What did you do with your flock today?

[Shetland lover]

They are AWESOME! The geese are fun too. Especially when they greet each other or if they are excited. And of course when any of them are hungry. This little girl will yell at me until I get her food or when she was in the brooder, water . But all the ducks just start talking and the geese start honking!! Just love it!

My friend had 3 geese. They were awesome watchdogs and all-round holy terrors but I loved them. It certainly hasn't put me off, I'd definitely keep them (and ducks) if I ever have space!

 

[Shetland lover]

Our coop is done! Well it needs painted and what have you but the house is up! Hardwire is up as well for the ventilation. This is the biggest house we have built so far. A few weeks ago when we just had the walls up (picture is attached) we had winds over 120 from a storm that came through. It didn’t budge it. But a metal shed we had that was anchored to a foundation was taken and tossed around. Really just glad none of my specialty chickens were in it because that is what it was going to be used for.

Looking good! What colour do you have in mind?
That shed! Crumpled up like a tin can. Good job your chickens weren't in it. I have recurring nightmares about mine collapsing with everyone inside. Not sure if it's me recognizing how poor my building skills are or prophetic

 

[ChicksnMore]

They are AWESOME! The geese are fun too. Especially when they greet each other or if they are excited. And of course when any of them are hungry. This little girl will yell at me until I get her food or when she was in the brooder, water . But all the ducks just start talking and the geese start honking!! Just love it!

We have a bunch of geese right now. Between them and the ducks, the noise when you walk into the tortoise area is deafening . They all rush you and then honk or quack up a storm, follow you around and nibble on your toes if you stand still. When I dump and refill their water bowls, they play with the water coming out of the hose so filling the bowls is sometimes challenging. But once the bowls filled, they switch to dabbling in the just dumped, dirty water on the ground instead. Then jump in the fresh water to wash themselves clean. Little goofballs!

 

[ChicksnMore]

Our coop is done! Well it needs painted and what have you but the house is up! Hardwire is up as well for the ventilation. This is the biggest house we have built so far. A few weeks ago when we just had the walls up (picture is attached) we had winds over 120 from a storm that came through. It didn’t budge it. But a metal shed we had that was anchored to a foundation was taken and tossed around. Really just glad none of my specialty chickens were in it because that is what it was going to be used for.

A pallet coop! And it looks good . All of my coops are pallet builds too. Those things are downright handy for building with.
Wow on the shed! Really glad no chickens were in it yet!

 

[Smokerbill]

I made the decision to decrease my flock size by one. I'm giving away my little black copper marans cockerel this morning. It was a fun experiment having him, and seeing the interaction between him and the pullets. But trying to figure out how to manage him and the pullets is just too much for me right now.

And I'm really tired of being crowed awake at 5AM every day!

 

[ChicksnMore]

It's time for my flocks to find their way to their coops. I can hear thunder in the distance. I won't go out in a thunderstorm to hunt them down. If they must learn the hard way what a thunderstorm is so be it.

Years and years ago we had a storm rolling in and I didn't even think to worry about the chickens. They were out free roaming but had their coop right there and I'm used to them using it willingly. But some didn't that day. A handful of them decided to shelter under a huge mesquite tree for the storm. The only problem was that tree was on the edge of our wash and the monsoon rain filled it with rushing water. When the storm was over I discovered I had six drowned chickens clustered under the tree. They'd huddled inside the very open cattle panel that kept the horses and goats from stripping the bark off the trunk.

 

[RadEggs]

They sell stinging nettle at our farmers market. I can’t believe people actually eat that. I can’t even touch it.

I tried to gain immunity to stinging nettle one time when I was younger by repeatedly touching it. With about as well as you'd expect.

 

[Shetland lover]

We have a bunch of geese right now. Between them and the ducks, the noise when you walk into the tortoise area is deafening . They all rush you and then honk or quack up a storm, follow you around and nibble on your toes if you stand still. When I dump and refill their water bowls, they play with the water coming out of the hose so filling the bowls is sometimes challenging. But once the bowls filled, they switch to dabbling in the just dumped, dirty water on the ground instead. Then jump in the fresh water to wash themselves clean. Little goofballs!

It's the cats that play in the water here. Just refilled the shallow tub on the garden the chickens use and added some herbal mite killer I'm trialling and what happens? Grace charges over, jumps in and starts splashing around like a beached whale

 

[ChicksnMore]

We need rain here so bad. Towns gotten some, but out where we are theres been almost none. My huge tree like cactuses are dying from the lack.

So today I'm cleaning up dead cactus and running water out to them.
But you see all the clouds out today? they bring the rain!

 

[Smokerbill]

I just ordered a 10# bag of 99.5% pure elemental sulfur powder to use for lice and mite control. I haven't inspected my chickens so I don't know if they have an infestation, but I think it would be a good proactive way to prevent the little critters from getting a foothold.

I plan to lightly dust the woodchips in the run, and dust the chickens every so often when they're on the roost at night. I really should build a dustbath container for them and set it up in their daytime run. Adding a little sulfur to the dustbath is supposed to work wonders in controlling the parasites.