All of my heritage RIR cockerels are between seven and eight months old. Their hackles and tails have gone through the five month old molt and are nearly grown in now. I say nearly because HRIR take a full year to mature. They still have feathers coming in.
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They look great.you are doing an awesome job!!
If it is sunny it will heat up more, but not by much. it is insulated not only from the cold..from heat too. Try adding hot water to your mix next time to see how the temp holds.
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I raise and show Orpingtons..that is a really nice chicken that represents a buff Orpington. A buff Orpington is all one solid gold color. Males can take 18 months to fully mature and tails and hackle feathers usually come in at 16 weeks when they start to sexually mature.
Yes, can someone please explain this? Some people use their run as their compost pile but we have all been warned of the dangers of feeding moldy stuff to our flocks. What is a compost pile but a bunch of decomposing food? Seems contradictory! I don't put anything moldy or to far gone in my run--that goes in the covered composter.
Leslie--these are not silly questions!! For years I tried to impress upon members of my "team" to leave grass clippings on the lawn as it was better for the lawn. I, too, got arguments and/or condescending/pitying looks or blank stares. So I did my research and worked it into the conversations..."I read an article or saw a program about the uses for leaves, yard debris, etc...." After a few years, it FINALLY sunk in!Yes, these questions seem silly to me in a lot of ways, but each time I bring this topic up -- we have a landscape maintenance business and haul home several pick-up loads of yard debris every single day -- I get shut down with a story about how the stuff that is brought home wouldn't be fit for the chickens. Of course the chickens have access to whatever falls on the ground inside their area, and climb the trees to get at more, and there are other trees on the property dropping stuff I think the chickens might enjoy scratching around in If someone would be so kind as to rake some up and haul it and dump some of it out in the run ... or maybe the drier stuff could be even be used for bedding in the coop. But I just get arguments and/or condescending/pitying looks or blank stares when I try to discuss it with the Powers That Be.
I'm trying super hard to convert my "team" to the idea of using naturally gathered bedding in the chicken coops. As long as it is healthy. Leaves are falling now, it has hardly been raining here so those leaves are just about dry. Simultaneously, members of my "team" habitually complain about the expense of shavings, so I'm trying to encourage them to get out the rakes and put their SKILLS to use. No ... I couldn't possibly do it all myself. But let's say I could come up with the magic words to inspire a team effort, would I be harming the birds to toss in "whatever" gets swept up into their coop/run/pasture areas?
Just for the sake of irony ... I've been talking about this for AGES, particularly the part about how much the chickens LOVE scratching through the evergreen droppings ... and recently one of the team thought the chicken area looked messy, so raked up a wide path of evergreen droppings and HAULED THEM AWAY to the monster of a compost pile the maintenance debris goes to!
I'm not sure I feel better after that rant ...
They are beautiful, Chrysolin!! Congrats!!
Good Luck BBN with the roosting situation & the coop!!Well tonight is a test. I may not get any eggs tomorrow for the disruption but will see. I went out and outed "charlotte" from the little coop nesting box and the rooster out t of the little coop roost bar. Closed it up to force them to roost with the newest girls on the roosts to the large coop.
They were still shifting and arguing about who gets which positional squatting rights when I came in... hopefully this breaks Charlotte of nest roosting.
Everyone pray (that believes in it) or wish me luck in the adjustment if that is your forte,
Thursday is supposed to be decent so hopefully will finish the coop up by weekend. After the first and bills are paid will see what funds I have for more Tar paper to cover outside all the way. Cutting and hinging the pop door tomorrow when neighbor drops off his sawsall. Maybe some trim work too.
I did put a small pile in and tossed some scraps at the base and then going up in a trail, and it only took them one day to decide it was OK to climb on and scatter the leaves. So now maybe I'll put some more in!A week ago I hauled 6 - 8 tarps full of leaves over in my chickens run. The leaves stacked as tall as myself. 5ft. The chickens left them alone for many days and now they go through them as if looking for a needle in a haystack. I thought about taking a before pic but didn't and this is today. Just an idea, just throw some grain or something else they like to scratch for in/on the leaves. Maybe that will help.
Seriously, the leaves were going over the fence, they were stacked so tall.
What was the different creative alternative they used? We're going to build a fence around a very large area next spring so we can have a vegetable garden and grow some flowers & trees that we can't now because of deer. My DH wants to use treated wood for the posts (around a vegetable garden?!?) because he says the cedar will rot faster. I'm desperately trying to get him to use something else. I've already convinced him to use metal siding instead of treated planks.
When I bought my house I removed the rotten deck and replaced it with composite board. Best investment I ever made!! 8 years later and it still looks great. If I could I would of used the composite board for the frame of the hoop coop. Def wouldn't have to worry about rot or mites. I used a few pieces for my raised garden as well. Still holding strong
You might want to see if you can ask them to either "coarse grind" or just "crack" the grains. It will make it less powdery!
Cute coop. that TEX decking will last forever
Now I have to go find out what a hammermill is.................you guys always give me more homework
I did put a small pile in and tossed some scraps at the base and then going up in a trail, and it only took them one day to decide it was OK to climb on and scatter the leaves. So now maybe I'll put some more in!
I love the picture of your flock!
What was the different creative alternative they used? We're going to build a fence around a very large area next spring so we can have a vegetable garden and grow some flowers & trees that we can't now because of deer. My DH wants to use treated wood for the posts (around a vegetable garden?!?) because he says the cedar will rot faster. I'm desperately trying to get him to use something else. I've already convinced him to use metal siding instead of treated planks.
Does setting the posts in concrete prevent them from leaching underground? I was thinking we could do that and then cover the exposed part with those sleeves they have for posts. If it's kept dry, it shouldn't be leaching.
I did have to use some treated wood when I built the chicken coop because some of the sizes only came in treated form around here. I covered all of it up or painted it with about 5 coats of paint, though, so hopefully it will be OK. It won't be getting wet and leaching bad things into the ground.
I'd love to use composite board as posts for our garden fence, but it's sooo expensive! We just built our house (well, we're still finishing it off on the inside!), and we had some leftover Trex from the deck (we were thrilled when the contractor who did the shell package said he'd use Trex - after giving us the quote we'd already accepted!). I used those leftover planks to build the deck and stairs for the coop:
