INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Old Salt 1945]

What do you mean upside down? I'm not supposed to have 2.3333 roosters per hen? You are joking! Seriously, my kids named the little suckers so I have to get rid of the two that don't have names before they get one. I can still manage the rest. Only one seems to bother the girls and if they get out of hand, their is always a processing place down the street (assuming I can't handle the job).

According to all my books, my coop (6'*8') and my run (16'*8') should hold 10-14 chickens depending on their size. They also get to run around the 7 1/2' fenced garden (32'*32') during the day. If I get rid of two bantams, that would leave me with 6 LF and 2 bantams. I'm hoping that means I can have 4-6 more hens of various sizes. Its not quite 1 roo to every 10-20 hens, but its probably the best I can hope for at this moment. I have a wish list of Buckeye, Welsummer, Orpington, Speckled Sussex, Cochin, Wyandotte and hopefully a couple are bantams.

I know I can pick feathers.


Happy Wednesday everyone!

Thank you. Tomorrow I intend to have a happy Wednesday!

Just tell the kids hawks flew off with George and Sam and Max and Charlie.

I have 50 chickens, ducks, and guineas in an 8' x 16' coop. 10 roosters and a mean guinea are on death row.

I just rearranged the interior to eliminate a partition and to extend the roost to 12' x 4 tiers. That's about a foot per feathered varmit. When I started it was 81 deg. When I finished, it was 89.

Left side - all jammed up.


Right side - room to spare. Note the dumb ones on the floor at the right edge. Crappy place to sleep.


Then I started building nest boxes. The heat won and I gave up until tomorrow morning.

I bought fly strips from TSC at $2 for box of 4.
I bought fly strips from Wal-Mart at $2 for box of 10. I recommend the latter.


Fierce guard dog making the world safe for chickendom.


John

 

[LuvMyArabs]

Thanks!

 

[Too Fast]

Thanks for the hook idea, John. I just made one, it will go in the shed by our coop. I was thinking I'd catch the roosters while they are sleeping, but this looks easier. Still trying to convince the family that Merlin's name is Nugget, and Spike's name is Dumplin.

 

[CRSelvey]

Good to know. I found a blog that had what seemed like a pretty good recipe online. The writer has done a lot of research on it and I think I may start there and alter as I become more comfortable with it. I want to ferment some of it as well and then supplement with kitchen scraps and free ranging. Here is the mix that I found.

Garden Betty’s Homemade Whole Grain Chicken Feed
Makes 8 1/2 pounds (fills 10-pound feeder)
4 cups oat groats
4 cups black oil sunflower seeds
4 cups hard red wheat berries
2 cups soft white wheat berries
2 cups kamut
2 cups millet
2 cups whole corn
1 cup lentils
1 cup sesame seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup brewer’s yeast
1/4 cup kelp granules
free-choice oyster shells
free-choice grit


Read more: http://www.gardenbetty.com/2012/06/garden-bettys-homemade-whole-grain-chicken-feed/#ixzz2ZEIs00Ht

She also has a corn free mix that she uses as well. A friend of mine has chickens as well and wants to start doing this so we may buy some bulk and then split the cost and feed at the beginning. DH brews beer so we already have a grain grinder to crush it up a bit while they are still young and we have plenty of experience with the fermentation process.

That also looks like something I'd make bread with...well minus the free-choice parts ;-)

Wonderful. Thank you. Lebanon is not too far from me.

We chose to go organic because that is part of the reason we are raising chickens. KNOW where our food is coming from. Eliminate as many GMO/hormoned products as possible.

I am working on giving up my fast food addiction.....that one is a bit harder. :-/

I understand. I know what's in it and I still can't give it up, but its been greatly reduced over the years. Good luck with that!

Thank you. Tomorrow I intend to have a happy Wednesday!

Just tell the kids hawks flew off with George and Sam and Max and Charlie.

I have 50 chickens, ducks, and guineas in an 8' x 16' coop. 10 roosters and a mean guinea are on death row.

John

You have no idea how much of a day you just saved me by letting me know I was off a day. I almost packed everyone up for a kids play date but now that I've seen this, we can stay home. I'd like to say I lose track because I'm a stay-at-home mom and its summer, but really I've done it all my life. When I was working, our building's security guard used to say Happy (insert day of week) so that I'd know what meetings to go to...I miss him.

I went out to let the chickens out today and my son's favorite roo walked up and bit me hard on the hand. I hold this guy all the time and he's really sweet, so why would he draw blood this morning I ask you? Ungrateful wretch...


Well its coming along. The tar paper is coming loose, but the shingles will be on soon, so I'm not worried. Once I finish the run frame, I can get the fencing back up where it belongs. Until then, they have free range of the garden when they aren't in the coop. The pretty tarp is up to keep their run area more dry. That clay is dangerous, so I'm looking forward to getting the sand in.

Happy Wednesday (again!)

 

[CRSelvey]

Oh, I forgot to ask, what's up with fermenting chickens food? Is it better for them? How do you know you aren't just making drunk chickens, or is that the point?

 

[Old Salt 1945]

Oh, I forgot to ask, what's up with fermenting chickens food? Is it better for them? How do you know you aren't just making drunk chickens, or is that the point?

It's only done for Irish breeds of chickens.

I found an article somewhere on BYC that told how to do it. It also had a before/after comparison study that showed that the feed costs went down sharply. I thought about doing it, but laziness intervened at the last moment. After I get a few other things done around here, I may give it another look. Alternately, you could do all the research, work out a method and then come over and set it all up for me.

John

 

[CRSelvey]

It's only done for Irish breeds of chickens.

I found an article somewhere on BYC that told how to do it. It also had a before/after comparison study that showed that the feed costs went down sharply. I thought about doing it, but laziness intervened at the last moment. After I get a few other things done around here, I may give it another look. Alternately, you could do all the research, work out a method and then come over and set it all up for me.

John

I wouldn't wait on that....I don't work quickly as shown by the 4 month coop project.

 

[Quinstar]

I am currently having an issue with three chickens sleeping outside at night and I know their pen is not super secure for attacks, trying to make the tough decision of closing the coop door at night and leaving the three to defend for themselves or leaving it open to they can hide but risking my entire flock while doing so.
Due to the design I have I have to go through the coop to climb through the door to enter the run, doing so causes them all to act like fools and head outside. Making it then a challenge of popping them all back in, going outside to close the door and keeping them all inside while doing this with shear will power.

Thinking as you have all the experience.... You would love to come trench the run out and show me how it's done right..... right...I'll pay you in eggs

DH and I rented a trench digger for 2 hours to do ours and it was only about $30. Knocked it out is no time at all. Thing was heavy, but worked great! Do you have any equipment rentals in your area?

 

[Quinstar]

I tried finding an actual list of ingredients but couldn't. I bet they could send you the info. The garden hoops they had looked really nice.

If you go into each food type directly there is a link to the feed label. Here is the one for grower which I am planning on getting.

 

[julie0477]

So I was messing around with the tolbunt polish chicks tonight and pretty sure one is a frizzle! It's wing feathers are already coming in "bent" out. I've never had a frizzled chicken before.

awe I love lil frizzles. So cute!