NY chicken lover!!!!

[rancher hicks]

FYW, when I clean my coops I take out all the old pine shavings. Then I dust everywhere with DE, making sure to get into the corners and over the wet areas. I also dust the roosts. Then I put in the clean pine shavings and sprinkle DE on top of those.

With good ventilation and the fact that it's been such a dry summer I didn't clean all summer and had no smell. I do rake the shavings now and then to mix things up.

DE can be purchased in 50# bags and lasts a long time.

I also use DE in my scratch can. (metal trash can). It keeps the moths away. I just toss some DE on top of the scratch and mix it in.

I prefer hay in my nest boxes but do use shavings. I also toss some DE in there too.

Mites like dark wet places. I wish my coops got more sunlight. That would mean adding windows.

I do like to use hay or straw in my chicken runs. I toss scratch BEFORE letting them out so they have to scratch to find it. I also dump pine shavings in the mix too. Right now I can take the stuff out of the run and toss it right into the garden. I also like to dump a bag of topsoil in there too.

You can dump grass clippings in the run too. Mine are covered so they stay pretty much dry.

In this coop I'm going to start cleaning and tossing the dirty stuff into the run and let the chickens "rework" it.

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

Glasshen, that is a lovely idea. I can smell the pine shavings now! Where do you get your pine shavings?

Chicken Girl, When I think of pellets I think it must look like the pellets you feed animals. Round and long? It doesn't sound like it's very comfortable at all. Obviously I must be wrong if people are using it. Where do you find the pellets from? I'm assuming many of these things mentioned can be found at a farm supply store right? We compost just about everything. It has amazed me since we started a year ago how much less trash we have to take out.

Everyone here, youtube and friends, keep talking about good ventilation. Cross ventilation. We have two windows one across from the other that we opened and added hardware wire to and left them both open a quarter of the way but I wonder about the frigid air come winter. We're in Phoenix in/close to the snow belt. There are two air vents on the top back and front of the shed but I don't notice any difference with air ventilation. I think this is my worry. Never having had chickens and wondering if what we really do have good ventilation. lol I may have a friend come out to check the ventilation just to be safe.

Rancher, I am familiar with DE as I used the food grade form in our yard, on our dogs coats and on our veggies in our garden. You sparked my interest when you said you use it in a lot of your daily chicken tasks. Do you also use it in their nesting as well? I love your chicken coop. It looks like you have sliding doors for them. I really love seeing everyones coops and hearing the wisdom that come from each of you. Thanks so much for being opened to share!

 

[boskelli1571]

Glasshen, that is a lovely idea. I can smell the pine shavings now! Where do you get your pine shavings?

Chicken Girl, When I think of pellets I think it must look like the pellets you feed animals. Round and long? It doesn't sound like it's very comfortable at all. Obviously I must be wrong if people are using it. Where do you find the pellets from? I'm assuming many of these things mentioned can be found at a farm supply store right? We compost just about everything. It has amazed me since we started a year ago how much less trash we have to take out.

Everyone here, youtube and friends, keep talking about good ventilation. Cross ventilation. We have two windows one across from the other that we opened and added hardware wire to and left them both open a quarter of the way but I wonder about the frigid air come winter. We're in Phoenix in/close to the snow belt. There are two air vents on the top back and front of the shed but I don't notice any difference with air ventilation. I think this is my worry. Never having had chickens and wondering if what we really do have good ventilation. lol I may have a friend come out to check the ventilation just to be safe.

Rancher, I am familiar with DE as I used the food grade form in our yard, on our dogs coats and on our veggies in our garden. You sparked my interest when you said you use it in a lot of your daily chicken tasks. Do you also use it in their nesting as well? I love your chicken coop. It looks like you have sliding doors for them. I really love seeing everyones coops and hearing the wisdom that come from each of you. Thanks so much for being opened to share!

In regard to books - I don't have an 'everything' book, but for chickens my 'go to' books are Gail Damerows' - Chicken Health Handbook & Storeys guide to raising chickens. They cover everything chicken. For organic gardening etc. I usually use Mother Earth website.
For ventilation - as long as the birds aren't roosting in a draft, you should be ok. Watch any birds that have large combs and slap some vaseline on the combs at night.
I think most everyone here uses DE for bug control etc. I use it sparingly because of the environmental impact it causes.
I think you guys are off to pretty good start - it always pays to ask plenty of questions and get several opinions, as you can see, we all do it a bit different.

 

[tao chick]

So much to read and catch up on! Good morning, everyone!

 

[Chicken girl 15]

Glasshen, that is a lovely idea. I can smell the pine shavings now! Where do you get your pine shavings?

Chicken Girl, When I think of pellets I think it must look like the pellets you feed animals. Round and long? It doesn't sound like it's very comfortable at all. Obviously I must be wrong if people are using it.  Where do you find the pellets from? I'm assuming many of these things mentioned can be found at a farm supply store right? We compost just about everything. It has amazed me since we started a year ago how much less trash we have to take out. 

Everyone here, youtube and friends,  keep talking about good ventilation. Cross ventilation. We have two windows one across from the other that we opened and added hardware wire to and left them both open a quarter of the way but I wonder about the frigid air come winter. We're in Phoenix in/close to the snow belt.  There are two air vents on the top back and front of the shed but I don't notice any difference with air ventilation. I think this is my worry. Never having had chickens and wondering if what we really do have good ventilation. lol I may have a friend come out to check the ventilation just to be safe.

Rancher, I am familiar with DE as I used the food grade form in our yard, on our dogs coats and on our veggies in our garden. You sparked my interest when you said you use it in a lot of your daily chicken tasks. Do you also use it in their nesting as well?  I love your chicken coop. It looks like you have sliding doors for them. I really love seeing everyones coops and hearing the wisdom that come from each of you. Thanks so much for being opened to share!

Yes the pellet bedding looks exactly like the food pellet. We actually wet it down for the horse stalls so it breaks back down into sawdust. Its very soft and dries super quick. Plus the clean up time for 8 horse stalls is only 1 hour opposed to 2 hours to clean an equal amount of stalls with flake/ pine shavings . So I am going to attempt to use it in my coop. As long as you "fluff " it after you wet it down it dries fast and coats the little chicken poo piles well so the smell is gone. Plus we add a bit of DE to the mix just for good measure . That will be started on Monday when I do my final cleaning for the year. Plus with the pellets you can use a pooper scooper to remove just the manure and there is almost 0 bedding waste. So long term it saves work and money plus is better compost. We don't use chemical fertilizer at all so the chickens make it for us as well as the horses next door. All natural as much as possible.

 

[rancher hicks]

I've got a post to CL for hay or straw. Anyone near me have some? I may have to rent a truck from HD to pick it up if I can 't get delivery though.

I have someone in Central Square has some but not sure what size bales. Same with Straw. I'd like 10 to 15 bales if I can afford it. Even if I don't use it for the chickens I can use it in the garden.

 

[Gramma Chick]

http://sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/ChokeCherry_050905.htm

Howdy Stranger !

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

In regard to books - I don't have an 'everything' book, but for chickens my 'go to' books are Gail Damerows' - Chicken Health Handbook & Storeys guide to raising chickens. They cover everything chicken. For organic gardening etc. I usually use Mother Earth website.
For ventilation - as long as the birds aren't roosting in a draft, you should be ok. Watch any birds that have large combs and slap some vaseline on the combs at night.
I think most everyone here uses DE for bug control etc. I use it sparingly because of the environmental impact it causes.
I think you guys are off to pretty good start - it always pays to ask plenty of questions and get several opinions, as you can see, we all do it a bit different.

Thank you for your feedback. I'm going to check into the book you recommended. I totally forgot about Mother Earth New Website. Thanks for the reminder! Does anyone also read MaryJane's Farm? have had her magazines for years and have DREAMED of this for as long as I can remember. It's time to get my back issues out! You sparked my interest on the environmental impact from using DE. Especially since I love using it in my garden. I'm going to have to do a bit more research on the use of it. hm.

Thank you for the encouragement! We're trying our best. I've been checking out Youtube, looking at articles on Pintrest, I've found several articles here that got me interested in this forum which has been such a blessing. I'm glad you all share this love and passion with other newbies.

Hi there Tao Chick!

Chicken Girl, I'd really be interested in seeing it. If you think about taking pictures, please post them! It sounds very neat but i worry about too much moisture though you have said it dries up. Since I'm using the deep litter method I want to find the right mix. Did I read before that you are doing the same method? I can't remember.


Sorry Rancher, I'm looking for the similar. Where are you putting all those bales? How do you keep them from getting moist in the winter?

Hey there Gramma, how are you doing today?


Well, I have a sick 3 year old. I can't seem to get her fever down. I called the pediatrics office yesterday and there is something going around but we decided to give it a couple of days and then take her in if we need to. Her fever is stubborn though. I've been alternating Tylenol and Motrin and it's been sticking to 101.2, I checked her at midnight and it was 98 and now she's up again at 3am and she feels HOT.

I've been washing her with cold compresses and continuing the meds as well as giving her pedialyte freezer pops. Hopefully we'll get the rest of the cook finished if not completed at least mostly done. Game night tomorrow too! Lots of fun times.

Hoping everyone had a great week so far!

 

[HISIRISHGEM]

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this but I thought I'd share a video a friend posted on my facebook page to warn me about chickens.

 

[Purpletie3]

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this but I thought I'd share a video a friend posted on my facebook page to warn me about chickens.

That was absolutely hysterical...and so true!!!