Your Help Needed! - What Are The Top Chicken FAQ's?

[Carolyn252]

Best methods for keeping flying insect pests down (preventing, combating, eliminating) flies, mosquitoes, moths.

Best methods for keeping crawling insect pests down (preventing, combating, eliminating) earwigs, spiders, ants, mites, fleas, lice, (and include slugs and snails please)

Sources and costs and effectiveness of each of the above methods.

 

[Carolyn252]

Best methods for keeping a coop pristine clean, with no poop on the walls, or the roosts, or the ramps.

How to manage the poop on the coop floor so that it does not smell.

How to manage the poop on the ground in the run so that it does not smell.

 

[RHMichael]

My wife and I are new to raising poultry this year. We started out with 23 chickens and 4 turkeys, but while I was out of the area, my 12-year-old son thought he could trust our dogs (standard poodle, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Miniature Schnauzer) with the birds. We only lost three chickens before my wife realized what happened. The now 20/4 are 'cooped up' in our barn in a room that is about 8'x8' with a cement floor.

We seem to be replacing the pine shredded wood flooring every week or so as it often smells badly in there. I just shoveled out the coop and after letting it dry out a bit, I will spread a layer of lime on the floor before laying down more shavings. Can DE and hay be added later on top and raked into the shavings to extend the life of the bedding?

Our birds free range as much as possible, but I am concerned that a neighbor lets her dogs (two poodles and other types) wander frequently. That neighbor also has chickens but hers are fenced in, where mine are not yet fenced. We live on 5 acres bordered with lots of trees and brush on two sides, river front on the third and brush and a neighbor on the last side. We wqill be fencing in a gfravel run and have a door to the yard to let them continue to free range.

Also, I read in a post that plastic milk crates are better/easier to clean that wood. Do they get lined with anything to make it more comfortable for the hens to lay eggs? What kind of beds do we need for the turkeys? The birds have been together since they were chicks.

FYI, we live in Southwest Michigan.

Thank you very much.

 

[Billyj]

I am sorry to admit that I have not read every post under this topic so forgive me if this has already been posted.

But a good question I think would be

What are "good" treats and what are "bad" treats for the chickens.

 

[nannynooners1]

Hi Folks, I'm a newby to BYC's but not new to raising chickens. I'm an older hen myself .
I have a question about egg eating chickens. I have and old hen about 7 years old and she
does not run with our other free range chickens just due to she likes to stay where her old
hen house used to be ( she roosts in the trees and lays where she pleases). Need I mention
she is an Americana. I have caught her many, many times pecking holes in random duck egg "ploppings"
and another older Americana that likes to lay in the Alpaca barn, she manages to get those eggs too. I caught her this morning and have
sentenced her to a pen where she will be isolated from the others. Sometimes one must put one
in the pot when they get this nasty. Does anyone have any ideas. I will give her lay pellets, cracked corn,
grass clippings and greens and of course oyster shell. Yes, I tried the plastic egg thing and that's how I
caught her. Naughty girl, naught girl ! I'd love some feed back
Thanks,
nannynooners1

 

[puddinswamp2]

Yes I was wondering my hen just hatched her bitties, in our yard yeasterday when can I put them in a cage so nothing will get them?

 

[Dutchgirl]

I submitted ten.

 

[NEK38583]

How to prevent predators ?
How to get rid of them once you have them ?
How to get rid of or prevent mice/rats ?

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Wow, great job everybody!!!

We've got a great first set of questions to go through and make sure they are covered on the site and easily accessible.

We'll keep you posted with updates that resulted from this project.