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I intended to only have chickens for eggs. I'm afraid both my husband and I lack to emotional fortitude to kill one of our "girls". Yet . . . it seems unnatural to eat meat (as I do) and not be willing to do the whole process. Now I am toying with culling 2 of the hens next Fall--unless they...

What do you all think of using cut up evergreen branches in the chicken house as litter? I use a deep litter method.

I haven't responded yet, because I'm not really sure. But here's what we did: First our next boxes are raised well above the ground--this might not be practical with ducks. The wood surrounding the boxes--and our entire hen house for that matter, was painted with a livestock safe paint to detour...

I mix the litter first and then toss a bunch of straw on top.

I buy organic feed and the company I purchase from has just added varieties. Which is best between: soy-free (starting with peas, corn, oats, wheat, etc) or soy and corn-free (staring with peas, oats, wheat, and barley, etc)?

If the concern is that the litter is getting turned too frequently, I don't think that's a problem and may actually be a plus instead. To make a compost pile break down faster, one recommendation is to turn it daily. So this should be the same for DL.

Toss in some kitchen scraps too. I toss in anything I would normally put into a compost bin.

I began our coop (open-air so just 3 sides) with ~6 inches straw on a dirt floor. The pullets started sleeping on the ground even though there were roosts. I kept moving one of the roosts lower until at 3-4 months they started using this. I wanted them on the roost because as they get older and...

Our run and chicken house is all 1/2" hardware cloth buried 1' straight down all around as well. Expensive, but it's a hobby that I wanted to not result in nighttime deaths. . . .

There may be better ideas on starting DL with a wood floor, but I'd start by adding some dirt. This is where the microbes live that you want to break down organic material. Personally, I'd DL the whole thing. Even our run is "sort of" DL. I haven't cleaned it out. I just turn it up a couple...

Do you ever get concerned about the chickens digging through their own poop? I mean, having roosts with food scraps underneath that the hens may peck at?

Any suggestions for a siding on a raised garden bed that will double as a dust bath when no plants are in it? I looked at cedar, and it was too expensive.

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Great reply!!! I have a dirt floor and only straw and poop that I turn every few days. Still no composting. Tried adding water in a corner, which only resulted in mold in that corner. I'll be sure to toss in lots more weeds. I've also thought, in my case, that there's way more floor space and...

Hum. . . not sure what you mean. I have only dirt floors and that works the best for deep litter since the micro-organisms in the dirt help to break down the litter.

Brickabracker, definitely leave in the old litter--that's the beauty of deep litter. I turn the litter every few days because my pullets refuse to use their roosts. If they used a roost, I'd turn the litter weekly. Just turn it to mix it up a bit and only add new litter when it needs it--getting...

I saw another post, that I can't find now, and they used a splint to prevent re-injury for 6 weeks and gave the chicken asprin for pain. Another site I found the woman put her chicken in the house in a plastic tub and bedding for 3 weeks to prevent her from moving around. My chicken just hurt...

The hens love to free range and hang out in the bushes, but my dog really really wants to eat them. I've attempted to train him, but his breed was bred for hunting small animals. I've tried having them take turns in the yard, but Pippin, the dog, wines constantly when he can't roam the yard. The...

We keep ours in the run, which the hens have access to 24/7. The main reason is to encourage the hens to get outside and move about. At this time of year that's not a problem, but I had read ideas during the winter of folks up north keeping food and water outside just to "make" the chickens get...

I ended up using only linseed oil on the roosts and the ramp to them. The rest of the coop and nesting boxes (inside and out) are painted with livestock-safe paint from HD.