Minnesota!

[lalaland]

funny thing: About day 5, one of the broodies moved a brown egg from one of my wellies out of the nest. I tossed it. Yesterday I noticed that Seaquist, a little hen who is sitting on a nest, had a wellie's egg sitting right in front of her. It was cold - I figured she rejected it but couldn't get it out of the nest entirely because she is in a very deep hay nest. She would have to roll them uphill to get them out of the nest.

Makes me wonder - not all of the chickens let Ralphie's rooster mate them and at least one of the wellies fends him off. I am not positive the eggs rejected came from the same hen, but..... Does a chicken know if an egg isn't fertile? I always read that the broody knows if an egg isn't developing

 

[cottonlouie]

The eggs are dirty white.

 

[holm25]

If you want a good giggle.. Look up the chicken rescue group in Minneapolis who feed hormones to their rescue chickens so they won't lay eggs.

I read that awhile back and thought that was stupid.

 

[scandiafowl]

I read that awhile back and thought that was stupid.

Am in total agreement.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

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 replace my roosts every year. My setup allows me to easily do that though. Maybe I'll seal them next time. I never know what I want to do until I do 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.

What oil is that?

 

[KlopKlop]

Your talk about poopy butts sparked my mind. Yeah I have a few hens with poppy butts too. I checked and there was the tell tale dirt looking crud around the vent feathers. DW and I will be dusting the flock tonight at roost time bummer! I just started using DE in their dusting holes last week when I finally found some but I'm just a tad late I guess. I got poultry dust for tonight. Bummer!

 

[Minniechickmama]

I have looked into the poopy butt problem too, and not enough copper sulfate is also a reason for it. I don't know how you go about adding it to their diet though and knowing how much to give them.

 

[KlopKlop]

I have looked into the poopy butt problem too, and not enough copper sulfate is also a reason for it.  I don't know how you go about adding it to their diet though and knowing how much to give them.

I will have to check the ingredients of my nutribalancer and see if that is listed. I have also heard that DE in the feed at 1-1.5% by weight can help with poo consistency.

 

[holm25]

I will have to check the ingredients of my nutribalancer and see if that is listed. I have also heard that DE in the feed at 1-1.5% by weight can help with poo consistency.

I just sprinkle DE on feed, in water and everywhere else. I like mixing half a cup per two gallons of water. And I dont measure how much goes on fed i just sprinkle it on. I havent done that for awhile though.

 

[MinnesotaNice]

I just sprinkle DE on feed, in water and everywhere else. I like mixing half a cup per two gallons of water. And I dont measure how much goes on fed i just sprinkle it on. I havent done that for awhile though.

I've heard of people using DE in the water and food. What's the purpose? I cycle ACV and vitamins/electrolytes in their water.