- Nov 29, 2012
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Hey guys/gals,
I have been gardening and growing vegetables for about 2 years now. My family has a farm setup on their property down in Southeast Texas. I live about an hour and a half from this property. My wife and I are going to be staying down there on the weekends and on our time off. I would like to start raising chickens and expand my crops. There is already a chicken pen with coops setup as my great grandparents and then grandparents raised chickens in the past. However the pen needs a lot of work and since I will not be there every day of the year I need to setup a watering and feeding system.
I already have a plan of using a 55 gallon water barrel and tying PVC into it and running a horizontal pipe through the pen with the chicken nipples attached to the pipe. I plan on starting with maybe 10 chickens. Will 55 gallons of water be enough for a flock of 10? If I top it off on a Sunday before leaving will it have water left in it Friday night or Saturday morning when I come back?
I am also thinking about growing some rye grass in the run area because right now it is just brush and dirt, I plan on covering the pen so I can let them free range, hoping that will cut down on predators from above, since I will not be there during the week to let them into pasture and take them back to the pen daily.
As far as feeding goes, that was going to be the purpose of the grass but also some kind of secured container that would be treated as some kind of auto feeder.
I planned on cleaning the coops on the weekend.
Does this sound feasible, or is this something that I need to be there around the clock to manage? I appreciate any input and suggestions.
-Matt
I have been gardening and growing vegetables for about 2 years now. My family has a farm setup on their property down in Southeast Texas. I live about an hour and a half from this property. My wife and I are going to be staying down there on the weekends and on our time off. I would like to start raising chickens and expand my crops. There is already a chicken pen with coops setup as my great grandparents and then grandparents raised chickens in the past. However the pen needs a lot of work and since I will not be there every day of the year I need to setup a watering and feeding system.
I already have a plan of using a 55 gallon water barrel and tying PVC into it and running a horizontal pipe through the pen with the chicken nipples attached to the pipe. I plan on starting with maybe 10 chickens. Will 55 gallons of water be enough for a flock of 10? If I top it off on a Sunday before leaving will it have water left in it Friday night or Saturday morning when I come back?
I am also thinking about growing some rye grass in the run area because right now it is just brush and dirt, I plan on covering the pen so I can let them free range, hoping that will cut down on predators from above, since I will not be there during the week to let them into pasture and take them back to the pen daily.
As far as feeding goes, that was going to be the purpose of the grass but also some kind of secured container that would be treated as some kind of auto feeder.
I planned on cleaning the coops on the weekend.
Does this sound feasible, or is this something that I need to be there around the clock to manage? I appreciate any input and suggestions.
-Matt