I'm Sunny and I live with my husband Forest on some rented land in the Georgia/TN Mountains. Last year our young neighbor asked me to swap some of my famous venison jerky for two chicks. We ended up with what we thought were part Silkies. The hen is very silkie, the cock not so, but he has feathers on his feet. They produced three babies for us, two hens and a cock.
We have built them a makeshift coop on our porch.. on top of an old barn table. Under the barn table is a discarded chicken coop of sorts, which we wired and perched. They lived in their in the winter and when spring came we put them out in this coop. But they seemed to like roosting on top of the table, which originaly housed our 3-dog kennel. So we moved it there. Two dogs were poisoned so we brought the last one inside to sleep. Now Chicken Motel is well established.
Their home is three stories.. the coop underneath, where the chicks retreat in the excessive heat [when they're not lounging in the old winter greens bed with seeding lake, radish and mustard very tall]. On the table we put two of those plastic pallets that bread comes in, inside an old rectangular wooden box someone dumped here. We then put her nesting box, built from wood out of the basement, on top of that.. Under the plastic pallets we have cardboard with diatomaceous earth to collect their poop and keep the fly population down.. diatomaceous earth kills fly eggs..
Now madame sleeps in her nesting box, the cock sleeps on his pallet and the chicks on theirs...
They jump down from the porch every morning and wander into the garden, which is directly in front of th eporch. The good thing is that we have these 3 old winter greens beds.. one of which my dog dug up.. so they have a nice dust bath, shelter and lots of pickings.. cos dock and plantain and sorrel have sprung up too..
We love watching them in the evening, sitting on the porch. I am a city girl by birth and most of my life and now I just love watching chickens... playing, being their little unique selves.. And our original hen lays us an egg every day. Small but beautiful.
Love this forum and your facebook page.. so much info to help us all.
Now we want more silkies or silky crosses... so we can pair up our new chicks with mates... and get more eggs and more chicks. Our chickens are yard chickens, like our neighbors. They wander around the road, which is a dirt track and as we're nearly at the end, it's quite safe.. there is forest beyond us all the way round.. plenty of territory but they have their little paths.
The cock has taken over the parenting... it seems... After we separated the chicks from momma cos she was pecking the smaller one, she has become aloof, which is fine as he makes sure they are OK... aaaaaaaaaah ain't chickens gorgeous.
Sunny Soleil
Return to Earth
http://www.pierresoleil.com/ourblog
Wellness v Pharma, Natural energy v Oil, Community v Nuclear, Home Grown v store bought
Our desire - a food forest perennial garden on every corner.. free food for all
We have built them a makeshift coop on our porch.. on top of an old barn table. Under the barn table is a discarded chicken coop of sorts, which we wired and perched. They lived in their in the winter and when spring came we put them out in this coop. But they seemed to like roosting on top of the table, which originaly housed our 3-dog kennel. So we moved it there. Two dogs were poisoned so we brought the last one inside to sleep. Now Chicken Motel is well established.
Their home is three stories.. the coop underneath, where the chicks retreat in the excessive heat [when they're not lounging in the old winter greens bed with seeding lake, radish and mustard very tall]. On the table we put two of those plastic pallets that bread comes in, inside an old rectangular wooden box someone dumped here. We then put her nesting box, built from wood out of the basement, on top of that.. Under the plastic pallets we have cardboard with diatomaceous earth to collect their poop and keep the fly population down.. diatomaceous earth kills fly eggs..
Now madame sleeps in her nesting box, the cock sleeps on his pallet and the chicks on theirs...
They jump down from the porch every morning and wander into the garden, which is directly in front of th eporch. The good thing is that we have these 3 old winter greens beds.. one of which my dog dug up.. so they have a nice dust bath, shelter and lots of pickings.. cos dock and plantain and sorrel have sprung up too..
We love watching them in the evening, sitting on the porch. I am a city girl by birth and most of my life and now I just love watching chickens... playing, being their little unique selves.. And our original hen lays us an egg every day. Small but beautiful.
Love this forum and your facebook page.. so much info to help us all.
Now we want more silkies or silky crosses... so we can pair up our new chicks with mates... and get more eggs and more chicks. Our chickens are yard chickens, like our neighbors. They wander around the road, which is a dirt track and as we're nearly at the end, it's quite safe.. there is forest beyond us all the way round.. plenty of territory but they have their little paths.
The cock has taken over the parenting... it seems... After we separated the chicks from momma cos she was pecking the smaller one, she has become aloof, which is fine as he makes sure they are OK... aaaaaaaaaah ain't chickens gorgeous.
Sunny Soleil
Return to Earth
http://www.pierresoleil.com/ourblog
Wellness v Pharma, Natural energy v Oil, Community v Nuclear, Home Grown v store bought
Our desire - a food forest perennial garden on every corner.. free food for all
