The Front Porch Swing

[LindaB220]

The first year chicken keeping I was the same way. Everyone was all "Oh don't give layer to non-laying birds! Their kidneys!" I believe it was our dear Bee who finally pointed out that leafy greens have more calcium than layer

So now everyone eats layer. I got one bag of grower for my littlest ones but I can keep my fatty birds to stop eating the stuff

The layer is cheaper than grower here... so it all works out. You gotta figure little growing birds need to grow bones too, I would imagine the calcium would be good for that. Right?


Glad you found the little one. I bet that was more adventure than she'd ever had in her whole life

Little froo froo dogs want fun too.


We have all sorts of different ants this year. Big orange/brown ones.. they seem pretty docile and loners, they're huge though. Got the little black ones. Larger black ones. Fire ants. The chickens don't eat them, I wish they did

I have volunteer black soldier flies in my compost. That's a first for us too... There are thousands wiggling away in the compost. They're supposed to be really beneficial, so I was happy to see them. They compost stuff FAST and then you can feed them to your chickens. Funny enough, about 3/4 of that compost is chicken shavings

So basically they're making food out of chicken poop.

Aimee said that the dehydration might have blinded her. If so, I bet the Mama won't keep her. She already doesn't like her because she escapes so much. Tinker was the kids dog. I wonder if it's permanent. Poor thing.
I've got to get going on a compost pile. I had one started in one of those V shaped metal thingy's that they move trailers with. But SIL drug it about 30 feed and spilled everything out. sigh. I really need a smaller one that the chickens can get to.

 

[Tomtommom]

I have 4 compost 'bins'. This is the stick pile.. I put all the sticks that fall off the tree in there.. plus fallen leaf and their shavings if there's too much to fit in the other bins. It actually grows mushrooms

So far it hasn't killed anyone yet, so they must not be poisonous. I used to put food scrap in there too but I stopped doing that. Now if the scrap is edible I toss it in the run, if it's not, it goes in the bin for the soldier flies... things like coffee grounds and orange peels and onion/potato peels.

I rake the run every once in a while and dump it all back into their pile, until it looks good... then it gets put into the other piles to complete composting.





Outside the run I have two bins made out of welded wire... I layered them last year with leaf and chicken poop. I've got pickles and scarlet runner beans growing in them right now. Ofcourse these girls figured out how to get into the bins anyway... so about a foot is missing

They stick their head through the wire and pull leaf litter into the run. It all ends up raked up at some point and back into the compost cycle.

The last bin is a plastic drum. 40 Gallon... used to hold the syrup from the Coke factory. The Birmingham recycling place has a deal with Coke and they sell the drums for them for $10 a piece. You just gotta wash them out. I got them as rainbarrels too.

Anyway, that drum has holes in the bottom and is layered with kitchen scrap, chicken litter, weeds, grass clippings etc. The soldier flies decided they liked it and moved in... so now it's a soldier fly larvae farm. I have a piece of gutter in it so the larvae can crawl out (which they do after gorging themselves for two weeks). Either they burry into the ground to become a new fly... or the chickens eat them

They fall right outside the run, so once the chickens figure that out, it's game over for the flies.

Those larvae reduce that bin so fast that it never fills up. Everytime I think it's full... two days later it's down half a foot again. It's amazing.


Before the flies moved in, I emptied the barrel in my raised beds and dug the stuff under. Not anymore. I love getting garden help

 

[LindaB220]

I have 4 compost 'bins'. This is the stick pile.. I put all the sticks that fall off the tree in there.. plus fallen leaf and their shavings if there's too much to fit in the other bins. It actually grows mushrooms

So far it hasn't killed anyone yet, so they must not be poisonous. I used to put food scrap in there too but I stopped doing that. Now if the scrap is edible I toss it in the run, if it's not, it goes in the bin for the soldier flies... things like coffee grounds and orange peels and onion/potato peels.

I rake the run every once in a while and dump it all back into their pile, until it looks good... then it gets put into the other piles to complete composting.





Outside the run I have two bins made out of welded wire... I layered them last year with leaf and chicken poop. I've got pickles and scarlet runner beans growing in them right now. Ofcourse these girls figured out how to get into the bins anyway... so about a foot is missing

They stick their head through the wire and pull leaf litter into the run. It all ends up raked up at some point and back into the compost cycle.

The last bin is a plastic drum. 40 Gallon... used to hold the syrup from the Coke factory. The Birmingham recycling place has a deal with Coke and they sell the drums for them for $10 a piece. You just gotta wash them out. I got them as rainbarrels too.

Anyway, that drum has holes in the bottom and is layered with kitchen scrap, chicken litter, weeds, grass clippings etc. The soldier flies decided they liked it and moved in... so now it's a soldier fly larvae farm. I have a piece of gutter in it so the larvae can crawl out (which they do after gorging themselves for two weeks). Either they burry into the ground to become a new fly... or the chickens eat them

They fall right outside the run, so once the chickens figure that out, it's game over for the flies.

Those larvae reduce that bin so fast that it never fills up. Everytime I think it's full... two days later it's down half a foot again. It's amazing.


Before the flies moved in, I emptied the barrel in my raised beds and dug the stuff under. Not anymore. I love getting garden help

Yea!!!!! Shreveport has a coke bottling co. I'm going to contact them. I would love a few. Thanks

 

[Blooie]

Ho-hum...another day, another egg. Same hen, same size, and the egg did roll out just as we hoped! I'm thinking that the action of her getting out of the nest box "kicked" the egg into rolling, though, so may have to think about what Bruce said about nesting material - just because it works once or twice doesn't mean it's going to be foolproof every time. Some of the people who use rolling nesting boxes use pieces of Astroturf, but I wondered how the chickens can do their preparatory scratching and such. I saw her go into the nest this morning when I was out cleaning the poop board, so I just leaned against the wall and waited. She made a big show of picking up shavings and putting them on her back....is that something they usually do? I can't remember reading that anywhere. Anyway, it took her quite awhile to decided to settle down and get to work and she made the most pleasant chattering sound. THEN came the "egg song" as she hopped out of the nest - first time I've heard it and I jumped out of my skin at the first notes! It was loud!

TomTom, that makes sense about using chick feed for the first weeks, then switching. I assume that none of your chickens needed dialysis, so their kidneys must be okay. If I've learned anything on this site, it's that there are as many ways to do things as there are chicken raisers! If there was only one "right" way to raise fowl, this entire website could be read in half an hour! I usually read things and think that it would either work for me or be a disaster for my situation. But when it came to the discussions about feeding layer too early, most of the posters were so militant and sounded so convincing that I just followed along - after all, they know more about it than I do.

We haven't had any ant issues - our big problem for some reason this year is wasps. I hate them with a hatred that is totally beyond reasonable! Can't remember if I've ever had a traumatic experience with them or what but they infuriate me. My Uncle Lloyd (of Milk Dud fame) used to feed them when we were eating outside. He'd put a piece of baloney or other sandwich meat on a tree stump or empty picnic table away from us while we ate, and the wasps would be all over that, leaving us alone to enjoy our picnic. Me, I'd rather treat them to a Raid shower!

Thanks, Linda....lots of makeup and a very good photographer.

I haven't made black eyed peas in ages....wonder why not when we love them so much. We had roast beef last night with carrots and taters, so Ken will get his beef 'n onion hash tonight. We just make roast beef to anticipate that meal, lemme tell ya! I always put way more veggies with the roast than we really need in there so I can chop them all up for the hash, with tons of onions, coarse salt and pepper. Yummy! Hoping I can talk him into making his biscuits to go with it, but that's gonna depend on how today's butchering goes.

Right now he's driving an antique Allis Chalmers tractor in the Mustang Days parade in Lovell. There are 6 guys and 6 tractors, and they square dance with them. It's really something to see. Riley also has one additional tractor that faces backwards - he drives that one and the kids just love it. Picture it - 6 shiny orange tractors, six rather plump, older guys wearing bright green shirts with orange pumpkins on them, bib overalls and bandannas and their red fezzes making tractors dance. He'll come home sunburned and grinning, like he always does. I need to see if Riley has any pictures of them performing. I don't, and I don't know why except that I've only attended one of the parades and probably didn't think of it. Some years Ken also drives Turtles - little go-carts with turtle shells on them. That I think I do have a picture of...Evan just had to try it out!

 

[enola]

Astro turf is what I use. The hens will still scratch and shuffle and scratch and all those things preparatory 'things' they do before finally laying the egg. They really are not that particular as long it is not bright in the nest.

 

[perchie.girl]

Does anyone use an automatic chicken door??
This would be an extravagance for me way above my usual comfort zone so I'm very nervous about spending the money, but my kids all want to go in and get this for me.

. We will be going on vacation and even though my neighbor is wonderful about helping us out I don't want to become to much of a burden on her.

I am most interested in the people who use one in the northern states. We seem to have 9 months of winter in Wi. so I don't want one that I will be fussing most the year. especially during blizzards and at -20. I am looking at the Ador. but I'm worried it will ice up and not open or close properly.
Can anyone offer any insight or send me to a reliable resource? Please.
@Blooie welcome home. Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. Great pixs.


edited for spelling.

Not from a Northern state but How about building a chicken porch. Just an extension to cover the door so it doesnt get exposed to the elements.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Deb, great ideas!!

I love to be able to help people.... solve problems or just at least pose some ideas so that people can see there are lateral solutions out there.

One of my dads mottos was " "I cant't" never did anything"


deb

 

[Blooie]

The deed is done. Floyd and Charlie are in the outside refrigerator, all cleaned, prepped and waiting for a couple of days before I wrap them for the freezer. Speckles got a reprieve. It's strange, I don't know whether I should feel worse about butchering them or worse because I don't feel worse about butchering them. (You may have to read that sentence a couple of times for it to make sense.) When Ken was killing them it was harder than I thought it would be to see it. But as soon as he had them hung those thoughts left my mind and I just got busy with what had to be done. Does that make me less the gentle soul I always thought that I was? I mean, I hunt. I've shot cleaned and butchered many a deer, rabbit, and pheasant in my lifetime. As soon as Ken was done with the hard part it's like that part of my brain took over, shoved my heart out of the way, and I just started right in.

I think I'm gonna have to mull this over for a bit.

 

[LindaB220]

The deed is done. Floyd and Charlie are in the outside refrigerator, all cleaned, prepped and waiting for a couple of days before I wrap them for the freezer. Speckles got a reprieve. It's strange, I don't know whether I should feel worse about butchering them or worse because I don't feel worse about butchering them. (You may have to read that sentence a couple of times for it to make sense.) When Ken was killing them it was harder than I thought it would be to see it. But as soon as he had them hung those thoughts left my mind and I just got busy with what had to be done. Does that make me less the gentle soul I always thought that I was? I mean, I hunt. I've shot cleaned and butchered many a deer, rabbit, and pheasant in my lifetime. As soon as Ken was done with the hard part it's like that part of my brain took over, shoved my heart out of the way, and I just started right in.

I think I'm gonna have to mull this over for a bit.

Honey, it's the same ol', same ol' Not new to you, just a shade different. After he was through, it was just food preparation, right.

 

[Blooie]

Honey, it's the same ol', same ol' Not new to you, just a shade different. After he was through, it was just food preparation, right.

You're right....no more mulling. It's food on the table and that was the plan all along. It was just the initial few minutes that bothered me and then when I got to work I didn't even think about it again. That doesn't make me a different person than I thought I was - it means I'm capable of providing well for my family. Period.

Now, are they supposed to refrigerated covered or uncovered? Can't find anything that tells me, so I covered them.