Sounds like you're in that horrible long wait for mature birds. Take heart, hon. Its around the bend.
Quote:
Hon, didn't anyone tell you? Poultry birds are incontinent - they have no sphincter muscle. The motto of the bird world is "when you gotta go, you gotta go".
Quote:
Hon, didn't anyone tell you? Poultry birds are incontinent - they have no sphincter muscle. The motto of the bird world is "when you gotta go, you gotta go".
Yeah, they are eating bugs and providing us with chicken manure...a lot of it, but they are attracting flies
Flies are easily dealt with by a variety of tools. You can use a little vanilla extract (must be the real stuff) to deter flies, some car fresheners use the real stuff and you can hang them in the coop. You can put up a bug zapper and the birds will eat the dead flies! Add a little food safe DE (buy at feedstore or order online) to their feed to kill the fly larvae and you can also spread it around their coop to keep out other little crawly varmints.
Flies are easily dealt with by a variety of tools. You can use a little vanilla extract (must be the real stuff) to deter flies, some car fresheners use the real stuff and you can hang them in the coop. You can put up a bug zapper and the birds will eat the dead flies! Add a little food safe DE (buy at feedstore or order online) to their feed to kill the fly larvae and you can also spread it around their coop to keep out other little crawly varmints.
they are not interested in slugs and snails and I am afraid for my plants and garden!
You said you've had them two months? How old are they? They may not be big enough to eat them, though even my younger birds peck at them to get little bits of bug. My ducks go crazy eating bugs. Haven't seen a slug or snail in YEARS and I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest. If you think they just haven't figured it out, buy a dozen crickets at the local petshop and let them loose. Fun for the whole family!
You said you've had them two months? How old are they? They may not be big enough to eat them, though even my younger birds peck at them to get little bits of bug. My ducks go crazy eating bugs. Haven't seen a slug or snail in YEARS and I live on an island in the Pacific Northwest. If you think they just haven't figured it out, buy a dozen crickets at the local petshop and let them loose. Fun for the whole family!
My daughter can't run barefoot in the grass, the dogs are bringing poop into the house on their feet *sigh* we are scratching the 100% free range idea and building an 80% of the time fenced run.
Sounds like its time to have the Family Yard and the Poultry Yard, fences can be a true wonder. Or a pen, either way.
Sounds like its time to have the Family Yard and the Poultry Yard, fences can be a true wonder. Or a pen, either way.
Perhaps, I should just cool down a little and wait for the eggs...I'm sure by then I will love them.
Eggs do go a long way to ensure adoration of chickens. The 4-6 months waiting on the eggs with my younger birds drives me bonkers, which is why I keep an older laying flock, as well. Patience.
Eggs do go a long way to ensure adoration of chickens. The 4-6 months waiting on the eggs with my younger birds drives me bonkers, which is why I keep an older laying flock, as well. Patience.
What exactly do you get out of your chickens...BESIDES EGGS?
Constant laughter. And I do mean, CONSTANT. My chickens are always doing something. They love bossing around our three dogs, they love sneaking onto the porch and eating the cat's food. One figured out the dog door, thank G-d for our Border Collie who herds her back outside! When it rains, mine love to perch miserably on the rabbit fencing under the rain roof. They looks so bedraggled and drive the rabbits bonkers! Cute as all get out!
As a Navy wife whose husband deploys often and without children, they bring such liveliness to my home! And they are kid magnets! My doorbell rings all day on weekdays with neighborhood kiddos who want to touch or feed our birds. I'm teaching proper behavior to kids who might not otherwise learn humane behavior with animals in their own homes. Hopefully, I'm helping to inspire future chicken addicts and BYCers.
Then there's the other fun stuff: community. Join the 4-H or the Grange. Talk poultry. Meet great folks. I have just started teaching Chicken 101 to our community and I bring a few of my birds along. Its a complete hoot and I raise money for community organizations doing so.
Dear G-d I could go on and on, is all this enough?
Constant laughter. And I do mean, CONSTANT. My chickens are always doing something. They love bossing around our three dogs, they love sneaking onto the porch and eating the cat's food. One figured out the dog door, thank G-d for our Border Collie who herds her back outside! When it rains, mine love to perch miserably on the rabbit fencing under the rain roof. They looks so bedraggled and drive the rabbits bonkers! Cute as all get out!
As a Navy wife whose husband deploys often and without children, they bring such liveliness to my home! And they are kid magnets! My doorbell rings all day on weekdays with neighborhood kiddos who want to touch or feed our birds. I'm teaching proper behavior to kids who might not otherwise learn humane behavior with animals in their own homes. Hopefully, I'm helping to inspire future chicken addicts and BYCers.
Then there's the other fun stuff: community. Join the 4-H or the Grange. Talk poultry. Meet great folks. I have just started teaching Chicken 101 to our community and I bring a few of my birds along. Its a complete hoot and I raise money for community organizations doing so.
Dear G-d I could go on and on, is all this enough?
Last edited:
