Hi! I am in Hammond, La. I actually am thinking about giving away some of my chickens. It's sad, but I feel like they would be better off elsewhere. But, I want to give them to someone who will love them- someone like you guys. anyway, here's why I want to maybe give them away. I moved into this house in August. The previous owners left us a bunch of chickens (we wanted 2, but they couldn't catch all of theirs). Anyway, we ended up with like 6 roos, 9 hens, 6 babies, and a turkey. I have never had anything but indoor pets my whole life, so I had NO idea how to care for these birds. Needless to say, many of them have died. And it's very hard on me. My turkey is dying as we speak. I am down to 4 roos (2 of them are the surviving babies that grew up- only 3 made it) and 7 hens (and a still breathing, but definitely dying turkey). . They are very cute little birds. There are 8 bantams (3 roos and 5 hens), 2 large chickens, and one free range rooster. I think I'll keep the 2 large chickens and the free-range rooster because I think I can handle that. But the 8 little bantams would probably be better off with someone who can care for them properly. They are very pretty, and I love seeing them every day and hearing them cluck and crow, but I hate seeing them die. Let me know if you are interested. I will try to post a few pics.. (these pictures are from before the babies got bigger. If I had a working camera I would post up-to-date pics, but I do not. The rooster babies are really really pretty now. I am getting a new camera in a couple weeks, so I can post those pics then.
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Hi, Missi. Glad the weekend is here too! I actually got to sleep past 6:30. But the PO called at 7:30 saying I've got eggs to pick up, so not much past 6:30. But, I'll take what I can get.
Grass, ha! Grass doesn't last long in runs here once you but birds in. But seriously, once the grass is gone, I put a layer of sand in the run along with a thick layer of mulch. It keeps it from staying wet and getting muddy-makes all the difference in the world. In the summer, I give them grass clippings. They go crazy over it. Did I say Summer-Is it Summer yet??
Well I was wondering what in the world I was doing wrong!! My first 4 wiped out the grass in less than 2 months!! We've put leaves in there to help with the mud. It worked alright and lasted about a month. We're gonna be adding some dirt and then putting sand on top of that. We stupidly didn't make the door on the run big enough for a wheelbarrow so we have to add another door!!
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Put a thick layer of sand-it's the ticket. Then, if you have leaves, put a layer on top. I got a really good deal on mulch last summer. I've got several pallets of it, so it's what I use. It works really well with the sand.
After one of my runs became one big muddy area, I put sand down.
The kids hauled it in the wheel barrow and we put down 4-6 inches of sand over the whole run.
(No Dirt) I then put a pipe into the bottom of the pen to try and act as a drain.
Now when the chickens start making it messy I take the water hose and was off
sand and have a nice clean run again. Sometimes have to get hay out of drain pipe
but overall it works good.
The next run I build I will but down pea gravel first and the sand to act as
a filter and it will be easier to wash the sand off.
Haven't had grass in that area in a while and hope like heck I never do again.