Homesteaders

[Raech]

Do I have to pull the broody hens out of the box every time I get eggs? He doesn't want them sitting on eggs, only the turkey is allowed right now. Yesterday we had one that fought us on getting the eggs, now I have 3 hens fighting me. I don't know what breed they are but they are all the same color, black with red undertones, not very big but not a bantam. With his set up I have to reach from the front and go under the chickens, and their is no front board incase the eggs start to roll. One egg got broke today already because it was towards the front and when I reached in to grab it she missed me and got the egg, then she ate it. What do I do for that, I can't open the top, I tried to and ended up popping some nails out, so I have to fix that before Friday. I have to wear gloves now because she is really mad when I get the eggs, I got one hen out by petting her back until she walked out, but I can't get these red/black ones out all they do is start to growl and peck.

 

[trsturself]

Do I have to pull the broody hens out of the box every time I get eggs? He doesn't want them sitting on eggs, only the turkey is allowed right now. Yesterday we had one that fought us on getting the eggs, now I have 3 hens fighting me. I don't know what breed they are but they are all the same color, black with red undertones, not very big but not a bantam. With his set up I have to reach from the front and go under the chickens, and their is no front board incase the eggs start to roll. One egg got broke today already because it was towards the front and when I reached in to grab it she missed me and got the egg, then she ate it. What do I do for that, I can't open the top, I tried to and ended up popping some nails out, so I have to fix that before Friday. I have to wear gloves now because she is really mad when I get the eggs, I got one hen out by petting her back until she walked out, but I can't get these red/black ones out all they do is start to growl and peck.

Just grab them and take them out. Come in on either side of them and trap their wings down, reach fingers under them to support weight, and lift out. Do it quick and with confidence

 

[Raech]

Lesson #2 I have learned: Don't wear flip flops to feed the chickens.

One of the little red hens has decided she wants to try my nail polish, which is a shiny pink/purple. She was following me around after I had dumped the feed, and as I was checking for any early eggs I felt her brush my leg and hit the ground right next to where my foot had been. Least ways to say I had a discussion about eating my toes, she didn't believe me and chased me out the gate, pecking at my shiny toes as I tried to yank the door open. One good thing about the gate, nothing can get in very easily, the door latch catches on one of the poles that makes the run wall so you really have to work to get it open or closed. He makes it look so easy when he goes in, but when I do it I look like a nincompoop that can't open a door.

Found one of the ducks has been laying an egg a day, actually got to see which duck was laying in the corner. Hubby says we need to put a band on the broody hen because she had a huge egg goop puddle underneith her last night, and so we figure she must me eating eggs. So since I can't find the bands, I have that little room where he kept the babies before they were big enough to go out with the rest of the flock, I am thinking about putting her in there, and see if the count goes back up again. Yesterdays count would have been 18 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs, that is less than yesterday and even lower than his last egg count. Only problem with that idea though, is the duck that has been laying in one spot has chosen one of the corners in that little room. If I put the naughty hen in the room, will the duck pick another spot to lay, or will she stop?

 

[trsturself]

Lesson #2 I have learned: Don't wear flip flops to feed the chickens.

One of the little red hens has decided she wants to try my nail polish, which is a shiny pink/purple. She was following me around after I had dumped the feed, and as I was checking for any early eggs I felt her brush my leg and hit the ground right next to where my foot had been. Least ways to say I had a discussion about eating my toes, she didn't believe me and chased me out the gate, pecking at my shiny toes as I tried to yank the door open. One good thing about the gate, nothing can get in very easily, the door latch catches on one of the poles that makes the run wall so you really have to work to get it open or closed. He makes it look so easy when he goes in, but when I do it I look like a nincompoop that can't open a door.

Found one of the ducks has been laying an egg a day, actually got to see which duck was laying in the corner. Hubby says we need to put a band on the broody hen because she had a huge egg goop puddle underneith her last night, and so we figure she must me eating eggs. So since I can't find the bands, I have that little room where he kept the babies before they were big enough to go out with the rest of the flock, I am thinking about putting her in there, and see if the count goes back up again. Yesterdays count would have been 18 chicken eggs and 2 duck eggs, that is less than yesterday and even lower than his last egg count. Only problem with that idea though, is the duck that has been laying in one spot has chosen one of the corners in that little room. If I put the naughty hen in the room, will the duck pick another spot to lay, or will she stop?

Lol! Yes, chickens love nail polish. I put my hand in the brooder today and a little BR came over and pecked at my nails.

I think putting her in that other area is a good idea. The duck will find a new spot to lay.

 

[KentuckyMom]

I have had to stop wearing sandals around the chickens. It can be painful when they view painted toenails as food!

 

[Raech]

This was all of todays eggs!!! 28 eggs, finally got the numbers up where they should have been. Had to add shavings to the nest boxes and a miracle happened! The eggs quit breaking or getting cracked!!!! I always thought that the chicken sat and kind of pooped the egg out, now I know differently. Made a swimming pool/puddle for the ducks and geese as I was filling the water container tonight, so they were having fun as I was trying to wash the bottom part of it. I could not believe how much dirt they get in there, it was about 1 1/2 inches thick. Think when I get my set up done I will have hanging water containers, Naughty Chicken has hardly any water spilled in her area and her water is hung up.

Over the half way mark, and I am still loving the chicken care. I also have the super shy dog following me to the back gate(chicken/garden area) and waiting for me to come back, when I sit in the rocking chair on the patio he jumps up in my lap and just sits there like he belongs.

This is the same dog that they keep trying to send home with me, so I am ok with it.

 

[wyoDreamer]

So glad you are getting the hang of chicken keeping. It is nice you are getting a chance to check out his set-up and can plan improvements for your own set-up when you are ready.
Besides that, lots of fresh eggs and maybe a dog in the process ...

 

[Raech]

So glad you are getting the hang of chicken keeping. It is nice you are getting a chance to check out his set-up and can plan improvements for your own set-up when you are ready.
Besides that, lots of fresh eggs and maybe a dog in the process ...

Majority of the eggs are being sold by him, I am just collecting and storing, except for the ones with faults, like cracks or duck eggs. So far I have kept maybe 2 dozen including duck eggs, gave 1 dozen to my dad this morning and the other were ones that were damaged, by my own child after dropping one egg back into the bucket with 9 eggs in it(1 survived the accident). I don't think I will ever get to his scale of birds, that is way too many for me, and I don't think I want as many roosters as he has, because some of them have started to follow me around and a few of them have some MASSIVE spurs on them, they are longer than my middle finger. A red rooster gets really talkative when I go in, follows me as he is talking, and then sneaks up when I turn my back to him. I'm kind of scared of him, for being the littlest rooster he is super scary, the other roosters' spurs aren't nearly as big as his and they leave me alone.

The dog is debatable, Hubby says "NO", boys say "please", and I just need to wait until I get a house. It isn't a breed or size I was ever thinking of getting, personally I hate little dogs, but he is pretty cool. The 2 dogs I have planned are a Mastiff cross and a Malamute, not small dogs on any scale, not even their poo is small. The adult owners say 'take him", but the daughter says he stays because she rescued him. Hubby says no because the dog is scared of men, he hides normally when the men come outside; and he tends to chew and dig. I told him if they choose to give him to us when we get a house, I can fix the chewing and digging(to a degree) and complete the house training, and I think being in the house more will help him get used to Hubby thus, hopefully, eliminating the hiding whenever he comes around.

 

[boskelli1571]

Grrrrr!

We had a wonderful harvest of tomatoes, kale etc. coming in...........the deer have eaten the tomatoes & rabbits chewed through the netting and attacked the kale! If I wasn't so much of a chicken, I would shoot them - but the fawns are so cute! So - going to build an 8 foot wire compound around the veggie beds ready for next year. That should keep the little buggers out!
Thankfully they don't seem to like squash, cucumbers, onions or carrots.......

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

Grrrrr!

We had a wonderful harvest of tomatoes, kale etc. coming in...........the deer have eaten the tomatoes & rabbits chewed through the netting and attacked the kale! If I wasn't so much of a chicken I would shoot them - but the fawns are so cute! So - going to build an 8 foot wire compound around the veggie beds ready for next year. That should keep the little buggers out!
Thankfully they don't seem to like squash, cucumbers, onions or carrots.......

My gorgeous bumper-crop of tomatoes have gotten noshed on too!! Even the green ones! Not happy right now...