Yes indeed: 4 hens, 8 meat birds, and 6 freebie males thrown in for warmth. We've had them since thurdsay, and the dang meat birds are already bigger than all the others. It's amazing how fast they grow. I figure I'll start butchering end-ish of June or early July. We'll start getting eggs in October. wheeeeeee!
"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Niiice. I want to try that. (How's that for a dang-it doll?)
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Yeah, we have them in the laundry room in a big computer box. They'll outgrow it by the end of this week at hte rate they're going. I think I'll set up a second box for the meat birds, and keep the hens and extra males togehter in the other. My daughter just found an ant and fed it to them. She nearly pulled back a bloody stump.
Do you have window wells? We kept ours there as their transition to the outside world. Clipped a shoplight thing on the edge of the metal... leaned up a piece of plywood to guard them a little bit. No bugs in that window well!
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
You can get pumpkin or watermelon boxes from the local store to enclose a space for them when you want to put them outside. It's very sturdy cardboard, and it's big. Do you have a heat lamp on them? They like it hot at this age. About 90 degrees, if I remember correctly.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
This totally makes me want chickens. Which is very odd. I've never wanted them before, quite the opposite. Are you guys brainwashing me?
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
Yeah, I have a heat lamp on them. The books said 95 the first week, but they seem to prefer in the 85-90 range.
Interesting idea about the window well, coco. How old were they when you did this? I would worry about several things - cold air pooling in the lowest available space for one, and feline predators, for another. Of course, I don't have a big ugly very LOUD dog like you do.
Too bad it's neither pumpkin nor watermelon season right now... except my local store did have seedless watermelons last week. Hm.....
I've always wanted to get some chickens. How much space do you need to house this many once they are outside full time? And what do you use for a house? Are you building one or buying one? And if you don't want to answer all my questions, I'd be happy to read a book if you could suggest one
They were pretty much feathered out. You know - the bigger "grown up" looking feathers. Two or three weeks maybe...? I had a lamp clipped on the side of the window well and also a plywood to shield the wind and rain. There was a cat that got a couple of them before the dog came into the picture. Cats suck.
Anyway, we use two doghouses (we got for free - wood ones) for their shelters now. Most of the time they perch on the fence, though. Even in the snow. What can you do?
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
cukes - I'd be glad to answer your questions about my plans. I can recommend a book or two as well. I'm squished on time right now though... I'll try to post something later today.
We have 4 chickens right now and they are in a triangle about 100 sq. feet during the summer. After the gardening, they have a bigger area, about 500 sq. feet. I don't think they really need as much room as people sometimes think.
As for the bum thing, I've only done that at a Youth Conference entirely against my will. And it was a turkey. I'm just ASSuming it would be the same deal if you butchered your own chickens.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
coco, I'm right along with you about the cats sucking. I hate cats. I am not a cat person! that's beside the point though. so how big are these dog houses and do they have a perch inside? I was reading on a board backyardchickens or something and they said they need to perch above their poo in order to keep it sanitary? and I really have no idea how big a 100 sq foot space would be. would htey need the 500 sq feet that your chickens get after the garden?
bok-give me a play by play in how you are dealing with your chickens and how you will coop them and such. I'm really curious. I've always wanted to do this. thanks! oh and book recommendations would be great too
I think that cats are wonderful. They're good at keeping the vermin level down, they purr a lot better than dogs, and I prefer cleaning a litter box to using a pooper scooper.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
ok ok. I was a little strong in stating my dislike for cats. however, I do not like them as much as dogs. I had a really sweet cat when I was younger and if I could have that cat again, or one with a similar disposition, I would.
The doghouses are about Beagle-sized I guess. No perch. We stick some grass clippings in them when we mow the lawn. It's basically where they lay their eggs. We have a pipe or two and an old dead tree along the ground, about 6" up to maybe 18" off the ground if they want to perch there. We only keep them in the smaller place so they don't thrash the garden, which we learned by sad experience. Once it's fall, we let them in the garden area, too.
What I dislike about my mom's cat is that she drags all her kills to the back door. Freakin' A big pigeons and stuff! With the jugular vein like squirting blood, I have to cover the kids' eyes ... and she just purrs and rubs on your leg and then stands back and admires it like she's the best cat ever!
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Breaking news: Mirk gets mad chimp disease eating dog and horse meat instead of bananas.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
So - I was prepped for the arrival of the chicks with cute little chick feeder and waterer, a heat lamp, and a cardboard box. Used newspaper as bedding for the first day or so till they were eating well, then added wood chips. Alas, my 18 birds outgrew their large computer box in less than a week. So I moved the meat birds (8) to an identical box setup. In another week, they were getting crowded in there. So I begged the produce man at my favorite grocery store for a used watermelon crate. It's big folks. Moved all 18 birds there, and they're doing fine. At the 4 week point, or whenever the meat birds are mostly feathered out, whichever comes first, I am moving the meat birds outside to a wooden compost bin (16 square feet), and will continue with the heat lamp until they're fully feathered out. They will continue to reside there until their 8 week birthday-ish, when the butchering will begin.
The hens will move into a portable range shelter, similar in design as the ones described in "Pastured Poultry Profits" by Joel Salatin. It will be roughly 4' x'8' wide and long, and 2' tall, with one end enclosed in fiberglass clad plywood, and the other half chicken wire. The shelter will be moved daily, to provide new grazing and to avoid buildup of manure. The idea is that the chickens eat bugs and grass and fertilize as they go.
For the winter, the range shelter will be positioned on top of one of the 4' x 8' raised garden beds, using the deep litter system, which uses the composting action of the manure mixed with wood chips to provide some additional warmth for the birds.
Do you have a trampoline, bok? We kept our chickens under there for several summers. They got shade and a new section of lawn every time we mowed. (We'd move the tramp first, so they'd have longer grass, then mow the rest.) We had a "fence" around the tramp anyway so little kids wouldn't go under it when bigger kids were jumping.
Now we toss in the grass clippings from the yard (almost 1/2 acre in lawn) into their pen and they like that. Plus they get lots of kitchen scraps. I think it's healthier for them than just plain chicken feed 24/7.
-- Edited by Cocobeem at 09:51, 2008-05-25
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Oooh - book title. I forgot. THE best reference book: How To Raise Chickens by Gail Damerow. The Joel Salatin was purely about moveable range shelters and butchering. Damerow's book covers everything you need to know to raise a small backyard flock.
Speaking of chickens, my 5yo can go pick up two of the hens with no problem - they won't let anyone else near them. I think they can sense how gentle and non-threatening she is. She was holding the black one right up to the sliding back door for her 1yo bro. to see. Now they are going down the slide together (yes, she and the hen). Aww....
The other day MrCoco's sis and some of her family visited and the kids were chasing the chickens and trying to catch them... my 5yo came in the house all upset, on the verge of tears, because she didn't like it - felt the stress the chickens were having, I guess.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Sounds like your 5yo has a tender heart for animals. Does think mean the horse BBQ at your place is off or do we just need to plan it for when she's away?
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
