Bethany Brown

Anne Miller wrote:Bethany will any of these help:

https://permies.com/t/15054/Chicken-rickshaw

https://permies.com/t/50021/Finally-mobile-chicken-coop-person

And there is even a PEP Badge Bit (BB) for that:

https://permies.com/wiki/147461/pep-animal-care/Lightweight-Paddock-Shift-Chicken-Coop

Can’t play the video right now, we’ll look later. Thanks so much for searching for me and sending links!!

Timothy Norton wrote:In my experience, I had some over-breeding issues when I had ten hens to one rooster. My rooster was a rather large australorp so take that into consideration.

What kind of birds are you thinking of having? I only have egg layers personally but would love to figure out a flock of meat birds in the future.

. I just want to be able to have some eggs, sell a few, and hatch our own replacement chicks. But maybe I don’t need the rooster and can just get hatching eggs from neighbors. We currently have 2 silkies, 6 buff Orpington, 2 Wyandottes, 2 barred rocks, three mixed breed home hatched girls and one mixed home hatched boy. We will be giving a few away. I’m not up for doing meat birds right Norelius. I really wanted to breed my own landrace dual purpose chickens, but health issues are not going to allow me to do that much work.

I couldn’t find a thread about easily movable chicken coops. Anyone have photos, dimensions, tips or hints on medium sized hen tractors that can be moved by hand by one person? I’m trying to design one for 8-10 hens, ideally with space for them to have a rooster.

I don’t think of myself as clothes person, but I realized I’ve blown it by buying a bunch of winter gear and a dress to wear to a wedding. Maybe next year I won’t buy anything.

When I was a kid, we raised Holstein steers for meat. They’re not as meaty as the traditional meat breeds, but still substantially meaty. I’m sure it was because they were cheap to get from the dairy across the road. If you’re ok with castration, you could keep the calf with mother for a few months, milk her when the calf is done to increase supply, and when the calf is old enough, wean and castrate and sell to a local family to raise their own meat. Or you could sell sooner after birth as a bottle calf. Yes, eventually they’ll get eaten, but they can live a pretty good life in the meantime. Heifers you can keep if you want more cows, or sell to someone else to breed and milk.

I had been thinking that this fluff seemed like a resource that no one was using. Turns out, it’s definitely being used.

Kaarina Kreus wrote:I don't have electricity, so I cannot even consider an incubator or raising chicks under a lamp. Had to do it the old way.

Last summer, with only one rooster, although some chickens tried to brood, not a single egg hatched.

This year, I thought I can only keep my fingers crossed. I asked around, but nobody had any Arctic landrace chickens for sale. Then, suddenly, one hen got glued to a nesting box. Then another. I had to quickly add nesting boxes, as I had five hens out of 18 brooding at the same time!

Then little chicks started appearing. First they'd stay in the nesting box. The second day the momma hen would lead them around the covered run, cuck-cucking and showing how to peck and drink.

About half of the eggs never hatched. Some chicks were lethargic and died. But now I have 15 chicks belonging to four hens and one is still brooding.

The egg production from the flock has been miserable. Hens lay eggs in front of the brooders, who then roll them under themselves and won't let me pick them. The accumulating eggs make a string around the brooder and get warmed a bit but not enough. And at some stage the brooder rolls them out!  Then I pick it, thinking the eggs are fresh, only to find an embryo in my frying pan.

On the other hand, momma hen takes care of everything. She spends the first weeks doing nothing else, walking around with her chicks, digging food for them, teaching them how to hop on a perch. The chicks sleep and rest under her wings. She keeps other hens and me away from her little ones. The rooster sometimes gets to have a look at the chicks.

I have chicks of different ages in the run together with several roosters and thr rest of the flock without the slightest problems. Maybe we should let nature take its course more often?

My chickens and yours read the same books! I tossed some of the nest because they’d been there over a month. Tossed the eggs and they’re back at it! I had one hatch one chick a month or so ago. The rest are just perpetually setting and I’m barely getting any eggs! My mother in law needed eggs and I was too embarrassed to say I didn’t have any so I bought pasture eggs at the store and ripped the label to make it look like a reused carton!

In addition to the two trees I got from Winn, I’ve grown this avocado from a grocery store seed. I had about ten seedlings at the beginning of winter and most did not survive. We had a long cold stretch of below 15 degree days. I had put some of the seedlings in my garage and some ina cold frame. This was still the only survivor. It died back but grew new leaves in the spring. Anything I can do to make it less leggy?

This idea started as an autocorrect and extended joke in a group text. Now I’m obsessed and must do it. I need to breed a melon that is white with black mottling like a Holstein cow. Brown spots will do if black is not possible. The flesh needs to be white and I think it should taste like vanilla ice cream. I found a few varieties that have rind patterns that might get me in the right direction. Anyone ever taste a melon that reminded you of vanilla ice cream?

I love how you’ve accommodated their chickens needs! I’ve just been letting mine do what they want, and it’s not working in a way that works well for the humans or the chickens. Ended up with confused hens and rotten eggs