The Front Porch Swing

[vehve]

So I learned NOT to wear a red shirt when tending to chickens. I was pecked at and used as a ladder for 3 to fight over yesterday. I bent over to adjust the feeders and BAM! 3 of them jumped on my back and would not get off. Holy crud did they scare me. I stood up and they refused to let go flapping and clawing to stay on me. I bet it was quite a sight. My normally docile group just went mental. I can only assume it was the color of my shirt. Today they are fine just hanging around with me.

No more red for me, it doesn't look that great on me anyway.

Don't wear it into the bull pen either

 

[perchie.girl]

So I learned NOT to wear a red shirt when tending to chickens. I was pecked at and used as a ladder for 3 to fight over yesterday. I bent over to adjust the feeders and BAM! 3 of them jumped on my back and would not get off. Holy crud did they scare me. I stood up and they refused to let go flapping and clawing to stay on me. I bet it was quite a sight. My normally docile group just went mental. I can only assume it was the color of my shirt. Today they are fine just hanging around with me.

No more red for me, it doesn't look that great on me anyway.

I am sorry .... but...... Bwahahahahahahah....

Glad you werent hurt... But the imagery...

 

[tntchix]

Don't wear it into the bull pen either

most definitely not.

 

[tntchix]

I am sorry .... but...... Bwahahahahahahah....

Glad you werent hurt... But the imagery...

I know right? Thank goodness no one saw me.

 

[vehve]

That sort of reminds me of what a ridiculous looking venture my first attempts at herding the flock back into their run must have been. Now we've got them trained to come running when shouting "Kanakanakanakana" in a high pitched voice and throwing down some oats (kana is Finnish for chicken), but in the beginning getting them in without help was a 20 minute undertaking involving strategic placing of a rake, the run door and a chair and running circles around the coop with a brush in the hand trying to get the chickens to go back in, each lap getting one in just in time for another one to go out while starting the next lap.

 

[tntchix]

That sort of reminds me of what a ridiculous looking venture my first attempts at herding the flock back into their run must have been. Now we've got them trained to come running when shouting "Kanakanakanakana" in a high pitched voice and throwing down some oats (kana is Finnish for chicken), but in the beginning getting them in without help was a 20 minute undertaking involving strategic placing of a rake, the run door and a chair and running circles around the coop with a brush in the hand trying to get the chickens to go back in, each lap getting one in just in time for another one to go out while starting the next lap.

now i don't feel so bad. *chicken laps*

I would really get in shape doing those. phew.

 

[dpenning]

. At my home I only have my horse. And a huge pile of projects waiting for me for when I move back. first and foremost will be getting the house liveable again.

Then the deconstruction and transformation of my chicken coop into a poultry house. I want to disassemble it and move it abouf 100 feet and reassemble it and pretty much double the square footage.

deb

Deb,

I take it you have someone that cares for your horse while you are away?

I'll go. I'm Dawn, live in North Dallas with a few acres out in the country that we run to every weekend. I live with my beloved (aka husband) two Pomeranians an English Mastiff and 6 chickens. All but the chickens do a weekend commute. The girls stay in the country. My goal is to move out there full time but hubs job has to change first. I can commute from there but he cant. I've managed to make the chickens totally self sufficient for a couple weeks at a time. So far so good, they have been in their big girl house for about 6 weeks now and it is working well.

 

[LindaB220]

I shall then continue in the same fashion.

I'm Felix, and I live in Kirkkonummi, 20 km west of Helsinki, the capitol of Finland. I live with my better half, our two labradors and dachshund, and 8 chickens, in a semi-detached house in a suburban area that would lean the scale more to the rural side.

The chickening is a new venture for this spring, but the thought had been brewing in the backs of our heads for a few years already. I enjoy all kinds of tinkering and building stuff, a bit of photography, some hunting, but my main passion among my hobbies is cooking. I know a little bit of everything, and everything about nothing.

At the moment I'm studying media technology, and that moment has lasted for quite some time. The dream is to move to a large farm at some point, and be self employed working from home.

I like debating things with people, and usually get into long arguments about the most silliest things. I never get offended, and that leads to me often assuming the same of other people, so I apologize in advance for some of the comments I'm surely going to make in the future.

Hey Felix, great to have you on the porch. I've been keeping up with your composting on another thread. I love to get the ways and means of raising chickens in Finland. It's so different from the deep south of the US.

 

[vehve]

Deb,

I take it you have someone that cares for your horse while you are away?

I'll go. I'm Dawn, live in North Dallas with a few acres out in the country that we run to every weekend. I live with my beloved (aka husband) two Pomeranians an English Mastiff and 6 chickens. All but the chickens do a weekend commute. The girls stay in the country. My goal is to move out there full time but hubs job has to change first. I can commute from there but he cant. I've managed to make the chickens totally self sufficient for a couple weeks at a time. So far so good, they have been in their big girl house for about 6 weeks now and it is working well.

What do you do for egg collection? I'm guessing keeping the eggs in outside temperatures isn't a good idea with a Texan climate.

 

[vehve]

Hey Felix, great to have you on the porch. I've been keeping up with your composting on another thread. I love to get the ways and means of raising chickens in Finland. It's so different from the deep south of the US.

Don't take my methods as general methods for Finland - I'm only in the learning stages still, and I don't really have any Finnish chicken keeper friends to compare stories with. The climate is a bit different from yours though

I try to think of the best way to keep a flock alive through winter (other than moving them into our bedroom), but I'm sure my coop will show some defects that Ill have to attend to in -20 deg C. I also try to build everything as low maintenance as possible, and since it's in the middle of our yard, I like to keep things nice to look at too. That compost I'm always rambling about will soon be painted grey, like our deck and fence.