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  1. wortgames

    Feather loss/damage and pecking - moulting? mites?

    Thanks Jody, they are reassuring words! We'll keep an eye on them but hopefully this is just a moult and everything will be fine.
  2. wortgames

    Feather loss/damage and pecking - moulting? mites?

    Hello all, We have three brown hens that are well-fed and in a good run with plenty of space and bugs to eat. Lately we have noticed that one of them, the smallest, is looking a little dishevelled. Today we realised that she is missing a lot of feathers - mostly on her chest but in other spots...
  3. wortgames

    No clue what i'm doing.

    Quote: I think that's a case of balancing the overall number of grass-eating critters with the amount of grass you have. If you plan on having just a few chickens then you could probably let them have the run of the place without having to worry about it (predators aside). If you have a lot of...
  4. wortgames

    Roost 'steps' / poo bin / nest boxes / feeder - update with pics!

    Thanks for the compliments! Quote: Hehehe, yep, 3 just isn't enough - Mrs Games keeps giving the eggs away to family and friends and that doesn't leave many for poaching! I think 6 is a nice number, there's still plenty of room for them and they'll still seem 'free-range'. The 'scrap yard'...
  5. wortgames

    Roost 'steps' / poo bin / nest boxes / feeder - update with pics!

    I wish I could take all the credit, but K8tieCat got me inspired with the poo bin idea here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=173588#p173588
  6. wortgames

    Roost 'steps' / poo bin / nest boxes / feeder - update with pics!

    Well, as promised, here are the pics (clickable for a closer look)... It's a bit tricky getting a decent angle, but this first pic is looking through the door into the coop after the big cleanout - it might not look that 'clean' compared to most of the pics on this site, but the existing...
  7. wortgames

    Roost 'steps' / poo bin / nest boxes / feeder - update with pics!

    Cool, thanks - I'm obviously being a bit of a wuss. It just looks so... steep... I'll take some pics so I can show and tell when it's all done. Cheers!
  8. wortgames

    Roost 'steps' / poo bin / nest boxes / feeder - update with pics!

    Hi again everyone, sorry for all the questions today! As I mentioned in another thread I'm planning to build the roosting perches today over a poo box. The plan is to utilise some of the existing fittings and the coop layout as much as possible to keep costs, time and materials down. I'm a bit...
  9. wortgames

    Chicken-friendly timber treatment?

    To be honest I really can't be bothered painting it - the coop itself is very 'agricultural' (made out of scraps), and I'm not rebuilding the whole thing so I'm happy to leave the timber visible and save myself the mess of painting. It's all under cover so it would probably be fine to leave the...
  10. wortgames

    Chicken-friendly timber treatment?

    Hi all, I am currently building the new coop / roosts / poo bin and I'm using just pine plywood and 2x4 from the local hardware. I was thinking I would use linseed oil to help preserve the timber - I'm guessing it's going to be a lot friendlier than something like creosote. Any other...
  11. wortgames

    How big should the nest box be?

    I'm also planning to build a better nest box this weekend, and I'm wondering whether I need to provide a nest per bird or are they happy to share (hot-nest?)? Will multiple chickens lay eggs in the same nest on the same day? My box will also be in the coop wall, and will be accessed from...
  12. wortgames

    Night light?!

    Brilliant, thanks everyone - I'll set it up this weekend. I was worried that I was being a bit silly - if so then at least I'm not alone
  13. wortgames

    Night light?!

    Our 3 chickens are still not settling into their coop very well. Two of them go in at dusk but curl up in the nest boxes. The other one has a favourite little spot in the run behind a rock and we will inevitably find her curled up there. Not sure whether she is getting bullied by the other two...
  14. wortgames

    Heating issues relating to daily temp swings, solar heating

    Zenbirder, I know exactly the type of system you are talking about and they are certainly very effective (I am in Australia though where we get quite a lot of sunlight, they aren't for everybody). You don't even need an electric pump if the panel can be about level with the tank - the simple act...
  15. wortgames

    Roosting material?

    Cool, thanks again Interesting comment about not bothering with straw in the poo bin. I was thinking it would need something to absorb moisture and make the stuff easier to shovel around. Maybe a bit of sawdust every couple of days? Or does chook poo usually dry out by itself pretty quickly...
  16. wortgames

    Roosting material?

    On a related note, at what point does a 'roost' simply become a 'surface'?! I have been thinking about k8tiecat's poo park and I'm wondering about somehow incorporating the roost into the lid of the poo bin. In other words, there would be wire mesh running immediately underneath the roost (to...
  17. wortgames

    Roosting material?

    Thanks folks - so they do generally prefer to sit on a flattish surface? I guess that makes sense but I wondered if they might like to actually get their claws around something more branch-like. 2x4's I can certainly do Thanks for the pics k8tiecat, I might be tempted to build them something...
  18. wortgames

    Roosting material?

    Hi everyone, we've just moved into a house with a big chicken coop out back, and are now parents to 3 big brown layers from the local egg farm. We're still playing games each night to get them into the inner sanctum of the roost, which is a bit run down so I want to rebuild it. My question is...
  19. wortgames

    Timed, battery powered light?

    Around here those little LED solar backyard lights are extremely cheap, they contain a rechargeable AA nicad battery and automatically come on at dusk and switch off (and recharge) during the day. They can run for several days even with no sun, and if you are really in a black hole you can...
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