Must be doing something right

[tntchix]

Who knew I would be able to keep over 2 dozen chickens of various breeds alive and thriving?!?! We just finished retagging our flock with colored zipties and doing health check at same time. I swear I was going to struggle but I am so happy to say I'm really not. If I can do this, anyone can.

The only problem is our bantam roo who is trying to kill me and has already earned his all expense paid trip to freezer camp if quarantine time out doesn't change his behavior soon. DH likes him so we are negotiating,

He will be the one taking him to camp so...we'll see.

So far we have only lost one chick the day after delivery by post office, no idea why she showed no signs. We lost the other bantam roo at 6wks due to my "security" mistake. (Sorry Carl)

We have 2/4 from the older batch laying and 24 younger ones are about a month behind so pretty soon we should be adding a whole lot of eggs to the daily basket. We can't wait.

Nothing serious healthwise has beseiged our lovely flock, so far no predators except that darn cat (sorry again, Carl).

Chicken math is striking hard though and we are already planning on adding some color to the eggs next time. First, we need to enlarge the run to double the space.

They start free range soon so maybe if we don't get that run extended before winter *gasp* they can still have time outdoors.

 

[Blooie]

Yayyyy tntchix!

 

[tntchix]

Yayyyy tntchix!

I learned a bunch especially from you, missy. Your advice is invaluable to me.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

That's great-sounds like you are doing a LOT of things right - gotta watch out for that chicken math, lol.

 

[Blooie]

I learned a bunch especially from you, missy. Your advice is invaluable to me. 

Who, me? No wonder I don't know much - you've been siphoning it off me before I can learn it!

 

[tntchix]

Who, me? No wonder I don't know much - you've been siphoning it off me before I can learn it!

 

[ShockValue]

Good job with the chickens! I too was surprised that I didn't totally ruin them.

We lost 2 right at the beginning due to an unsupervised visit to the brooder by the dog. Since then it's been pretty smooth sailing. They free range all day, put themselves to bed, and lay us some nice eggs (still working on getting that part "regular").

Only behavioral stuff we've had to deal with so far was a rooster who turned mean (re-homed) and 1 girl who insisted on laying under the wood pile. 3 days of lockup and making the wood pile inaccessable seems to have cured that.


After doing this, I'm surprised that everyone doesn't have at least a couple chickens!

 

[tntchix]

Good job with the chickens! I too was surprised that I didn't totally ruin them.

We lost 2 right at the beginning due to an unsupervised visit to the brooder by the dog. Since then it's been pretty smooth sailing. They free range all day, put themselves to bed, and lay us some nice eggs (still working on getting that part "regular").

Only behavioral stuff we've had to deal with so far was a rooster who turned mean (re-homed) and 1 girl who insisted on laying under the wood pile. 3 days of lockup and making the wood pile inaccessable seems to have cured that.


After doing this, I'm surprised that everyone doesn't have at least a couple chickens!

Exactly. Even DH blood pressure goes down hanging out with them. I prescribed at least 1/2 hr of chicken TV every other day.

 

[lazy gardener]

Why limit it to every other day??

 

[tntchix]

He's a busy guy and I wanted to keep it fun for him. He don't like to sit around. He's a do-er.

Watching anything aint his thing. Me? I can watch them all day long.

Oh and they love to eat the popcorn too.It's interactive TV.