There are lots of plants that are good for chickens not just to eat but have other benefits.
Harley, your worse than Lisa with enabling!!!! You better get to work on another pen so you can go get some next month!!
It's a nice day for outside work. I spent most of the morning outside working on my raised garden and some odd/ends around the coop.
Welcome to BYC! I plan on putting out several spots of mint to see it it will help.Hi ya'll!
I'm a newbie from Richardson (real close to Dallas) and lived in Houston for most of my childhood. I read through a lot of this thread and excited to see that there are a lot of us!!
I have 3- 8 week old hens (2 EEs and 1 BSL) I posted about the EEs over in the gender/breed? forum.
We can't have roos here, but sure wish we could 'cuz we sure have the hawks watching. GRRR! I wish my dogs got the memo and wouldn't try and eat the girls, then maybe they could free range a bit more. They've only been outside for a week and they sure like it better than the dog crate in the garage!
This is Cora (BSL), Sandy on the left and Abigail on the right.
I'm sure I'll be looking for a way to expand the coop/run because I'm loving this so much! I want more
For "ANTS" I was going to suggest the diatomaceous earth as well. I have it sprinkled all around the house. My front porch looks like a bottle of powder exploded, but the ants are gone! I've also heard of using baby powder and cinnamon.
For "mint" do ya'll plant around the outside of the run (on the fence line). I wonder with my set up if I should put some around the small run on the inside of the big run.
From what I've read it does help. Here's a site that has some plants listed, http://serendipityandspice.com/8-plants-to-repel-bugs-insects-and/ . There's also a link for more natural ant repellents.
Sorry your eggs didn't hatch.We eggtopsied our eggs that should have hatched on Monday. None made it.
Before day 18, we had a few early quitters, all appeared to be around days 10-14, with maybe 2 that quit earlier.
Two had completely absorbed their yolks, the rest seemed to have quit right before that point. I don't know what went wrong. I tried a dry hatch, humidity stayed around 30-40% without adding water. I added water to a sponge at day 18 when we removed the turner, humidity was around 70%. Placed eggs upright in egg cartons that had the bottoms cut out.
I don't think they were shrink wrapped. The 2 that had progressed the furthest were shipped eggs, with the rest being shipped and home eggs. The eggs were not old.
We have Turken eggs coming this week, hopefully today. I'm going to clean the incubator and keep it off for at least today. Once the eggs come in I'll let them set for 24hrs and I might collect a few of our own eggs to use as controls again.
Any suggestions on what went wrong? The only thing I might do different this time is when I remove them from the turner I might just lay them down instead of leaving them standing up. I've read a lot of people have had success with them in the egg cartons though. I was going to do half and half this time but decided not to.
You don't really want to repel other insects because chickens love to eat them. Ants I understand, but crickets, grasshoppers, flies, beetles, etc. are fair game.
Ha, when DH and I were planning out my coop and pen he kept telling me I was planning to much room.... You don't need this much room. I kept telling him it really isn't to much room once they get full size. Well, When my dad came over to help he thought I was doing twice the size I ended up with. He and I had already scoped out what I needed. So he said Kim I thought you were doing this entire area..... I looked at DH and said someone said, I didn't need that much room. He looked at my hubby and said really... well, this isn't as much room as you think. LOL I died laughing. DH grew up with cows not chickens. Point to that is..... I didn't get much cushion room. BUT I do plan on getting some Cream Legbars later this year and do some breeding per breed standers and hatching, So I have already set my eyes on my next pen. By then he will see just how much room you really need for chickens. LOL He isn't as cool as you are Harley!!
You are a very busy lady my friend. But I am right there with you on the grand daughter pics. Got to love them!!
That's awful. Hope you figure it out.We eggtopsied our eggs that should have hatched on Monday. None made it.
Before day 18, we had a few early quitters, all appeared to be around days 10-14, with maybe 2 that quit earlier.
Two had completely absorbed their yolks, the rest seemed to have quit right before that point. I don't know what went wrong. I tried a dry hatch, humidity stayed around 30-40% without adding water. I added water to a sponge at day 18 when we removed the turner, humidity was around 70%. Placed eggs upright in egg cartons that had the bottoms cut out.
I don't think they were shrink wrapped. The 2 that had progressed the furthest were shipped eggs, with the rest being shipped and home eggs. The eggs were not old.
We have Turken eggs coming this week, hopefully today. I'm going to clean the incubator and keep it off for at least today. Once the eggs come in I'll let them set for 24hrs and I might collect a few of our own eggs to use as controls again.
Any suggestions on what went wrong? The only thing I might do different this time is when I remove them from the turner I might just lay them down instead of leaving them standing up. I've read a lot of people have had success with them in the egg cartons though. I was going to do half and half this time but decided not to.
Sorry to hear that lady....Hope everything works out ok.
