Reviews by BDutch

Two times I had a grown up rooster who took care of offspring but eventually had to go. Because of the noise and because of there agressive behaviour. I allready used an advice to hold a bossy rooster to the ground. This worked well with one rooster. The other one was more flighly and I chased him whenever he jumped to me. But this was not enough to hold him back. Now my flock is without a rooster.

Next time I want chickens I buy fertile eggs and try to keep one rooster for the 3th time. With these advices I'm sure it will work out. A rooster collar for night-time will keep my neighbours happy. Roosters are allowed in my town when there is no one complaining. And also if noise is reduced from bed time till morning.

Wonderful build. Love the reuse of materials.

Good article with need to know information for all chicken keepers. Newbies and even more experienced ones.

Wonderful setup Dobey.
Need just this one word ‘wonderful’ to describe you’re carpentry, design and ‘novel’.

It took a while to read it all. Mainly because I didn’t get addicted to chickens so much that I want many more bantams and I don’t have a shed waiting to rebuild it. My garden is too small for such a setup either. So whenever I encountered you’re long read I thought: “ I save it for a quiet and lazy Sunday morning. ?

Great ideas. Missing the most obvious against boredom and to keep your chickens healthy: Free ranging.

Can only be done in daylight if the environment is reasonably safe. But your chickens also benefit when they can free range for an hour each day under supervision.

Great article, love the humor too. But of course there are more ways to get the chickens to roost inside the coop.

I have a couple of bantams who preferred (past time) to sleep outside too. But at the moment I have everything under control.
I used you’re 3th method in combination with locking them up in a run to get them inside before sunset.

I don’t give meat but some mixed grains to fill they’re bird-stomachs before they go to roost. Sometimes I give a few dried mealworms too. My coop is covered with strong bird netting, so they cant get out.

Now they always choose to roost inside, even if I am late (dark already) with the treats. Because they’re habit to roost outside has been broken. And if I am home after dark the chickens are safe behind a automatic popdoor.

Maybe it helps too that I don’t let them free range all the time.

A really great article for all the people who consider to start having chickens.
And for those who like to know more about keeping chickens.

Of course there is always more interesting stuff to tell. I missed these (for me) important nice to knows: some breeds don’t lay during winter or need artificial light to do so. And older hens lay less eggs than 1 year old hens. And take longer breaks during moult and winter.

Great way to give tips and suggestions for improvement. How safe and sturdy one needs to build depends on the environment of course.
There is no way you can make a complete list that fits all. The number, type and size of one’s chickens can vary enormously too. But surprisingly you come a long way.

This is only safe to keep you’re not flying chickens in the pen. Nice pen under supervision. It is not safe against predators.

Thanks for writing this article. It gave me a warm feeling to read it. I hope my English is good enough to express myself in the right way because I’m not English and not a language crack.

As a kid growing up on a farm I learned I was different in my feelings for animals. For me they where living creatures just like humans. My family cared only until a certain point. They were more practical. And didn't ‘waste’ time on sick animals like farm cats and livestock.

e.g. A chick in a flock that had health problems had little chance to survive. My older brother intervened by smashing the little chick against the wall. It broke my heart.

There are more stories like the one above. It made me sad, mad and build my character. And I didn't trust vets anymore.

I have learned there are two kind of people if you could divide them into groups. There are a lot of us who care about their animals, their livestock as some name it.
And there are a lot of people with some kind of ignorance about livestock. That's one of the reasons why its sometimes hard to deal with losses. These people don't seem to understand what you are going through with a loss. The people who don’t care much if they ‘need’ to cull a bird.

Since my childhood years have passed. And my feelings have changed a little over the years ( a bit more practical). If I have a dead fish, rabbit or chick I feel responsible for, I get over it quickly now. I don't feel guilty anymore because I didn't do it on purpose. If I have chicks, I know I can't keep the cockerels and will give them away for free without asking too many questions.

I try to keep my flock healthy. I give them enough space. Let them free range a few hours a day if possible, to make them happy scratching for fresh nutritious bites ? ? ? and eating grasses and herbs of they're own choice.

I rather not buy new chickens, because they can bring diseases into my flock. Instead I buy fertile eggs for a broody, or keep a rooster for that reason until he gets too loud early mornings.

Great article on using hay and very nice to reuse what a garden or land has to offer.

Hay is my favorite bedding for nest-boxes. Chicken comfort to lay an egg. ? The chickens like to eat some of it when they take their time to lay an egg or hormones make them broody.

I have only 100m2 of lawn to gather grass for hay. But this is enough to make a few boxes ? of shortcut hay. I don’t like it to let it grow higher then 6 or 7 cm, cutting it at 3 cm gives me lengths of max 4 cm. I find the short hay no problem at all.
When the weather forecast are good (no rain ) its the best time to make hay.

I use 2 methods:

• 1. Mow and leave the grass on the lawn to dry. Gather it after it dried (max 2 days) with a rake.

The advantage of this method is that the small clippings stay in the lawn and feed the lawn.

• 2. Gather the grass with the mower. And put the grass in a few mesh boxes they use in garden centres and let it dry/ rake it a few times. The smallest pieces fall through so the hay isn’t getting dusty.

the advantage of this method us that we can use the lawn immediately.

Great article and pictures.
The second part ‘Prevention of external parasites’ is a need to know for everyone with chickens.

I’d prefer prevention over treating and until now I never needed to use Permethrin or any other poison to keep away /destroy lice or mite.
For me its no go to keep songbirds out of the chicken domain so I need to check often, especially in summer.
I do use DE in their sand bath, mixed with sand under the bedding in the nest-boxes, and use it as a paint (with water) to prevent a red mite infestation. The two times I discovered a few lice I could act quickly (cleaning and applying DE afterwards) to get in control again.

This article is a start. But IMHO the article is not honest and complete enough about hatching with a broody. It can be easy with the right breed, the right amount of space and a tolerant flock. But often there occur problems if you can’t tick all the boxes for a tranquil hatch.

Another possibility to hatch with a broody is to put her in a separated area. But if you move a broody she can abandon her nest.

Use fake eggs to test the broody. Mark eggs so you know which eggs are new and will hatch later (not).

A tip for the writer: add some links to other articles. Its important that newbies read more articles on natural breeding or breeding with an incubator if they are planning to do so.

If I ever hatch with an incubator , it’s nice to know there is a splendid article to dive into. Until now I didn’t need it because I started with 6 weeks old chicks years ago and had broodies after that first year for the necessary chicken math.

P.S. And thank you for the info about coccidiosis and why it is important to clean daily. This also applies to chicks in a small coop with a mother hen. I like to use old towels for the first week in the drinking and feeding area. They absorb well and have a great surface for their wobbly tiny legs. For water supply I use a flat bowl with marbles to prevent the newly hatched from drowning. ?

I have no experience in keeping chickens in hardy climate but nevertheless I loved to read this article, you’re experiments and what you experienced.

I wonder what makes the chickens lay eggs in the 3th winter/ last setting ?

Insulation is a no go in my climate/europe because blood mite infestations are a high risk here and you never get mites out of youre coop if they get into the isolation.

In winter I make wind blockers in front of the north/west/east hwc-parts of the coop-ventilation (roosting area). And it works great to provide straw on the coldest days to give my 8 tiny bantams more comfort.

Nice list but I definitely miss ordinary grass in the list.

And imho its nonsense that you have to avoid poisonous plants around a chicken coop or chicken run, or if your chickens have unrestricted access to your entire property's plants. The chickens know what they can eat and what to leave alone. And they don’t eat onions either.

Good instructions to built a L-shape coop/run in a warm climate. A few things surprised me though: the tin roof, and it looks as if you didn't sand off the sharp edges of the roosts. Missed a exact list underneath the photo what to buy, but I suppose most of the builders can work that out for themselves.

Love it that you showed all the changes you made after 2 years.

Good description of their behaviour a week or so before they start laying.
My Dutch bantams allways come to get a back-cuddle if they are laying and there is no rooster in the flock. The Millefleur de Tournaise do not (flightly character)

Meanwhile, eggs everywhere, some of them can be rather funky looking, soft or thin shelled, huge double yolked eggs.

Click to expand...

Yes, and fairy eggs too.

It looks like a great place for you're chickens and I love the design. Especially the attached run in the same style, the summer-coop with so much ventilation, panels adjustments for winter and the beautiful footstep leaves.
Great + beautiful.

Great article. It ticks many boxes to keep in mind. Especially for newbies, but it’s also interesting read for experienced chicken keepers.

Thanks BYC manager for putting this article in the spotlight.