NY chicken lover!!!!

[admhotel]

Sad what is happening all over, floods in the northeast and fires in Texas. My cousin lives in Binghamton and they said thier basement is full, but the rest of the house is ok.

On another note, we lost one of our ducks yesterday. It got hit in the road, I think it was the drake also. Anybody interested in 3 pekin hens? They are from TSC spring of 2010. Only $5 a piece. I like the ducks but they don't like to hang out on the pond and having them in the barn over the winter was a pain.

 

[Cydney83]

Quote:
I am so sorry for all the flooding and damage left in it's wake..

 

[vmdanielsen]

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No waste? I LOVE that idea! do you have pics? I'd LOVE to see.

Here are 2 photos of the bucket feeders.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_bucketfeeder.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_bucketfeederchicks.jpg

You can use 3 gALLON BUCKETS from Tops backery dept. They are empty frosting buckets. They give them away free with lids.

Or, you can buy 3 or 5 gallon buckets & lids from TSC.

I use the 3 gallon buckets for shorter birds & chicks. The 5 gallon for larger birds. Make the holes big enough to fit the roosters combs. I put the holes as far up as possible while still low enough for the birds to reach the bottom of the bucket when their heads are in it. I have 4 holes evenly spaced around the bucket.

They can't spill anything, I hang the buckets from the ceilings and gauge the height according to the birds height. The chicks bucket I have on the ground, but I still tie it up so they can't tip it over. Even if they flip their beaks back & forth, the feed just stays in the buckets. I have dropped my feed bill by at least a third. All that extra was being wasted on the ground for the rodents to eat.

Another thing, you can put them outside as well. I don't think mice can get in them, unless they know how to jump up into the hole. once they jump in, they will have hard time getting out....

I fill the buckets to about an inch from the holes. If you will them up to the holes, they will flip out some until it gets too low. And, I've found that the chickens don't all rush to eat in the morning when I come in to feed because the feed is in there all day & night so they eat at their leisure, not fighting to get into the feeder like they use to before. And, not having to refill every bucket each day cuts way back on my chore time as well.

Hope this helps.

M-
What did you use to cut out the buckets? I have been going back to these pictures.
Ginny

 

[vmdanielsen]

I think we are going to have some nice days. Hopefully everyone will have a chance to dry out. What a crappy couple of weeks........

 

[featherz]

Quote:
Normally I love rain, but I am sooo glad it's going to be dry for a few days. Have to caulk up some leaky spots in the coop, reinforce one run, etc. Plus I have a broody sitting on ONE silly egg that's due to hatch on Saturday - and she picked a leaky spot to sit on it. Oddly enough it's still moving!

We're also trying to add some sort of snow barrier to two of the coops so they might be able to have a bit of outside time this winter. Not sure on the method yet.

May be selling off some of my layers (or my 'olive eggers', can't decide) - I doubt anyone here would be interested, as the layers are just standard year old hatchery hens and three of the OE's lay brown eggs, but just throwing it out there.

 

[marquisella]

Quote:
Here are 2 photos of the bucket feeders.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_bucketfeeder.jpg

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/uploads/22072_bucketfeederchicks.jpg

You can use 3 gALLON BUCKETS from Tops backery dept. They are empty frosting buckets. They give them away free with lids.

Or, you can buy 3 or 5 gallon buckets & lids from TSC.

I use the 3 gallon buckets for shorter birds & chicks. The 5 gallon for larger birds. Make the holes big enough to fit the roosters combs. I put the holes as far up as possible while still low enough for the birds to reach the bottom of the bucket when their heads are in it. I have 4 holes evenly spaced around the bucket.

They can't spill anything, I hang the buckets from the ceilings and gauge the height according to the birds height. The chicks bucket I have on the ground, but I still tie it up so they can't tip it over. Even if they flip their beaks back & forth, the feed just stays in the buckets. I have dropped my feed bill by at least a third. All that extra was being wasted on the ground for the rodents to eat.

Another thing, you can put them outside as well. I don't think mice can get in them, unless they know how to jump up into the hole. once they jump in, they will have hard time getting out....

I fill the buckets to about an inch from the holes. If you will them up to the holes, they will flip out some until it gets too low. And, I've found that the chickens don't all rush to eat in the morning when I come in to feed because the feed is in there all day & night so they eat at their leisure, not fighting to get into the feeder like they use to before. And, not having to refill every bucket each day cuts way back on my chore time as well.

Hope this helps.

M-
What did you use to cut out the buckets? I have been going back to these pictures.
Ginny

Jig saw, I drew the hole outline on the buckets and husband cut them out.

 

[greymane]

Got a nice little surprise last night. The neighbor had asked the DW about some rogue Hastas we had growing in the side yard. DW told her she could have them and the rain provided the perfect conditions to dig them out, so she came to collect them last night. As a thank you, she gave us two of her Call ducks (both hens). One has a beautiful emerald tail. They seem to be fitting right in with the others.

 

[Cydney83]

It is raining here again. Our ground still has standing water even with the nice day yesterday. The chickens are out...but we have put the little ones in a coop and not in their tractor..it is so damp..

I have 5 LF Cochins 4 are out of Jamie Matts Cochin Collection. My husband has decided he doesn't want to breed cochins...The Cock is a blue from a breeder down near Binghamton. The cock and the blue hen were shown in June at the FingerLakes show..they each received 1st places....There is a splash and 2 blacks and a blue...they are laying now and are 1.5 yr old. If anyone is interested let me know..Thanks.

Does anyone else think the summer want too fast?

Have a great day.

 

[Cydney83]

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Nice...what color?

 

[greymane]

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Summer? We had a summer? Oh, you mean that hot week that we had?

I will have to get some pics of the new ducks this weekend.