Trouble is that they free range, and we definitely don't want cats. Seriously considering rat bait set up in pvc pipes (so that the chooks don't eat it). I'm annoyed that I now have to deal with this!
Our chooks free range during daylight hours. I wasn't able to collect our eggs until 4pm today, and when I got to the chook shed each of the four eggs that were laid today were scattered around and the contents eaten out, with a big hole on the side. Our chooks have never eaten their own eggs...
Ours are free range all day so putting fresh grass clippings isn't an issue. They didn't even seem to notice it when they headed back in there to roost yesterday. Hadn't considered the moisture though. The clippings I used probably are on the damp side due to recent rain. It's early spring...
I have decided to go with this idea. I was way overdue to mow the lawn around the house, so I started yesterday and have tipped the clippings in the coop already. Still have more to do today but it won't be a problem filling the coop floor as there's a lot more lawn left to mow.
One question...
Once upon a time, our chicken coop was obviously a shed of some sort. It's a decent size and has a concrete floor (I'll try to upload pics). Until the other day, I had hay down on the floor. It worked fine, although I think that mice were getting in there; I found tiny little tunnels in some...
Can chooks lay more than one egg a day?? This morning there were 7 (from 7) in the nesting boxes, then one of the girls laid a sneaky egg in the calf shed, and I found one in that same spot that I suppose she may have laid there yesterday. Not 100% sure. So, today I actually collected NINE...
Yeah I'd use straw, it's a bit harder for them to toss aside. Also it could just be that the shell was a bit thin, maybe? I've seen my daughter drop an egg and it was still in tact (she's 4, so it was dropped from a height of a couple of feet). And yet one day one of our eggs had such a thin...
How awesome are the eggs from free range chooks?! I'm new to chicken ownership so this is all still a novelty to me. I just had soft boiled eggs and toast for lunch and oh my goodness they were tasty! This was just the top of the yolk, it was actually quite big. Can't believe how good it tasted
We used to have a peacock (got sick and died unfortunately), he was our only peafowl and he was VERY loud, every day. He must've been hoping a peahen would show up! We live in the country though so he was out of luck there.
Two of our girls (Isa Browns) laid their first eggs yesterday. We are heading into winter here so I'm pretty impressed that they've both laid again this morning (in fact one is actually in the nesting box right this minute). Here are their first ever eggs
We got our first egg today!!!!! Sooooo excited!! I am so happy I could kiss the chickens! Haha. We bought our 7 Isa Browns a month ago at about 20 weeks of age and it has been the longest 4 weeks of my life waiting for this egg. I'm pretty sure I know which of the girls laid it. One of them has...
Does anyone else use lawnmower catchers? My DP had chooks years ago and used them, so that's what we now have for ours (this is my first time owning chickens though). They haven't started laying yet however, so I'm yet to find out if our girls actually like them.
We have two in the coop for...