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  1. toddreed

    successful waterbelly drain

    Last month I had an old (3 years +), red star with very serious water-belly. She was so swollen she could hardly walk because of the weight and because her legs were so bow-legged from her swollen abdomen. Apparently there are a couple of different health reasons that can cause it, and I...
  2. toddreed

    Handling very young pet chicks: Yea or Nay?

    Thanks, Train-Wreck is a very mutty barred-rock mixed with who knows what. He's a very big boy. I can't take full responsibility for his demeanor, but I think I have something to do with it. In all honesty, though, I've raised some of his sons to sexual maturity with a similarly caring...
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  5. toddreed

    Greens for Chickens

    oh man, anything. If they're spoiled they get snooty, but when I forget to provide fresh greenstuff for my birds for a little, they'll eat just about anything as long as it is not tenuous and woody like tree trimmings. I threw in some artichoke palms (the big leaves of the plant) the other day...
  6. toddreed

    Coop Roofing Materials

    Corrugated tin, hands down. Just plywood is crap, it will delam and rot in a couple years. Plywood + shingles = similar total cost in materials to tin but with much more labor. The corrugated tin installs with just a couple screws in each end of each panel. Labor wise, you're looking at...
  7. toddreed

    Post Marek's Disease Questions

    I too have lost a couple birds to what I think may have been Marek's, but I don't know for sure. I also lost one to bloated belly which could have been caused by a couple different things. I've replaced them with new birds. My flock is now 24 strong and doing well. Man, there are so many...
  8. toddreed

    would like to apply for "land use variance" or try to change ordinance

    No, you posted in the right place, Kelsey. Your thread showed up in the "ordinances" category when I logged in. 1mutts may be confused. My two cents: You very well may be successful in getting the town officials on your side, but will probably take a lot of work, gathering support from the...
  9. toddreed

    comercial stand-on rat-proof feeder????

    well we do have them in CA, but never seen them in the feed so far. -todd
  10. toddreed

    Barnyard bullies

    Mixing adult birds with not fully grown pullets is usually a bad idea. If the younger birds are at least 5 months old, you're probably ok and will have to just let them work it out on their own. In general there is always some bickering between birds, especially of different ages. A little...
  11. toddreed

    Hen tossing staw over back while walking?

    Classic broody bird move. My brooder does it all the time when she is off the nest to go potty in between brooding sessions. It's an instinctual nest-building action, but it looks funny when they do it off the nest. Only concern i would have is keep an eye on her to see if she is going...
  12. toddreed

    This is war. Mouse war.

    My problem is rats not mice, but i've found a .177 caliber pellet gun with a scope (bought one on amazon for $120) with lead-free pellets to be a pretty affective tool. Lay out some chook feed on the ground, pour a glass of whiskey, put a good-ol' fashioned redneck smirk on yer face (curl your...
  13. toddreed

    Handling very young pet chicks: Yea or Nay?

    I've pretty much broken every rule on the bullet point list. Not saying that i recommend that, just that i have. When my rooster was a baby it was a cold winter and he and his sister spent night-time in a cage in my room until they were 3 months old, and I snuggled with him on my bed from...
  14. toddreed

    I think I killed my Chicken

    My condolences as well... You shouldn't feel guilty about it. It could have been simply coincidental if not fitting that she passed in your arms. I've had a number of my chicks die from various ailments now and I'm learning not to feel too guilty about it but simply try to do things...
  15. toddreed

    livestock guarding dogs to protect flock?

    Chicken wire and staple-gun staples are worthless. WELDED WIRE or HARDWARE CLOTH FASTENED WITH A PNEUMATIC STAPLER. Coon problem solved. As for dogs, my ex-girlfriend's (we still hang out sometimes) lab is great with my chickens. Yesterday she (the dog) was hanging out in the front yard...
  16. toddreed

    I'm annoyed

    Could a desire to eat paint imply a need for calcium? If i were a chicken and wanted oyster shell or egg shell I think I might imagine paint chips are a good alternative. Just a thought. But yeah, uh FENCE. Build a cheap fence out of EMT and chicken wire and call it a day. -todd
  17. toddreed

    comercial stand-on rat-proof feeder????

    Thanks for the tip! LOL! After posting this thread last night, I did a little more googling and found Al from www.thecarpentershop.net and ordered one of his plywood feeders. Coincidentally that's the same guy as the OP you refer to. Looks like a great design. I'm excited. -todd
  18. toddreed

    comercial stand-on rat-proof feeder????

    ok, asterisk, I mean an affordable one. I just found the "grand-dad's chicken feeder" on the web. Looks nicely made but $195 plus shipping is a bit out of my ballpark. -todd
  19. toddreed

    comercial stand-on rat-proof feeder????

    So I've seen a lot of these home-made feeders on the web where the chicken stands on a lever-arm which opens a lid to the trough of an auto-feed feeder. They all seem to work pretty well, and I'm thinking about building one as an end-alll solution to my rat problem. Seems pretty simple to...
  20. toddreed

    Using PVC for a hoop house?

    I'm with native beauty on the use of conduit rather than PVC. First off, PVC has some nasty environmental consequences in it's manufacturing. Second, it's not UV resistant so it will break down over time when exposed to sunlight (though I can't say how long it will take). Third, it's ugly...
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