I have a question .... Do you buy chicken feed from local store or drive far to buy in bulk? I would like to know some good place in sw michigan. I usually pay $16-18 for 50lb at family farm and home.
My EE was taken by a racoon yesterday. She was our pet 7 weeks old chicken that we are pretty attached to and my daughter and I was just starting to make a scrapbook of her as well... at least I took some pic of her the day before....I was looking forward to see how her feather would turn out too. That was my sad sad day.....
we set a trap and caught the racoon, still setting a live trap in case there is more animals after my chickens tonight..
Although my chickens are free ranged right now in sunny days, and I have not encountered any loss of chickens during the day, this incident made me think maybe I should make a fenced up area.
My chickens like to go play in a little wooded area and scratch leaves and even roost on the lower branches of bush type trees, I would like them to have an access to it too. I could not include wooded area if I were to make their fenced area.
When they are inside the run 6' x 12' for 11 birds, they just eat and lay down or roost, pretty laid back, which in someone's eyes,like my husband, that is as happy as chickens can be.
But I like to see them exploring and looking for bugs outside the run, most of the time they perch on their favorite tree though...I understand that it's better for them to be safe than killed, and their life is pretty good even in the run.
What do you think ?
Also does anybody use sweet PDZ ?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/621363/poop-board-convert-warning-graphic-gross-poop-pictures
That seems like a good idea.!
