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

[loanwizard]

Quote: Yes. As a matter of fact, I had them in the garden last year. Didn't put it in this year, but it looks very good. Much better than the clay and rock that was part of it last year although I added 2-3 ton of composted manure (Horse, Hog, Chicken, Rabbit).

I have several areas that need cleared. Lot's of multiflora. I have 3 Gilts in there now, adding 8 more August 5th.


Quote:
I understand the psychological scar of well intentioned adults forcing children to do something like that. Hogs have always fascinated me. I am lucky enough that I have befriended? my hogs and that they love to be scratched and petted.... I might well be the next victim, although I will never have that large a number of hogs.

 

[bruceh]

thank you bee,
i don't think this will be an issue. the pullet egg was probably her first. it was so little it looked like a marble. i have had eggs in the coop fully formed and nice thick shells. those were left in tact.
i am keeping an eye on her. i don't like her back end. it is kinda puffy. however we will see. she is acting great for now. i will have to watch her for egg binding or internal laying issues. something just seems not right with her. i always error to the side of caution.
i like your comment on sitting with your chickens, people think i am nuts. i sit with them everyday for roughly an hour or so. however i can tell you who is doing what and how they look.

all these birds are first year pullets. so a lot of adjusting going on. the meaties are just that meaties.

 

[Lazarus718]

Not sure what all of you OT's

do about chicken waterers....I'm not an OT but every single contraption I've seen at the local feed stores looks like either a plastic piece of crap or a galvanized piece of crap. All for lobster dinner prices. I'm thinking about using some auto-waterers from Murray McMurray on a gravity feed from a 5 gallon paint bucket but was hoping to get some advice before spending my dinner money on the set-up. Right now I just have 4 week old chicks so I am using the plastic bottle flipped upside down thingy and change the water in the morning and at night when I get home from work. I'll be building their coop and run next month so I'll need to get a watering system going at that point. Only six chickens, two nesting boxes in a 3x4x4 elevated hen house with a 20 sq. ft. chicken run attached. I was planning on attaching one auto-watering dish to the frame of the run.

 

[thedragonlady]

Not sure what all of you OT's

do about chicken waterers....I'm not an OT but every single contraption I've seen at the local feed stores looks like either a plastic piece of crap or a galvanized piece of crap. All for lobster dinner prices. I'm thinking about using some auto-waterers from Murray McMurray on a gravity feed from a 5 gallon paint bucket but was hoping to get some advice before spending my dinner money on the set-up. Right now I just have 4 week old chicks so I am using the plastic bottle flipped upside down thingy and change the water in the morning and at night when I get home from work. I'll be building their coop and run next month so I'll need to get a watering system going at that point. Only six chickens, two nesting boxes in a 3x4x4 elevated hen house with a 20 sq. ft. chicken run attached. I was planning on attaching one auto-watering dish to the frame of the run.

That coop and run seems very small for 6 chickens unless they are very small chickens. Are these your first chickens?. I want at least 4 sq ft in the roosting coop per bird, and 8-10 sq' per bird in the run if it's covered, and the feeder and waterer is outside of the roosting coop. Crowding predisposes them to disease, and things like feather picking. Just my opinion, but it's worked for over 50 years.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

That coop and run seems very small for 6 chickens unless they are very small chickens. Are these your first chickens?. I want at least 4 sq ft in the roosting coop per bird, and 8-10 sq' per bird in the run if it's covered, and the feeder and waterer is outside of the roosting coop. Crowding predisposes them to disease, and things like feather picking. Just my opinion, but it's worked for over 50 years.

This is good info. I've often wondered if the recommended 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 sq feet of room per bird in the run was appropriate or if it was some more info to go along with people's pet chickens. Good to know that it is appropriate.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Our barn has 3 pens of 10x8 each. So, doing the math (always a risky thing my OT mind) That would be 240 sq ft, or room, under the formula, for 60 birds. Did I do that right?

 

[Lazarus718]

That coop and run seems very small for 6 chickens unless they are very small chickens. Are these your first chickens?. I want at least 4 sq ft in the roosting coop per bird, and 8-10 sq' per bird in the run if it's covered, and the feeder and waterer is outside of the roosting coop. Crowding predisposes them to disease, and things like feather picking. Just my opinion, but it's worked for over 50 years.

They are my first. The thought process went as such:
6 chicks, 2 purchased straight run from one feed store, the other 4 are supposed to have been vent sexed and purchased from a different feed store. My guess is that we will end up with four hens and two roos (probably one of the roos will be my wife's favorite one). The hen house is elevated 20" off the ground so that 3x4 area I actually didn't include in the run space but should. I can go to either 5 or 6 feet deep if I need to but I can't do more than a 5' wide run and 3' wide house because of space constraints. So if I go 5 wide then that gives me 40 sq.ft. of run. My hen house will be 3' wide by 5' deep and 5' tall sloping to 4' tall in the back. I'm going to step ladder two roosting poles in it and the two nesting boxes (12"x12"x12") will be hanging out the side so that space isn't included as well. I think it will do fine even if we get lucky and end up with six hens. Once they are full grown they'll have access to the entire backyard when we are home.

That being said let me know what you guys think about ideas for the watering system. We are in high desert here so blazing hot summers and freezing cold winters. I'm fairly set on the coop design but I think you are right that I should probably try to widen it a foot or two to get a little more space out of it.

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

Our barn has 3 pens of 10x8 each. So, doing the math (always a risky thing my OT mind) That would be 240 sq ft, or room, under the formula, for 60 birds. Did I do that right?

Yep, you did it right. So, about 4 square feet per bird? I'm seeing a pattern here.

 

[Lazarus718]

Our barn has 3 pens of 10x8 each. So, doing the math (always a risky thing my OT mind) That would be 240 sq ft, or room, under the formula, for 60 birds. Did I do that right?

Sounds like you got your 4 sq.ft. of roosting space to me!

 

[Erin~TheChickenLover]

I've recently heard that ACV can cause a higher pullet/cockerel ratio in hatches. Does anyone have any experience with this? I think it would be awesome if you could actually hatch more pullets than cockerels by doing something as simple as adding ACV to the parent's water. This year, without ACV, I had a 4 boy/3 girl hatch rate (which I didn't like too much

). This spring, I am going to see what affects the ACV will have on the hatches. If I could wind up with about a 7 girl/2 boy ratio, that would be fantastic. That might be asking for too much, though.