Michigan

[uchytil]

Hey all it's Friday morning and it's cold! So, for the duck people - I'm would like to get two ducks today, brood them inside for a month, and then introduce them to my chicken coop. Good idea/bad idea? The coop is 12'x8' with a 12' run. I'm thinking a few Barred Rocks won't mind them too much.

 

[Mom 2em All]

If you introduce them slowly, they will do okay. Ducks need to be as big as, or almost as big as the chickens when they are introduced so they do not get picked on by the chickens.
Also, ducks are wet and messy- they need a kiddy pool to keep their feathers clean. My ducks and chickens cohabitate without problems...with one exception. I have a little mean cockerel who is bullying Mama Muscovy's babies. The others are not picked on because they are BIG.

 

[babigyrl22]

Mornin peeps! I so want to go to Chickenstock. We seriously dont need anymore chickens and I know if we come we will have no self control! Lol! Id love a couple of BCMs....one day. :: strategizes ::

 

[Mom 2em All]

Quote:
It is sooo much MORE than just chickens! Its great fun socializing in person with one another, great food, great company- so much fun. I have no self-control either, but I did very very well. If you limit the number of cages you BRING, you limit how much you can take home.

 

[babigyrl22]

Quote:
It is sooo much MORE than just chickens! Its great fun socializing in person with one another, great food, great company- so much fun. I have no self-control either, but I did very very well. If you limit the number of cages you BRING, you limit how much you can take home.

Lol! Oh I know its much more teehee. I am working on convincing the hubby we should go (I know he secretly wants to).

 

[Henny Penny04]

Quote:
Opa- That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that post!

Regarding the weather, our coop and run turned to mud puddles, so I thought I would just throw a tarp over it, all hillbilly like. Well, I didn't drain the water off it yesterday and the weight of it caved in the roof of the run, and dumped all the collected water onto the floor of the run. What. A. Mess. So, I did what Jen and Opa recommended, and used pine shavings (instead of my usual straw fix). Mud problem solved. (I really didn't believe you both when you mentioned this a few weeks ago). Hopefully it dries out completely this weekend. Have any of you used sand in your run before? I'm thinking it would drain well and keep the mud away. Although the poop wouldn't compost in there. I think I would have to rake it out occasionally? Thoughts? My husband finally relented is is covering the run with clear polycarbonate panels soon.

 

[Chickmate]

Quote:
Opa- That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that post!

Regarding the weather, our coop and run turned to mud puddles, so I thought I would just throw a tarp over it, all hillbilly like. Well, I didn't drain the water off it yesterday and the weight of it caved in the roof of the run, and dumped all the collected water onto the floor of the run. What. A. Mess. So, I did what Jen and Opa recommended, and used pine shavings (instead of my usual straw fix). Mud problem solved. (I really didn't believe you both when you mentioned this a few weeks ago). Hopefully it dries out completely this weekend. Have any of you used sand in your run before? I'm thinking it would drain well and keep the mud away. Although the poop wouldn't compost in there. I think I would have to rake it out occasionally? Thoughts? My husband finally relented is is covering the run with clear polycarbonate panels soon.

I did the same thing yesterday with pine shavings. My run is covered with hardware cloth and clear polycarbonate panels, but I have had some leakage. Enough in some places that it formed some large mud puddles. I went in the coop and started shoving pine bedding out the pop door and spreading it in the run. Soaks up the water like a sponge, nice and dry.

Now I have a question that may be a stupid one, but I'm going to ask anyway. Has anyone ever used the coop pine shavings as mulch in your flower beds or garden? I mean straight out of the coop and into the flower beds. I don't have a compost pile and would just have to dump it in the woods, so I thought what about in my flower beds? Would it just turn to mush and look horrible or maybe it's not heavy enough and the rain would wash it into my yard? Would the poop burn my plants? Anyone ever try it? I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments on this. Thanks!

 

[RIRJen]

Quote:
Yup, that is the plan!!! I reallly want to find some blue or splash silkies

 

[babigyrl22]

Quote:
Opa- That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that post!

Regarding the weather, our coop and run turned to mud puddles, so I thought I would just throw a tarp over it, all hillbilly like. Well, I didn't drain the water off it yesterday and the weight of it caved in the roof of the run, and dumped all the collected water onto the floor of the run. What. A. Mess. So, I did what Jen and Opa recommended, and used pine shavings (instead of my usual straw fix). Mud problem solved. (I really didn't believe you both when you mentioned this a few weeks ago). Hopefully it dries out completely this weekend. Have any of you used sand in your run before? I'm thinking it would drain well and keep the mud away. Although the poop wouldn't compost in there. I think I would have to rake it out occasionally? Thoughts? My husband finally relented is is covering the run with clear polycarbonate panels soon.

I did the same thing yesterday with pine shavings. My run is covered with hardware cloth and clear polycarbonate panels, but I have had some leakage. Enough in some places that it formed some large mud puddles. I went in the coop and started shoving pine bedding out the pop door and spreading it in the run. Soaks up the water like a sponge, nice and dry.

Now I have a question that may be a stupid one, but I'm going to ask anyway. Has anyone ever used the coop pine shavings as mulch in your flower beds or garden? I mean straight out of the coop and into the flower beds. I don't have a compost pile and would just have to dump it in the woods, so I thought what about in my flower beds? Would it just turn to mush and look horrible or maybe it's not heavy enough and the rain would wash it into my yard? Would the poop burn my plants? Anyone ever try it? I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments on this. Thanks!

There is a forum topic already discussing this. It looks like it is fine as long as you are not using it for edible gardens.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=6335395

 

[RaZ]

Quote:
Actually that is a pretty good question...
The only problem I see with directly applying the pine shavings is that have a high carbon content that will leach the nitrogen out of the soil. There might be enough N in the chicken poop to couter that, but maybe not.

Experience has taught me that fine sawdust or chain saw chips will kill the grass where they fall even if you rake an vacuum them up. So maybe the surface area of the finer particles are worse than the bigger pine shavings.

I do have a test bed that I'm experimenting on and it has a top layer of pine shavings from the coop. Everything seems to be fine so far but I haven't done a soil test yet, so I don't know the nutrient levels.

You can always try on a portion of your flower bed and see how it goes. Also if you've been dumping in the woods for a long time, the bottom of the pile should be good compost by now.