Recent content by LynnTXchickenmom

Also—Jan 4– 57 deg outside — I just had my son fill an 8x4x1 raised garden bed with manure-coated, used pine shaving chicken litter of various ages from piles in the back of the yard. Some is new (bottom) and some over a year old (top). It’s mostly old and a dark brown color. These shavings...

It’s old chicken bedding.

I want to make sure I’m doing this right. I live in N. Texas, which has long, dry, scorching summers, a few periods of torrential rain, and mild winters. Gardening is year-round; I have vegetables or herbs growing in all seasons. Ex: It’s Jan and my basil, planted last March, is still alive...

Ladies’ First Chicken Door. Great door. The switch settings are up, open; middle, auto; down, close. Something hit the switch down or a person did it—unlikely as we were gone and the weather was dangerous to be out in. Winds were strong and the hail was impressive. We were close enough to...

Thank you. I’ll not worry and go to bed. First experience with coop door being shut in a nasty storm. Who knew a storm could knock the door switch down to close? We should move it under the roof overhang.

Our coop door is automatic. When we left for a friend’s house, the pop door was open and the door switch on auto. While at the friend’s house, we had a terrible thunderstorm with high winds, hail, and torrential rain. When I got home, all the chickens were outside the coop and soaked. Coop...

I’m sure we did not do this correctly. We have a flock of RIR all hatched out on Aug 3: 18 hens and a rooster. Our kids’ school hatched out chicks on Oct. 11 and is keeping the hens for egg production; they had 12 roosters that needed culling. A local boy slaughtered 10 of them for his...

Thank you! My neighbor gave me a bag of grass clippings. I worked them in and watered the pile. 4 days later, I turned it and steam came up. Hot compost! It needed more nitrogen. Good to know that chicken droppings and pine shavings from the bedding don’t have enough nitrogen. Guess we...

I live in the Dallas area. In September, temps still high 90s, I started a compost pile of pine shavings and chicken manure from coop clean out—I scoop the heavy poop from under the roosts every 3 days and put down more shavings …the rest is deep bedding method. Co-op is 5x8). It heated up...

Great point. I live in TX and sincerely hope the 12 hrs of daylight we get in late Marchwillbe enough.

I set up this 60 watt equivalent LED supplemental light bulb. Because my coop is small and does not have a high ceiling, I installed the light outside a vent window under the roof eaves to prevent chickens from pecking at it. It shines into the coop on the side with the roosting bars; most of...

I found this post with a message from a chicken-focused veterinarian very helpful. In it, he explains exactly how light stimulates egg production (not through eyesight, but rather a gland on the forehead)) and debunks two theories I have seen here and elsewhere: 1) Giving chickens supplemental...

Thanks, all. We will adjust our expectations. Egg prices are crazy right now, so until the pullets lay eggs, we will not be eating much of them. Breakfast sausage is actually cheaper per serving! Crazy!

Here’s the cockerel with the pullets. All are 18 weeks. I’ve raised them from 3 day old chicks. I pick up the male to move him when he’s in my way or just push him gently away when I’m cleaning the coop. He’s the first to come exploring. No crowing thus far and no aggressive behavior. I...

Here are pictures. The one with the big red comb is the one we think is a rooster.