Chickens for 10-20 years or more? Pull up a rockin' chair and lay some wisdom on us!

[capayvalleychick]

Thank you so much!! I could not think of a reason why but everything I read says to crack them.

I read a couple of articles and a reference study, trying to find the answer. Those did say grinding was the preferred method of feeding, but the reason behind that was directed more at large scale feed operations. One reason, as Fred stated, is that feed intake is influenced by particle size. The concern is that the poultry won't eat whole peas. I've found that my own chickens will eat whole peas after all the other choices have been consumed.
There is also higher digestibility, for broilers, if peas are ground with enzymes added and pelleted. This wouldn't apply to someone wanting to feed a small flock.
It also stated a risk of buildup of material in the beak if fines are produced by grinding. I would think this would be more of a issue for someone grinding their own peas. So leaving the peas whole would work best for most poultry people.

You are really fortunate to be able to get all that feed! I'm going to try growing our own field peas this winter to reduce the cost of feed for my omnivores.

 

[unkadan]

awwww shucks Fred

Fred hit it correct on the wind turbines,,,,work well where they work
I remember as a kid most of the big hen houses I saw in Indiana all had turban venting, then they went to long low louvered at the peak. (I had family that manufactored metal bldgs there in the '60s, got their start with huge layer barns)

my main point was to remind folks that whatever kind of "exhaust" vent you use up high it also needs to have an adequate "supply" vent lower on the building to help create a flow

 

[Goober1201]

Hi everyone! Just wanted to give yall an up date. All my girls and boys are doing fine, haven't lost anyone and they are all doing much better. And I will be getting more chickens in the future. I was talking to a man and his wife and they are in there 80s and this is what they had to say to me.


( Back in our day and our parents day we did not cull and birds because they looked lick, it was one thing if it could not move and wasn't getting better after a few days, but if it looked like it had a cold, we did not kill it nor did we buy it meds. People in our day did not have meds for poultry and if they did we could not afford it. Reason why we didn't separate them is cause it boost there immune system when they heal on there own. Back in our day our animals were are means of living so no we did not kill unless needed and yes we ate there eggs and there meat.)

Now this couple were to stinking cute, and they got married when they were 15 and have been farming there entire lives. So I'm gonna take some of there pointers and others and use it all together and hope for the best. I loved that I was blessed with so many people on this site and out around me with such great info. Thanks everyone!

 

[Leahs Mom]

I have no idea why folks here on this forum so fear winter so much. Folks, the chicken has a down coat, sleeps covering it's feet and has survived worse for centuries. I've no idea why folks feel the need to button up coops in the attempt to "keep them warm".
Just my little soapbox from which I'll now step down.

Remember, I'm a beloved livestock, farmer-type guy, and so that's my orientation.

For me...I wasn't fearing cold...I was more concerned that the building would be too tight and needs EXTRA VENTILATION (which would allow more cold in) for winter.

I'd LOVE to have a "Woods Style" house with a totally (or almost totally) open side but I don't think my hen house is oriented the correct direction to accomplish that. I could perhaps take a good size hunk out of the East end of the South side.... I've contemplated lots of such possibilities...

 

[SunnyAlberta]

I'm going to re-post my question here because I didn't get a reply on the "Thirty Below" thread. Yes, we get days of thirty below here. We can have a lot of snow or very little but there is almost always nasty wind. Our climate is dry. The front of my teeny coop is all hardware cloth; its a remodeled rabbit hutch for just three hens.



It faces SE; the nasty winds almost always come from the W or NW.

I can build removable panels to cover the hardware cloth, perhaps from Plexiglas to allow the natural light. I was thinking of keeping a few inches of open wire uncovered as ventilation. If the vent is at the top. It will be at roost height, so is a low vent better?

There are very small gaps between some of the boards. I could caulk the gaps or leave them for vents, too. Back in May when I first got the girls we had a freak storm. A wool blanket and a camp tarp over the coop did the trick to keep them warm and dry, but no sunlight went in. Hubby thinks we'd be fine with this simple setup permanently.



Thoughts? Thanks in advance.



That panel on the bottom has been removed so the girls can move into the run. I still need to paint the coop and run and replace the deer mesh on the run but it works for now to keep hawks, our only predators, out.

Oh, and I don't use shredded paper as bedding anymore. It blows all over the place and makes a heck of a mess, even if it is free.

 

[Beekissed]

The coop is much too small for chicken life and won't be a permanent solution at all. I'd advise to build a proper coop structure first.

 

[SunnyAlberta]

The coop is much too small for chicken life and won't be a permanent solution at all. I'd advise to build a proper coop structure first.

Is 12 square feet for three hens too small? Their run is 50 square feet and they may free range on lawn two hours daily, although its their preference to poop on my patio because that's where the ants congregate.

 

[Beekissed]

But the run is not their living area...it is called a run for a reason. If it weren't for temporary walking/being, it would just be called a coop. The actual coop structure is the small box on stilts. In cold weather, high winds, deep snows, the birds normally keep to the coop. From the looks of the space, it isn't even big enough for one standard hen to walk around comfortably.

By a way of comparison, imagine your family has to live in your bathroom for 4-5 mo. out of the year. They can go out into the other rooms for a couple of hours a day, but they must sleep, eat and drink in the bathroom space. Imagine the stress and anxiety you would soon experience. It used to be called cabin fever, when humans would be confined to their one or two room cabins during cold weather.

In the end, when taking on the responsibility of caring for other creatures, one has to look at what they have provided and ask themselves, "Is this the best that I can provide on my income/circumstance?".

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Bee, how many square feet of coop floor space do you recommend per standard hen?

 

[Beekissed]

Four to six in the primary living structure, if not more...err on the side of too much than too little. Out in the open run/range, as large a number as you have. If not, as much as possible. Freedom of movement is essential for any creature that walks, flies, creeps or crawls if they will live in a healthy manner.