NY chicken lover!!!!

[DeAnzaJig]

 Guineas are seasonal layers. Probably none around until mid spring at the earliest.

Thank you. This is my first time buying guineas and wasn't sure if I need to get on someone's hatch list or how to go about finding them.

 

[Gramma Chick]

I am with you here! You know that your chickens are happy, healthy and provide good nutritious food for you and your family! I am hoping my hens eat all the slugs in my garden this year and leave great fertilizer behind!

If you let the chickens in the garden ...you wont have a garden... they will eat everything ..
What they dont eat they will dig up when they dustbathe

 

[Purpletie3]

@gramma...they are part of my crop rotation plan. My sister let her 3 silkies lose on her garden at the end of season and they were like watching the Tazmanian devil! But, they were grub eating machines!

 

[Purpletie3]

Well now there are ways to set up a brooder without those over heating red lights. Which by the way are much too hot for what is needed.  Those lights are for unheated outdoor sheds IMO.  

You can use ceramic heat bulbs.  Lower wattage and safer I think.  You can also use incandescent light bulbs too.  Or an oil filled heater hung just above the brooder.  Trouble is some  folks don't have any imagination and only go by what the books say.  

I've got some of these.  They come in different wattages.  Though the Red heat bulbs do too. Some you can order that are only 175 watts and not the fire setting 250.   A lower wattage will be just fine and won't melt the fixture.  I say use a lower wattage but more than one unit.  You can lower the heat source and if one burns out the others are still working.  I put a thermometer inside the brooder to monitor the temp.  

Those stupid cardboard kits they sell are a sure way to burn down the house. 

If you do brood inside the house, the room temp must be taken into account.  A room temp of 65-70 will reduce the need for a 250 watt firestarter. 

I have two of the eco20 brooders from Brinsea pictured below. They work great and no fire hazard!

 

[rancher hicks]

If you let the chickens in the garden ...you wont have a garden... they will eat everything ..
What they dont eat they will dig up when they dustbathe

I've fenced mine in, but in the fall I let them clean things up. I figure I can shovel the dirt back into the raised beds. Though they tried to get through the skin of our Butternut squashes and couldn't.

 

[demp4]

If you let the chickens in the garden ...you wont have a garden... they will eat everything ..
What they dont eat they will dig up when they dustbathe

I let mine in one year and then locked them out when I planted. Haha. They learner there was food In There and jumped over the fence every year since no matter what I did.

Now that we moved and got a new flock. Hoping there will be food for us too.

 

[Gramma Chick]

@gramma...they are part of my crop rotation plan. My sister let her 3 silkies lose on her garden at the end of season and they were like watching the Tazmanian devil! But, they were grub eating machines!

Oh okay ....I thought you meant during the growing season...as they would be like the Tazmanian devil then too ..

 

[Gramma Chick]

I let mine in one year and then locked them out when I planted. Haha. They learner there was food In There and jumped over the fence every year since no matter what I did.

Now that we moved and got a new flock. Hoping there will be food for us too.

Mine did that occasionally ...most of the time they respected the fence ..they tended to get in when I forgot to close the gate ...

then they got chased out ...I open up the garden area in the spring ..then when I am ready to plant I close it up ..
they will stand outside the fence when I am gardening inside ..Got any worms ?

 

[boskelli1571]

Thanks!
I'm sure there will be more questions. I told Hubby to reach out to a couple of the local beekeepers too. One is not far from where we live. Another is the dad of a highschool classmate, think he may be out of beekeeping now but any knowledge will be helpful.

Absolutely get local help if you can!! Local beekeepers are worth their weight in gold for info & ideas, perhaps he could join up with a bee keeping club? Because I have top bars, I sometimes feel a bit 'out on a limb' - there aren't too many top bar keepers around here. I also forgot to mention that goldstarhoneybees has several videos on youtube which might be helpful. Although the hive set-up is a bit different, the same basic ideas & principles apply.
You will have to start thinking seriously about it soon tho' - most bee suppliers have their orders filled out by late April if not earlier...

 

[Pyxis]

If I do bees, and I think I will in the future, I'd probably go with a top bar hive. I still have lots to learn before I would even attempt bees though - I don't even know how to collect the honey!