"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[stevesgirl72]

Nice to meet y'all.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I always wanted one but I know I can't take on another pet. :/

I currently have 4 Dominquers, 2 Golden-Laced Wyandotte, and 4 Silver-Laced Wyandotte.  When I was a little girl my daddy raised all kinds of fowl.  I am new to this.  Currently they are around 12 weeks.  I am having trouble with the run we made.  We built it and then built a nesting area and a shelter attached to it, but it sits on the ground and it is hard to keep it clean.  I worry about disease.  Any ideas?  Also, I would love to have them free-range, but am afraid I won't be able to corral them back up

Nice to meet you.  Oh BTW they are all pullets.

What kind of bedding do you have? What trouble are you having as far as cleaning? Have you tried using sand as a bedding? That's what I have an I LOVE IT!!!! It works like cat litter. I NEVER have to touch my runs that have sand. The chickens and pea fowl take care of it for me because they "turn it over" themselves. Disease is the main reason that I switched to sand. It is sooooooooo worth it. I'm a #1 fan and advocate for sand.

About the free -ranging, try free-ranging on the weekend when you are there. Monitor what they do and where they go and you can see if they go back in or not. It sounds as if you have a manageable group that you can herd in if they start running wild but I doubt it seriously. They may surprise you and go back in. My newbies ALWAYS go back in. I train them in a pen or coop area and let them out on the weekend. When it gets dark, they high tale it back to the same place. I have never had a problem with new chicks at all. And I currently have about 100+ chickens.

Here are a few pics of what some of my runs and other areas in my chicken yard look like to give you an idea.

 

[kuntrygirl]

I'm in dry creek too!

Welcome to the layers thread.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

I have heard of the brand but never used any. :/

Thanks, Kuntrygirl. I looked them up. I think they will be fine but somewhere I saw that it was the cheaper alternative. On line a 50# bag consistently was $12.99. I paid $25.00. Whew. I didn't know whether it was some kind of super food or the store over charges. Well, apparently it's the latter. The store was just stArting to carry chicken feed and was near my house. I'm much better off driving my little Prius further. I can get top brands for less than that. Oh, well.

 

[foreverlearning]

I saw this on the Chicken Chicks fb page this morning.......cute! I am so glad to see Friday. Have a good day!

The hubby built a barrel composted and relaid amended soil in garden beds

told me to get planting and fill the composter this weekend! Lol I'm so excited!

Love them both. Great job on the planters.

 

[foreverlearning]

I am from Leesville, LA

HEY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to have you. Tell us about your chickens and other animals.

You will have so much fun on this thread. Don't be shy. We all have issues and are nuttier than a fruit cake but we are all on meds to control that. Just joking

Meds...meds...I think I lost that memo....

 

[foreverlearning]

This was shared by JoyfulPromise on another thread:

For those who were asking about a way to have easy-peel hard-boiled fresh eggs, what works for us is poking a small hole with a push pin through the fat end of the egg into the air cell before boiling. This works every time and gives you PERFECTLY smooth peeled eggs, even if they were taken out of the coop less than an hour ago!

Here is a link to the article explaining the process - with nice clear pictures too!

The Perfect Hard-boiled Egg

 

[TerriLaChicks]

I am from Leesville, LA

Alexandria here!

 

[TerriLaChicks]

28 days on the guinea eggs Jeff, BUT -- I don't know exactly when she laid them - she started disappearing about a week ago, so....they'll hatch when they get ready. I'll keep you posted (along w/everybody else)!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I have heard of the brand but never used any. :/

Thanks, Kuntrygirl. I looked them up. I think they will be fine but somewhere I saw that it was the cheaper alternative. On line a 50# bag consistently was $12.99. I paid $25.00. Whew. I didn't know whether it was some kind of super food or the store over charges. Well, apparently it's the latter. The store was just stArting to carry chicken feed and was near my house. I'm much better off driving my little Prius further. I can get top brands for less than that. Oh, well.

$25.00?????????!!!!!! WOW !!!