I ordered mine from EBAY and have had absolutely no problems with them. They came from China, which I assume is where most of them are made. I use opaque buckets to cut down on algae growth. BEST ever! Love that the water is never filthy, that the chickens seem to really like the fresh cool...
Poodles are retrievers, bird dogs. They are not responsible for their haircuts. You may be able to teach the poodle that the chickens are not dinner. We cannot even begin to try with our English Setters. Birds are birds and birds are to be fetched.
Never underestimate the desire of a hungry carnivore! I use 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The chickens can still scratch and dig, but other critters cannot get in.
I agree with every point except the first one. I love the variety of eggs our mixed flock produces and so do the folks who get their eggs from us.
Deborah
we have a 10 by 10 night enclosure and a 20 by 30 run. That makes 600 square feet of run. At a generous 10 sq ft per chicken we could house 60 birds theoretically. We top it at 20. Your space is 512 sq ft. Using Gail Damerow's 10 sq ft per heavy breed adult chicken in confined housing, you...
We needed more Ameraucanna eggs in the mix but did not relish another month with chicks in the garage. We had a broody Barnevelder hen, Bonnie, who was intent on hatching our infertile eggs. Then a brainstorm hit! Let's try to get her to raise the chicks. We brought home 6 Ameraucanas, 4...
Wow! Way more complicated than what I did. I just drilled holes in the bottom of the 5 gal bucket, screwed in the nipples, and hung them up. Three buckets provide ample water for 20 chickens and no leaks.
We live in Fair Oaks CA, known for the feral chickens, mostly roosters, who inhabit the downtown area. These birds wander into the businesses, fight and crow at all hours of the day and night. Some people complain that the birds are being abused and are subject to depredation from coyotes and...
Our chickens live in a 6 foot high 30 ft by 40 ft chain link run. Their coop is a 10 by 10 chain link enclosure completely wrapped in hardware cloth. The only losses we have had were to a hawk who dropped in on a young pullet, and from our own dog who heard us say we had too many chickens and...