Arizona Chickens

[DM]

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DM,
you know that you will have baby goats

in order to get milk? So you also need a Billy and then you'll keep the youngsters for more milk... I see where that is going

.

I know. But it gets worse...the baby comes with a nanny till they are old enough, we will be milking by march....

plan to get stud service, dont want a billy.

 

[DM]

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I went through literally twice as much food last month as I had been using (40# of organic pellets for 8 birds, plus free ranging, scraps & scratch), and I'm pretty sure field mice and gophers are the culprits. I keep finding gopher holes in the run and I have no idea how to get rid of them peacefully. I might have to try building one of those feeders, too...although the gophers probably weigh as much as my silkie.

I might have and Idea for the gophers, mice and rabbits... we have them all over the place. I went out and found the hole and put dried peppers( from costco) down there. It did not eliminate them but moved them out from the garden... I am hopeful we will move them off the property.....don't seem to see evidence of them around the chickens... any one else have a remedy? I am always looking for one.

 

[ca]

I am using those round feeders and hang them from the ceiling. The rim is at chicken face height. I also keep the feeder inside the coop where wild birds will not go. That seems to keep the mice out and the food in (no scratching in the food at that height). I hope I am not doing anything wrong? This seems an easy and logical way of feeding... I have 20 chickens (14 weeks old) and now go through 50 lb of food maybe every 5 weeks. They do get kitchen scraps.

When you say "alfalfa" is that fresh? or is that dried? If fresh, where do you get it from? I am also seriously thinking about sprouting food. Just have not located a supplier of grains.

I am a big believer in organics but only selectively. Fruits and veggies that will be peeled don't have to be organic in my opinion. Apart from possible differences in taste I am mostly concerned with not consuming too many chemicals that could be sprayed on the food. But if you peel the outside away anyway... As far as chickens are concerned all I really want is HAPPY CHICKENS! (Especially after the disgusting video posted here recently.) I think eating an organic unhappy chicken is worse than eating a happy non-organic chicken

. No science behind this claim though

. I just want everybody in my house (and barn) to be happy

.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

I had a hanging feeder too, but someone kept laying in it so I gave it away with the spare coop I sold. Now I plan to make another. I already have the dog leash hanging from the roof, just have to get a bucket.

I want to take a field trip to Gallo's house.... anyone want to carpool?

ETA: I was posting this elsewhere, but thought you guys may find it interesting... I adopted a leghorn from Hickmans last summer, and just made the realization that her eggs are bigger than Hickmans store eggs... even the jumbos! Thought that was interesting.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

ca, I read a post in another section of the forum a few months ago of someone who hung their feeder and they went out at night and found that the mice were on the feed dispensing area. They didn't know how they were getting up there. I also used to hang my feeder like that inside the coop and still would if I could. My situation is such that I couldn't keep sparrows out of the coop with the feed inside. I had covered all holes that a sparrow could get through in the coop with hardware cloth, but the darn things went straight through my shade cloth curtain that covered the pop door. So I had to remove the feed from the coop. I use baled alfalfa, not fresh.

When we started down the organic route (originally suggested by my oncologist) we paid close attention to the "dirty dozen" or the "dirty thirteen" fruits and vegetables. Those are apparently the ones with the greatest amounts of chemicals in the parts consumed. Yes, I agree, happy food is good food.

DM, I've read a lot about capsaicin (hot ingredient in chili peppers) preventing anything with fur from eating your chicken feed and it also being a good deterrant. It makes perfect sense to me, they experience "hotness" much like we do. It certainly sounds like it's working for you.

mydog8it, you've got some big gophers over there! Ground chili pepper perhaps?

 

[ca]

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Sounds like a case for the hiddencamera

. I am definitely going to throw everything at them I have! (like hub-caps mounted on the hanging chain or a glue trap...). When I am done with all my projects (next century maybe?) I will definitely tackle a couple of your ingenious feeders. My better half has discovered the do-it-yourself chicken plucker. Now he is all over that idea. He is really getting into this chicken thing

. Considering that he thought I was crazy when I started it all...

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Unbelievable! Mine are not that smart yet. That is a tricky one. Definitely have to buy materials for those feeders...


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Great! I'll try that too . I have tons of that stuff flying around. As a matter of fact when they start laying and know for sure where the cozy home is I'll let them out of the run and they can go clean up after the horses and llamas

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Cool! I'll have to get some of that stuff. We have everything from tiny mice to klepto packrats.

 

[mahalo4]

I made cheap feeders out of PVC pipe saw it on the feed threads they cost about 8 dollars each & keep the birds out! If I can make them anyone can!! I really want 1 of those treadle feeders just not much of a builder!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

OMGosh, packrats!!!

I have friends with packrats and they are terrible to deal with. They live out at the very edge of town and they have to keep the hoods open on their vehicles to keep the rats from moving in and chewing everything. I am so glad we don't have any here on our property. We don't even have those small ground squirrels here. I think the raptors have decimated most of the smaller stuff in our part of town. I've seen that DIY plucker, I'd make one too!

BTW, I really can't take much credit for my treadle feeder. It's really a very old concept. I think my grandfather may have even had one. They are very popular in Europe, where I think they were originally invented. All I did was design one that could be made from a 1/2 sheet of plywood and drew up some plans. I'm not a draftsman or a builder. I do like to tinker though.

mahalo, can you post a pic of your feeder? My first one was a homemade pvc feeder, but it didn't keep wild birds out.

cluckin,

Maybe I should come to Phoenix and we could have a treadle feeder Saturday. We could all work together in an assembly line and build a dozen in a day.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

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Party at my house!! I will make sandwiches.

 

[mahalo4]

I will bring beverages!!