HELLO!!!
I am new here... well sort of, I have a few other posts but decided since I have nothing to do while waiting for the feed mill to call that I should maybe introduce myself proper like
I am Malinda from central MN
I grew up on a hobby farm and was raised with chickens my entire life. I now live in town in an apartment with my 2 children but I miss living in the country so I have been losing to my mother while I try to get their hobby farm back up and in working order.
Two years ago I set up our old garden... that year the weeds won and I really didnt get anything to show for the little bit of work I did before I got distracted by life in town.
Last year I made a bet with my boyfriend that I could get the garden to harvest and not let the weeds win. I did it and the fool still needs to buy me my own tiller so that I dont have to steal anyone elses. It was a lot of work but worth it. I almost single handily took out a set of trees that had grown up in the area by and... the boys came along with there were only a few thicker trees left and helped me take them out of there.
We still have home canned green beans and they are GREAT!
Last fall I told my mom that I would like to fix up the chicken coups so that I could get some good dual purpose birds. After having her whine a little I finally won the battle and am all set for my newest adventure in "farming" to begin.
We have an old small barn on the property that is set up with 2 coups, a horse stall that needs a really good mucking out and lots of room for hay.
Over the winter I mucked out both the chicken coups and this last week I have been adding the final touches.
One coup is about 9x10 and the other is 12x10. The larger was last used for pheasants and has a totally enclosed run attacked, the smaller was where my mother would keep her chickens but the run is open so that her bantams could free range in the yard and eat all the wood ticks.
Since there have been no new birds on the place in 2 years (dads pheasants got out through a false ceiling in the coup and with the cost of that loss they didnt do anything last year) I had a little work to do.
My boyfriend got home in time to take down the false ceiling for me and I went around the inside of the larger coup with chicken wire making sure to block off any openings that birds may escape while still allowing the room to have plenty of ventilation.
Once I knew my birds were not going to get out I went to order my new meal tickets
I ordered 100 Buff Orpingtons last week and they arrive at some point today.
The heat lamps are on, the wood shavings are down, the "brooding houses" are set up and I am good to go...... now I just need the dang feed mill to call!!!!
We dont use the typical "brooding shields" to keep the little puff balls under the lights. My dad lost about 25 pheasants due to a storm one night so we make sure there is nothing blocking our birds from access to the heated areas. We figure they will know where to hide to stay warm and let fate do as she will.
Instead we use a really neat little "house" that is open all along the bottom with enclosed sides and an open roof to allow the heat lamps within. I will try to remember to take pics as we have never lost chicks using just the "house" and no fence type broody shield. We use boards on the top to adjust the heat within the houses.... they can be left completely open OR covered to get the temp juts right.
Since I have 100 peepers on their way I set up both the smaller house and the larger "pheasant" one with feed and water in between the two. I have 5 heat lamps going as of yesterday to get the floor nice and warm for the little ones and now I just need that dang feed mill to call.
My chick were ordered from Hoovers out of IA through the local feed mill. My family has always used the feed mill to order chicks as there is no extra cost, generally shipping is covered AND if you happen to not be home when the post man arrives it is not a big deal. Just run to the mill and pick up the peepers.
Years ago I remember getting a phone call from my parents to run and pick up chicks that we didnt even plan on getting...lol Someone had ordered chicks and never came to pick them up. Since the feed mill just collects when the chicks arrive they were stuck with a chiriping box of chicks that needed a home. My dad had ordered pheasants that year so they had his number and figured they would give him a call. I in turn got a call to quick prep the coup and run to the mill
I dont remember what the birds cost, but I know dad got a deal on them since he was doing them a favor by re-homing them if you will and we ended up with a bunch of bantams that were a blessing at wood tick time.
Sorry that I have sort of been rambling away... As I said, I am waiting for the feed mill to call and trying to keep myself busy until my new chicks arrive.
I just ordered straight run birds as we have never had an issue with getting all of one sex through Hoovers when ordering straight run. I figure on keeping about 12 laying hens and 2 roosters... the rest are destined for the stew pot.
If the snow holds off, thanks mr weather guy for snow on my bird day.....
, I may spend some time in our big barn trying to locate our old bee keeping stuff so that next spring I can order those and have fresh honey to go with my fresh eggs at breakfast.
I guess I have rambled long enough.... I am going to go find something to clean while waiting for my chicks to get here.....
Glad to be here!
-Malinda
I am new here... well sort of, I have a few other posts but decided since I have nothing to do while waiting for the feed mill to call that I should maybe introduce myself proper like
I am Malinda from central MN
I grew up on a hobby farm and was raised with chickens my entire life. I now live in town in an apartment with my 2 children but I miss living in the country so I have been losing to my mother while I try to get their hobby farm back up and in working order.
Two years ago I set up our old garden... that year the weeds won and I really didnt get anything to show for the little bit of work I did before I got distracted by life in town.
Last year I made a bet with my boyfriend that I could get the garden to harvest and not let the weeds win. I did it and the fool still needs to buy me my own tiller so that I dont have to steal anyone elses. It was a lot of work but worth it. I almost single handily took out a set of trees that had grown up in the area by and... the boys came along with there were only a few thicker trees left and helped me take them out of there.
We still have home canned green beans and they are GREAT!
Last fall I told my mom that I would like to fix up the chicken coups so that I could get some good dual purpose birds. After having her whine a little I finally won the battle and am all set for my newest adventure in "farming" to begin.
We have an old small barn on the property that is set up with 2 coups, a horse stall that needs a really good mucking out and lots of room for hay.
Over the winter I mucked out both the chicken coups and this last week I have been adding the final touches.
One coup is about 9x10 and the other is 12x10. The larger was last used for pheasants and has a totally enclosed run attacked, the smaller was where my mother would keep her chickens but the run is open so that her bantams could free range in the yard and eat all the wood ticks.
Since there have been no new birds on the place in 2 years (dads pheasants got out through a false ceiling in the coup and with the cost of that loss they didnt do anything last year) I had a little work to do.
My boyfriend got home in time to take down the false ceiling for me and I went around the inside of the larger coup with chicken wire making sure to block off any openings that birds may escape while still allowing the room to have plenty of ventilation.
Once I knew my birds were not going to get out I went to order my new meal tickets
I ordered 100 Buff Orpingtons last week and they arrive at some point today.
The heat lamps are on, the wood shavings are down, the "brooding houses" are set up and I am good to go...... now I just need the dang feed mill to call!!!!
We dont use the typical "brooding shields" to keep the little puff balls under the lights. My dad lost about 25 pheasants due to a storm one night so we make sure there is nothing blocking our birds from access to the heated areas. We figure they will know where to hide to stay warm and let fate do as she will.
Instead we use a really neat little "house" that is open all along the bottom with enclosed sides and an open roof to allow the heat lamps within. I will try to remember to take pics as we have never lost chicks using just the "house" and no fence type broody shield. We use boards on the top to adjust the heat within the houses.... they can be left completely open OR covered to get the temp juts right.
Since I have 100 peepers on their way I set up both the smaller house and the larger "pheasant" one with feed and water in between the two. I have 5 heat lamps going as of yesterday to get the floor nice and warm for the little ones and now I just need that dang feed mill to call.
My chick were ordered from Hoovers out of IA through the local feed mill. My family has always used the feed mill to order chicks as there is no extra cost, generally shipping is covered AND if you happen to not be home when the post man arrives it is not a big deal. Just run to the mill and pick up the peepers.
Years ago I remember getting a phone call from my parents to run and pick up chicks that we didnt even plan on getting...lol Someone had ordered chicks and never came to pick them up. Since the feed mill just collects when the chicks arrive they were stuck with a chiriping box of chicks that needed a home. My dad had ordered pheasants that year so they had his number and figured they would give him a call. I in turn got a call to quick prep the coup and run to the mill
I dont remember what the birds cost, but I know dad got a deal on them since he was doing them a favor by re-homing them if you will and we ended up with a bunch of bantams that were a blessing at wood tick time.
Sorry that I have sort of been rambling away... As I said, I am waiting for the feed mill to call and trying to keep myself busy until my new chicks arrive.
I just ordered straight run birds as we have never had an issue with getting all of one sex through Hoovers when ordering straight run. I figure on keeping about 12 laying hens and 2 roosters... the rest are destined for the stew pot.
If the snow holds off, thanks mr weather guy for snow on my bird day.....
I guess I have rambled long enough.... I am going to go find something to clean while waiting for my chicks to get here.....
Glad to be here!
-Malinda
