Utah!

[Cynthia12]

Here are the two little barn yard mixes I kept. Big chicks.. I think one is a girl, and one is a boy, my guess. You can see the that one has some black in it, should look pretty when all grown up. Hoping that is the girl.
And, one just for fun..my daughter brought over her two little dogs, and my son is being attacked by all four dogs, yes, there are four, see the little black and tan hot dog..doggy?

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

What a cute kid! And daughter....and chicks! And dogs lol! Thanks for sharing the fun pics Those chicks do look big, wow

 

[the-bird-man]

Eeek! Hope it does not go in your basement if you have one, our neighborhood has been dealing with that on and off since last year

Your chickens still dry ? hope so.

no basement flooding as of yet. if i had to i could fill old feed bags with sand for sand bags. also have a lot of ways to get rid of the water if i had too. my coop is still dry, it sits on sandy/rocky soil and is on a slight hill so the water drains away if it does not just go into the soil. i also put a good foot of leaves around the coop so it helps with any erosion i might have and then the water helps rot the leaves so it will be good in the garden and around the lilac bushes that sit around the coop. oh and on a side note it looks like my state senator is going to try to make it legal to have rain barrels so those who happen to have them would not be breaking the law. i plan on getting stock tanks and breeding gold fish to feed the girls a treat now and then and have some duck weed in it so maybe the girls will like some. i have a friend who does this and it works well for her and because goldfish breed so fast and are so easy to keep she ends up feeding lots of gold fish to her flock

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

Birdman: Goldfish---I never would have thought they would like those, interesting! I wonder why they would not have allowed rain barrels before? Sheesh. Some people go overboard with rules, think others have no sense and have to govern everything they do. Glad to hear you are staying dry so far. Good idea about the leaves too, might have to try that one!

 

[Sphinx]

Cute chicks, grandson, and dogs Cynthia!!!! Those blue eggs are stunning.


Glad you're still mostly dry, Birdman.

 

[Cynthia12]

no basement flooding as of yet. if i had to i could fill old feed bags with sand for sand bags. also have a lot of ways to get rid of the water if i had too. my coop is still dry, it sits on sandy/rocky soil and is on a slight hill so the water drains away if it does not just go into the soil. i also put a good foot of leaves around the coop so it helps with any erosion i might have and then the water helps rot the leaves so it will be good in the garden and around the lilac bushes that sit around the coop. oh and on a side note it looks like my state senator is going to try to make it legal to have rain barrels so those who happen to have them would not be breaking the law. i plan on getting stock tanks and breeding gold fish to feed the girls a treat now and then and have some duck weed in it so maybe the girls will like some. i have a friend who does this and it works well for her and because goldfish breed so fast and are so easy to keep she ends up feeding lots of gold fish to her flock

wow, you have some great plans. I've seen those rain barrels at work on a site..that's pretty neat. Glad to hear that you aren't getting too much water! I am finding that sand around my coop run is the best also. It doesn't get slippery when wet, like the mud!
Gold fish? Chickens will eat gold fish? I guess, they are like little goats, eat most anything. I just watched my Little Red stick her head through the coop run, and eat big chunks of snow, of course that isn't eating, but it looked like eating, because of the chunk sizes. lol..and I just put fresh water in all three water containers in there!! Silly chickens.

 

[Cynthia12]

Cute chicks, grandson, and dogs Cynthia!!!! Those blue eggs are stunning.


Glad you're still mostly dry, Birdman.

lol..that's my son Shinx. We get that sometimes..because, we do actually have a grandson that was born just 6 weeks before him. I had him later in my years, but sure am glad I did. Great kid. I'm feeling the empty nest syndrome, finally, at my age..lol..because he works, is gone a lot with this that and anther thing to do. Guess it's good..he will be going on his mission right after school is out this year. Later birthday..Sept. so, still in high school at 18 right now.
My daughter in that picture is my first born. So, there are my first, and my last babies in that picture..just thought of that. Cute!
Shinx, how are your eggs coming along? I candled a few last night just to take a peek, not all of them, but I see little black eyeballs. )

 

[the-bird-man]

yeah i am told chickens love goldfish. it is against state law to collect rain because the state says they own the water. its stupid imo. talked to a state politician and he was shocked we have such a law and seemed mad. hopefully they will change it. its funny because they sell rain barrels in the stores and most people do not know they are breaking the law if they use them. i think its super smart to have them and because i have one it saved my garden this past summer when that main state water line broke and we could not use outside water, it was a big deal for me because i rely on my garden for food. if i expand with stock tanks i think it would be good. goldfish eat any bugs in the water such as those little blood suckers we all hate and the goldfish are great treats for chickens. yeah the leaves are working great. i had erosion problems in the spring but these leaves work great and they are also composting down well. straw would also work. the area in front of my coop is dirt and i once had a mud problem but i pressed a ton of straw into the mud and compacted it down and now it works the same way of the mud bricks people make in parts of the world. its as strong as cement.

 

[La Casa de Pollo]

yeah i am told chickens love goldfish. it is against state law to collect rain because the state says they own the water. its stupid imo. talked to a state politician and he was shocked we have such a law and seemed mad. hopefully they will change it. its funny because they sell rain barrels in the stores and most people do not know they are breaking the law if they use them. i think its super smart to have them and because i have one it saved my garden this past summer when that main state water line broke and we could not use outside water, it was a big deal for me because i rely on my garden for food. if i expand with stock tanks i think it would be good. goldfish eat any bugs in the water such as those little blood suckers we all hate and the goldfish are great treats for chickens.  yeah the leaves are working great. i had erosion problems in the spring but these leaves work great and they are also composting down well. straw would also work. the area in front of my coop is dirt and i once had a mud problem but i pressed a ton of straw into the mud and compacted it down and now it works the same way of the mud bricks people make in parts of the world. its as strong as cement.

Interesting again! Around my coop was just grass, but because of opening the doors and shavings/poop/feed falling out all the time my grass is about gone and it is getting messy. Thought about building a 3 foot border all the way around the run/coop area, like a giant raised bed/sandbox.... with railroad ties or something as a border, but was not sure what to put inside the three foot area of the border to keep it from being a mudhole right around the coop. Leaves/straw would be nice, I was thinking about putting a few bushes around too to make some shade for my girls, the leaves/ straw would help mulch them. Thanks for the ideas

 

[Sphinx]

Sorry Cynthia, I read wrong. I thought you'd said it was your daughter and her son. Your son is very cute, and I'm sure he's livened things up.

Anyway, I find it very interesting that it's illegal to collect rainwater.

My eggs are doing well- one was a dud and one died at 7 days along. The other five are doing really well. I set them in the evening on 1/15, so I'm planning on hatching on Monday, 2/6.