Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[FloridaGal]

Yes, we, too have a "chicken channel."

 

[Beezer]

This thread has been really great. Thanks so much!

 

[MiniCoop]

We can not have a rooster where we live. I wish I had known that when I put 3, 1 day old chicks under my broody hen to raise, that one of my other hens would decide that she had to turn protector and start crowing.

Also I did not know what great helpers :/ they would turn out to be in the garden. Every time I dig a shovel full of dirt, they will get in there and dig too. Sometimes in the shovel of dirt I'm trying to scoop out!

 

[3riverschick]

We can not have a rooster where we live. I wish I had known that when I put 3, 1 day old chicks under my broody hen to raise, that one of my other hens would decide that she had to turn protector and start crowing.

Also I did not know what great helpers

they would turn out to be in the garden. Every time I dig a shovel full of dirt, they will get in there and dig too. Sometimes in the shovel of dirt I'm trying to scoop out!

Just put the boy on craigslist. Someone will buy him or take him. Not a problem,
Karen

 

[JayJo]

This is such a great thread.

Three tools I have come to love for chicken coop maintenance:

Angle grinder - so much easier than snips for cutting hardware cloth. I just used it yesterday to cut the doors off a dog crate, after trying every other tool I owned.
Plastic putty knife - scrapes poop off of any surface.
Plastic zip ties - good for attaching things. Just really handy to have around.

 

[AllynTal]

This is such a great thread.

Three tools I have come to love for chicken coop maintenance:

Angle grinder - so much easier than snips for cutting hardware cloth. I just used it yesterday to cut the doors off a dog crate, after trying every other tool I owned.
Plastic putty knife - scrapes poop off of any surface.
Plastic zip ties - good for attaching things. Just really handy to have around.

X2 !

I also found this invaluable for coop cleaning:


The head with the brush and squeegee swivels.

I used to live in the Northeast just north of Boston before I moved to the Deep South. My husband has lived here all his life and has seen snow maybe twice (maybe) in his whole life and even then it was a few flakes that didn't even make it to the ground. After we built the big coop and went to clean it the first time, I pulled this out of the trunk of my car (it was next to the folding snow shovel, of course). My husband looked at it, turned it over a few times and asked me, "What is this for?" I told him it's the new coop-cleaning tool -- it's a combo poop scraper, litter brush and squeegee (because let's face it, something is always wet) on an extendable handle.

For those of you that are in the same boat as my husband, it's a snow brush/ice scraper/squeegee for cleaning the snow and ice off your car in the winter.

 

[csneill]

Wifey calls them on of 3 things...depending on which action is dominate...1) fly-running - when they take off from a perch and in flight, you see their legs going like they're running on air
                                                                                                           2) run-flying - when they run after you or another chicken ( or squirrel ) and hop....fly a few feet and hit the floor                                                                                                                                running...repeat, till target is reached or squirrel gets safely back up a tree
                                                                                                           3) rabid crazed action - when a burst of energy hits them from out of nowhere and they go in circles, zig zags and the like
                                                                                                               at top speed with legs and wings everywhere...it's like they're flying on the ground at mach 5

Now that I know what to look for I've seen all those running patterns this weekend!

 

[Carolinagirl61]

This is great! I just joined BYC today. Thank you for the info and I hope others have comments as well!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

This is great! I just joined BYC today. Thank you for the info and I hope others have comments as well!

Hi, welcome to byc!

 

[MiniCoop]

Just put the boy on craigslist. Someone will buy him or take him. Not a problem,
 Karen

Thank goodness the lady who gave me the chicks took them all back. Yea!