Thanks so much for your reply - now you get to be my "turkey expert"!!!
You keep your turkeys and chickens in the same coop?
My hens are happier without a rooster - do you think your turkey hens would be okay without a man in their lives (which is probably the only reason I would kill one and...
Canby - one of my very favorite things about having chickens has been the tweaking!! I love to do a weekend hen project, and we've done many of them as we figured out what worked best for us (and our spoiled, spoiled hens!!) Glad to see you are relaxed about figuring it out and changing it...
My hens love hay - I hate it. Not absorbent, makes a mess. I do use it in my nest boxes because the ladies really do love it.
I am extremely fond of using chopped forage for my coop bedding (having gone through hay, shavings, pellets, stall-dry, and sand). Clean, not dusty, smells nice...
Reasons I would not want feral hogs near my chickens:
They will eat the chicken feed, and any snacks you may put out for them
If there is not an easy source of water, they will take your chicken water
If they run across a hen or eggs, they'll eat them (although, I don't think they would attack...
juliejmt12 - hope your girl makes it. I have been amazed that my last "victim" seems to have turned the corner. I have had her in the infirmary for almost a month, and she'll never be 100%, but I am thrilled she has made it. having lost quite a few, it is a good feeling to save one! had her...
Hmmmmm - have recently started thinking about turkeys. I have lots of chickens, and prefer to raise them from chicks myself. Do you raise turkey chicks the same way you do chickens? It does not seem like you can sex turkey chicks? I would prefer not to have a Tom....these will definitely be...
Oh no - another eggbound hen? That is dreadful to watch them suffer. Have never had to deal with that particular problem that I know of, although I have a friend who has lost one and saved one. She brought the hen inside and sat in a steamy shower with her.
Thorin Oakenshield was the leader...
Most of them will always hate it, they will always try to get out. But they can lead relatively contented lives fenced in. Lots of treats make it more bearable for them. It is a dreadful choice to have to make - happy chickens who may have short lives, or unhappy chickens who live a long...
Yeah - I had NO idea how much water these guys drink!! We don't have water in the coop either, so I am always on bucket brigade. We tried every type of watering device known - and in the end, the ladies and I both prefer a big black feed pan filled with water. For winter, they do get a...
Marcus, I used pine shavings for a long while. I have also used bedding pellets and sand. My current bedding (the winner after years of trial and error), is chopped forage, which I get at the feed store. This is chopped hay, treated with glycerin to eliminate the dust. Lasts a long time...
Nathan, assuming there is some nice cozy bedding in the nest boxes, they will know that's a good place to lay (my hens very definitely prefer hay to any other kind of nesting material).
However....hens do what they want!! My ladies (we keep between 15 - 20) free range for a lot of the day...
mommarob - so glad to hear you got rid of the bad 'un and have a good rooster left. We got roosters last year - kept two from a hatch. The dominant rooster killed the junior, and then - well, let's just say he was over-amorous and tore my hens up. They started staying on the roost all day to...
HotDesertChick - Our 7 acres is fenced, although a coyote could come over the fence if they were so inclined. The presence of our three dogs seems to have been the biggest deterrent to them and they move on to greener pastures where they do not have to work so hard.
Our coop is on rocky...
BethLeopard - so sorry to hear of your loss. I love my hens, each and every one, and losing one causes me tremendous grief and guilt.
I am, however, pretty grim about the inevitably of loss to hawks - having lost way too many. We did not find having a rooster did ANYTHING to stop the hawks...
I love having chickens (more than the horses and sheep, but don't tell them!!). And I have always found that you do have to find your own way and what works best for you and your hens. We name them in general themes. One year it was "old lady names" - Ethel, Myrtle, Gertrude, etc. One year...
Every opening except the hen door is covered with 1/4" hardware cloth. The hen door only opens from the coop into the enclosed run.
Our ground is extremely rocky, so we could not trench the wire. We extended it 18" out from the bottom of the walls, and have buried it with gravel and dirt...
Hated my rooster - hated him. He tore up the ladies, attacked the family, and he was eventually asked to leave the farm. also, he did NOTHING about the predators (and he was a big bird).
So, for the foxes and dogs, we put in woven wire fencing around the perimeter of the property, hot wire...
Glad I live in a rural area!
Our property is fenced, the hens are locked up at night. They have occasionally run through the fence and dogs have killed them. That's my fault.
We had a dog come onto our property once. We took it home, along with some home made goodies, had a nice...
It's not like I have a sign up saying "chicken dinner" - but we've had our share of predators. Your mileage may vary.
The foxes, dogs, and coyotes eat the guts and breasts, rarely a head. You might find the body, but if you do, it is usually sporting a broken neck (they grab and shake), and...
Orpingtons are my favorite hens - I'd keep them even if they didn't lay because they are such delightful birds. Mine are great layers, and winter does not seem to slow them much. During the summer I get 12 eggs a day from my 15 hens. In the winter, I drop to about 10. The only time they...