in there but now I have to try your suggestion! I bet it does smell so nice :D
I use melaleuca in a spray bottle about 4 oz. of water added to 10 drops of the oil, and spray around the entrances to my coop and lightly spray the pine shavings. Not aggressive. We haven't had any ticks and they are common in south Texas. Melaleuca is also known as tea tree oil...
My Americaunas have the ear tufts, one lays pink eggs and the other and olive green color. We love them both, they were very skittish as chicks but have gotten a lot more tame. They love to escape the run at times when they shouldn't, we do freerange them most days, so I clipped their flight...
We live in South Texas, the coastal bend area and here is a link to pics of our coop and chicken run projects.
http://www.essentiallymomma.com/chicken-coop-projects
Is it really an EE? I was hoping because her legs are olive green and I have read some other things that made me think she might be, I got all my girls from Ideal Poultry and she was sold to me as an Americauna but I really don't mind if she's an EE. My sons picked this breed but the Buffs & SLW...
I got my BOs from Ideal Poultry, they are right up the road from us. We can't have roos in town but we are so happy with our hens. I bought 2 BOs, 2 SLW, 2 Americaunas
Peppa and Gertie are my BOs and they are seeming to be the leaders of my six chicken flock, the Americauna pictured here is Georgia aka "crazy pants" and she has tried asserting herself but she seems to flighty and the other chickens are kind of dismissive of her :D
Lap chickens, they will come right up and get on my knee for reasurrance and to drive my Americaunas crazy (who hate to be held but think I am giving food when I am petting the sweet girls)
We are just south of you in Taylor, what kind of chickens do you have? We just got our first ever flock, six chicks (our legal in town limit) and I already want more, they are 6 weeks old and so much fun!
TexasLisa,
We got our chicks from Ideal in Cameron too, they were only 30 minutes away so I got to do a "customer pickup" instead of having them shipped. They folks there were really nice, our chicks have been very healthy and our 3 kids are loving this new adventure! What kind are you ordering...
I agree, if chickens get too fat their egg production is impeded by the layers of extra fat because it blocks their passing the egg through (this is what my Mom says). I have three different breeds and I noticed that each one has very different sizes and we can expect that some will be heavier...
Ken, your coops are awesome! We have been through Cut-n-Shoot before on our way to Beaumont :D, my parents used to live in Orange. We are in Taylor, very close to Thorndale, and we have primarily the black gumbo in our yard and its not pleasant when mud happens. We are thinking the run will have...
Lisa,
I had my dream chickens list and I got all of them except the Sussex, we bought from Ideal Poultry about 30 minutes northeast of us and their Sussex were sold out until May and I didn't want to do chicks then turn around and raise a new batch. Since we are in town I had to limit to 6 hens...
Hey Texans,
I need advice on what kind of chicken runs you guys have for our climate. I have seen a lot of people recommend sand, what do y'all think? Also we have our girls situated between a large old fig tree and a huge cedar tree for protection from sun and wind, would a covered run be...