I found one of my cuckoo Marans dead just outside the coop door this morning. I'd come out earlier to check for eggs, and the nesting box is on one side of the coop, and the pop up door is on the opposite side. I know I'd startled somebody because I heard the squawk when I opened the lid to the...
My DH had congestive heart failure since 2008. He didn't take the best care of himself, and generally puttered along on a general decline over the years. He got worse in the fall, but hid it from me, and then went in to hospital mid-December. I got him out Christmas Eve, but he went back in 2...
I have 6 hens from MacMurray - Marans, Delawares and Australorps. I'm getting 1-2 eggs every day, and every so often an egg is blotchy. Kinda looks like a bad dye job at Easter, but this is the basic pinky beige egg shell, NOT a fancy dancy dye job! Basic egg shell color, but paler in spots...
I didn't go out and clean the coop when the rain was pouring down, and I feel bad about that. It's messy in there, and I really need to get to it. BUT, last week, my DH fainted on Wednesday night (major health issues and he refuses to live the diet appropriate to them) and went into the ER on...
As an RVT, I'm very aware of the perils of overfeeding treats to cats and dogs and making them fat, and disturbing the natural balance of proper ingredients in any decent pet food. Yah da yah da yah da....
I just received a pound of meal worms from Tasty Worms in FL, and I've sprinkled a few...
I'm going to replace my poop sling with a poop board, as the sling doesn't cover the corners and just isn't 100% satisfactory. How thick does the plywood need to be? I plan to put PDZ on the poop board. I'm thinking 3/8" MIGHT be thick enough, but also might not be.
Advice?
Melinda
As best I can tell, that is. I got started pullets from MacMurray, so they're all between 19-22 weeks of age. Not super approachable, naturally enough, since I didn't hand raise them. Most of the poop on the poop sling, and littered around the coop and run, is a nice firm turd of greyish and...
Ladies and Gents:
I'm absolutely sure it's in here somewhere, but I can't find it right now, and time is fleeting! I'm making a gravity bucket waterer, where the bucket is mounted up above the watering mechanism, there's a part that pierces the bucket wall (I have that one) that the hose...
My new teenagers arrive in a little over 2 weeks. What kind of feed do I need to have on hand for them? I know I need grit and oyster shell, but I don't know what kind of regular feed I need. They're coming from Murray McMurray, and are supposed to be around 15-22 weeks old.
I can't dig a trench in which to bury my fencing apron. For a multitude of reasons, but mostly because I have rock hard clay AND several tons of 1" granite gravel all over our property (fence to fence, front to back) some prior owner had dumped. About the only time I can really dig holes here...
The very kind folk who helped me assemble my coop decided that they'd put a split lid on the nest box, as we didn't have any more wood if a size to make a one piece top. That, however, (naturally) leaves me with a lovely gap where rain, once we get some, will pour into the nest box. I need a...
So, vinyl is in and the floor portion of it is glued down. Ran out of glue... It's not kitchen quality for any house I'd live in, but it's IN and I'm pleased. So, I was thinking that to avoid muck collecting around the edges, they should be fastened down too, and I would have glued the sides...
This is my coop. 6 x 6 base. Short side (left in view) is 4 ft tall, tall side (right in view) is 6 ft tall. I'm thinking of placing the roost on the left side, since the the large door doesn't extend that far over. So, the wall tops out at 4 ft - and I'm getting Black Australorps, Marans...
Here's the coop (in progress). The run will be from the coop to where I'm standing. I know I need to put (and bury) a wire apron out from the run walls, and I need to safeguard the coop also, or the transition from coop to run. But, where should the apron be with regards to the coop? Do I...
Hi fellow chicken folk (and other poultry and livestock enthusiasts)
I'm brand new to chickens, and in fact, don't HAVE them yet. I'm still putting together the coop (painting it) and need to make the run. The birds will be arriving in September. I've been a 4H mom, when my children did...