Texas

[Starfire669]

Did you ladies stay up all night gabbing like little girls?
I do hope you realize my post was in jest!!

Oh and by the way Ladies; Welcome to the Texas Thread!!!!


David

Guess you missed my return post.
I think there was a gentleman having fun with us ladies last night
And thanks!

 

[Belott]

Guess you missed my return post.
And thanks!

Oh I saw yours alright! I just wanted to make sure none of the other ladies you were gabbing with took offense.

Y'all were posting faster than I could read!

David

 

[Starfire669]

Oh I saw yours alright! I just wanted to make sure none of the other ladies you were gabbing with took offense.

Y'all were posting faster than I could read!

David

Lol, yeah. I would type a post, submit it and 2/3 replies had already been submitted! But it was fun and we all probably needed a bit of fun and games or we wouldn't have been so into it last night. Stress relief via chatting, the next big thing. We should be afraid!

 

[srosales1996]

-/- glad you were home.

Well, I had a major wake-up call this morning. I was sitting at my computer geting ready to logon here and my birds started going nuts. I looked out the window and saw a coyote trying to get at them. I grabbed my 9mm and went out the door and took 3 shots, he was on the run, maybe hit him, but don't know for sure. I went and looked for him, but no sign. All my girls are safe but a little shaken. They will stay in today, they will be mad, but better mad than becoming a meal for a coyote. I really need a drink, but will settle for coffee!!!

 

[ABlackDogRanch]

Made a newbie mistake - thought I had enough food to last until tonight. I didn't. I came home yesterday to an empty feeder and the feed store was closed. I made the little ladies some mushy oatmeal this morning to tide them over until tonight. I felt so bad!

Another bummer - I had ordered the chicken stick waterer and was so excited about it. My BF sadly cannot get the stupid thing to stop leaking at the bucket - I think he drilled the hole too big or cracked it or something. The littles are making due with dog bowls that are changed over twice a day. I will be so happy when the completely-done nipple waterer arrives. We can't mess that one up!

On the upside, I finally got the girls to take some treats out of my hand this morning. They're skittish, so a big victory!

 

[Starfire669]

On a chicken note, anyone else have open air coops? I have questions about how to set up for ease in cleaning. My coop is attached to my hubbies car shop, (he is still acquiring tools so it's not noisy yet) the shop is metal and is up against the back of the coop and a small section of wall extends about 4 feet up the left side of the coop. We anchored our walls to metal pipes using screws and also anchored the bottom part of the coop to concrete with bolts. We then enclosed the wall about 4 feet using metal roofing panels and put the roosts there. No predators can reach in after my girls on their roosts that way. The rest of the coop is on dirt floor, (which we are going to install a wooden floor, didn't realize that when it rains the gutters shunted the water close to the coop), and is an open air design. The coop is about 11 feet by 6 feet, the height goes from 8 feet closest to the shop down to 6 feet. I already have plans to extend it out, lol.

My questions are, what is the easiest way to keep a coop like that clean? And how many chickens can it hold comfortably? If my chicks were full grown it would be way too small, I'm concerned that even after culling all the Roos it still won't be big enough.

 

[Starfire669]

Made a newbie mistake - thought I had enough food to last until tonight. I didn't. I came home yesterday to an empty feeder and the feed store was closed. I made the little ladies some mushy oatmeal this morning to tide them over until tonight. I felt so bad!

Another bummer - I had ordered the chicken stick waterer and was so excited about it. My BF sadly cannot get the stupid thing to stop leaking at the bucket - I think he drilled the hole too big or cracked it or something. The littles are making due with dog bowls that are changed over twice a day. I will be so happy when the completely-done nipple waterer arrives. We can't mess that one up!

On the upside, I finally got the girls to take some treats out of my hand this morning. They're skittish, so a big victory!

My chickens like greens and bugs. Someone suggested putting water buckets under lights at night to get a lot of June bugs and feed them to the chickens. My birds also eat my parsley bare, some like mint, some love marigolds others hate it, mine also play tackle football when given strawberries, so you can try giving them some greens today. If it is good for you it should be ok for them in small amounts. None of my garden trimmings make it to the compost anymore, the chickens get it!

And congrats!

 

[handhpoultry]

Just a quick announcement! We are have a chicken fun day and seminar at the Backbone Valley Nursery in Marble Falls Texas this Saturday morning at 10:30. Please try to join us! We will have over 100 nice birds ther and lots of info and many handouts!

 

[epinkstn]

Made a newbie mistake - thought I had enough food to last until tonight. I didn't. I came home yesterday to an empty feeder and the feed store was closed. I made the little ladies some mushy oatmeal this morning to tide them over until tonight. I felt so bad!

Another bummer - I had ordered the chicken stick waterer and was so excited about it. My BF sadly cannot get the stupid thing to stop leaking at the bucket - I think he drilled the hole too big or cracked it or something. The littles are making due with dog bowls that are changed over twice a day. I will be so happy when the completely-done nipple waterer arrives. We can't mess that one up!

On the upside, I finally got the girls to take some treats out of my hand this morning. They're skittish, so a big victory!

My girls love strawberries, oatmeal, watermelon and pill bugs. I don't think they would mind if I ran out of feed. LOL!! The thing that surprised me is that they don't seem to have any interest in greens. I've tried kale, beet greens, lettuce, mint and they totally ignore it.

 

[ABlackDogRanch]

My chickens like greens and bugs. Someone suggested putting water buckets under lights at night to get a lot of June bugs and feed them to the chickens. My birds also eat my parsley bare, some like mint, some love marigolds others hate it, mine also play tackle football when given strawberries, so you can try giving them some greens today. If it is good for you it should be ok for them in small amounts. None of my garden trimmings make it to the compost anymore, the chickens get it!

And congrats!

I collected all the dead June bugs I could find last night and gave them to them, they had a heyday! There were some chicken chases, that's for sure. I gave them some grass clumps that I hoped had grubs in it before I went in for the night. Hopefully they found something yummy!