Stressing about your babies is normal. You are a good mama hen!
I agree with the sand. The chickens will scratch in it and turn up the dirt underneath, and that's okay -- they like having something to do.
Since your coop has a lot of space though, may I suggest an idea? I have hard dirt...
My Abigail has these red spots on both of her legs. She doesn't pick at them or seem bothered, but I am worried about them.
Anyone know what this is? Is it contagious? What do I do???
Thanks for your input! I am so worried.
Squishy: that's funny. I got one a couple of weeks ago, and of course I didn't realize it until I picked it up and my thumb went right through the darned thing! Ooops. It was a good reminder that I hadn't given my girls their cottage cheese in a while.
I can't help but wonder if it could also be the heat? My girls have been laying for over a year now, and they know where the nesting boxes are, and always use the same one (don't know what they find objectionable about the other one), but during the summer I let them out every day for most of...
Good luck to you. What a great idea. We KNOW that chickens are great therapy.
I think pre-schools would be a good place to visit. I think people who are not into chickens have a hard time warming up to the idea, but whenever people meet my chickens, they always fall in love. So it might be...
I put up 8'-tall walls of deer netting around my garden this year to protect it from the chickens. And I had some protecting my planters of strawberries too, but the girls broke in and ate up all of the strawberry plants, down to the roots! Then yesterday I decided I would transplant some bell...
I got a good idea from Jerseycoop's recent post about their new coop: I think I'm going to reset the coop on cement blocks so that nothing can tunnel under & into the coop too easily. I like that. But then, how would I secure the coop to the cement blocks? A strong predator could knock the...
This is the same coop design, but the location I am worried about is at our cabin in the mountains, on a hill.
I worry about electric wire -- wouldn't that be dangerous for the kids & dogs?
I am not handy AT ALL, and not terribly creative, so I bought coops that I made from kits. But our place in the mountains has us really nervous about predators (in particular, raccoons, coyotes, or worst case, black bears), so we are hoping to come up with ideas we can ADD to the coop to make...
Wow -- now that is fantastic!!! I love the idea of the crepe myrtle inside, too, for a little more shade & color.
I would just leave it dirt inside. I think you set aside a corner for a dirt bath area, didn't you? Still, chickens don't always understand our human plans. My girls dig up...
Do I need to worry if these get near the coop? We found mice in our basement, and apparently they were after the laying mash. Can they or will they hurt the girls? Do you think the girls might eat the ants or little spiders? I worry about spraying for bugs because what if they carry poison...