NY chicken lover!!!!

[featherz]

I did seperate him out!

Sounds like you did the right thing. How about pinless peepers on the ringleaders?? is he just smaller because he's younger or is it a bantam in with a bunch of large fowl?

 

[JayLyn07]

Featherz in with all the same age chicks but right now he is in a pen by himself the 3 austros and 1 ee he is in with are all together but his sister I found dead last week and now this time him almost a week later! I just am wondering who is starying it and why? Plenty of room and food and water! Also noticed some of my 5 month old pullets missing tail feathers 3 of my wyndotts I think that is because they are on bottom of the pecking order very upset and frustrated right now!

 

[Cass]

I'll ask my one neighbor. There isn't another for another mile or more down the road. LOL Another thing that got me thinking was the "water system" they have set up for the horse in their pasture. There's this long pipe that looks like it runs from the mountain, across/under the road and thru to this spot they have this large barrel that is constantly filling up with water. It just runs and runs. And whatever falls out of the barrel goes into this little stream, again that is backed by this larger pipe that runs under the ground (and under the road). Could it be that the water from that pipe is just constantly getting recycled from the stream/mountain? I'll have to go talk to her this evening when she gets home from work.

Probably being piped from an "artisian well". Lucky horses. That's good tasting water. LOL

I did not mean to panic you with my post, but I have had friends run their well "dry" and it cost them mega bucks for a new one and 3 weeks of carting in every ounce of water they needed for household use until well guy could get the job done. No animals at the time. My chickens use 5 gallons of water a day. I certainly don't want to be carrying that much water in just for the birds.

Someone who knows you/your area commented that you live in a watery area. That can be a mixed blessing. If your water table is normally high, they may not have drilled the well very deep....well drilling is charged by the foot....the fewer feet they have to drill to get an acceptable water flow, the less the job costs. That means that this drought may hit you before it hits those of us who have 300 foot wells because it is going to dry up closer to the surface long before it is going to dry up at 300 feet down. (Remember a drilled well isn't a huge pocket of water just sitting there waiting to be pumped up for use; it is a small area that has to refill from surrounding underground water. When that underground is lower than the depth of the well it won't fill very well, if at all)

There have been a lot of water conserving measured shared here (A couple I am going to impliment myself. Never thought of washer water for irrigation) Pick the ones that work in your life and minimize the unnecessary water useage. I will admit that I can't bring myself to turn the tap totally off when I brush my teeth; I hate to see the toothpaste spit in the sink while I am brushing. But I don't flush away 3 gallons of water every time I use the toilet and try to go upstairs to the newer, more water effiecent toilet when I know I am going to have to flush when I am done. That's a choice I make. Regardless of your water "source" there is limited fresh water on this planet, so we are all responsible for conserving in ways that work in our lives.


Edited to add: Not to meantion that your maintance of your "water system" cost money. The less water you have to process for use, the less you have to spend on whatever your water system required to process your water. (at my house, it's a carbon filter and bleach. LOTS of bleach)

 

[vmdanielsen]

Thats a good idea, I would have never thought of that. It's ok to water flowers even though there is soap in it? Or is the detergent so diluted at that point that it doesn't really effect them?

I use detergent for a high efficiency washer and I use less soap. My flowers do very well with it.

 

[ChickPrincess]

Help! My little pullets are beating the crap of my little roo found him bloody this evening as they where pulling his tail feathers out and help with tail pecking? Should I also consider gettingrid of the tail pulling snots since this seems to be a reaccuring problem.

I'd figure out who (or who's) responsible and 86 them. I hate brats. Poor little guy!

 

[vmdanielsen]

As far as the mulch go's here is what I do. Because I have poultry, when I take the shaving out of the barn. I put them in a pile FAR away from my birds to keep the critters away from my birds and then keep piling it up till early spring. Then in the spring, I take them and spread them out in my garden with it being 4-6 inches high up and I DO NOT TILL MY GARDEN AT ALL!!! then I put down weed barrier on top of it and cut an X on it where the plant is going to go. I only use weed barrier where I have big plants. I don't use it for beans, corn, anything that's like this I don't use it there. But here's the thing, where the weed barrier was the year before, there is not as many weeds to pull up!!! I LOVE MY WEED BARRIER!!!!!!! I got two rolls of 4' x 100' two for the price of one, it was only $30.00 for both 2 years ago and it has a 10 or 15 year warranty on it as well. I do 4' by 27' rows in my garden. So with the combo of using the shavings and weed barrier, It does such a good job of keeping weed to a minimum AND I find that it keeps A LOT OF WATER IN TOO!!!! Even when we had a 4 week drought this year, we did not have to water more then 1 that's right, 1 time a day!! And there is a LOT of worms in the ground too by doing this which is why I no longer till as I want to keep them there!!! The worms do the tilling for me now!

Java, I did this in my own garden and it was beautiful...until the voles discovered it and ate all the roots off my veggies! Voles love this kind of environment. Keep an ye out for tunneling and eradicate the little buggers!

 

[vmdanielsen]

Has anyone ever heard of a chicken with a "toe" growing out of its wing?
No this is sadly not a joke nor a trick question

Can you take and post a picture?

 

[ChickPrincess]

My eight Rouens live quite happily in the coop and run with the chickens, to the point that they appear to think they're chickens at times. They even go in the coop at night and sleep on the roosts (we have a setup like bleachers made of 2"x6" boards with the flat side up, so webbed feet fit just fine). They're messy little slobs, and think the water bowls are their personal tubs, but the chickens don't appear to mind duck soup, and it just means we dump bowls a couple of times a day. Thus far they're still totally ignoring their pool, but my ducks are admittedly weird.

I use pine shavings in the coop, and they keep the moisture down well. The coop is 10'x20', so it's a big shed and everyone has plenty of room in there. The run is approximately 18'x36', and slopes, so there are occasionally puddles at the lower end of it that please the ducks (and some of the chickens), but most of it stays dry. So, I have no problem keeping them together. Depending on your setup, though, your mileage may vary.

That's exactly what I needed to know! Thank you! I still would like to rehome the mallard, but I like the two Rouens. We had them in an area today with 2 chickens, and the male mallard kept going after the chickens. The rouens could've cared less. It's funny... we got the rouens to keep the mallard company, since his buddies were killed by a raccoon (sad night).
Our coop is 10 x 12 with 21 chickens in it. Our run is large (guesstimating 50 x 75, if not larger) and we'll add a kiddie pool that we can change frequently. They, too, like the muddy water. Gross!

 

[gunnarwordon]

Need to get rid of 8 pigeons right now........... anybody who is interested I will give them to right home or sell them at a very low price............

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

Featherz in with all the same age chicks but right now he is in a pen by himself the 3 austros and 1 ee he is in with are all together but his sister I found dead last week and now this time him almost a week later! I just am wondering who is starying it and why? Plenty of room and food and water! Also noticed some of my 5 month old pullets missing tail feathers 3 of my wyndotts I think that is because they are on bottom of the pecking order very upset and frustrated right now!

Time to find the culprit(s) and put them in prison for a few days. If that doesnt work, there is always freezer camp or camp crock pot. With winter coming, you dont need that kind of problem to deal with. My culprits will be going to camp this weekend and I dont think my pullets will mind at all!