Nebraskans Speak Up!!! NEBRASKA ROCKS!!

[dwegz]

dwejz: "allows and the baby bunnies in residence in the garden are old enough to chase out. I saved them once from being eaten by the chickens"

I wish our chickens would eat the mice.!

Thank you for letting the buns live and grow.
I am retired from rehabbing bunnies this year. Sixteen years of rehabbing
and last year was so busy I could no longer keep up.
And last year the spring started the Middle of March.

DuckhunterNate: If you have dogs, keep an eye out on them.
Had a quite a mess here with our dog getting quite alot of the hens.
It was pretty awful.

mg

MG- My girls would eat those mice! I could maybe rent them out!!!

One of our first hens "Sophia" (name by my son) used to eat garden snakes that were at least a foot long and as big around as my index finger. She slurped them like spaghetti. It was disturbing because the darn thing would move around a little after she ate it. SO Weird.

The bunnies and I have a love hate relationship. They don't ever really eat my garden and they are cute (love) but they do bring fleas into my yard for the dog (hate). We never had fleas in the yard until last year's bunny nest. UGH. As soon as I see them hopping around the back yard nibbling I encourage the dog to chase them out. She would never hurt them she just loves the chase. As it is now she lays by their nest and sniffs but doesn't dig them or try to eat them so I guess that is good. There was one dead one in the garden after all the rain, I suspect since their nest is not well protected from the elements it had something to do with that. Lena whined and took me to the spot but did not touch it.

Lena with her babies last year.

 

[mg15]

MG- My girls would eat those mice! I could maybe rent them out!!!

One of our first hens "Sophia" (name by my son) used to eat garden snakes that were at least a foot long and as big around as my index finger. She slurped them like spaghetti. It was disturbing because the darn thing would move around a little after she ate it. SO Weird.

The bunnies and I have a love hate relationship. They don't ever really eat my garden and they are cute (love) but they do bring fleas into my yard for the dog (hate). We never had fleas in the yard until last year's bunny nest. UGH. As soon as I see them hopping around the back yard nibbling I encourage the dog to chase them out. She would never hurt them she just loves the chase. As it is now she lays by their nest and sniffs but doesn't dig them or try to eat them so I guess that is good. There was one dead one in the garden after all the rain, I suspect since their nest is not well protected from the elements it had something to do with that. Lena whined and took me to the spot but did not touch it.

Lena with her babies last year.

aaaahhhh, Lena is such a good girl....
What are the breeds of the two chicks in the picture.?

 

[dwegz]

aaaahhhh, Lena is such a good girl....
What are the breeds of the two chicks in the picture.?

Heinz 57...farm yard question marks.

One of the schools in the district I work for hatched them. The farmer had no idea what breeds, just an assortment of mutts. The yellow one was Banana. Flighty had to have some mediteranean something in her because she was really upright in stature and had that Med tail. Banana became Raccoon breakfast. The other is Peach and I have no idea what she is. She has white earlobes but lays dark brown eggs. She is a good chicken and loves Lena. I think that Peach and Banana imprinted on Lena and even now Peach follows her around the backyard, cleans her fur, shares the yummy bits and marrow in a smoked femur bone. Peach might think that she is a dog.

dw

 

[mg15]

Heinz 57...farm yard question marks.

One of the schools in the district I work for hatched them. The farmer had no idea what breeds, just an assortment of mutts. The yellow one was Banana. Flighty had to have some mediteranean something in her because she was really upright in stature and had that Med tail. Banana became Raccoon breakfast. The other is Peach and I have no idea what she is. She has white earlobes but lays dark brown eggs. She is a good chicken and loves Lena. I think that Peach and Banana imprinted on Lena and even now Peach follows her around the backyard, cleans her fur, shares the yummy bits and marrow in a smoked femur bone. Peach might think that she is a dog.

dw

Peach follows her around the backyard, cleans her fur, shares the yummy bits and marrow in a smoked femur bone. Peach might think that she is a dog.
How wonderful.
I want so much to let the girls roam the backyard.
But I have had a Swainsons Hawk here several times.
Scared that he will lift one off.
He did sit on the bird feeder and had a sparrow in his claw waiting for the poor
thing to die. He then flew off.
So we have bird netting everywhere.
And it kinda looks like Lock Up.
Maybe the hawk won't come back so often now that spring is here.
Mostly see him in the winter.

mg

 

[duckhunternate]

dw,
I'll be building a coop under/into my deck. I currently have a deck that is about 12' high. There is a "landing" on the steps where they turn to head down to the ground. That landing area is about 5'x5' and about 40" tall. I'm going to wall that off underneath with plywood to enclose it and build in the coop area there. I think I ought to be able to keep that fairly weather tight without too much work (the frame is already there). I'm looking at doing the deep litter method for the floor area to insulate and make chicken powered compost. Then I'm going to try to put some welded wire fence between deck posts under the deck to make a run area that's about 10'x7'. Then I'm going to have some welded wire for a free range fun out into the yard. I'm hoping for something I can adjust and use posts to secure.

mg,
We do have a dog and I'm hoping that the chickens won't be a problem. He's a 12 year old hound mix that usually has about as much ambition as a frozen bag of peas. So, I'm not too worried but will be sure to keep an eye on him. The bigger challenge is going to be keeping the neighbor's great dane out of my yard; she's a different cookie and doesn't heed her owners that well. I'll be having a talk with them about the importance of keeping her in their yard; don't want to have to get them to buy me new hens.

Thanks for your advice!
Nate

 

[mg15]

dw,
I'll be building a coop under/into my deck. I currently have a deck that is about 12' high. There is a "landing" on the steps where they turn to head down to the ground. That landing area is about 5'x5' and about 40" tall. I'm going to wall that off underneath with plywood to enclose it and build in the coop area there. I think I ought to be able to keep that fairly weather tight without too much work (the frame is already there). I'm looking at doing the deep litter method for the floor area to insulate and make chicken powered compost. Then I'm going to try to put some welded wire fence between deck posts under the deck to make a run area that's about 10'x7'. Then I'm going to have some welded wire for a free range fun out into the yard. I'm hoping for something I can adjust and use posts to secure.

mg,
We do have a dog and I'm hoping that the chickens won't be a problem. He's a 12 year old hound mix that usually has about as much ambition as a frozen bag of peas. So, I'm not too worried but will be sure to keep an eye on him. The bigger challenge is going to be keeping the neighbor's great dane out of my yard; she's a different cookie and doesn't heed her owners that well. I'll be having a talk with them about the importance of keeping her in their yard; don't want to have to get them to buy me new hens.

Thanks for your advice!
Nate

Nate,
Your setup for the coop using the deck is superb. Useful and it won't take up anymore room in the yard. Awesome.

We used our shed. Started out using part of the shed. Well, then....the girls took over, ,,,, and now pretty much looks like
Sandford and Son around the yard here now.
But...got another shed at Lowes the Rubbermaid one.
So..could have built a coop for the money on the new shed and kept the "old" shed. aaaahhhaaa.........So now the eggs are $35.29 a piece. Some hobby !

 

[dwegz]

dw,
I'll be building a coop under/into my deck. I currently have a deck that is about 12' high. There is a "landing" on the steps where they turn to head down to the ground. That landing area is about 5'x5' and about 40" tall. I'm going to wall that off underneath with plywood to enclose it and build in the coop area there. I think I ought to be able to keep that fairly weather tight without too much work (the frame is already there). I'm looking at doing the deep litter method for the floor area to insulate and make chicken powered compost. Then I'm going to try to put some welded wire fence between deck posts under the deck to make a run area that's about 10'x7'. Then I'm going to have some welded wire for a free range fun out into the yard. I'm hoping for something I can adjust and use posts to secure.

Nate: I agree with mg sounds awesome. I have a tractor currently but have been itching for a much better set up. I think that I am going to try sand in my new coop. I was going to do the pine shavings deep litter, but decided that an awesome kid chore is using a rake to rake the poo, a homemade sifter out of wood and hardware cloth to separate the sand from the poo. Poo into my compost bin and sand in the run and coop. VOILA 12 year old torture!

I actually told the 12 year old that if he wanted to get serious about taking care of the girls and all things related to them that I would help him get more chickens and set up an egg business (I have some friends and co-workers interested in buying our excess). Seems like a great way for me to get focused help on chicken chores and an excuse to get more fluffies.

dw

 

[mg15]

Nate: I agree with mg sounds awesome. I have a tractor currently but have been itching for a much better set up. I think that I am going to try sand in my new coop. I was going to do the pine shavings deep litter, but decided that an awesome kid chore is using a rake to rake the poo, a homemade sifter out of wood and hardware cloth to separate the sand from the poo. Poo into my compost bin and sand in the run and coop. VOILA 12 year old torture!

I actually told the 12 year old that if he wanted to get serious about taking care of the girls and all things related to them that I would help him get more chickens and set up an egg business (I have some friends and co-workers interested in buying our excess). Seems like a great way for me to get focused help on chicken chores and an excuse to get more fluffies.

dw

dw/Nate
We went with the sand shelf under the roost. Then take a kitty litter scooper and scoop along the poo into a bucket. We have two shelves for them, and it is easy to clean. Man they poo a ton tho.

I can hardly give the eggs away. I thought we could recoop some of the feed money spent on the girls.
dw, you have very intelligent friends and co-workers.

 

[dwegz]

dw/Nate
We went with the sand shelf under the roost. Then take a kitty litter scooper and scoop along the poo into a bucket. We have two shelves for them, and it is easy to clean. Man they poo a ton tho.

I can hardly give the eggs away. I thought we could recoop some of the feed money spent on the girls.
dw, you have very intelligent friends and co-workers.

I supply my family when I have extra because I want them all to enjoy good eggs. I got in to chickens because I wanted to know where my food came from and how the producers of that food are treated. I buy a half of a cow each year as well from a co-worker. He works very hard to raise quality unmedicated beef.

I digress...

Lately I have been on a very high protein diet and haven't had many "extras". I am hosting a baby shower on Saturday and have been praying to the egg gods

for 2 a day everyday this week so that I don't have to buy any eggs to make 2 large eggs casseroles.

 

[PlatteRiverPs]

New here, figured I pop in on the NE thread.

I'm along the Platte near Schuyler. We have a ton of critters but focus on BCMs and a small group of peafowl.

Anyone going to the West Point auction next weekend?