Things I do after thirty years with chickens

[IdealisticRoo]

Howdy BYC-ers! This forum was my social outlet ten years ago when I moved home and returned to chickens from the city.
A visit to my posts here reminds me how chicken therapy got me through some rough years.
I started raising chickens as a kid and I wanted to share my top things that I still see other people not doing and losing birds.

The first week I use chick starter as bedding. Yep. Its not slippery and it gets them started eating. It is a little wasteful but they seem to live better.
The expensive metal brooders have the feeders and waterers outside the brooder! We can do this with a cereal box and a hole cut with a knife putting the food and water outside the brooder box so they cannot soil the feed after week one and they are on shavings.
The milk jug goes on the other side of the box. No more mess in the waterer. Just a head hole for each.
They also get spaghetti squash and oatmeal and flightless fruit flies wander out of the can they ship With a hole in the lid.
This is what worked for me for less than ten chicks at a time

 

[IdealisticRoo]

Close up the milk jug side the hole cut an inch higher to keep bedding and birds out.

 

[Chick Wrangler]

Thanks for sharing! It's always interesting to hear what has worked for others. Especially the tried & true over time!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

Its 5 weeks and after a pan of dirt was introduced in last weeks brooder this week is all dirt and no shavings. My favorite place to gather dirt is from a well drained wash behind the house around an antpile! The ants bring up the perfect size grit! Make sure there are no poisons used in the area you gather dirt/grit!

I scatter food by the feeder holes since the feeder is on a different side. The bricks are thermal mass and a counterweight because teenage chickens love to scatter and be crazy!

Many thanks to the big A for the giant brooder boxes that come around the dog food!

I hope your coop is full and your troubles are few! Pleasant days to all of you! 🕊

 

[Chickensandhorsesforlife]

cool thread

 

[alwaystj9]

Great to see someone else using found/scrounged/repurposed objects. Those pretty colored plastic chicken apparatus are not necessary to raise happy, healthy chickens!

 

[Mellowmalt]

Hi KIdealistic, welcome back to the forum.
I started keeping chickens in the back garden as a kid. Technically it wasn't really our garden it was a field that didn't belong to us and I built the coop there as my parents didn't want them messing up the garden. As a kid I started to resent having to clean them and get the eggs on those really cold winter mornings when school was enough of a mission but after a 5 year break from keeping chickens myself I'm hoping they will help me with some chicken therapy too. I have some chicks keeping me entertained, building a new coop for them, the usual story but I feel more prepared than ever so these guys have that in their advantage.
I just hope my dog gets on with them.

 

[IdealisticRoo]

They get bigger every day! At this age the goal is to see how much food and veg. And grit I can get into them!
Todays project is paper wrapped around an oatmeal Cardboard cylinder to supplement the two hole side feeder! A rock in the base to prevent tipping and the paper takes it to the top of the enclosure so they dont roost on and drop droppings into it.

The dirt and grit are much more like kitty litter. It absorbs odor and makes the garage smell better. Pine shaving soaked in chicken poo is my least favorite smell!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I guess I was wrong about their age. They will be a month old in two days! Ideal sure sends happy healthy birds and I haven’t had any birds pass for years!

 

[IdealisticRoo]

I cut the bottom off a 2 liter soda bottle and cut three holes around the neck to increase feeder stability and capacity!

My plastic feeder was cute but I was scaring the birds every time I pulled it out to clean and fill it.

I prefer to build trust with my birds over time through slow movements and cautious handling. In my experience, birds that have been gentled have their instincts numbed by constant handling and they move and react slower. 🕊

Enough posting for today, I go now to read a few posts then back to dishes and laundry. I hope your chickens outnumber your troubles my friends...