Should I move my run away from the walnut tree?

[Coopscraft]

That's a big load
I have 5 DZ chickens and 3 DZ turkeys, but they have 140' x 200'

If you took the turkeys out of the equation, what space reduction would yield a similar load? I know very little about turkeys except that one chased my car two blocks once.

 

[Coopscraft]

My chickens live in my little orchard of 7 trees and a dozen or more berry bushes. Both the vegetation and the chickens love the arrangement. Any apples that fall on the ground are theirs as well as any low growing berries. They are little fertilizer makers. However, I should add I'm in Washington and it rains a lot here, so that may be in part why it works so well for us.

I get 50” of rain per year and I have nearly unlimited access to wood shavings from the firewood operation across the street.

 

[ValerieJ]

I get 50” of rain per year and I have nearly unlimited access to wood shavings from the firewood operation across the street.

Yeah, well, I just realized we're practically neighbors. Hi Neighbor!

 

[Shadrach]

My concern is people who read this thread may take their chickens and dump them in a pool to see if they'll swim.

I doubt if I would get much dissent if I stated that monkeys can't drive.
But, I've seen monkeys drive three wheeler rickshaw type cabs in Asia, with careful supervision from a human. So, for the pedantic, monkeys can drive.
Most if one wrote that dogs walk on four legs would accept this. There will however be one or two that will post a video of their dogs walking on two legs and contest the four legged walking statement.
If I post stating chickens can't fly, lots of people will write that their chickens can fly. I have bantams here that will, under pressure 'fly' over the roof of the main house here.
Most scientists would put the chicken in the flightless fowl category because while they can spend a limited time off the ground there are a great many other things that contribute to a reasonable definition of flying that chickens can't do.
In order to conduct a rational debate some kind of reasonable definition of what being able to fly, swim, walk, is necessary.
Swimming and flying are not really something to be done in half measures.

It has already been acknowledged that chickens don't swim as well as ducks for example.
In the video of the single game fowl in the water the human trainer is semi crouched waiting for the moment when the fowl doesn't have sufficient strength to paddle any more.
He knows that chickens can't swim. You wouldn't be that attentive if say a duck was 'swimming' and that's because ducks can swim.
In the videos water is being used to train the chickens. In one string is used to help support the chickens in the water while in the other the trainer is waiting close by in order to rescue the chicken should it stop paddling. They have to do this because chickens can't swim.

 

[Tesumph]

you do that.
I didn't say they can swim like a duck, nor did I say they can swim forever..
but I did see them swim and I did see a guinea keet (chick) swim.
now if you want to call me a liar, it doesn't matter because your opinion doesn't matter to me..

Almost every single animal can “swim” if their life depends on it. A chicken is not meant to swim and to say with certainty that “CHICKENS CAN SWIM!” is misleading.
If you want to be pedantic, sure: if you force a chicken into water, they will haphazardly kick their legs forward, and their feathers will allow them to float until water gets under them.
They will get waterlogged very quickly and will sink without some help or intervention, just like every other bird that doesn’t have waterproof feathers.

 

[aart]

I'm going to digress from the great aquapoultrics debate of ot 19'.

By the time all 70 birds are out of the brooder, the total run space will be at least 1200sq ft. (20x60)

That is a heavy load.

I have nearly unlimited access to wood shavings from the firewood operation across the street.

Wood shavings or chips/chunks?
The bigger the 'chips' the longer they will last and the more nitrogen will be 'consumed'.
The rain may wash the nitrogen down into the ground before the wood chips can process it.

 

[Quackter]

No. I have to have dedicated shoes. I can't seem to avoid the freshest pile of poo every time I go out. LOL I think they intentionally walk around my feet and give me gifts.

LOL
Know the feeling. I am a bit of a sucker for animals, my girlfriend laughs because it's like Dr. Doolittle when I walk outside. They all like to leave "gifts" at my feet. Except for my cat who hides them for me to find when mulching.

 

[Quackter]

“CHICKENS CAN SWIM!” is misleading.
If you want to be pedantic, sure: if you force a chicken into water

The slight discord the aquapoultrics issue has caused concerns me, so I've decided to help. I took two of my hens down the the YMCA this morning. At first the staff were taken a back, but when I explained to them that I identified as a chicken. They were still skeptical. So I showed them my student ID which proves that I am nonbinary poultryamourous bilingual syss transspecies. They were skeptical. Then I explained that I would be triggered if I was denied access with my entire flock, and since they didn't provide a safe space, they let us swim. Gertrude loves the water, she's upset that we are leaving. She is now perched in the rafters above the pool, squawking that she won't leave unless we stop for ice cream. Milly, well zee couldn't swim, it was tough to even get her in the water. Milly nearly drowned, zee's ok we gave zer mouth to beak resuscitation. (Yes, Milly is non-binary) So yes, I guess some can, some can't. Well, I guess, since I am now legally a chicken, and I swam, it was 66.66% of all test subjects could swim. Shoot, I wasn't thinking, Gertrude identifies as a pit bull, so it was 50/50. I hope I helped, and you guys can get along.

 

[aart]

I hope I helped, and you guys can get along

You are 'quacking' me up!
I love satirical wordplay!

 

[Coopscraft]

That is a heavy load.

Wood shavings or chips/chunks?
The bigger the 'chips' the longer they will last and the more nitrogen will be 'consumed'.
The rain may wash the nitrogen down into the ground before the wood chips can process it.

Not sure where to draw the line on that. But they are made by chainsaw processing of firewood. I think of them as shavings but they are a little thicker than pone shavings by the bag. Being Douglas-Fir fir, I’d say they might be slightly more absorbing and less deodorant.