Colorado

[Chesterchook]

Wendell, have you checked Abe's sperm count and mobility?  If there is something wrong there, you might just save yourself some time......

 

Think I saw something like that on an episode of Dirty Jobs...

Hello fellow North Dakotans.oops! Wrong thread.hahaha pant pant hahah

Don't feel bad, I'm in ND but wishing I was in CO too

 

[wsmith]

Wendell, have you checked Abe's sperm count and mobility? If there is something wrong there, you might just save yourself some time......

Not yet, I have to locate a microscope first.....

 

[wsmith]

Update on the eggs you gave me: it seems all of them are infertile. Every one

Grrrrr. Sorry about the wasted efforts.

 

[suncatcher]

Quote: I wonder if they will let you use one at your daughters school??? just a thought...... They must be a slow maturing breed, my guess is Abe is not old enough for all the girls.

 

[Kitty990]

okay i got a supit question;

does anyone have a website link of how to set up a deep letter method or (Di-o-grams) on how its work?

my coop has a wood floor and reading the deep litter thred most people that use this method dont have floors in their coops. i have Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane varish paint to sill the coops insides. i was hoping with this varish i can hoes out the coop and clean it out easly and quickly.

 

[wsmith]

okay i got a supit question;

does anyone have a website link of how to set up a deep letter method or (Di-o-grams) on how its work?

my coop has a wood floor and reading the deep litter thred most people that use this method dont have floors in their coops. i have Rust-Oleum Ultimate Polyurethane varish paint to sill the coops insides. i was hoping with this varish i can hoes out the coop and clean it out easly and quickly.

Not a stupid question. No real need for a diagram. You put down a layer of bedding. (wood shavings, straw, sawdust, leaves, hay, etc) The chickens poop in it and scratch around. When it gets really poopy, add more bedding. Repeat several-many times. It will get deep, and shouldn't smell bad if you have enough ventilation. It actually starts to compost.

The reason most don't have flooring is that with the deep litter method you are encouraging the bedding to break down, which tends to attack flooring, especially wood floors. Depending on how moist you keep it, it can start to rot out your floorboards.

I have a dirt floor in my large hen house. The foundation boards, 2 x 12's, are treated with used motor oil, and are pretty much impervious to rot.

 

[coloradogal]

Not yet, I have to locate a microscope first.....

I have a microscope. Do you want me to bring it to you?

 

[wsmith]

I have a microscope. Do you want me to bring it to you?

That would be great. We used to have one, but it got broken a while ago.I think it was while our oldest was in middle school.......

 

[Pozees]

Not a stupid question. No real need for a diagram. You put down a layer of bedding. (wood shavings, straw, sawdust, leaves, hay, etc) The chickens poop in it and scratch around. When it gets really poopy, add more bedding. Repeat several-many times. It will get deep, and shouldn't smell bad if you have enough ventilation. It actually starts to compost.

The reason most don't have flooring is that with the deep litter method you are encouraging the bedding to break down, which tends to attack flooring, especially wood floors. Depending on how moist you keep it, it can start to rot out your floorboards.

I have a dirt floor in my large hen house. The foundation boards, 2 x 12's, are treated with used motor oil, and are pretty much impervious to rot.

Yes, what Wendell said.

I am using DL in my coop that has a wood floor, painted, it is so dry here I doubt there would be much of an issue with wood rot unless it got pretty moist. I had about 8 inches of litter in my coop before I cleaned it out last week, I took out two wheelbarrows full, which was about 2/3 of it, then put a couple inches of new shavings over the old. What I took out was very dry. I normally don't have water in the coop but I did for a few of the coldest/stormiest weeks of the year, and it was still dry in there. I dumped it all on my raised beds, scattered some scratch, and let the girls start turning it into the soil. They've got it about half done, just need to put some more scratch out there this week and they should finish it up. Then I'll water it in a few times, let it sit until late April or early May, and see if I can sprout a few seeds before I plant everything just to make sure it isn't too "hot" (high in nitrogen). I would normally have added it to my compost pile, but most of it has been sitting in the coop so long it should be pretty well aged.

 

[dennarahl]

Where did you get him?

He came from big R, so I don't think he'll be great quality but sometimes you can get lucky with hatchery stock. I'll get pictures later today.