Well the title of this thread DOES say "OTs welcome"Yes, it drives him crazy to talk about other things besides chickens. He will live... because he is respected and liked in here reguardless of his .ummm..scolding.![]()
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Angela
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Well the title of this thread DOES say "OTs welcome"Yes, it drives him crazy to talk about other things besides chickens. He will live... because he is respected and liked in here reguardless of his .ummm..scolding.![]()
Could you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post some photos of that woods on wheels???Jack! The woods on wheels is working out well!. The humidity levels are low, and the temp inside the coop is a good 10-15 degrees warmer than the outside temps. Thanks SO much for your thread. Good timing, sir! I noticed you added a run, sorry about the predator losses. Nice to see you around.![]()
Way back in the thread there was talk about feeding broody chicks separate. I couldn't find it again.
Any hoo...I don't have a broody yet but have had plenty in the past. I like to keep the baby chicks on starter feed and their water dish cleaner and easily accessed for just them. This is my set up that has worked twenty years ago and how I will do it again. My dishes are vintage glass. vintage meaning as old as I am or older. Hah!
I made show pens for conditioning and training bantams way back when. Since I plan on doing that again I needed to work on my old cages a bit. The chicks can leave momma broody and roam in and out of the cage easily and the larger birds in the flock can't.
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I use deep litter inside the hen house that has a vinyl floor. I put down a layer of dirt originally from the garden to have some native "bugs" in there. Has worked fine for what I'm trying to accomplish. Here is an article on deep litter you may find interesting. I thought the comments about having a bit of ammonia as a cocci deterrent was interesting. http://www.plamondon.com/faq_deep_litter.htmlOk, let me get us back on track then. I have a deep litter question. I may have been very confused about this. Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard? I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day. I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks. Should I leave it???? Does deep littler work outside? I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet. I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not? Advise?
I'm having a terrible chicken night.. My turkeys nearly killed my cochin rooster. They ate up a lot of his comb, and he has lost a whole lot of blood. He's eating like a champ right now and I have him all cleaned up and in the basement in a big dog kennel until he can regain some composure. He is very weak from the blood loss.
Also one of my Ameraucana bantam chicks in the outside brooder was FREEZING. Brought her in as well. I think Carlton will be okay. Once I get my breeding pens built this weekend, he can have one of those to recover in. *sigh*
Oh and one of my broodies chicks died. Not sure what happened there. So she has one lonely chick. What a day...
Ok, let me get us back on track then. I have a deep litter question. I may have been very confused about this. Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard? I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day. I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks. Should I leave it???? Does deep littler work outside? I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet. I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not? Advise?
Ok, let me get us back on track then. I have a deep litter question. I may have been very confused about this. Do you use DL IN the coop or in both the coop and yard? I have a 6x8 shed coop with a vinyl tile floor so deep litter doesn't work there but I also have a 16x23 half covered fenced run that the chickens are in most of the day. I have just dirt and bark out there and I rake poop up every day but I have started laying down alfalfa for them to pick through and am starting to get quite a thick floor of hay stalks. Should I leave it???? Does deep littler work outside? I do live in the Seattle area so it's wet, wet, wet. I'm afraid I would just have a rotten primordial goo but maybe not? Advise?
I had the same question!! My little chicken house is also vinyl floor but I have been keeping a deep litter in it anyway and throw on a pair of gloves and mix it around every couple days. I completely change it out when I notice it getting too wet. I also started a dl in the run (uncovered). The nice thing about having it in the run is that it keeps it from becoming a huge muddy mess when it rains. I am in Arizona and while it is normally very dry here, when it rains, you can end up with several inches of mud on the bottom of your shoe! I am using a mix of straw and pine shavings. The only thing I am having trouble with is the chickens scratching all the litter into their food, so I am looking into ways to elevate the ff dishes. I am also assuming that I will always need to provide some sort of grit since the ground is not always visible?? Another question I have is when you do deep litter in the run, do you just throw out treats and/or scratch into the deep litter or is that not good? Seems like their squash gets covered in pine shavings sometimes and I don't know how much of the silly shavings they are ingesting. Thanks for any advice on this for both me and SandBsmom!
Certainly. I'll take better close up pictures tomorrow. It's basically a hodge podge of welded wire fencing pieces and parts. The bottom is new 1/2 inch hard ware cloth. I just did add that bottom because I want to use this cage this coming summer to show train the Silkies before a show.Could you elaborate on this a bit...How did you make it - what materials did you use?
Sitting on the dock of the bayWatching the tide roll awayI'm just sitting on the dock of the bayWasting timeAwww....Thank you. It was kind of more him walking me. I used a little kitty harness on him and a long silk ribbon. He just kind of foraged around the grounds and I followed. By the third weekend I could gently tug on the ribbon and he would follow me for a few steps at a time. Patrons to the fair were astounded and would stop dead in their tracks when they saw us. Many many people wanted to have their picture taken with the chicken. When it was really crowded I would put him on my fore arm to keep him safe from being trampled on. You would not believe how many people asked me if he was a real chicken. So many city folk had never seen a live chicken. I was dumb struck by that.
Loved that picture too
Oh...On that subject of all the horse people on this thread? I am also a horse breeder and trainer from way back. I used to breed Arabians, trained for people, and gave riding lessons to children and adults. Sold my last horse in 1990 when my fourth child was born.
Heres an old picture of my sis and I back on the farm riding our cow ponies. I'm on the bay. 1969. Hows that for an old photo? Hah!
You crack me up! Hah!Sitting on the dock of the bayWatching the tide roll awayI'm just sitting on the dock of the bayWasting time
Yay! Sometimes I get it right. Glad to be of help to get those thinking juices flowing for you.Mumsy, you gave me a great idea for feeding chicks in the next couple of days..the chicks should be hatching next week.