NY chicken lover!!!!

[akaruby]

I may try the cayenne pepper thing...seems a lot of our hens are not laying right now. Just one of my silkies will lay every now and then.

 

[Beer can]

Deep litter. I have a 8x16' coop with 16 in it right now, going to drop the number this weekend. No smell. Bedding is only maybe six inches deep, almost two yrs old. I added about a foot of dry tree leaves and sawdust in the fall, broke down now. Bedding can't be too wet, hay will hold moisture, mold, ammonia smell. Can't be too dry, DE will dry it out and kill the good microbes that keep it working, DE is not good for deep litter. Maybe adding to much bedding, microbes can't keep up? Enough ventilation?
I throw scratch or cracked corn around in it daily, few handfuls, only spot I have to rake around and mix up is under their roost.

 

[Gramma Chick]

I asked one of my Mennonite neighbors and he thinks the holes are probably rats. They are only being dug at night, and they are in a spot that is difficult for the chickens to reach. Well partly.

I'll have to do some work on that deep litter. Maybe shovel some out (but not all), and spread more shavings. Primarily, we've only been throwing down the wood shavings. It's about 10" deep at this point.

And I expected a bit of a slow down in the laying, but they've completely stopped! A couple of them are definitely molting, but most of them don't appear to be. Some are 2014 hens, and some are this year's. I hope they pick back up soon! I have a few egg clients, lol!

If they are rats ...that also might be another reason besides the lack of light that they are not laying ...
Stressed chickens dont lay ...

10 " seems like it would be deep enough ...
Ive never used wood shavings ...but I imagine they would take more time to dry out
Stir it all up in the morning & open up the coop so it can vent.....AIR OUT !
Do you have good ventilation in the coop ? you might need more ...
Less chickens should help some ...I think it needs to dry out more ..
Ammonia smell ..will give the chickens respiratory problems

Lapeerian- Get some Sweet PDZ or Stall Dry to mix in the bedding, this is found in the horse section of TSC or CountryMax in 40# bags.OR DE too

 

[Beer can]

the only problem I see with inducing laying with hot stuff would be the funky taste to the eggs. Don't onions and garlic affect egg taste?

IDK, never tried it myself Lol.

 

[Gramma Chick]

X2 on that @Lady Loveall broody EE hatched 2 out of five, wife got another one to hatch a few days later. We waited too long to put it with the hen. Mom wanted it but the chick wouldn't have anything to do with her. It ended up a house chicken for way too long.

With a week difference she will probably abandon the second egg ..if she does ? then incubate it ..
No guarantee that the 1st one will hatch ...mark one so you know which one is which .
Let it ride ...deal with it if you have too..

How many egg sandwiches can a kid eat before getting tired of them? Seriously though. My kids have had them every single day of vacation and every Saturday and Sunday since September for lunch. I'm not talking 1 egg on 2 pieces of bread, they want 2 eggs per sandwich and 2-3 sandwiches per kid.. granted it's a super cheap lunch but is it healthy for them to eat that many eggs?

I wouldnt worry vacation is almost over ..Free range eggs are good for them .
I wouldnt do it all summer ..but im sure Sat & Sun is just fine ...

http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/eggs-zl0z0703zswa.aspx

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
LOL- Makes no difference in the taste of the eggs .
Cayenne pepper / pepper flakes is a good natural wormer too.I give it too them occasionally in their treat
Mine eat raw onions in their treats all the time..my eggs taste like fresh eggs

 

[Chicken girl 15]

LOL- Makes no difference in the taste of the eggs .
Cayenne pepper / pepper flakes  is a good natural wormer too.I give it too them occasionally in their treat
Mine eat raw onions in their treats all the time..my eggs taste like fresh eggs

thank you for that. We have extra onions sometimes and I just compost them for fear of funky eggs.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
your welcome ...we compost all most all our food through our chickens ( just nothing moldy )

 

[rancher hicks]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Long time no post but life has been in the way. I have a couple of chicken questions.

1: Something is digging in my coop. Has been for quite some time. It's large, makes large holes and shoves all kinds of rocks, debris etc out of its way. Sometime ago, my husband locked down both of our feeders to help cut down pong the mice, and it has, but this critter is still around.

Any idea what it might be? It isn't bothering the chickens or anything, but it's tunneling is making a right mess o of my coop floor,


2: We switched from a sand floor to wood shavings (deep litter) this year. But my hens seem to have no interest in scratching around, digging up and over turning the shavings. This means I have to go in there every other day and turn it myself. I don't think I'm doing this right, as we have a pretty strong ammonia smell. It might be due to having too many birds, but I culled the flock down a little over a week ago to remedy that. Any suggestions/thoughts on what I might be doing wrong?

3: Pretty much all of my hens have stopped laying completely, for almost a month and a half now. My Silkies and bantam sebright are laying like champs. And my two OE pullets are laying. But none of my other big girls are laying and they haven't for a long time. I know they slow down in the winter, but I have never experienced a complete cessation like this. Any ideas? Or is this normal for a non-lighted coop?

Again, I hope you all have had a wonderful chickeny year, wonderful holidays and best wishes for a terrific 2016! Many thanks for any advice you guys can share.

Yes it has been awhile. Hope all is well.

1. I have found Voles digging under the bottom of the runs. Piles of disturbed soil. I take the spade and stab the tunnels and smash down the soil with my foot. Too I've been tucking rooted peices of spearmint in and tamping it down. Mint is said to deter them though I can't say. It's a very rooty plant so they'd have to chew through them and that may not be pleasant. I also tuck in Lemon Balm. Both are good for teas (cold and hot) and I do have a jelly recipe that calls for Lemon Balm. Both are also perennials.

2. I like a mixture of ingredients in the runs. Sand, peat moss, shavings, hay, straw, grass clippings etc. etc. Just dump it in and let the birds work it. I toss scratch and also dump insoluble grit. If your runs are covered even enough to keep the most snow and rain out it should stay relatively dry.

3. My birds had let up as usual, but this year they molted bad. I've gone back to Agway/country something or other 21% egg producer pellets. I also was leaving the light on for a few days. Now I'm getting more eggs than I need. I believe a low protein feed is good for only commercial layers.

Hope everyone has a happy new year. No more than happy, prosperous, healthy and stress free. With many new friendships added to the old.

 

[rancher hicks]

in reference to you deep litter. I started it about 2 months ago and love it. I have 20 birds in a 8×16 coop. I use multiple types of material all at once.
Regular pine shavings
Pine pellets like used for horses. Its so dry it helps absorb moisture
Fresh mulched pine or whatever was cut that week for a fresh smell
Regular yard dirt in a 3×3 box for playing in. It gets kicked all over the coop so helps with the breakdown
Leaves
Cardboard to help absorb moisture

My flock just like yours won't mix it for me so weekly (or any time I see poo) I toss it around a bit. It should be fairly thick as well. Mine is about 10 inches now. Just keep adding and tossing until it doesn't smell. You can use about any dry organic matter that is absorbant. News paper, kids school work that was going to get recycled , old bills, anything you clean out of your filing cabinet in the annual clean out.

I forgot about the cardboard. I've been meaning to buy a shredder for junk paper. Oh and would wood ashes be good to toss in there? I have a square for dusting. Perhaps the wood shavings should go in there?