Minnesota!

[Minniechickmama]

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...by-protesters-who-want-to-save-cow-he-raised-...


People these days... Poor farmers...

I actually have a friend who is sort of like that. If you don't want to eat meat, fine, don't push your beliefs on the rest of us, right?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Thank you for that.

is right!!! We just hit 4-5 weeks and I'm totally over the dust and stink in my house. They can stay in if need be, but I'd much prefer we start the transition sooner rather than later as long as it's safe.

Any tips of safe coop heating methods? Everything general on the net is so conflicting - heat lamps are deadly and should never be in coop, and on the flip side of that, I've used heat lamps for decades without a problem so never think twice about it. Our coop is framed up and will be finished by Sunday. It's a 6x8. My husband is a master electrician so the sky's the limit as far as options go. I'll take any suggestions short or long term!

The thing that people who end up with fires in their coop or barn is that they fail to use a safety screen or secure their heat lamps properly. I suggest if you must use them have the secured and use a wire cage around them so they can't get flown into.

 

[holm25]

I actually have a friend who is sort of like that.  If you don't want to eat meat, fine, don't push your beliefs on the rest of us, right?

Right. I feel bad cuz everyday this is happening to more and more farmers that are trying to produce food for their families. But yet they're the bad guys for being inhumane and not eating stuff from the grocery stores.

 

[lilmynx13]

Right. I feel bad cuz everyday this is happening to more and more farmers that are trying to produce food for their families. But yet they're the bad guys for being inhumane and not eating stuff from the grocery stores.

That happened to me this past year local nosey nancy called the sheriff on us for daring to have a fenced run. Those poor slave chickens they were so abused with being fed overage from gardens and fruit trees, having the kids toss extra greens and such in. Very deplorable conditions. They evenhad to eat bugs cause they were starving so badly
The sheriff bought eggs and went on his way.

 

[cottonlouie]

Sigh. I have a coop that is 9 x 11 (weird size...it's a part of a very old garage turned horse shed turned chicken coop). I have access to very cheap hay. The floor of the coop is dirt which I cover with hay. The coop is not fancy in the least and I'm not into painting the walls or anything. Here's my question. Do roosts really need to be scrubbed clean once or twice a year? That would get the floor all muddy....also, I have poop boards under the roosts and I scrape them every day (mostly) so it seems like the hay never gets gross. I haven't cleaned out the hay for about 4 weeks and it seems fine. The 10 hens have a huge run and free range all day. This winter when the hens were more cooped up the hay still never really got bad. I guess I'm just worried about hen health and want to know if all the stuff I read about scrubbing the walls and roosts is necessary. My coop stays really dry and I hate to start slopping water all over it.

 

[lalaland]

Personally, I am not a fan of rhubarb, but I have fond memories of going to a neighbor's house with my mother so she could get rhubarb when I was a kid. They had a very tall, pipe framed swing that the old man had made for his kids who were already grown adults by that time. I would swing while Mom got the rhubarb.

I do have it growing here though, and I had to laugh when we were looking where my husband planted some perennials I bought last fall, he put them right next to where the rhubarb plants I had put there the year before were coming up. One of the perennials doesn't look like it made it, and by the other one, I will just move those plants. I have another rhubarb out by the strawberries. When DH said he didn't know why I wanted to have it since we don't really eat it, I reminded him that many people DO like rhubarb with their strawberries and we are definitely going to have WAY more strawberries than we need this year, it is probably a good idea to have both if I am going to sell the berries. That made sense to him.

I can't give him too much grief, he went around and sprayed all the thistle in my pasture today, and the nettles, and the burdocks, and along the fence line. Now to mow.

@lalaland if you want some of these tomatoes, you will need to come down when you need to have those chicks LOL I am putting another batch in as soon as I am off here. I washed several dozens of eggs today and sold a bunch too. I posted for $2 per dozen as a special for this week only and people snatched them right up! Small bantam eggs too! They are great for little kids or for those bite sized deviled eggs. I just wish I had different colored bantam eggs too, mine are all light brown to almost white.

I love rhubarb! this land is the first time Ive ever had such a problem growing it, don't really know why. it just kind of fizzles out!

Would like nothing better than a road trip for chicks and tomatoes. I'll keep that in mind! the thing about spring is all the spring work comes all at once. Sue suggested inviting some friends over on Sunday, and I thought, "are you crazy?" thinking of the hoop coop, the asparagus patch that needs weeding, the flower beds weeding, the garden planting, the mowing, the ........but I love it all.

If you just put the eggs under her, you could probably swap them out with fake eggs for a couple of days and then put them back under her. They might not have started developing yet. It takes them awhile to get warmed up.

huh! I didn't even think of that. I will look at the calendar tomorrow and see what I can figure out. truth is, there isn't gonna be a good time in may for this.

Sigh. I have a coop that is 9 x 11 (weird size...it's a part of a very old garage turned horse shed turned chicken coop). I have access to very cheap hay. The floor of the coop is dirt which I cover with hay. The coop is not fancy in the least and I'm not into painting the walls or anything. Here's my question. Do roosts really need to be scrubbed clean once or twice a year? That would get the floor all muddy....also, I have poop boards under the roosts and I scrape them every day (mostly) so it seems like the hay never gets gross. I haven't cleaned out the hay for about 4 weeks and it seems fine. The 10 hens have a huge run and free range all day. This winter when the hens were more cooped up the hay still never really got bad. I guess I'm just worried about hen health and want to know if all the stuff I read about scrubbing the walls and roosts is necessary. My coop stays really dry and I hate to start slopping water all over it.

I don't scrub my roosts or coop. Scrape them down, yes. If I am worried, coat them with oil to keep mites from settling in. In the fall I throw in dried mint, tansy, yarrow, etc in the nests. I think you are right, dry is way way better than wet.

 

[NathanZee]

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?fo...by-protesters-who-want-to-save-cow-he-raised-...


People these days... Poor farmers...

Wow that would be frustrating. I hope they don't buckle to the pressure!

 

[scandiafowl]

I don't scrub either. Keeping it clean and clear.

Something Ralphie posted a long time ago stuck in my head. When I watch my chickens roam about and look where they dig, eat, and what they drink water out of, we can go a bit overboard on sanitation. Granted, the coop needs to be cleaned and I don't feed them nasty food.
Ralphie said that natural immunity needs to be fostered. And I agree with him.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Sigh. I have a coop that is 9 x 11 (weird size...it's a part of a very old garage turned horse shed turned chicken coop). I have access to very cheap hay. The floor of the coop is dirt which I cover with hay. The coop is not fancy in the least and I'm not into painting the walls or anything. Here's my question. Do roosts really need to be scrubbed clean once or twice a year? That would get the floor all muddy....also, I have poop boards under the roosts and I scrape them every day (mostly) so it seems like the hay never gets gross. I haven't cleaned out the hay for about 4 weeks and it seems fine. The 10 hens have a huge run and free range all day. This winter when the hens were more cooped up the hay still never really got bad. I guess I'm just worried about hen health and want to know if all the stuff I read about scrubbing the walls and roosts is necessary. My coop stays really dry and I hate to start slopping water all over it.

The thing with bare wood is that it is a good place for mites to hang out if you get them in there. If you had to do something then, I would look at whitewashing the wood where they would have contact except the roosts, which I would suggest oiling, like lala said. Otherwise, I think you are doing fine. Keep it dry and clean as needed. If the dirt in there starts getting an ammonia build-up, I would consider scraping and putting sand it, but that is part of keeping it cleaned out regularly too.

 

[cottonlouie]

So I'm reading about lice and mites and getting obssessed. I am freaked out by bugs. I have 2 barred rock hens, old, still occassionally laying eggs. They have very poopy butts. They came to us last spring as older hens that a friend didn't want and had poopy butts then but it cleared up for the most part over the summer. Now it's back. Bad. Their combs are red and they have lovely feathers. Their poop looks completely normal. The rest of the flock doesn't have poop butts. Do they just have a problem?