Insects are packed with proteins, minerals, and fats. Insects are perfect food for chickens. I have my flock run in about 2 acres and I don't have hardly an insect, spider, or other crawly critter anywhere in the yard. The chickens eat'em as fast as they emerge or enter the yard. Catching...
My flock goes bonkers when I start to clean fish. I even have to shoo them away as they get right up on the cleaning table with me, the knife, and the fish. It gets quite interesting at times. They have no problem eating fish or parts thereof. Good Luck!!
I don't have bears or wolves, but have all the rest. I bought a cattle stock trailer and put 3/4 inch plywood on the inside of the steel grates and covered the seams with welded wire. I built it to withstand any predators attacks. When I close the doors, the girls are inside a steel box with...
Some of you may find this a bit "over the top", but cutting feed costs and increasing protein intake for my flock was the motivation for my actions. Summer is just about upon us in the northland again and I have discovered a pretty good way to get good insect protein to my flock for almost no...
If you free range your chickens, you will just have to trust them to know what is good for them to eat. I have 66 of the liitle feathered buggars and I'm sure not going to chase them around and make sure they only eat what I think they should eat. Besides, I'm not fast enough to stop a 1 week...
HaHaHa!! Yeah, I've been guilty of yelling at hawks, eagles, and owls too. However, I only yell once or twice before I get serious. My favorite "Noise Maker" and I can make quite a racket when given the proper motivation. It seems to convince the aerial predators to look for locations...
In the past year I've had several birds of prey eyeballing the girls. I've handled every instance the same way. I make a sharp loud noise and the bird of prey flies away. It might not be possible, but if you can make a sharp loud noise of some kind, I have no reason to believe the results...
They shouldn't. The oatmeal and potato slices provide everything they need from egg hatch to adulthood. People often mistake the shed skins (exoskeletons) of the developing larvae for cannibalization. You may see some egg mortality if you don't transfer or use the larvae fast enough as the...
You only need one tub filled with oatmeal and a few cut potatoe slices. The entire colony will do just fine as long as you change the oatmeal and potatoe slices one in a while. The insects don't need any water other than the potatoe slices or whatever juicy fruit or vegetable you decide to...
We have a hen we call "Pretty Girl" and she is just a little piglet. She eats so much that she looks like she swallowed a tennis ball. If you bring out treats, she will act like she's starving and keep eating, it's amazing.
We might have had an edge finding our roosters as we had over 35 to choose from. We chose roosters that were attentive and gentle with the hens regardless of breed. We ended up with 2 black sex linked and 4 Australorps. None of them cower in a corner and seem to be quite equally matched. The...
The chickens should take care of the scorpions as well. We have some large barn spiders (size of a quarter without legs) and they don't stand a chance. Pretty funny to watch where the girls end up when my wife leaves the garage door open. No place is safe. LOL!!!
Watch those RIR roosters. We had new hampshires (not exactly the same, but close) and the roosters were complete TERRORISTS. I had to butcher them early as they just wouldn't leave each other or the other birds alone. Vicious and brutal would not quite adequetely describe the ones we had...
My neighbors love it when my roosters sound off. They all have said that hearing them crow makes them feel like they live more in the country. I guess my neighbors are very different from the neighbors other people have.
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Yep!! When we took the runs off the separate coops and let all the chickens go in the yard it was a battle royal for about 3 hours. I was very glad the roosters were about as when a couple of hens got into a tussle the roosters would run right over and bust it up. They might square off...
Move.
Just kidding!! Is it a noise issue? If so, then geese or guineas are out. A big dog would work, but if you don't want another animal to care for, that's out. High fencing or a portable run might work if you have the funds and space to do it. Leghold traps would work in specified...
Dogs, Cats, and Hawks are my biggest problem during the day with coyotes, cats, and racoons at night. I built my roost/coop out of a cattle stock trailer and reinforced the walls and floor joints with welded wire and spray foam insulation. The critters come around at night and walk around the...