post your chicken coop pictures here!

[perchie.girl]

I think weve been off topic too long.... Sorry coop builders.

If you want to talk horses see my signature at the bottom is a link to a thread I have about horses in our lives

deb

 

[Sylvester017]

Mine love corn so when they didnt come in when i wanted i just took a scoop of corn out where they could see me and waited till they came running, then i just gave them a little at a time in a trail to the door. Took a little patience but it always worked. I loved it when they ranged but it's too dangerous now so i built the large run. Thought about fencing to discourage land animals and keep them in a restricted area but the areas i want them in are too complicated to fence.

You are thinking safety and are to be applauded for that! We all do what we can to keep them safe. Corn - my DH calls it "crack" for chickens (you know, "crack"-ed corn)! We've been giving our 4 hens corn-on-the-cob or canned-corn because it's hard for the little Silkie beaks to get around big rough dry kernels. Becky's Homestead on youtube said to give chickens whole corn rather than broken bits for locked-in nutrition but don't know if she knows what she's doing. Guess, for her, dry whole corn works. We use dry mealworms or shelled raw sunflower seeds as treat baits to get them to do what we want. Actually, thinking about it, just about any food works -- cucumbers, cantaloupe, blueberries, cooked shrimp, flatbread, cooked brown rice, wild birdseed, -- the list goes on!

 

[Sylvester017]

Getting everyone settled in to their new home. We have a detachable run as well. They will primarily free range in our backyard unless we are gone for long periods at a time.

You have a nice tall fence - just be aware that raccoons and possums are excellent climbers but usually are night critters (it's why we leave our patio light on all night and have a night-eyes blinking light - it seems to help deter night prowlers). For aerial predators we set up a pop-up canopy in the yard and anchored the legs a half-foot into the soil to keep from parasailing, spaced 4 large doghouses around the yard for the hens to snooze/hide in, used a builder's leftover scaffold and bricks to make a lean-to, used leftover plywood for another lean-to shelter, potted plants, and use lawn furniture. Hawks will see the chickens hiding but won't go after them -- hawks prefer to fly and swoop down on running prey/hens and we've eliminated long running distances with spaced shelters. The hens like the shade of the canopy so we plan to set up a second one for our hot humid summers.

 

[Sylvester017]

T G for Alleve x2, because arthritis is nasty at any age. 42 and my 74 yr old Father and I move the same speed at times.

Alleve x3 -- sodium naproxin -- AIDS patients were prescribed it because it doesn't play havoc with their immune system and milder on the stomach lining. Tylenol, ibuprofen, don't work for me. I might as well eat candy. Regular aspirin works well but it causes stomach upset and bleeding - in fact, most NSAIDs do too. Prescription codeine doesn't work for me either - the pain doesn't go away. Good to have choices for what works for us. I try not to overuse any OTCs so I don't build an intolerance/tolerance(?) to any of them. I've been taking nutritional supplements to try to keep bad health at bay. Been on the health regimen for 10 years and it seems to help better than drugs.

 

[Cage10]

Here is the new shelter I added to my run.

 

[bruceha2000]

You are thinking safety and are to be applauded for that! We all do what we can to keep them safe. Corn - my DH calls it "crack" for chickens (you know, "crack"-ed corn)! We've been giving our 4 hens corn-on-the-cob or canned-corn because it's hard for the little Silkie beaks to get around big rough dry kernels. Becky's Homestead on youtube said to give chickens whole corn rather than broken bits for locked-in nutrition but don't know if she knows what she's doing. Guess, for her, dry whole corn works.

If that is the lady that says your chickens will lay every day if you feed them cracked corn, whole oats and bread; the same lady that says if there is poop on the eggs, the chickens have worms, then IMO, no she does not.

 

[briannanoelle1]

 

[ShrekDawg]

I think weve been off topic too long.... Sorry coop builders.

If you want to talk horses see my signature at the bottom is a link to a thread I have about horses in our lives

deb

Very true!! Sorry haha I'll go to that thread

 

[Chicken Egg 17]

@TJordan. How is the coop coming along

 

[Tika75]

If that is the lady that says your chickens will lay every day if you feed them cracked corn, whole oats and bread; the same lady that says if there is poop on the eggs, the chickens have worms, then IMO, no she does not.

I found Becky's Homestead before BYC and some of the stuff she said has helped me. Other stuff she said I took with a grain of salt. LOL