NY chicken lover!!!!

[Lynzi777]

Not a nut at all!  It's a very real threat.  You can use neem safely on people and pets and it is very effective.  You can use it in place of DEET.  And it is completely safe and all natural.  It does, however, stink to high heaven.  It was discovered in India, thousands of years ago.  The locust swarms would come through, and the ONLY thing green left untouched was the neem tree.  Any type of sucking, parasitic insect will not go near it.  Check out discoverneem.com or neemtreefarms.com. 

How far do chickens typically wander when they free range?  I'm thinking about just opening up the fence and letting them go.  Our property is long, parallel to the road, but narrow.  We have woods behind our house (vacant) but we don't own it. 
If the hens free range do they often lay eggs outside of the coop? 

My chickens have always free ranged since the day we got them and they were old enough to be kept outside. My silkies stay close to their coop,y two orpingtons go all over the property-the way back up against the woods, the front yard, side of the house, everywhere! And they do lay in the coop. I've never found an egg outside of the nest box. But that's just my experience. I have heard/read of others laying outside the coop.

 

[Gramma Chick]

Quote:
Ive seen 1 tick on my cat ...that was before we had chickens .
Our chickens are in the run till noonish ...Most eggs are laid by then ..Then they go out to free range ...till dark
The afternoon eggers come back to the coop to lay ...then come out & call the flock " bauk.. Bauk ..Baulk ! Where is everyone ..?
The more they are ignored by the flock ..The louder they get ! Sometimes I will go out & help the lost one find the flock ..
A good time to check on them ..where they are ...& do my predator patrol ...

 

[happycountryhens]

Tick

 

[Gramma Chick]

Talking about predator deterrents ..a while back..
We got a new TV .....I put the box in the coop run to block cold air in the winter ..
sometimes it is facing in ..
sometimes it is facing out .
.I wondered if it is a predator deterrent ..
The woman in the coop LOL

 

[Gramma Chick]

Tick

Tock

 

[JLaw]

So to break up the tick talk. I'm gonna build my coop soon and was wondering if anyone has used sand in the coop. I talked to wife about it and she brought up what I I was wondering which is how does it holds up in the cold winter. I told her we could run a duel floor. Have sand in summer then winter put plywood over it then the pine chips.

 

[brahmapapa]

I had read that chickens and quail will eat ticks ?

i am certain guineas will consume tons of ticks, they ate great at helping to rid ticks, thier only detriment is thier loud buckwheat call.

 

[Gramma Chick]

So to break up the tick talk. I'm gonna build my coop soon and was wondering if anyone has used sand in the coop. I talked to wife about it and she brought up what I I was wondering which is how does it holds up in the cold winter. I told her we could run a duel floor. Have sand in summer then winter put plywood over it then the pine chips.

I heard people that used it didnt like sand when wet it was hard to clean out ..Something like that ..
I use cheap stuff ..Hay , Leaves , Dried grass ( Love the smell of the grass when I am putting it in the coop all Winter ) So Sweet Smelling ..Really freshens it up !
Only thing I paid for it was my labor ..it dried on my lawn & I scooped it up & bagged it in garbage bags ( has to be totally dry )

 

[Gramma Chick]

Here is a video ..it shows about how far our chickens range ...farther than I liked this day .
Chickens will come when called if they know there is bread waiting for them .
Here we go ....Here Chickies

 

[blzzrdqueen]

Good morning fellow NYers! I'm officially in lockdown for my very first hatch! Cross your fingers that all 13 eggs in the bator hatch!!