Washingtonians

[jbear]

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I bet that's a sight to see! LOL

Are your veggies cold and washed away yet?

We got a light FROST up here last night...it was 38 when I left for work!

too funny! I bet they were as loud as the horn thingey! lol!! and a FROST??? WHERE is SUMMER?? Hope my daddio's garden is alright... sheesh..

 

[jbear]

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My bird's feeder is in the coop, even if food is spilled, none is exposed to rain, dirt, poop, rats, etc.

Mine is in the coop too-- waterers inside/outside.. I take the food and water out overnite, 'cause I have a couple of young ducks that like to go in the hen house at night too... they are messy..

 

[justbugged]

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[Eagle2026]

I have some pheasant eggs if anyone wants to try and hatch them.
I have stopped putting eggs into my GQF's.
Just enough chicks is the reasoning.
Come and pick em up if you'd like to.
Usually get home before 4:00 pm
Monroe fairgrounds
425 232-2116
Mike
About 3 dz avail.

 

[jbear]

Quote:
My bird's feeder is in the coop, even if food is spilled, none is exposed to rain, dirt, poop, rats, etc.

Mine is in the coop too-- waterers inside/outside.. I take the food and water out overnite, 'cause I have a couple of young ducks that like to go in the hen house at night too... they are messy..

you actually asked a lot of different questions there didn't ya?

Mine free range during the day, and are in the hen house at night.. so as far as cleaning the house, I use shavings from the feed store, and keep that stirred up(it gets compacted and unhealthy I think) and I sorta sift out the big poo's that kind of gather under their roosts. If your shavings aren't too deep-- and they aren't really dirty, you can throw some scratch in there and the chickens will keep it aerated themselves. Even as mine free range, they are still in a fenced yard.. I just rake it periodically to loosen up any poo and let it break down into the grass. as far as your coop/run.. I am not sure.. maybe someone who has to keep their chickens in a run will have some good ideas.. I think if you look thru the coop/run maint board you might run across some good ideas and find something that will work well for your coop. You could use shavings and when you rake it to clean it, you could probably find a home for your 'home-grown' fertilizer if you don't already have a garden and flower beds! lol! I think a rake is your best friend!

also--for their waterer, I have it up on a wood block--elevated out of the shavings when it's in the hen house. and that really helps keep the shavings OUT of the waterer and also keeps the shavings dry. ..
Anyway...hope that gives you some ideas! It has been soo wet and gross!! everything is soggy .. blech.

 

[NWChicks]

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you actually asked a lot of different questions there didn't ya?

Mine free range during the day, and are in the hen house at night.. so as far as cleaning the house, I use shavings from the feed store, and keep that stirred up(it gets compacted and unhealthy I think) and I sorta sift out the big poo's that kind of gather under their roosts. If your shavings aren't too deep-- and they aren't really dirty, you can throw some scratch in there and the chickens will keep it aerated themselves. Even as mine free range, they are still in a fenced yard.. I just rake it periodically to loosen up any poo and let it break down into the grass. as far as your coop/run.. I am not sure.. maybe someone who has to keep their chickens in a run will have some good ideas.. I think if you look thru the coop/run maint board you might run across some good ideas and find something that will work well for your coop. You could use shavings and when you rake it to clean it, you could probably find a home for your 'home-grown' fertilizer if you don't already have a garden and flower beds! lol! I think a rake is your best friend!

also--for their waterer, I have it up on a wood block--elevated out of the shavings when it's in the hen house. and that really helps keep the shavings OUT of the waterer and also keeps the shavings dry. ..
Anyway...hope that gives you some ideas! It has been soo wet and gross!! everything is soggy .. blech.

I did! Sorry!

Thanks for the responses. I'll look at the coop forum and see what people are doing there. My waterer is up on a block but when I put them to bed tonight I noticed the block had several wet spots on it. I don't know if they were splashing around in it or what!?

Tossing scratch in to keep it churned up is a good idea though, I'll definitely be doing that! Guess I'll go dig the rake out!

 

[Chicken Rustler]

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Sure I would be more than willing to share info about the build but not sure I should take up space here. Unless there are others who would like to know too.
I will tell ya where the best to get parts is. Down at the midnight auto supply. You know the one at the corner of GRAB IT AND RUN !!!!

 

[justbugged]

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OK it's my turn to try to answer some of your questions. I had to think about it for awhile.

I have tried both shavings and straw. I definitely prefer straw in the coop. The shavings were more apt to pack down; it's also more difficult to remove. I have a rather different coop. It has 2 drawers in it that are on each side of the coop. They pull out and you can see the 4 nests easily. When we first built it we didn't put any lids over the nesting boxes. So the girls were nesting on the nests dividers, it was yucky. The girls were still young enough that they didn't need the nesting boxes yet, but I had to do something. We came up with putting a cover over the boxes and added a roost on top of the top. So now they roost at night and poop on the nesting board cover, that is just wide enough to scrape down with our large dust pan. I use DE and Stall Dry on the board after I clean it. This keeps it fairly dry, and not quite as smelly. We now are able to scrape the poop and I am still looking for a use for fairly clean straight chicken poop. I am a little scared to use it before it is aged. So next year should be a great batch of gardens around my house. For the nesting boxes I use straw. It is fluffier and seems to stay fairly dry. I use DE and Stall Dry in the straw also. Straw when it is nasty dirty does stick together but that makes it easier to dung out. I use a spading fork to pull out the straw. We have been dumping the dirty straw into the yard waste bins. So far we are getting away with it. The best thing I did was limit how many girls I was keeping. I could still drop my flock number down, and things in my coop would be better yet. Overcrowding will cause a coop to be nasty, smelly, and unhealthy for the girls no matter what bedding you use.

In my run we at first just used the natural ground that of course got nasty fairly quickly. We then used a layer or two of shavings to cover the run. It didn't hold up very well, and then it started to really rain the shavings got even more nasty. I got to reading about what others were using in their runs, and I decided on sand. So far that has been the best in the run space. I still get a couple of puddles and I have to add layers about every 3 or4 months. Now a year later we are looking at the daunting task of digging out the run. I have already done a little bit and the layer of shavings is the most compact, nastiest and smelliest layer. The sand is fairly easy to dig up, but my dear DH is feeling over whelmed with the task of digging it out. I have an idea about using a small landscaper’s style loader. I don't know if I can find one for rent, but I am going to try. Our door to the run is wide enough that we should be able to get it into the run. Then we will have to figure out what to do with the sand and gunk. After we clean out the run we will put down another layer of sand.

For water we are using an auto-water system. I have issues with my birds possibly not having water. (I have been a very bad flock owner in the past.) I also know that my ADD is bad enough to not want to even risk it. I have food hanging in the coop, and a feeder under cover in the run. The girls prefer the feeder outside. I keep the bags of feed in the green house that is right next to the coop. My very smart and talented DH didn't read anything about coop building before he built me this coop. So I am working really hard at appreciating it, both the good parts of it and it's flaws. Also the girls seem to like it and don't seem to care until I pull out the drawer and take away the eggs from under them. I have 3 broody hens right now. The 2 Faverolles really get mad at me when I insist on taking away the eggs and then petting them. Miss Inky tolerates the petting, but that must be a Silkie thing.

The things that I would like to change are first I would like to cover more of my run. We need to cut down the willow tree that is in the corner of the run. The willow always leafs out in early spring and then it starts to rain and the tree looses all of it leaves. The neighbor, who is an arborist, tells me that it is a fungus. But the tree does this every year now and I am ready to get it out of my life and out of the run. I have been very reluctant to get rid of the tree because when it finally stops raining, the tree leafs out again, and then I can't see the neighbor’s house as well. I have been trying to not see neighbor’s houses for the past 10 years. I really miss the house I was living in down in Camas. We didn't even need drapes or curtains in that house. Okay back to my list I would also like to move the clump of bamboo that is in the run. We increased the size of the run and it is now inside the run. I love that clump of bamboo. I also am not overly fond of the drawers on the coop. They are fairly heavy and some days I hurt bad enough that pulling them out, and pushing them back in, is quite the chore. I would also like to have more roosting space, so that all the girls have a spot over a poop tray. I would like to have an easier method of putting food into the feeder inside the run. I am sure I have other things I would like to tweak, but I am a having a hard time remembering them all tonight. I will have to tuck this wish list into a Word document, and add to it as I remember.

I do let the girls out at least once or twice a week, to go bug hunting. I just have lock the puppies into the house so they don't go chicken licking. After I put the girls back in the run I then have to go around the yard with a garden hose and wash the poopoo into the lawn, so that the dirty little puppies don't go out and eat it. I keep hoping that it is diluted enough that to be just organic fertilizer. I am praying that it won't hurt the lawn because it is so fresh. I also give the girls all the vegi trimmings from the kitchen, and some grass clippings when we mow the lawn. I also weed and they get anything that I know is safe. I have been known to raid the neighbor's yards as well when I see a big dandelion getting ready to bloom.

On the moldy food, I have been following a thread about some chicks that ate some moldy food, I don't know if they will make it. I have a whole bag of food that got left in the rain for awhile, and when I opened it up today I found mold in it. I am going to throw the whole bag out rather than risk my girl's health. This will mean that I will not be leaving a bag of feed out in the rain again. I try to never make the same mistake twice. I prefer to be creative and make new mistake every time, and I am very good at making mistakes.

Well goodnight to all and best wishes on all of your families and flocks.

 

[justbugged]

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Sure I would be more than willing to share info about the build but not sure I should take up space here. Unless there are others who would like to know too.
I will tell ya where the best to get parts is. Down at the midnight auto supply. You know the one at the corner of GRAB IT AND RUN !!!!

I might not be able drive you around on those nights, I'm thinking that I might not be able to drive fast enough to lose the watch dog.

Oh wait Miss Gabby is coming into heat. We could use her to distract that dog.

I would be interested in knowing more, maybe you could start another thread in the Random Ramblings section.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

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OK I must know how you "discovered" that that noise did it ???
I also want to tell you that chickens are born with a genetic fear of a broom !!!
I can put mine next to my lettuce patch and they walk far around it.

If they are heading for the lettuce I can pick up my broom and just stand on the porch (50 yards away) and hold the broom...not swinging it or anything...and my big girls will immediately set off in another direction knowing full well big mama is not happy about their doings !!!

Maybe is goes back to the heath dwelling days !!!

Seriously, pick up a broom next time your girls are heading to the lettuce patch, and watch what they do !

I am so going to try the broom thing. What about a plastic snake? Hmmmmm. I know the noise works because I had a handful of the tweeters on the counter from my 9 yo daughters bday party from last week. I first just went to the door and tweeted - heads were up and warning clucks were given - Tyson (my roo) was very concerned. The girls gathered together. I went back inside and watched from my kitchen window. Well, they all huddled and came up with the plan to attack the veggie garden in more of a solid line, they turned around and headed to the garden. I went out the back door tweeting as loud as I could and flapping my arms.....chickens went sqwaking in 14 different directions....

I am sure that my neighbors behind me and beside me think I am nuts (they would be correct). Well, chickies now think I am nuts, but they stayed out of my garden for the rest of the evening. Okay, now I need to go find the broom and lay it out there.