Texas

[Tookie]

Getting a lot of rain this morning! Very much needed before summer.

 

[NagemTX]

Getting sheets of rain this morning with a thunder and light show. It started some time last night. Ugh we are going into Houston for a con today and will be there through Saturday.

 

[RUNuts]

Getting sheets of rain this morning with a thunder and light show. It started some time last night. Ugh we are going into Houston for a con today and will be there through Saturday.

What kind of con are you running?

 

[NagemTX]

What kind of con are you running?

Lol, I'm not running one but it's a furry convention going with my brother and our friend who has heart issues that doesn't let him do much. So we a chaperones I think.

 

[janiedoe]

@Mamma Rubyes Chicks
Welcome to BYC, and the Texas thread!

 

[janiedoe]

@Sweettimesonthefarm
Welcome to BYC, and to the Texas thread!

 

[NagemTX]

Soooo many new Texans! Welcome to you all!

 

[Sweettimesonthefarm]

I'll start this one.

I am in San Marcos, between Austin and San Antonio.

FYI
I have been keeping a spread sheet of Texas BYC members for several years. Right now it has 274 members on it. Of course some are no longer members or might have visited only a few times.

Texas, we are

Hey everyone- my husband and I live in Southeast Texas outside of beaumont. I’m new to BYC but have been using yalls forums for a while! We’ve lived on the farm for 5 years and have kept chickens since then, started selling eggs shortly after.

We own a business called Sweet Times on the Farm, and we sell eggs and seasonal fruits by delivering them directly to homes, and i am also a counselor and I offer offer cow cuddling and animal assisted therapy on the farm.

Here’s our website if you want to check us out
Sweettimesonthefarm.com

Happy to be a part of this community

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

Hey y'all, newbie chicken owner who is about to start his coop/run build, and I had a few TX specific questions I was hoping I could rely on all y'all's experience with. Thanks in advance!

• So far I've been buying everything from Tractor Supply in Cedar Park. I live in Austin, but open to driving up to about 2 hrs if there any suggestions wrt local mills or particularly good places to get supplies.
• I was thinking of setting up a rain collection system in order to help avoid flash-flood like conditions drenching the run. Anyone successfully do this in Central TX? If so, how did you size rainwater capacity? How do you avoid mosquitos? I'd prefer not to use mosquito chemicals. I see people selling ~50 gallon drums on Craigslist.
• Do you use rainwater to let the chickens drink? I've only got 10 chickens so I'm not concerned about saving money on my water bill. Just potentially interested in a fun project.
• Anyone setup a fish pond as a rainwater collection system? If so, can the chickens drink from it? I've seen some people suggest that fish will eat the mosquitos and larvae.
• How do you keep your run dry? I am thinking of trying an organic composting deep litter setup and my understanding is rainwater will make it stink to high heaven.
• In the interest of providing a happy healthy fun environment, I wanted to provide enough fun areas for exploration with organic matter that the chickens won't just scratch in the grass(soon to be dirt) 24/7. I saw people mention banana plants earlier in the thread. Is this just the same decorative plants you can find at Home Depot/Lowe's.
• What other plants have you managed to keep in the run? I plan to have run areas that are completely shaded (metal roofing), some partial shade (clear roofing), and some unshaded (hardware cloth and/or living roof planters); so I'm open to all amounts of light. Currently targeting Lavender, Sage, Rosemary, and Basil.

 

[maryheckett]

Pouring rain again in North Texas! My yard is like a swamp!! What a wild spring!!