Coop Project: Maken the Plunge & Getting Chickens

[BigRooNTN]

Sorry for your loss. I am hoping my buff orp will turn out that beautiful.

Had a great Thanksgivng with my family.

 

[SleepyOwl]

Sorry to hear you lost one of your girls.

 

[MissusC]

I am so sorry to hear about ChaCha. What a bummer about the dog.

 

[FeatheredFreind]

I loved your story. Most of my friends think that i am nuts for the amount of time, love, and money i spend with my birds. It's nice to know that so many more people are the same. Anyone else that i personally know involved with poultry is involved for the food. Thanks for sharing your story. I do have to add that i was really surprized this thanksgiving; A huge part of the family spent their time around the coops and begged until i left the flocks out to free range. Needless to say my birds made this thanksgiving so much more beautiful and remembering.

 

[FeatheredFreind]

I am sorry for your lost too. When I first got my silkies they were 2 days old and my daughter and grandchildren came to visit to see the new baby silkies. So i get them out and let them loose in our sunroom where we were all gathered to enjoy the new baby chicks. Well my youngest granddaughter was 1 1/2years old at the time. She saw the little chicks and just lit up with excitement. She very slowly walked over towards the chicks and faster than i could imagine picked up her right leg and STOMPED that baby chick as if it was a bug. This is a child that is so good normally i would of never expected anything like that. My daughter was horrified, i was soooo angry at this child for the first time ever. I believe my daughter scooped her up instintively to protect her. I put the chicks away and learned a lesson. The chick was fine amazingly and the grand daughter is never to be trusted around my birds. I think i'll print this out and give it to her when she learns to read. HaHaHa!

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Well its been a very long winter and very strange spring here in Colorado.

Over the winter the chickens molted and egg production went to almost zero eggs for about 2 months. That was a very long dry spell and in the end we actually had to resort to store bought eggs...Bleh!!!

But as January arrived the birds were feathered out, looking smart and egg production resumed as normal. It was nice, so nice in fact we had to start giving away eggs, as the production from our 3 girls was more than we could eat. Sort of feats or famine this year.

We had a series very late and very wet snow storms that put a twist into my poultry plans. I had wanted to get some replacement chicks this spring in early April, but a family trip to Las Vegas and some uncooperative weather delayed my plans enough that we will look into getting chicks next year.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The girls had a great winter...they had a few areas in the backyard that they paid extra special attention tooo....so we're in the process of re-seeding a few places. This is a spot under our bay window on the west side of the yard...they were there everyday all winter long. The baby grass seedlings are just now starting to become visible...like very fine green hair.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

The area directly in front of the door to the run has always been a bad area in the yard...but with chickens it has gotten much worse. So we are trying to re-seed this area as well. I'll probably have to lay sod to get grass established again.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

I'm a little late this year in getting my garden in, but I had to first put up a fence to keep the chickens from destroying the place after I planted. Fence went in nice and smooth.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

...And so did a few plants....only a very few plants.

I just want to see how these few plants will grow this year. I emptied the shavings from the coop into the garden about 2 months ago. The chickens then did their job of scattering the shavings nicely and working it into the ground. After 3 or 4 days, it was difficult to even tell that I had dumped 4 wheel barrows of coop residues into the garden.

I am now planting the garden with a few plants to see how everything grows this summer. The ground could be a bit hot and everything dies; or it has had time to compost and incorporate, in which case I should experience an awesome growth of plants in the garden this year. The mixture of wood shavings and droppings should be a great combination. The shavings provide a carbon source while the droppings decompose and release nutrients into the garden. All this with NO chemical fertilizers....I love keeping these birds.