Thinking about raising a 3 some of hens

[Bigchillin83]

Right, leg horns will lay around 330 eggs out of 365 days a year they are the master egg slingers, that’s why most all eggs in store are white.. but they ain’t got no meat on them lol… Rhode Island red will lay about 300 eggs a year but are also meat chickens…

We do pretty good we let our chickens out a few times a week, have had good luck so far with only loosing a few to coyotes, dogs and just going mia… get a chicken snake every year or so.. but some just die for no reason, they are kinda finicky lol… Our chickens are on lock down right no untill our garden gets a little bigger lol.. I know from experience, left un watched they can pick a garden clean in about 20 mins lol

 

[Bigchillin83]

think these are where i got the idea from

 

[Magdump]

I built a tractor coop for 4 white leghorn hens. They’ll lay an egg a day each, pretty prolific layers. Leghorns are pretty spooky and ain’t much to eat when they quit laying. The roll around coop comes in handy for mobile type housing. Down to 2 hens now. Need to get a few more poults soon.

Very nice indeed! My buddy is in the process of building something similar right now. He’s using an aluminum framed mini greenhouse and substituting sheet metal for the roof and cage wire for the glass. He will hand move the chickens around his place. I have a decent size pen but wouldn’t mind something like this to move mine around a bit. Best I’ve done so far is fenced off an area around our compost pile with some 5 foot 2x4 wire and a drop door in the back of our pen to let them into that. They love to dig through that pile but with all the meat eating birds we have around, it’s not very safe.

 

[Bigchillin83]

Very nice indeed! My buddy is in the process of building something similar right now. He’s using an aluminum framed mini greenhouse and substituting sheet metal for the roof and cage wire for the glass. He will hand move the chickens around his place. I have a decent size pen but wouldn’t mind something like this to move mine around a bit. Best I’ve done so far is fenced off an area around our compost pile with some 5 foot 2x4 wire and a drop door in the back of our pen to let them into that. They love to dig through that pile but with all the meat eating birds we have around, it’s not very safe.

Cool, a little country but I have seen people use trampoline frames lol, just wrap them in fencing lol

 

[Scrape]

My little coop was the product of what I refer to as ‘Corona Engineering’,,..I have a pull out the side poop pan covering the entire main roosting part, with roost bars and poop trays under each. Chickens poop all night long
For the cold nights and a little cozy chicky atmosphere I mounted a 80 watt bulb inside a little galvanized tiny bucket I found on the roadside.

my little chicks don’t know how pampered they really are

 

[Scrape]

Many of the hens will lay their eggs in the same box, lol.

There’s always that one favorite nesting box. It sometimes changes from box to box

 

[Bigchillin83]

There’s always that one favorite nesting box. It sometimes changes from box to box

lol yup… Mine fight over them and wait in line for them lol, crazy chickens , I got 6 boxs and they use the same 3 lol

 

[Magdump]

Just had to treat my flock for Coccidiosis so I thought I’d throw this out there for anyone just getting started. Buying a run from a feed store you might run the risk of introducing this parasite to your chickens. We had one showing symptoms and pulled her out and cleaned out all the bedding and treated the water with Corid. The poult was dead the next morning, but everybody else is good after the 5 day treatment. Anyway, it’s the biggest threat to a new flock, so I thought I’d mention it.

 

[Scrape]

Good point. I have had issues year before last with hens getting gapemouth. When they get parasitic worms in their throat, causing breathing restrictions to the point they continuously have their beaks open trying to breathe.
I’ve put diatommaceous earth in the coop and used a paste wormer, safeguard to rid of the gapeworms.

 

[rsfdiver]

I have chickens. My yard is 2 acres no real fence but for some reason they know the property line... They don't wander into the road. I let them out pretty much every day and close the coop at night which they go back in by themselves.
I usually start out with 8 chicks from Tractor supply, give the mean roosters away, and end up with 5 lay hens.
They are pets.
I have lost them mostly to neighbors dogs #1, because when they get out it is usually during the day.
Lost one to a bald eagle... can't shoot them... Raccoons occasionally but our dog kept them at bay.
Boiling fresh eggs to peel well we place the eggs in boiling water and let boil for 5 minutes, turn the fire off and let sit for 20 minutes in the water, then take the pot and run cold water over them until you can take them out by hand. They peel well that way.
If they eat dandelions they eggs will have a bitter taste
Had a rooster one year that lived a long time, longer than all the chickens. It was big and mean.
+4 inch spikes. I asked a friend, who had just been attacked by it, if he thought his prized fighting chickens could take that rooster, his eyes got big and he said 'DANG, I don't know... that is one big mean rooster!".
Bald eagle took that old rooster. Death from above, he never saw it coming.

 

[Magdump]

Always feed your chickens in the pen and keep it hen friendly and they’ll consider it home.

 

[Scrape]

I trained my chickens to coop up at a moments notice but pitching in a hand full of dried mealworms into the coop. Chickens are very selfish, and don’t wanna be the last one in when it comes to eating those mealworms. Those worms are like chicken crack…. They love em’

I can call my chickens with the bag of worms in my hand when they are 100 yards away, it’s funny to see the footrace and them trying to fly to the coop.

 

[Bigchillin83]

I trained my chickens to coop up at a moments notice but pitching in a hand full of dried mealworms into the coop. Chickens are very selfish, and don’t wanna be the last one in when it comes to eating those mealworms. Those worms are like chicken crack…. They love em’

I can call my chickens with the bag of worms in my hand when they are 100 yards away, it’s funny to see the footrace and them trying to fly to the coop.

we did the same thing but with table scraps, lol alot cheaper, no need anymore, about 20 mins before dark they start single file line back to the run/coop lol..

they get everything but avocados.. they can pick a chicken or turkey carcass clean in under a minute, lol.. and we give them the egg shells back crumbled up, saves us from having to buy calcium or oyster shells for the eggs..

 

[Scrape]

I do not live where I have my chickens yet. Moved them up to some property I built a shop on and will soon build a house upon a few miles from where I now live. While at the property they free range as I work there all weekend and go there every day after work.

Sometimes when I need to leave before they go to roost in the coop, I need to coop them up like in the middle of the day. That’s where the meal worms come in handy. When they see that bag of chicken dope, they haul butt to get to the coop.