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

[Beekissed]

Et tu, Fuzzy? That's great news for everyone who cannot find the darn stuff!

 

[chickenlover89]

At LEAST150 sq. feet.

really??????? 9 chickens need that much? they have 114 square feet where they can be in their coop house, and their run. Is that enough? Even with the amount of time that I free-range them, they still need 150 sq. feet for when they are locked up?

 

[armorfirelady]

Thank you DragonLady I am very happy with how they look being a newbie.


Here is something my Mom told me today: Vinegar will not freeze. She leaves a bottle in her car for her cleaning jobs she does all winter & its never frozen. Sure makes it easier when it comes time to refill the waterer. I just leave it outside now for convience and now can leave out all winter.

Also I was thinking I could put the FF on the deck near the dryer vent. It will keep it warm to ferment until the temps drop lower. I just need a way to keep the dogs out of it since they also love the FF.

 

[Pullet Surprise]

Also I was thinking I could put the FF on the deck near the dryer vent. It will keep it warm to ferment until the temps drop lower. I just need a way to keep the dogs out of it since they also love the FF.

Since that was my next project to start, I was wondering about keeping the bucket outside myself. We don't often get way down in the temperature range during winter, but it does happen and there are years when it gets way down there...how does one plan for that with theFF???

 

[Beekissed]

I just plan to keep mine inside. No more chickens than I currently have and feeding once a day, dipping out the FF and taking it to the coop each day is no imposition. Then, I can bring the same amount of dry feed back in the same container and replace it to the FF, add water and everything proceeds as usual.

 

[bruceh]

i am curious as well. no offence at all to you. how do you figure 150 sq. ft per 9 chickens. that is let me see . 16.67 sq ft per bird. i could be missing something here.
again not being sarcastic i am just curious.

 

[Beekissed]

I was thinking the same thing, Bruce....sort of seems a little much. I normally figure 4 sq. ft. for each bird inside the coop as being the limit, no less than that. Anything more is definitely a bonus, but not really needed. Especially if you use deep litter and provide for different levels of "being".

 

[flagirl]

the last few days I have found poop in my 3 nesting boxes, so this eve I went out to see who was there and I found 4 of my 5 oldest sleeping in the boxes. I removed them and put them on the perches. will I have to do this several nites to get them to stop?

 

[Beekissed]

Are the roosts higher in the coop than are the nest boxes? If not, they need to be and this should stop. If they are and it continues, you can help them out a little by placing them on the roosts for a few days until they get the hang of it.

 

[thedragonlady]

really??????? 9 chickens need that much? they have 114 square feet where they can be in their coop house, and their run. Is that enough? Even with the amount of time that I free-range them, they still need 150 sq. feet for when they are locked up?

I don't know where you live, but when the mean, grey, cold days of Jan., Feb., March, strike, and they huddle up, you will see why. I'm assuming that your run attached to your coop by a poop door is uncovered since you let them out for a few hours a day. Then the more room you can give your birds, the healthier they will be. Crowding causes stress. Stress causes sick birds.If your run attached to your coop is covered and dry, include that space in your figuring. Too many people crowd too many birds, and wonder why they get sick.See my page for very healthy birds.