"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[Ron Skekel]

We are not handy at all, so we have to either buy one or pay someone else. I wish we could build it ourselves though! I have seen so many cute plans that I know would end up being too expensive if we paid someone else.

Are you looking for eggs? large or small? Or do you want pet chickens? Pam

 

[KimmyIsRad]

My original plan was to get some chicks and set them up in the house until they are ready to go outside. Definitely open to any suggestions.

 

[Ron Skekel]

My original plan was to get some chicks and set them up in the house until they are ready to go outside. Definitely open to any suggestions.

Do you want to get fresh eggs from your birds?

 

[LemonMeringue]

Non-stop busy around here.

The entire flock has been spending time together every day. I am so glad that the harmony is coming along. In the youngest group there are bantams and 2 Buff Orpingtons. The 6 littles hang together and have learned well to dodge any cranky biddies. The whole lot of them are taking NO GUFF from the cat or little doggies (not that I have EVER seen them behave in any way unacceptable). If they come too close to any of them they get a good high spirited chasing. Tonight it was from one of the youngest Buff Orpingtons! Pretty amusing to see since the cat is 3 times the size of the fluffy pullet.

Lots of garden and food work. Its wild blackberry season. We did a quick pick last weekend and got close to 4lbs. Made blackberry jam. Saved the seed mash. Mixed part of it into white vinegar for some blackberry vinegar. Used the remaining mash for some blackberry/grape wine (I am attempting anyway). Its going good so far. There were plenty of green berries left that we are going to check on next weekend.

We are nowhere near where I would like to be with the garden. Mainly because we bought the composite raised bed kits, and my muscle mans ridiculous schedule. They are 4x8ft. Our previous layout was 3x10ft beds. Previous layout had aisles that were too narrow for comfortable work space. So doing a complete revamp of the entire garden, plus adding more beds has been a lot of work. We have had to bring in a lot of new garden soil as well. So many details! Studying more companion planting and adding a lot more variety of herbs that are perennial. Gearing up for the rush of canning season. Got a food mill to help process some of the veggies. Trying to eliminate any possibility of waste. Already harvesting some herbs, drying and storing them. Using rabbit, organic Jobe's fertilizer, organic Jobe's bone meal and Epsom salts (for the appropriate veg) to give lots of food for the veg to grow on. BTW I got many bags of the Jobe's fertilizers on a very cheap clearance last fall at TSC. I love that stuff! I couldn't believe the price. Tomorrow I am going to be double planting the potato bed since we are done filling it in. I think I will go with bush beans planted between a few of the potato tops. I have never done that. But since they are a good companion plant it will encourage me to leave the potatoes alone and let them get bigger. We also have been reading that the beans repel ants. Hard to believe anything repels these dumb fire ants, but its all fun to see what works.

All my chicken Nuggets were not able to continue on. I would say that I sent them to freezer camp, but they didn't make it that far. Delicious BBQ.

 

[KimmyIsRad]

Oh!! Hahahaha I misunderstood your question! Sorry. Yes, we want eggs from our chickens.

 

[LemonMeringue]

We are not handy at all, so we have to either buy one or pay someone else. I wish we could build it ourselves though! I have seen so many cute plans that I know would end up being too expensive if we paid someone else.

Hi, welcome! I have seen some cute ones at Tractor Supply. Probably on sale now too since its getting later. They were on sale at our store here last time I was in. You could look on their website to get ideas of what they have. We got a rabbit hutch from there for our Bunny, last year. Its very sturdy.

 

[mschicklady]

Hi! I'm new here and I'm from Opelousas.

I don't have chickens yet. We can't wait though! We are trying to buy or have someone build a coop first. My three year old has already named one Rapunzel and we haven't even bought them yet. I joined here because I want to learn a lot. We have two cats, a dog, and a husband (that counts as a pet, right?). We have two daughters, a 3yo and a 6mo.

I think almost all of us built them ourselves. Then rebuilt, expanded, and built a second one... It's not that hard for a standard square coop with a slope roof. If you want fancy you need to have skills, have someone else build it, or buy one. Beware of prebuilt ones in stores as they are not strong, don't fit as many as they say, and do not compute chicken math.

Welcome and you will definitely learn a lot! About the coops, X2 on foreverlearning's post. Also, watch out for that chicken math, you will start with 3 and within a week or 2 have 20 or more. Lol! I swore I wasn't getting more than 20, but my coop is big enough for over 50 and well . . . . . . The chicken math got me. Especially since I had the room to accommodate them. Now I have 33 with 5 more coming tomorrow. But I'm serious this time 40 is my limit. Maybe 45. But that's it dang it! Lol!! Anyways, hope all is well with you your fam and all of your pets! Good luck! And congrats on being infected with the chicken disease as my family likes to call it. It's so much fun!

 

[mschicklady]

Oh and yes I believe the husband counts. You do feed him right? And make sure he is bathed?

 

[KimmyIsRad]

Haha, yes! Chicken disease! We were on the couch earlier together and I was still doing more research. I told my husband to google how to buid a chicken run and he was like "Aaaahhhhh, enough chickens for today!" He is still pretty excited though.

 

[KimmyIsRad]

I definitely feed him. And care for his home. Yes, make sure he is bathed. Lol