Reviews by BDutch

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.

I really like the basics of this coop for a small group of bantams. But I do wonder about a few things: I wonder how you keep the roof from leaking at the hinges? Hoe did you make a poop board and roosts? What about the nestbox?

A few improvements would make it better. Like a window and ventilation openings under the roof top.

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.

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, 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.

Good idea to make a window in the coop. You did a great job without using all the expensive tools. And great colors!

IMO the Bosch set up not optimized. It looks nice. Neat job and the builder gives several good features and tips to build a coop. But its more a ‘how to build with expesive machinery’ and not a perfect home for chickens. Its a very small coop to start with. The ventilation is not sufficient for a healty coop. Its too dark inside. The 2 nestboxes are too much for such a small coop. And you have to rebuilt it as soon as chicken math strikes you.

A very good article if you want to add more (almost) adult chickens to you’re flock.
Very good to warn that adding chicks to a flock is a no go.

But there is another way go get a bigger flock. Let the ladies go broody and let them hatch some eggs. There are articles about natural breeding with fertile eggs (if you have a rooster. Or you can buy fertile eggs from someone who has a great flock or a beautiful breed.

One of the advantages of breeding and hatching eggs is that their are very few diseases that you can bring in to you're flock this way. An other pro is that the mother hen protects her baby chicks agains flock members. A con is that half of the offspring will be male. You have to think about what you will do with a surplus of roosters.

I have had Dutch bantam broody’s hatching and raising chicks on 3 occasions. Tried different things and recognise almost everything in you’re article.

Marking the eggs is a really good tip!

One to add: if you want a broody, let 4 or 5 fake eggs lay in a nest of you're choice in spring. Chances are great you have a broody within a week on the right spot.

And one more: best not to have a stair or steep slide to climb up the nestbox. Chicks have no troubles getting down the stairs but often don't get it how to get up again in the beginning.

My experiences:
1th time I got 3 broody’s on one nest. After one hen started to breed the other two joined in. Cozy but not okay. I split the broody’s over two nests. Two broods on one nest with 7 eggs and one broody on a new nest with 4 eggs. This went all well until the first eggs hatched and chicks came near the other broody
She pecked the tiny chicks. Do I moved her to another spot. Separated from the two mama's with the chicks.

There was no problem to move her because I had a bottom of carton box under the nest. I picked her up complete with the nest and the eggs. MDH helped me to prevent the broody to leave the nest.

Next time I rebuild the coop and added a laying nest for the other chickens and separated the chickens after a few days of trouble. I finally let one broody breed alone on the eggs.


The third time the 2 mothers who did well on one nest did this again, only now on a separate and bigger nestcoop with a run of 6 m2. I separated the two broody’s as soon as it was clear they take their job serious. They did a great job. I had no trouble and mother and 5 chicks had plenty of room to grow up.

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

A good warning and its true that too many people heat the coop as soon as is freezing day and night.

But we often do need something to heath the water.

To avoid the need of extra warmth by lamps or heath pads, make the wise choices. :

• No young chicks in the end of the summer or in the autumn. So you have only adult chickens when its getting cold.
• Buy breeds that do well in cold climates. (there is a list somewhere on BYC).
• Keep ventilation openings open but protect them from cold winds.
• Its better to use straw and not wood shavings for isolation.

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.

Finaly read your article of the fodder tower after reading the hilarious bathroom story.

As you know I’m growing popcorn today.

Maybe you like another idea for spring: make a big fodderpot with a piece of mesh on top it in the run. Fill it with some barley and other seeds and let it grow. Make sure the chickens cant hurt themselves when using hardware cloth. The chickens will love it. This way the fodder lasts longer.

Didn’t do the math, but I love you’re pictures. The are worth 5 *****.

To tell the thruth. I expected to learn abouth an other kind of chicken math. The one were you calculate the color in breeding experimens when crossing different colors.

There is one that does. Its called chicken jungle.

http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm

A dust bath for chickens is mainly to clean the feathers and to be less bothered by parasites. I would not add any food. For qual I would make such possible in a sepate free-range bin if you dont have a dirt floor.

For my chickens I add a few tablespoons of diatomaceous earth to the sand for a dust bath. That helps well against feather lice, bird mite and such. The mealworms and grains go in the run. This way the chickens live quit naturally in a run if they can't free range. Always happy to scratch the soil.

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.

Just curious I started to read the article about racoons (wasbeer in Dutch). Thought: "happy we don't have them around here" .

But Germany is close and digging the internet I found they are a threat in the nearby future here as wel.
Thanks for the warning and info.

Great article. I should have read 'this', abouth the pecking order before I added chicks to my older chicks.

My experience:
When I started with chickens I bought 5 chicks, 6 weeks old. After a month or so, 3 apeared to be male allthough he claimed they were all female. Agreed with the seller that I could trade them and I added younger chicks, also 6 weeks old. I didn't know this could cause problems.

The younger chicks were having a hard time. A second pen where the older chicks could not enter gave them peace. And in the end it worked out well. Although there was another cock. Which was not the intention.

I kept the rooster until the following spring. Untill a hen was breeding on fertilized eggs. The rooster had to leave the flock because of the noise.

Since then I always had new chicks with natural breeding. From fertilized eggs or by keeping a rooster till april and a hen gets broody. So nice to see a mother hen nursing their chicks. This never gave a problem with introduction.

Luckily I never had problems with giving away the young roosters for their beauty or to pretect flocks of sexed hens (hybrids).

Beautifull get-along work. The coop is great for a few small bantam chickens. The run however, is in my opinion, only big enough if you can let the chickens free range a couple of hours each day. But for rabbits this is a great outside space.

I did things the other way around. Started with rabbits. For the kids. When there run got undermined (the rabbits eventually made holes in the floor boards) and the small rabbit coop got rotten, we bought a new chicken coop for the rabbits. This included a small run. But the rabbits didn't have eternal lives. After the rabbits 4 small Dutch chickens took over the place.

Tips for another addition:
- a chicken garden / square meter container with grass and herbs. Made with beams and mesh on top. This way, they can peck a little green every day through the mesh.
- Berry bushes. For shelter and treats in summer.

I also have an old garden bench in the run. But I'd rather not sit on it because of the poo. A real chicken swing was too difficult. Now the swing has a 3th rope to keep it a more steady.

I have 8 small bantams, in a coop (3m2) and run with lots of shelter (15m2). They are allowed to free range a few hours a day when someone is at home.

I do like the warning. Important because of the consumption of chicken eggs and meat. The explanations are good too.

But in my opinion: Chickens should not be given antibiotics unless it is clearly a bacteria that couses the sickness and is a threat to the flock. If you or the vet has any doubt on the sickness, its often useless to give antibiotics. The chicken will die or get better anyway.

Giving chickens enough space and a healty and fresh environment prevents sickness.

The abundant use of antibiotics in hobbying and farming couses health problems for people. An increasng number of bacteria are resistent for all antibiotics. Hospitals, dokters and nursing staff (at least in Europe) have a lot of issues with this.
Farmers and people who work with live stock have more often resistant and dangerous bacteria as other people have.