Great idea, thank you! We only have pines and cedars, so no piles of leaves here on our property, and we are rural - no subdivision - but my mom has oaks in her yard and has brought me a bag or two of leaves from time to time, the chickens love kicking them around (once they got past the fright...
Sorry Ted, I forgot to mention that these are all free-range chickens, even in the winter they go out and wander our three and a half acres which are mostly clover field (we also keep bees) with a band of cedars (their favorite hangout spot) and we are adding more trees and bushes this spring...
I live in Wisconsin and have a large 24' x 12' barn style coop with 12' x 15' run attached. Currently I have sand (over dirt) in the coop but the poop cleanup with 70+ chickens is just overwhelming. I'm wondering if deep litter method in the coop might work better, but I'm hesitant to try it...
Thanks - I may hinge BOTH sides and have a solid piece in the middle for structure/support. I'm also trying to make it somewhat easy to CATCH the birds on freezer camp day - which would require access from both ends (and maybe a muskie net). I think the pictured tractor is 10x10 so mine will...
Has anyone built a Salatin-style chicken tractor for meat birds/cornish cross, who could share photos of where/how they attached the feeders? I am planning to run the water cup system down one side fed by a 5-gallon bucket, and I'm trying to figure out where to put the feeders where they'll be...
Thank you, I wasn't sure that the splash gene in Jerseys was the same splash gene in Australorps. For example there are blue brahmas and lavender brahmas and they look somewhat similar but they are different genes.
I have a dozen Jersey Giants that are black, blue, or splash (and one blue rooster) and I also have black and splash Australorps. I'm going to be introducing a splash Australorp rooster this spring. I'm not an SOP breeder, I just love the body style of the U-shaped hens over the round...
I am really hoping to pick up some Jersey Giants from the 'big name in jerseys' Maria - her roosters have been known to reach 24 lbs. I am looking for BIG BIG hens that won't get squashed.
JMac, may I ask how large these got? I have been unable to find an Australorp breeder in all of Wisconsin, and the Australorps I got from Farm & Fleet turned out disappointingly small. Like, maybe 5 lbs. I have jersey giant and brahma roosters, big fellows, and while I love australorps these...
Unfortunately we are unable to get Flubenole in the US.
I am going to try Safe-Guard Aquasol per the University of Pennsylvania: https://extension.psu.edu/deworming-backyard-poultry
I have solar lights in the barn so it's never super dark. So far what I'm hearing is that my ONLY option is to dose them individually?? What do the large scale commercial places do, I wonder?
They roost in my barn. I could potentially grab exactly one and the rest would scatter and then avoid me for a few days. I am specifically looking for a hands-off deworming strategy.
Hello all! First time poster, long time lurker. :) I have a flock of about 60 free-range chickens and I've noticed a few of them with some symptoms of worms, and also have noticed worms after a heavy rain washed away the poop they were hiding in. Folks with larger flocks, what method do you...