Keeping Chickens Newsletter August 2010 · Keeping Chickens Newsletter Published August 2010 by Clemontine (light brahma) & Daffney (red sexlink) Sandra K Coleman: Daffney, my giant

Keeping Chickens Newsletter

Published August 2010 by www.Self-Sufficient-Life.com


If you know anyone who may enjoy thisnewsletter please let them know that theycan subscribe at:www.KeepingChickensNewsletter.com

August 2010

Hi

Welcome to my Keeping Chickens Newsletter.

Thanks to everyone who has sent in their keeping chickens tips, stories andphotos etc. - as usual, if you have anything chicken related (tips, photos, stories,questions, coops etc.) you'd like to share in future issues of the newsletter or blogposts then just email [email protected] and I will do my best toanswer / include them.

Best WishesGina



Subscriber Letters

Lynsey : Cheep, cheep!! The chicks have arrived today! They are really cute!!We got 2 white bantam silkies, 2 white crested bantam polish, and 2 standardsized Rhode Island Reds.

Linda : Hi Gina I have to say I love this newsletter! I don't ever write in but someof the story's are awesome! I never thought I would love chickens but wepurchased 5 one day old chicks in April and they have been a joy! One whiteleghorn (Blondie), two Rhode Islands, and two Australorps. We looked up whatwould be good around our grandchildren. I never really named them all and referto them as the “chicki girls”. Needless to say I was gone for four days showingdogs, and my husband took over. When I came home they came skidding aroundthe corner at my voice! What a welcome home! I felt great that they showedexcitement at my home coming! I always tell everyone at work that they have noIdea how many people love their chickens! Keep up the great work!

Terry : Jacqui asked about chickens eating nettles in a recent newsletter. In myexperience they do eat them, but only after the small stinging hairs on the leaves& stems have been shed from them. These are the first things to go once nettleshave been cut - usually just about the time the cut nettles show signs of wilting -a matter of an hour or so. In my place it is usually a race between the sheep andthe hens to see who gets them first when they are wilting and both eagerlydevour them - but neither of them will touch those still growing normally. Iguess from this that they can get ‘nettled’ but, as they never touch the growingones, I can’t really tell!



Clemontine (light brahma) & Daffney (red sexlink)

Sandra K Coleman : Daffney, my giant egg laying red sexlink has given meHUGE eggs since day one, and they just keep getting bigger. She’s very social.Loves visiting. I have 8 girls in all. All different. They sleep in their condo atnight and are free range all day long. I just love how they put themselves to bedevery night right on schedule.

This is a 3" - 4oz egg I got the other day.

After 13 years of asking, my husband finally broke down last year and allowedme to get the girls. I had been sick for a year and I think he felt sorry for me.Please don't get up in arms about the word - allowed. You see, I'm an animalfreak. We have 4 horses, 3 dogs, 3 cats, 1 in house bird, 3 counter fish, and lastyear I got rid of 13 koi. He’s pretty great about all of them. Plus he took care ofeveryone while I was sick. Now that we have the girls he wishes we had gotten



them sooner. They are a big part of our entertainment. We live on 10 acres andthe girls have the run on the whole place. They come in the back yard, up on theback porch for coffee, they even come up on the front porch and knock on thewindow. They even take walks with me and the dogs. Woody (our youngest cat)likes to make them jump. He then rolls on the ground laughing. It’s pretty mucha funny farm. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoy sharing them. Ilove your keeping chickens newsletter. Keep up the good work. Sandra KColeman. Deer Park, Wa

Debbie : I have a question and hope you can help me. My husband is a baker andbrings home lots of free bread. Our 12 Isa Brown chooks love it and fight overthe slices. Is bread good for my chooks and if so, how much can we feed them.I’ve read on other chook sites that the bread can compact the chooks and theymay stop laying.

My Reply : Bread would come under the category of 'treats' and so the odd bitevery now and then would be fine, but ideally their total 'treats' for the dayshould not be more than 10%. You can feed them more treats (in 'the old days' alot of chickens were kept solely on kitchen scraps), but often when the balance oftreats goes up the number of eggs goes down. In theory their balanced layersfeed will give them the right amount of vitamins and nutrients for optimum egglaying. They will also need some grit to help process the bread (or any othertreats they get).

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F. N. Trujillo : I am so grateful for this newsletter--I lost two hens to being egg-bound and nobody here in Santa Fe (in the vet or chicken business) knew what todo. I just held one, Sanguine, on my lap while she expired.

This is the first time I've ever had to deal with a rooster, Cinnamon Toast. He isawesomely handsome, about eight different styles of feathers on him; but heabuses the hens so. He seems to be plucking their back feathers out with his teethor his talons, and all his 'favorites' have huge bald patches. I thought of sewingthem thin leather jerkins to protect them, but...any ideas?



Also, find there is a hierarchy: The Gold-Laced Wyandottes, Cinnamon and hissister, Ariane, take the top shelf in the coop. The other five Ameracaunas alllump into the shelf beneath them. Cinnamon does not seem to 'go after' his sister,but she is the only one that gets broody. Finally, I just marked an egg with an Xand left it under her for weeks, and she got over the broodiness; the egg neverhatched. She's at it again. I don't really WANT another hen, but...I sympathize.Here are some photos that do not do Cinnamon justice, he's huge andtechnicolor. But...felicidades, Felicia

My Reply : Sewing them some thin leather jerkins may be a good idea (althoughperhaps leather might be a bit hot for them?). It is possible to get poultrysaddles. I often just use ebay if there is nowhere local but if you have the skills tomake them, even better. A poultry saddle will only protect the back though - ifshe is getting a lot of attention she may also be getting pecked and scratchedaround her neck and head. There's a little video of a buff orpington wearing apoultry saddle on my blog here :http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2007/09/using-poultry-saddle.html

This is a better pic of Cinnamon in his glory with his array of six different types of feathers. Ido sometimes look at him and want to make a hat of those gorgeous feathers--without harming

him, of course.

Update : Well, within a few days of keeping Cinnamon separated from his girls,their pinfeathers are growing back in and they seem less anxious and feather-brained. Cinnamon doesn't seem to miss them at all. It also gives me theopportunity to scoop him up at night when I place him in the safety of the coop,but with the girls locked into their hen house. Still, Cinnamon seems to likebeing held again as he was as a chick. Felicia



Char : Thanks so much for putting together such a fun newsletter. I would like toshare with your readers our new coop. After about a month of deliberation -while we chose, brought home and brooded our chicks - we finally settled onconverting the yard shed.

My hubby did a great job. He also put together a run made of 1 inch pvc panels.



The coop has 2 doors and the run can be positioned on either side to try tomaintain the grass for the girls. Char Clio~MI

Free Chicken Coop Plans

Free Chicken Coop Plans for the above coop design are currently availablein the members archive ☺

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Bonnie Walters : I actually got some great info from the local feed store I dealwith about entering my local poultry show. Seems the only big thing is that thechickens have to be ‘tested’ for some sort of disease by a state certified vet, andthese vets do this service for free. Also got the phone # of a guy locally whoknows all about showing chickens and the local shows. I'm excited. I took somepics of my girls this a.m. and as soon as I get a little extra time I'll send yousome! Especially my ‘miracle girl’! You would never know she was maulednearly to death by a dog, suffered huge multiple bite wounds, then was attackedby maggots! The only ‘evidence’ left of her injuries is a small patch of blue-koteon her feathers! So I guess you know she now has a forever home, eggs or not!She deserves it!

As promised here are a couple of pictures of “Gertrude” [a black broiler]. Ipurchased her along with several other chickens as even though technically a'meat bird', they were laying big beautiful brown eggs. Unfortunately tragedystruck BIG TIME and my dogs had dug under their fence and killed nearly all ofmy chickens! It was devastating and traumatizing to me! Several of my“teenagers” survived because they hid under bales of hay, one rhode Island redsurvived with no harm....I have no idea how. And... “Gertrude”. When I foundher she had been mauled and was nearly dead. I was torn between putting herdown or trying against all hope to save her. It was not an easy fight for her, butfight she did. She had several huge bite wounds and to complicate things she wasattacked again. This time by fly larvae and you know what they are! I STILLwouldn’t give up on her. Then she went through a terrible infection. Her bodywas literally trying to decay. She just had this look in her eye, like a pleadingwith me to not give up on her and in turn she would try to keep fighting. I put herback on medicated peep food and liberally applied peroxide and blue kote to herwounds. So here is how she looks today. Proud and regal! I don't care if she everlays another egg or lives to 13...she has earned the right to a long life of doingnothing but keeping the rest of the flock in line!



Dionne : We have had 6 chickens since Sept 09 & have recently introduced twomore. It took a week or so for them to sort their pecking order out, but seems tohave settled down now. We use chipped bark for them to scratch around in, &when they go to bed at night we just rake it over flat again. - It works a treat &does hold all the bugs which they love hunting for. I have added a couple photosof our run & converted shed, & my precious girly's

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Linda : Hi Gina, here are a few shots of our new Light Brahma and SpeckledSussex pullets, about 4 weeks young. We had a flock of 9 two year old SalmonFavorelle hens and our year old Salmon rooster most of which went to start anew small flock elsewhere. We kept 4 of the older Salmon girls who are stilllaying at least one lovely brown egg every other day. The transition has beenfairly smooth.

Our small flock of Salmon Favorelles (before the reduction) with Snape at theback.



The youngsters were housed inside the coop in their own wooden box with alight for about 3 weeks then began to mix with the flock. After the Salmonreduction, the 4 older hens were quite mellow with the babies although they tendto stay in their respective groups. By the way, the flock in addition to awonderful coop has a good sized run and about a half acre of fenced free range.So crowding was never an issue. We feed non medicated laying mash whichcomprises about 2/3 of their feed to which we also add organic 7 grain cereal,sunflower seeds and ground minerals and garlic. We also add one garlic clove tothe water for the chicks. Linda Brunner. Stockton, Missouri

Chris Davey : I am new to your excellent keeping chickens newsletter group. Ienjoy it very much. We used to keep a fair swag of chooks, and they were realfun and pleasant to be with, I have left my old farming life here in New Zealand,and now live on a life style section in Tangiteroria, Northland NZ. We have onechook, and an egg a day, she now lives in the bird aviary, very comfortableindeed, my wife will pick her up for while, and take her to where the snails are.We intend to build a chook house, maybe six or seven hens, but that is in thefuture, it is winter now. Warm but wet. Our chook is amazing, she knows whereshe is safe, we have a no dog area where she lives. I also own and breed IrishWolfhounds, they are gentle with her, but mum’s little Staffie is a bit of a winderto them, and can cause a panic. I will send some photo’s of our solo chook whenI can, she is a happy little devil. All the best Chris Davey, down ‘ere.

Christine : Hello Gina, I must congratulate you, this site is marvellous! I havebeen looking for exactly this of resource and I thank you for creating it. I amenjoying hearing how others are managing their chickens. And in addition tolearning a lot it is nice to be in contact with folks who get such a kick out of theirbirds. Best site I have come across!!



Lisa : Almost a month ago our Polish hen went broody. Since we don't have arooster I asked a friend who does if she could share some eggs with me. She hadfour hens sitting on eggs so she plucked a dozen from beneath them and gavethem to me. I had them under my hen within half an hour and she has beendiligently sitting since then. On Friday it will be 21 days and I understand that isthe normal time it takes for them to hatch. I thought I would give her 24 days andif they are not out by then I could get some week old chicks at the feed store,take her out, collect the eggs and put the chicks in the broody coop we have setup for her. Do you think she would take care of them and would that snap her outof the brood? Thanks so much for any suggestions!

My Reply : I have heard of people doing that. She may accept them quite easily,but apparently it does not always work. One recommendation I saw was to do itover a few hours so one egg is taken at a time and replaced with a chick (Isuppose it makes it more realistic for the hen that those chicks are hers). JoSkinner in the June newsletter said what her father used to do years ago : "Athome when a hen became broody and we had no rooster for fertile eggs, myfather used to give the broody hen a teaspoon of sherry and when she nodded offon the nest he would put new chicks from the market under her. When she wokeup she would then start raising them without any problems." Good luck ☺

Lisa’s Reply : Thank you, Gina. One of the things I read and we will try is to putthe chicks in a box next to her so she can hear them peeping. There is an emptynest box adjacent to the one she is sitting on in the broody coop, so she won't beable to see the box, but their sounds may signal to her that they are hatching.Then at dusk you put a chick in your hand so she can't see it, slip it under hereand at the same time remove an egg. You do this until there are no eggs and onlychicks. I like your idea of doing it over a period of hours, though. Maybe I'llhave the sherry MYSELF while working on this process!

Lisa has made a video of ‘Carmen Miranda’ being given, andaccepting, her new chicks which I have put on the blog here :

http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2010/08/raising-day-old-chicks-with-broody-hen.html

http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/2010/08/raising-day-old-chicks-with-broody-hen.html



Richard & Christine : I have been on your mailing list for ages, always wantingto keep chickens for eggs but could not take THAT final step until my daughterrang me two weeks ago asking if I wanted two hens that her neighbour wantedrid of. My immediate reaction was no but my good lady said yes! So she has tobe obeyed won the day. We brought them home the next evening and built a penout of “ski Sunday” plastic netting and a rapidly converted dog kennel (with outthe dog).

Our two ladies were very, very timid but after a week they where eating out ofour hand. We now have built a compound/run of about 400sq foot with a six footfence with trellis and well established bushes and shrubs on two sides and agreenhouse on the other so the mesh fence is relatively short with a door foraccess.



We are getting one egg per day and two every couple of days. We think that MrsRed is a Black Star but not sure of Mrs Grey. Mrs Red is certainly the boss!Richard & Christine from East Yorkshire

Margaret : I have 12 lovely Rhode Island reds, great girls laying me lovely bigeggs. My biggest problem is with 6 lovely nest boxes, they were laying in 1maybe 2, I put 3 golf balls in the remaining boxes to no avail. So yesterday afterpurchasing 3 china eggs I tried that, would you believe they laid in all 3 nestboxes. Thinking of buying another 3 eggs!!! How did they know the differencebetween golf balls and china eggs, beats me.!! Still I adore them anyway, andsell nearly more eggs than they can lay, had to buy 6 on Saturday to make asponge!!! ☺

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Amy Brownson : I was wondering how many roosters can live peaceably withone another. I know that some breeds will fight regardless of precautions taken,but is it possible to have three roosters in one flock and not have them killingeach other? Although I am prepared for separate yards if need be, I was hopingto keep everyone together. Is this a silly idea? I have 22 pullets right now livingtogether (various breeds, both standard and bantams) that are 14 weeks and Iordered three cockerels and seven pullets which will arrive as day-old chicks.One roo is a blue Andalusians, one Amaraucana / Easter Egger, and one SalmonFaverolle. I read that single combed chickens will be dominant over smallercomb breeds so I figured with 29 hens, the Andalusian roo would be top rankedwith the single comb, the EE second with the pea comb, and the SalmonFaverolle rooster at the bottom of the ranks because they are known for beingespecially docile (and small comb). What are my chances of success? If they areraised together as chicks that would increase my odds of success, right? And thepullets that are over three months ahead of them will be sexually mature by thetime the cocks are crowing. Will the older pullets accept the roosters despite thesmall age difference? I don't plan on introducing them to one another until theyare approximately the same size.Also, how do banty roosters fair against standard roosters? I have a few bantyroosters that came with my 22 hens (two cochin, one red laced cornish, and oneblack silkie). I have already removed the cochins as they reached sexual maturityand were recognizeable as roosters first and were terrorizing my pullets. Thesilkie and the cornish are still with the pullets because they are not causingproblems. I just assume that I will have to remove them from the flock or theywould get killed by the standard breed roosters. Am I correct? Anyone have anyexperience with this?

My Reply : It will be interesting to see if anyone does have any success tips formultiple roosters ☺ The rooster to hen ratio most quoted is no more than onerooster to every ten hens so in terms of numbers three roosters for your 29 hensshould not be too many. There are likely to be a few scuffles as they sort out apecking order but usually any fighting settles down once the 'alpha' rooster hasbeen agreed upon. The pullets should accept the age difference (the rooster willkeep on trying until they do!). Sometimes bantams can be more aggressive thanlarger roosters (perhaps a touch of the napoleon complex?). It always seems tome that a lot depends on the individual characters - some roosters are so sweet,and others (regardless of breed) will terrorise the flock, and anyone who comesnear it.

Dave and Marie : I subscribed to your newsletter because it gave me nononsense advice when one of my five girls (Betty) started brooding. My wifeMarie and I are very much the novice and were so worried about her becausewhen we forced her out of the coop the other 4 attacked her! However wefollowed your advice gave her a cool bath and all is back to normal!



KoMo Tan : Thank you for the efforts in producing such a wonderful monthlyNewsletter. I attach herewith a picture of my 2 Ayam Serama - White Po-pokand Black Po-pok, as named by my 4 yr old grandson. They are about 18 monthsold and are very friendly to people although they tend to keep away from myJack Russell and Lad. I notice there are barely any contribution to the newsletterfrom this part of the world, I hope your readers would like the picture all thesame. Regards. KoMo Tan. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Joyce : I have a little lacey bantam who had a very pretty chick 8 weeks ago.Two days ago she just disappeared, no sign of the fox and I’m wondering if itcould have been a stoat. This spring a stoat got into my flight of doves andslaughtered all but 5. Also a stoat took my very small Barbe d"uncle hen whenshe was sitting on eggs. I would like to think that she is sitting on eggssomewhere (my lacey hen) but would she go broody so soon after hatching herlast chick? She could be anywhere in the thick hedges that surround my garden -but then so could the stoat ! Any ideas? Thank you - Joyce, Somerset

My Reply : Unfortunately the most likely option is the saddest but anything ispossible and a broody hen is a law unto herself. In most the broody urge issatisfied by hatching chicks but there are persistently broody hens who gobroody at the drop of a hat, even after they have just finished raising their chicks(which can be as early as 4 weeks). It is not unheard of for missing hens to turnup a few weeks later with a string of chicks in tow. Good luck.



Jessie : I have six ladies - all differentbreeds who are doing wonderfultogether! We live in Eugene and have anice little set up for them. I have a RedSex Link, Araucana, Black Australorp,Light Brahma, Buff Orpington andCuckoo Maran. I sent one pic of thewhole clan! I have also included apicture of my 13 month old son (Brice)feeding his girls some cracked corn -highlight of his day!!

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Anthony : Hello Gina and greeting from Matthews, Indiana, USA. Thank you fora great newsletter. It’s very informative and quite interesting to see the othersfolks chickens and coops. This is my first attempt at being a chicken rancherwith fifteen Rhode Island Red hens and two RIR roosters. The hens and roostersare five months old and free range on fifteen acres of grassland.

Tracey : I love your newsletter. I'm having some problems with the girls. We hadthem 2 years ago and they have been laying 4 eggs a day even in the winter sincethen. But for the last two months this has changed. First they started to peck theireggs, so we put a rubber egg in to discourage this, but they still keep doing it.The shells were soft so we added oyster shells and grit to their feed, but nowbetween the 4 of them they only lay 1-2 eggs each day. What is going on? Theyare happy, still eating and dust bathing all over the place. They are not moultingeither.

My Reply : It may partially be their age as there is likely to be a gradualreduction in eggs as the years go on, particularly with hybrid breeds developedfor good egg production. The most productive time is their first laying cycle aspullets and so commercial operations will often replace their layers at around 18months (their first moult). There can be a lot of other factors though. The longerdaylight hours can sometimes cause soft shells for a few weeks until they settleinto their rhythm again. If their pecking of eggs has turned into eating then thatwould also obviously account for the drop in numbers. Nutrition can be anotherfactor - if you don't already, free choice layers feed can be preferable over aparticular amount measured out because sometimes the ones higher up thepecking order will eat more than their fair share leaving the lowest girl(s)potentially with less than they might need.

Update : Have resorted to aversion therapy e.g rubber egg smothered in vicksvapor rub to discourage pecking. Has worked yesterday and today. Tracey- Fingers Crossed ☺



Christina Raving : Thank you so much for your newsletter, I really enjoy readingabout other people's chicken experience from around the world. I wanted to givea shout out to Amy Brownson, as I too am a big fan of blue Andalusians. Ipurchased my first 10 blue chicks last year from the feedstore. Of those, thepredators got two, I gave my fiancee three, I gave a friend one, and three of thesupposedly “sexed” chickens proved to be roosters. I reluctantly was forced toeat the roosters, because I live in California, in the city limits of my town, andthere are no roosters allowed. By the way, if you do need to eat any of yourchickens - no matter how difficult this might be - you will find that the taste ofyour backyard-raised birds is far superior to any store-bought chicken.

In my opinion, blue Andalusian chickens are the sweetest, perhaps the "tamest"chicks I have encountered. From the start, they came to my hands, and jumpedinto my palm and just settled down. Even when I no longer needed to keep themwarm and transferred them outside, they still come when I call them to the patiodoor to get scraps of food. I was really pleased when I had bought them as dayold chicks in May, and they started laying in November. They kept right onlaying an egg a day right through the winter. They have hardly missed a day. Myonly complaint might be that they are noisier than all of the other hens I've had.They lie to me and cackle before they lay an egg, and then they carry on for agood ten minutes after they lay an egg. But, as sweet and beautiful as they are, Ican forgive them for their noisiness, and the neighbors don't complain becausethey get free, organic, free-range eggs. The grandkids also prefer their whiteeggs for egg dying at Easter. Sure, I've got Araucanas, but that takes most of thefun out of egg-dying for the kids.

You know, I've heard more than one lady say that they preferred the taste ofbrown eggs to white eggs. Those ladies are seriously delusional! The color of theshell has nothing to do with the taste of the egg. The diet of the chicken hasALOT to do with the taste of the eggs however. My hens are free-range in mybackyard, and after my garden (in the front yard) is gone in the fall, the girls arelet out of my yard every evening when I open the fence gate. They come back into roost in the chicken shed, and I shut the gate after dark. This goes on until Iplant my flower bed and garden in late April. All of the grass clippings andweeds from my yard and from my neighbor, who is a yard mowing andmaintenance guy goes right into the back yard, and the girls eat it all. I don't haveany weeds, but a don't have a single blade of grass after eight years of chickenseither. I have a friend that brings over the snails from her yard about once everytwo weeks (she does not put out poison, and I make sure she gets eggs). I evenhad an old-timer once tell me that a house that is surrounded by chickens willnever get termites! The point is that this diet of lay mash supplemented withgreens and insects makes the egg yolks dark orange and very tasty. Chickens thatare confined and don't have the variety in their diet will not have this benefit.



Back to the story about the blues: This year, I did not get to the feed store on theday they first had more blue Andalusian chicks, and the next day all 25 were soldout. The feed store did not get any more until mid July, so I was calling everyweek, and I was right there to get 10 more when they went on sale.

Since then I have also learned how to determine the sex of the chicks - up to 1week old. I learned how by watching an episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Roe,and tried it for myself. It is really not difficult at all! I'm sorry I neglected to takemacro pictures, but I will do so the next time I have chicks in hand under a weekold for the readers of this newsletter. I also learned how to de-crow a rooster. I'vesucessfully performed the operation on three roosters now, all three survived theoperation and then resumed breeding hens. One of the blue Andalusians I boughtwas a rooster (I sexed them after I brought them home) so now when he startscrowing, I know I will not have to kill him, just perform the operation and willhave fertile eggs of my own without the neighbors ever knowing I have arooster. Sincerely, Christina Raving

P.S. For the reader who complained about the chicken poop, I have trained myhens not to come up on the porch by using a spray bottle of water. It took timeand perseverance, and I have to repeat it every time I raise new poults, but I keepthe spray bottle full by the patio door and eventually they do learn to stay off ofthe porch - even when it rains.

Linda and John : Here is a Chicken Coop made from an old dog house.



Harry : I am about to start incubating my own eggs. I want to be able to identifymy new chickens, and wondered about leg ringing them and when would be agood time to do so. What size rings I would need and how to apply them. I hopeyou can help. Love the newsletters keep up the great work.

My Reply : There are several different types of ring bands available at poultry /feed stores - I don't know which (if any) is best, people have their own personalpreferences but they all seem to do the job they were intended for. Chicks legscan grow quickly so whatever bands you use you will need to check on regularlyand remove and replace several times as they grow (to prevent the legs gettingcut into). ‘Sizes’ may depend on the manufacturer but I did find a few places thatalso gave mm measurements which may be helpful as a general guideline :

size 3 : Day Old Chicks / Pigeon 8mmsize 4 : Pullets / Bantams 9mmsize 5 : Pullets / Bantams 11mmsize 6 : Adult Hens Light Breed / Ducks Light Breed 12mmsize 7 : Adult Hens Light Breed / Ducks Light Breed 14mmsize 8 : Adult Hens Heavy Breed / Cockerels 16mmsize 9 : Adult Hens Heavy Breed / Cockerels 18mmsize 10 : Adult Cockerels Heavy Breed / Large Ducks, Geese 18mm

Debbie : Gina, love your keeping chickens newsletter! We have six 10-week oldgirls (at least we hope they are all females!) and are just loving our first-timechicken experience. Friends, neighbors and relatives whom we rarely see nowcome by regularly to see them, -- which we didn't expect! What we also didn'texpect was how truly amusing and sweet these birds are (2 barred rocks, 2 gold-laced wy's and 2 new hampshire reds). Every night we sit and eat our dinnerwatching what we call “chicken TV” -- which is a full schedule of pecking,scratching, eating, preening and running around. A bench moves wherever thechicken tractor moves so we can watch them in their daily lives.

http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/1/OffGrid5



Carolyn : I've been searching the internet for hours and can't find easy, BASICinformation on coops, such as... dimensions for the door to get in, bestdimensions for a ramp, how far roost should be from wall, how much spaceabove roost. We can build our own coop and adapt square footage, number ofnest boxes, etc., but some of this basic trivia is missing in everything I've runacross, and books to purchase that are advertised aren't a guarantee that theinformation will be in there also. THANKS! Carolyn

My Reply : Most coop plans would give door dimensions but the problem withthe fittings is that those queries are not really basic in the sense that you cangive a standard 'do this, do that' answer. It depends on the chickens you haveand the coop you are going to build. You can put the fittings wherever you likebearing in mind your own convenience as the person having to collect eggs andclean it out. Other considerations include the size and convenience of the birdsand some of their natural preferences such as liking nests to be relativelysecluded. Chickens don't need a huge amount of height but most coops are builtfairly high for the convenience of the keeper (it's not much fun crawling aroundor stooping down to clean a coop out!). A Jersey Giant is going to need a biggerpop hole, more roost space and lower roosts than a bantam would. If you arebuilding everything yourself from your own design then you can just buildeverything 'made to measure' for your particular chickens and yourself - nothingis set in stone. There are photos of subscriber coops in every issue of the‘Keeping Chickens Newsletter’ so you may also be able to get some ideas bylooking at what others have done with their coops ☺

Cindy : We have 3 dogs - 2 of which sometimes visit our neighbors. They killeda chicken once while visiting so when we were thinking of getting birds (4-hproject for our daughter) we decided our first year would be with turkeys. Wedid consider geese but I had bad experiences when younger with them. Theturkeys we ordered ended up being about 40lbs when we butchered them in thefall but prior to that the turkeys chased and harassed our dogs. The only dog westill have problems with is our Jack Russell and she will probably never “get it”.Our other two dogs actually protect the chickens we now have. We have nowhad egg layers for 4 years and my daughter also shows several at our county fair.This is a fun newsletter to read each month. Cindy G - Wisconsin

Success With PoultryPractical Advice on Eggs, Feeding,

Chicks, Housing, Diseases, Incubators andBrooders, Turkeys Ducks and Geese


http://www.self-sufficient-life.com/Keeping_Chickens/successwithpoultry.htm



Laura Gabriel : Pictures of our new coop when the chicks were a month old. Thedesign is based off of one of the ads on your newsletter, I adjusted it a bit andpainted the big flower and my kids decorated the other side. The last picture is ofmy son sitting in with the chicks reading them a book about ducks. The chicksare now four months old and no problems yet.

Documents

Keeping Chickens Newsletter August 2010 · Keeping Chickens Newsletter Published August 2010 by Clemontine (light brahma) & Daffney (red sexlink) Sandra K Coleman: Daffney, my giant