Our layers are 20 weeks today. We are switching to layer feed. I have one tag for Purina Layena. I also have two tags for local feed mills where if I buy in bulk, the price drops dramatically. I don't know enough about this, though, to know if the feed mill ingredients and the guaranteed...
Well, its encouraging to hear that the pile up may just be a young chicken behavior. We haven't run power to the coop yet...will do so before the weather gets cold, but for right now, no lightbulb. I guess we'll try putting stuff on the step to keep them from roosting there and see what happens???
My flock of layers (17--no roos that I can tell, anyway) have a brand new coop with all the recommended suggestions here (well ventilated from the top, sq. footage is over 4 sq. ft per bird etc) , and a large run, and we are in a rural area with few predator problems. I raised them from the...
I watched a dvd recently about brooding chickens and there was a segment on allowing a mother hen to brood the chicks and then raise them. I was just wondering...how come the mother hen lets her chicks out in the grass (presumeably not in 90 degree weather, which is what it would be in week 2...
I'm so relieved!
I have heard horror stories from friends about getting rid of lice on children (and the bedding, and couches, and stuffed animals, etc). Blech.
This is probably a dumb question, but is this the same kind of lice that get into human hair? I have three long haired girls and we have our first layers scheduled to arrive in April. Should I be worried about this at all?
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Hmmmmmmm...I hadn't thought about how the hens would then have access to the goats stalls. I am not too excited about hunting around for eggs. Plus, wouldn't the goats be tempted to eat the eggs?
Maybe it would be better to keep them separate.
If I keep them separate, is there a...
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They made the goats smelly?? Well, if the fencing goes in without too many delays, we'll have a 3yr old Saanen who will be due in August, and a younger kid doe (alpine) for company. I don't think we'll keep the Saanen's babies...but having just seen the pix of those Boer babies being...
I shared here earlier that we are preparing our land for goats and layers. I was originally planning on having separate pasture areas for each, but dh (who is also the fence builder) asked me the other day if they needed to have separate areas. I told him I had no idea! But I am guessing...
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Sorry, perhaps that wasn't the best phrase... but it's SOMEthing like that, IMO, if chickens have less than 1.5 sq ft each fully-indoors.
The overall design, the 10x18' roofed and partly walled part, seems GREAT to me-- it's just the indoor space that seems to be designed very...
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It never occurred to me that we might be cutting corners? My friend's coop was not an attempt to cut corners. It was a design she saw in a poultry book and copied, I believe. 10x18 is 180 sq. feet, right? If I had 25 chickens, that would be 7 sq. ft per bird. I'm trying to...
The entire coop area is 10x18, I believe, sheltered but not completely enclosed from the weather (two solid walls). The roosting area, which is a smaller little house for at night and when the weather is too cold, is the area I'm trying to determine a size for. This nighttime spot will be...
My dear sweet husband is building a coop this spring for us. We saw one a friend has and love it. Its a rectangle shape with two solid sides (one side is the pole barn we already have and the other side is more siding that looks like the pole barn). The roof is the same siding on the pole...
This is so encouraging! I have heard that Nubians can be difficult and noisy by friends here locally, so I am staying away from them, in spite of the extra butterfat content. That settles it then. If the tests for CAE come back good, then I'm gonna be a goat owner soon! Woohoo...
Well, the situation has changed a bit. The Boer buck apparently wasn't up to the task so now the Saanen is running with a La Mancha buck. I am kind of glad, as I am hoping she will have a doe I can keep to milk eventually. And it looks like I'll be taking an Alpine doe baby to keep the Saanen...
The thing about slaughter laws...has anyone ever watch Hugh Fearnley Wittingstall's British program on being a "small holder" as they call it there? Each season is a variation on the title River Cottage. Very interesting program, but I digress...
He has to pay people to butcher animals that he...
Welcome! We are new here too, and homeschool as well. My intro is at the bottom of the page. I'm going to be placing my layer order soon and see that you have 1 of each! :-) That is encouraging to me, as I think we may be doing something similar.