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  1. LaurelC

    Heat sources for larger brooder in unheated building

    We will be brooding ~45 chicks in a 3x8 galvanized tub (I have a second one I can employ if these get too crowded in the single and need an additional space before their mobile coop is completed). Last year we brooded ~52 chicks in another mobile coop inside our unheated shop building using two...
  2. LaurelC

    If nest boxes are available inside the coop, but you want to add more, is it necessary that they're accessible from inside?

    We are working on obtaining a "Certified Regenerative" certification for our farm and part of that is including "enough" nest boxes, which by their standards works out to 5 hens per box or in a communal nest design, 20 square inches per hen. We have an existing coop that we ran all of last year...
  3. LaurelC

    Applying farm implement enamel over POR15 coating?

    I have an old horse trailer that I'm gutting and turning into a mobile chicken coop to haul around my farm. My hope is to not need to mess with the paint again, so I'm wire wheel/flappy disking basically everything, removing all loose paint, rust bubbles, etc. Then I intend to coat everything...
  4. LaurelC

    Mobile duck house - logistics

    We are a small farm and expanding our egg business. We currently run a trailer with ~50 laying hens around our regenerative farm. They're completely free ranged and it's been working for us so much we're adding another trailer. I'm considering adding ducks to the farm - probably khaki...
  5. LaurelC

    Interesting correlation with cold weather

    We live in Kentucky and put together a mixed flock of free range birds, all hatched in February of 2024. We have 4 different varieties from 2 different hatcheries. We recently got hit by the big cold snap and experienced temps down to -8 overnight one day. Of course some of the birds picked...
  6. LaurelC

    Chicken tipping forward/right

    I have a flock of about 35 hens and this morning one of the birds was outside the coop (but right nearby it) before the door opened, meaning she didn't make it inside last night. She was laying down on her side, and didn't put up a fight when I picked her up (my flock is pretty feral. They'll...
  7. LaurelC

    Integrating 2 adult free range flocks together.

    We built our mobile free range egg trailer last winter and got a bunch of chicks, brooded them in it, then started rotating them around our farm in the trailer. They get along pretty well and we have some extra space in the trailer, especially with the losses we've seen from hawks in the last...
  8. LaurelC

    What's the difference between chick starter/pullet feed/broiler grower feed?

    We have a flock of pastured layers that get moved around our farm. Since we have roosters in residence, and my options for organic feed have been relatively limited to what our local farm store (in Kentucky) has available, I generally feed chick starter and offer oyster shells on the side. My...
  9. LaurelC

    Bump on ankle

    In my flock of pastured hens, I have a white leghorn with a bump on her ankle that I just noticed a few days ago. If it was on her foot, I'd assume bumble foot, but this is well above the area you'd usually see a bumblefoot bump. She does not appear to have any discomfort, limp, or any other...
  10. LaurelC

    Chickens and beehives

    The area that we keep our livestock in during the winter is adjacent to our garden, and our beehives are in that area. I know that bees tend to stay in their hive most of the winter, but is there any reason to believe the chickens would actively pursue bees during the winter?
  11. LaurelC

    How do I keep this chicken with the others?

    We have a flock of ~50 free range chickens. They travel around our farm in a mobile coop built onto a trailer. They all know where home is and all go to bed in the trailer every night. The eggmobile is currently ~700 feet from the house (as the crow flies, more like 1000 the way any living...
  12. LaurelC

    Eggmobile writeup - it's been wildly successful

    A couple of years ago, I started the slow process of converting a homemade livestock trailer that I bought at an auction to a chicken coop. The more I tore into it, the clearer it became that it required more work that I expected, but after while wheeling every surface, coating it in a couple...
  13. LaurelC

    How to get my flock back inside after supervised time outside.

    We have ~50 chicks that are 4 weeks old today. Up til now, they've spent their lives inside their permanent mobile coop, converted to brooder mode inside our unheated pole barn. Next week I plan to move the trailer out into our garden area, run an extension cord to it for the heat lamps, and...
  14. LaurelC

    Mites and other parasites - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

    I do not yet have any mites. Brand "new" coop, assembled almost entirely of metal. Perches are sou shugi ban wood and the floor is plastic, but with the exception of a few parts that can easily be removed, the entire thing can be torn apart and blasted with a torch or weed burner if necessary...
  15. LaurelC

    Is mineral supplementation necessary in a pastured environment?

    I have a flock of young chicks that will be moved out to pasture and be shifted around my farm when they're old enough. With most livestock on a forage-based system, supplemental minerals are provided. With the chickens eating less commercially prepared chicken feed and more bugs, grass, etc...
  16. LaurelC

    Slightly odd chick distribution with 2 lights

    28 Chicks arrived this afternoon (shipped yesterday afternoon, all happy and healthy). Their distribution in the brooder area is a little odd and I wanted to get someone's take on it. I have 2x 250 watt heat lamps. It's a lot, but they're in an unheated metal pole building that can get cool...
  17. LaurelC

    The Swamp Thing Chicken Trailer conversion is almost done!

    It is for all intents and purposes complete. There are a small handful of finishing touches that need to be completed, like covering wavy cut lines up with furring strips, and covering up a few small gaps where a mink might be able to squeeze in. The roost bars need to get installed, but I...
  18. LaurelC

    What haven't I thought of? Winter brooding in mobile coop

    We are finally at the phase of our small farm where we are ready to add chickens. I have a small trailer that I picked up at an auction that I've been cleaning up and modifying to house a flock of layers. The long-term plan for the flock is transit the less steep areas of our farm alongside...
  19. LaurelC

    Pastured guineas and chickens in rotation?

    I've kept chickens before in a suburban coop environment. We got rid of them before moving cross country to a big piece of land we are developing as a small hobby farm. I'm presently building a mobile chicken coop trailer to house a few dozen chickens. The coop will be night digs only, and...
  20. LaurelC

    Mobile chicken coop siding ideas

    I bought this beast of a trailer at auction over the weekend. It's homemade, assembled almost entirely out of angle iron and square tube. It's extremely robust. My intent is to turn this into a mobile chicken coop. I'm going to tear the wood floor out and put in expanded metal mesh or 1/2"...
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