LER23
Songster
Here in the Willamette Valley in Oregon (rumor has it that Native Americans called it "the valley of sickness and death") I am sitting and listening to the drip of steady rain this morning. The dogs are asleep, and chickens came out once to look around, then went straight back into their coop. I started thinking about the girls and, since I am new to keeping chickens, I thought I would come to you with the questions that are coming up for me:
I have 6 pullets in a 5' by 8' coop with a couple of levels/roosts. They have an 8' by 25' + run, with an 8' sheet of plywood on sawhorses as a temporary "covered porch" where the big feeder is. Inside the coop they have a food bowl and a waterer. Except for dry outdoor space, which I hope to address this fall, I think I have the bases covered, BUT the rainy wetness of our winters here in OR have me wondering if anyone has tips for flock mgt., coop and run mgt., or any preventative flock mgt. in regard to preventing illness and disease. Oh, yes, we have orchard netting above the run to prevent wild birds coming in to eat, but the chickens do free range in the backyard a couple of hours a day, weather permitting.
Any and all comments welcome. Criticism will not be viewed as hostile or unkind.
TIA!
I have 6 pullets in a 5' by 8' coop with a couple of levels/roosts. They have an 8' by 25' + run, with an 8' sheet of plywood on sawhorses as a temporary "covered porch" where the big feeder is. Inside the coop they have a food bowl and a waterer. Except for dry outdoor space, which I hope to address this fall, I think I have the bases covered, BUT the rainy wetness of our winters here in OR have me wondering if anyone has tips for flock mgt., coop and run mgt., or any preventative flock mgt. in regard to preventing illness and disease. Oh, yes, we have orchard netting above the run to prevent wild birds coming in to eat, but the chickens do free range in the backyard a couple of hours a day, weather permitting.
Any and all comments welcome. Criticism will not be viewed as hostile or unkind.
TIA!