***OKIES in the BYC III ***

[Buster52]

It sounds like you deal in a lot bigger quantities of birds than I do. Culling every bird on the place isn't an option for me because I keep them for different reasons than you do. I can't even imagine the feed bill with 200 birds,

It isn't bad if you use a feed mill and run them on pasture. Counting my turkeys, I'm feeding a little over 120 pounds of feed a day.

But I should clarify. I have over 200 birds at the moment, but a lot of those are meat birds. That number will be significantly downsized in the coming weeks. I won't have that many layers until my future pullets reach the right age. The goal is 400 layers eventually. Might be biting off more than I can chew, but that is the goal.

And when I say cull, I mean get rid of, either by selling the promising ones, processing some that are past laying years but still healthy, or... well culling them if they aren't suitable for either of the above.

 

[our 5acre farm]

i was moving stuff around today and cleaning up a little outside, and apparently there was a huge WASP nest in a cage i moved, and OMG they were ticked! i took off like a scalded dog, i looked back in mid run thinking they would have stopped chasing me... oh no! they were with in inches of my back! so at that point turned around and ran as fast as i possibly could with only one flip flop on, when i seen how close they were i just knew i was going to get stung i just didn't know how many times, lol but some home i out ran them

 

[MacGuyver]

Just ordered another 300+ feet of electric poultry netting. Time to move the eggmobile to the back pasture!

Where do you get yours from?

 

[MacGuyver]

Ksane, your right there is a risk, but Poco's success rate is quite impressive, I hope mine is as good. It was very informative, I learned alot. The boys seemed to mind the tying down more then the actual "C"ing. The demo will be well worth anyones time to check out, she has some impressive pointers that I had not read anywhere else, and I have read a lot about it.

She is good at it, and a good teacher.

 

[MacGuyver]

KSane: I frontline my dog and cats all the time. It's not the pets that kill us with the ticks here, it's the deer. Before we got guineas, I was pulling five a day off my boys. Poor little guys even got one on their penis once, I have NO idea how.

Anyway, after the guineas were big enough to free range, no more ticks. I can't wait till these are big enough because this year has been just as bad.

 

[MacGuyver]

Okay! Mystery solved! My little Cochin roo is not secretly laying eggs. My silkie steals eggs and walks with them like a penguin. Saw her today scoop up an egg and roll it onto her feet then shuffle - shuffle - shuffle till she got it where she wanted it, then she rolled it into the nest box. I would never have known she was carrying an egg if I hadn't seen her scoop it because her feathers cover it up. Anyway, she must have done that last time we moved the coop, because I emptied the nest box out totally. No way that egg was hiding in there!

Does anyone else have silkies? I thought they were mostly an ornamental breed, but this little thing laid six eggs this week. That's super productive!

 

[Ksane]

It isn't bad if you use a feed mill and run them on pasture. Counting my turkeys, I'm feeding a little over 120 pounds of feed a day.
But I should clarify. I have over 200 birds at the moment, but a lot of those are meat birds. That number will be significantly downsized in the coming weeks. I won't have that many layers until my future pullets reach the right age. The goal is 400 layers eventually. Might be biting off more than I can chew, but that is the goal.
And when I say cull, I mean get rid of, either by selling the promising ones, processing some that are past laying years but still healthy, or... well culling them if they aren't suitable for either of the above.

i was moving stuff around today and cleaning up a little outside, and apparently there was a huge WASP nest in a cage i moved, and OMG they were ticked! i took off like a scalded dog, i looked back in mid run thinking they would have stopped chasing me... oh no! they were with in inches of my back! so at that point turned around and ran as fast as i possibly could with only one flip flop on, when i seen how close they were i just knew i was going to get stung i just didn't know how many times, lol but some home i out ran them

KSane: I frontline my dog and cats all the time. It's not the pets that kill us with the ticks here, it's the deer. Before we got guineas, I was pulling five a day off my boys. Poor little guys even got one on their penis once, I have NO idea how.

Anyway, after the guineas were big enough to free range, no more ticks. I can't wait till these are big enough because this year has been just as bad.
Okay! Mystery solved! My little Cochin roo is not secretly laying eggs. My silkie steals eggs and walks with them like a penguin. Saw her today scoop up an egg and roll it onto her feet then shuffle - shuffle - shuffle till she got it where she wanted it, then she rolled it into the nest box. I would never have known she was carrying an egg if I hadn't seen her scoop it because her feathers cover it up. Anyway, she must have done that last time we moved the coop, because I emptied the nest box out totally. No way that egg was hiding in there!

Does anyone else have silkies? I thought they were mostly an ornamental breed, but this little thing laid six eggs this week. That's super productive!

Oh wow, that had never even occurred to me about deers bringing in ticks, that's a really good point. I've never seen a deer in our yard but most of it's fenced anyway. My guess is they don't like the sounds of all the barking dogs either.
That's adorable about your little Penguin Silkie haha! I really love my Silkies, they're little laying machines also. They lay these oblong eggs that look like big bullets. And never miss a day

 

[prettychicks]

Quote: The untreated studs will be covered by paneling and it will all get painted with exterior paint. I did use a treated 4X4 on the ground level. I may have changed it out after I took the first picture. It is coming along nicely. I even surprised myself today.

Had to cut all of my wood with a bow saw. I got a good workout! Hopefully it will last at least a couple of years.

If not, it is back to the drawing board.

I think I will start saving for a pre-built coop one day. I will also have an overhang all the way around to help cover some of the exposed wood. I really appreciate everyones input. I had to change a couple of things that I had overlooked. I guess it takes a community to build a coop!

Thanks everyone.

 

[Ksane]

@

 

[MacGuyver]

She does lay the weirdest shaped eggs. Just like you say, little bullets. I think she's just adorable. I want a fence for our yard so I can get livestock guardian dogs and run off some of the wildlife. The deer come up to our house all the time. Heck, so far every winter I've seen them up on the roof eating the purslane.