It would great if your chickens play basketball. :D Paving around the run would be good. I would dig a trench, a foot or so deep, where the fencing will meet the ground and fill that with asphalt to stop any digging. However your should have a place for the chickens to dust bathe and enjoy the...
Chickens peck at everything. They use their beaks to feel something like we use our hands. If the flex seal is smooth without bubbles or anything they can grab ahold of with their beaks you should be fine. I would make sure there is no rotted areas in wood before applying because they could peck...
I like it. What are the dimensions of the pens, and how big are the coops inside? Each individual pen looks like 12' deep and 4' wide maybe? It looks like the area over the coops are solid not fencing. The only change I would suggest is the to run the bottom end boards under the gates
I have had good success with Welp, Ideal, and Meyer. I don't personally like Murray McMurry, because they ship on Thursday or Friday. I live close enough (Nebraska) the birds are shipped ground and I get them after they have been in the Postal system over the weekend.
I like Welp because the...
Privett Hatchery is associated with Welp Hatchery. So if you have ever ordered from Welp, part or all of the order could have been hatched at Privett. This guy Robert Plamondon is kind of the West Coast version of Joel Salatan and recommends Privett. Also check out Plamondon's web site. I have...
You may need NPIP certification even though the chicks are being sold locally. Check with your state's department of agriculture. Better safe than sorry.
I would go totally open front with hardware cloth facing the summer prevailing winds in a shady place. In my experience, an insulated building once hot stays hot until the outside air cools for a few days, In the winter an insulated building stays cooler than the outdoors until the weather...
I dig a 12" trench for my run fence. I bury about one foot of hardware cloth or chicken wire in the trench and then put a 2" x 6" board so it is a few inches above the ground and partly in the trench. I then run 2" x 4" welded wire fence around the perimeter of the run except for the door. I...
I would suggest keeping your birds once over three or four weeks of age outdoors, or be prepared to change litter almost daily.
As far as feeding them I would recommend feeding them a feed with between 18% to 24% protein, I feed mine 20% or 21% protein. Most people like to feed broilers...
This is a great site to check for poultry processing regulations Poultry Processing Regulations and Exemptions. Besides your state you also need to check locally with the health department and the zoning department. Keep in mind, processing or value added production might be classified as...
It sounds like you may move them loose in the back of the truck. I wouldn't do that. They could die just by falling over on a turn. Even with hay on the floor of the bed, it would be very slippery back there for the birds. My processor was 56 miles (one-way) I moved my birds the night before...
Back to the original poster. If you are raising chickens for yourself and family, the best way to save money is to process them yourself. If you are raising them to sell for profit, your main costs once you have coops in place is feed and processing. Every state has different rules that apply to...
Heritage turkeys cook up a lot like wild turkeys. The older they get, the tougher they get. Here are some tricks when cooking heritage or wild turkeys. About two days prior to cooking and after they have thawed, brine them by soaking them in salted water. This can be tough to do with turkeys...
What kind of chickens do you have? Meat birds don't usually live long enough to lay eggs, and they are usually butchered at six to eight weeks. Typically layer hens are butchered at two or three years old when their production slows down and used for stew or soup.
You won't get a green egg layer and they probably aren't sex linked. If chick from green egg is hen she will lay a brown egg. I had a EE rooster mate with a delaware hen and got a pure white EE hen complete with beard and muff that lays a green egg.
The fencing companies recommend 0.25 joules per 160 ft. of fence. The electricity is sent through the fence in pulses, so it not unusual for the voltage to change when using the tester because of the pulses.
Try to keep your coop in a level or human leveled area. An area that won't flood or hold water after a big rain or is too close to the neighbors are big considerations. If you will be letting your chicken free range keeping close to the woods is a good idea to protect the birds from flying...