Juniper Zen

I have 2 metal "Grandpa's Feeders," which are a treadle style. They've worked well for over 10 years... until this fall/winter, when mice discovered that they can squeeze under the lids and eat all they want. I'm going to build tables that are 18" off the ground, and put the feeders on top. The tables will be wide enough that the chickens can hop up and then step onto the treadles, rather than having to land directly on the treadles from ground level. The edges of the tables will overshoot the 4 legs by several inches, so that mice can't climb the legs and then get on top. Hopefully that will take care of it. And even if not, there are other benefits to putting the feeders up on tables:
1. Easier to refill when I don't have to bend down.
2. Don't have to worry about mud gathering around them.
3. Chickens have more space to hide from intense summer sun and winter rain.

Judith Browning wrote:The guidelines he has...
"Rx and over the counter bottles, large and small with or without child caps.
Must have lids, wash in hot soapy water, rinse and dry...put in ziplocks marked 'clean bottles'

This is great. Just wondering if anyone knows what the charity does with them afterwards?

Juniper Zen wrote:I dunked my five (thought it was four, but actually five!) broody hens into a bucket of cold water, up to their shoulders, yesterday in the late afternoon and again this morning. This evening all five were back on the nesting boxes.

I’ve been meaning for months to return to this thread and give an update. As I posted earlier, I had dunked the five broody hens in cold water twice, on consecutive days, then I had stopped because they were getting scared of me. They were still sitting in their boxes for the next couple days, and I had deemed this a failure… but by the third or fourth day after, I was no longer catching them sitting. So either it really did work, just with the results taking a few days to manifest (and it makes sense that their bodies wouldn’t be able to switch gears immediately), or they were running off when they heard me coming (possible, but I would have expected them to not still be sitting that evening or the day after), or it was a massive coincidence (possible, but unlikely).

I think that if I once again have several hens brooding at once next year, I will try it again (for science!), but if it’s the normal just 1-2 hens at once, I’ll let them be.

Josh Hoffman wrote:This chicken you are referring to ate too much grass? In a coop or tractored or free range?

My chicken passed away today, and a necropsy showed that the underlying problem was that her gizzard was full of tumors. But while I was researching impacted crops, I came across stories of other people's chickens having eaten too much long grass and it getting twisted up and stuck in the crop. Obviously that doesn't usually happen, but I just wanted to let readers know about the possible risk so that they can watch out for it and intervene if they see a problem.

Josh Hoffman wrote:I bag 2 acres of grass

Just a warning for those who are unaware - some chickens will eat a bunch of grass at once and end up with an impacted crop. Make sure they have free access to grit. If you regularly check on your chickens, especially in the morning, you'll be more likely to notice a problem before it gets serious. (An impacted crop will still be full and hard in the morning before the chicken eats anything. Normally the crop should empty overnight.)

I am actually writing this with a chicken on my lap, whom I am nursing back from the brink of death. It took me too long to notice her impacted crop - I've been overwhelmed with work - and she had already lost too much weight and was dehydrated. Cross your fingers I'm able to pull her through.

I use an old raised bed, with a painter’s canvas drop cloth lining it, as a sandbox. The hens slowly toss all the sand out, so I refill it as needed. It seems to keep the mite populations down. They used to get clumps of mite eggs at the bases of their feathers, but I haven’t seen that in a long time now. Our soil is heavy clay, so they weren’t able to do adequate dust bathing before I created the sandbox.

On a side note, I use a litter box scoop to remove chicken poop from the sandbox as needed.

Here’s a video of my hens using their sandbox:  

Thanks, Mark. Sounds like cottonwood would not be a good fit - no stream or creek, and we have clay soils with crappy drainage, and that is too big for me! (Probably should have mentioned the clay in the first post.) I can provide some irrigation, but I'm not looking to plant trees that would require an extensive amount after their first few years.

This is just a fun idea, anyway. There are plenty of more important projects that need attending to first. :)

Hi Mark. I have municipal water that I can use as needed, especially as trees are getting established. It's 24" of rain falling from the sky, primarily during winter, and the rest during spring. No rain to speak of in the summer. I'm east of the Coast Ranges. Hope that helps.

Thank you everyone for the suggestions! I am unfamiliar with quince, but will look it up. I will also look more into mulberries and apple trees. I do have one apple tree that is growing well, but it gets regular irrigation in my little row of fruit trees. :)

I’ve seen photos of willows grown with the branches bent to make beautiful shapes, like domes to hide under. I live in zone 9b and we get an average of 24” of rain, most of it in the winter and none over the hottest months. Are there any similar fast growing trees that would be suitable for this climate?