Recent content by Chickenclaude

Just 3/4” pine pressure treated and painted. If you use enough pine it will remain dry and kinda fluffy. My first try was w a sling under roosts to easily remove poo. But my girls damn near broke legs climbing in

My set up is different. 4 x 8 upstairs and downstairs. The roosts are upstairs, 2 of them across the 4’ side. The pine bedding covers the floor. The nesting boxes are along the8’ side and open from the outside too. I use milk crates. Every other week I dump the nesting material on to the...

I feed my layers at least 1/2 cup each, table scraps and make sure that they always have fresh water. And I free range them when I can be out there them.

Unintentional deaths. Using poison to control rodents and other animals eat the carcasses that they find wondering disoriented. I have hydrangeas daffodils and hundreds of plantings and my girls don’t eat them. I mean, they might dig up the damn things looking for insects but that’s all. My...

In the fall if I fill the tractor w fallen leaves and leave the door open the girls will scratch and reduce those leaves to leaf Mulch inNo time at all. One good day scratching and they are half the volume

Any part of rhubarb is poisonous. There are many things that they could be exposed to. May i make a suggestion? Start using a chicken tractor so that they can still free range although limited. I made mine out of PvC and chicken wire. I built a wooden rectangular box, put wheeles on it on...

Me too. Thanks. I used deck paint too. I use deep bedding too. But I am careful about refreshing the pine chips so it isn’t too bad. I do a major clean w a plastic scraper 2x a year and in the area that wears the most, I use a section of the padding for tool drawers and put the chips over...

Oh! But what a nice surprise! Although, Idk I could eat my pets..🤷🏻‍♀️

There’s nothing more frustrating than thinking you’re raising hens (for eggs) and you wind up w roosters. Expensive, too. I always pay more to have them sexed because although not foolproof definitely improves the odds.

I have a ring that records around my ckn house. I can watch them by going live. From anywhere. It’s worth it.

I use milk crates as nesting boxes. I cut a hand sized hole from the bottom of the crate and that side is where the egg door is. I cut a thin piece of luan to fit over the holes under my opening for egg gathering. It is a tight fit so it has kept most of the nesting in the box.

I also raised the sides of the nesting boxes to keep stuff in. Yes they kick the stuff all over. I just add clean pine shavings so the eggs stay clean. In addition, if a nesting box seems dirty, I will dump that on to the floor and change the shavings in that box. I now have 8” of railing at...

This is my 3 rd year using deep liter method. Every couple weeks I use a hoe to stur up the stuff on the floor(adding oxygen) and top cover it w new pine chips. It’s pretty deep now like 6-8”. I won’t clean it out until late spring. I just use tarps and hoe it on to them. Very little odor...

I used joisthangers too

Yes, they like to cover their feet w their bum to keep it warm. If you stand it on the 2” side it works well..even the little guys are ok. More of their foot is supported.