Your chickens should not have to walk or eat in their own litter. Don't forget to vaccinate them for newcastle, put it in their water. The girls need privacy for their egg laying, each bird needs a minimum of three feet of personal space,
you can force animals to live anyway you want, but they deserve a better quality of life, remember newcastle in CA? thousands of chickens were killed, the feds were here 3 times, all mine lived because I had been vacinnating since 95
By "litter" I don't mean manure, its a huge ammount of chopped corn plants. I'll move the coop or take out the compost when it begins to have too much manure in it. In the meantime, it is very clean with no odor, and the chickens are eating bugs and the remaining corn in it. My chicken tractor is 24 square feet, which is 8 feet per chicken. If you could see my farm in person, you wouldn't be worried about the quality of life of my animals.
I love chickens, I rescue chickens but each chicken needs a quarter acre to grow, see your little brown hen, my walks into the house jumps on a chair and I ask her if she wants to make eggy. She answers and jumps in a box and makes eggy. Each chicken needs a quarter lb of food everyday, the girls need mash for their bones
You can raise chickens on a whole lot less than 1/4 acre per bird, you can have a dozen hens on that much space. I use about 1/4 pound of feed per day for all three chickens in the chicken tractor, plus I let them have as much laying mash as they want, which is about 1/8 of a pound for all three. That comes to 1/8 of a pound of food for each chicken per day. They also get bugs and goodies out of the litter in the tractor. They seem happy and healthy, and the hens lay better than average.
Well banjodan, I have 28 roosters they have their own 3 by 3 ft condos, and a acre and a half of grass, the girls are loose, but the acreage is fenced, most good livestock books will tell you a minimum of 1/4 lb of food per chicken is what they need. I am surrounded by spanish people who starve their chickens
you will find that you will need a separate
pen for each rooster. You need to worm them dust them and use sulmet on occasion. If you feed less than a 1/4 lb a day you are starving them
I don't ration out the feed, I feed my chickens free-choice (i.e. have food available to them at all times), but with a diet rich in bugs and corn foraged from the silage, they only eat about 1/8 of a pound of store-bought feed each. If I weighed everything that they ate it would probably be more than 1/4-pound, but even in their little 4-by-6 tractor, they are able to forage a lot of food. They are quite content, in good condition, and lay well.
Nooo..I have 20 hens too, a turkey, two muscovy ducks, 7 dogs, 12 cats, 500 wild pigeons, and a pet possum..I don't eat chicken..just love them..
I live in a city that was agricultural, and over the last twenty years especially the last 5 years of rabid chinese development , and I cannot tell you how many times and ways the city has changed its codes and restrictions but in order to make sure I could protect them I studied everything...laws and medical, the feds told me my farmette was beaut
I eat chickens ( not mine) lol I eat eggs too again ( not mine )lol I enjoy watching them run free. So I let them. I'm fixing to catch them again Just to treat and vac...
If you look around, you could probably find a house with some acreage to rent, especially if you don't mind a rough old house thats been empty for a while. I'm renting where I am.
I let my run around during the day and sometimes one will go missing, then a little while later she reappears with a dozen chicks in tow. So now I have too many chickens and have to keep an eye on them so I dont get any more.
I'm pretty sure that you can get a powder that you dust the chickens with to get rid of the lice. I'm not sure about the legs though, that doesn't sound like anything I've seen. There is a guy on youtube with a channel called Josiahsbackpack (not sure if that is spelled correctly) that might be able to tell you. He has a few good chicken videos.
You can use garden and poultry dust, or use sevin, to kill mites use permetrin as a spray in the yard. It is important to dust because they can kill the chicken and they can get pneumonia,
Most of them should be fertile if the rooster is doing his job, but its never 100%. The only way to tell is to incubate the eggs and candle them after a week, which you do by holding the egg up to a bright light, usually a light bulb inside of a can with a hole in the end so the light goes into the egg and doesn't come out from around the side, and you can see through the shell to see if there is any development happening.
chicken tractor!!! with the high price of free range birds (turkey/chicks) you are right on track for small production. I've wanted to construct a portable coop, but it really helps to see a working model. I have a health food store in my office and know how needfull bird meat and eggs are for good health, but honestly most clean (organic/free range) is cost prohibited to my patients. Fortunatly one of my patriot friends operates a feed store and chickens are available. thanks AC
Thanks. I've read some articles in the Mother Earth News magazine about how much healthier free-range eggs are than conventionally-raised ones. There's no comparison in the flavor, either. Store-bought eggs taste like chalk to me after eating my own. I'm raising grass-fed beef too.
I'm hoping to get some. With my steers, one of which is in the freezer, and all these chickens on the way, if I were to get some pigs I could pretty much never buy meat again. Actually I could stop buying meat now, but I can't live without pork.
Great job. I think it will work out fine for ya. You going to sell the eggs? My birds are all mixed 30 or so of them. I want to see how your coops work out I may try that type..
I haven't tried moving them around to let the chickens eat grass yet, but with the small chicken tractor in the video, I'm using a deep litter bedding system, which is another good idea for a coop or pen. In my case I'm using mostly silage that gets spilled and wasted, but you could throw grass clippings and veggie scraps or whatever else in there and they will turn it into compost. They scratch all the turds right into it too, solving the manure problem.
That looks like a good setup.
knappydanny 2 years ago
Your chickens should not have to walk or eat in their own litter. Don't forget to vaccinate them for newcastle, put it in their water. The girls need privacy for their egg laying, each bird needs a minimum of three feet of personal space,
you can force animals to live anyway you want, but they deserve a better quality of life, remember newcastle in CA? thousands of chickens were killed, the feds were here 3 times, all mine lived because I had been vacinnating since 95
with respect..
hurchel 2 years ago
By "litter" I don't mean manure, its a huge ammount of chopped corn plants. I'll move the coop or take out the compost when it begins to have too much manure in it. In the meantime, it is very clean with no odor, and the chickens are eating bugs and the remaining corn in it. My chicken tractor is 24 square feet, which is 8 feet per chicken. If you could see my farm in person, you wouldn't be worried about the quality of life of my animals.
banjodan99 2 years ago
I love chickens, I rescue chickens but each chicken needs a quarter acre to grow, see your little brown hen, my walks into the house jumps on a chair and I ask her if she wants to make eggy. She answers and jumps in a box and makes eggy. Each chicken needs a quarter lb of food everyday, the girls need mash for their bones
hurchel 2 years ago
You can raise chickens on a whole lot less than 1/4 acre per bird, you can have a dozen hens on that much space. I use about 1/4 pound of feed per day for all three chickens in the chicken tractor, plus I let them have as much laying mash as they want, which is about 1/8 of a pound for all three. That comes to 1/8 of a pound of food for each chicken per day. They also get bugs and goodies out of the litter in the tractor. They seem happy and healthy, and the hens lay better than average.
banjodan99 2 years ago
Well banjodan, I have 28 roosters they have their own 3 by 3 ft condos, and a acre and a half of grass, the girls are loose, but the acreage is fenced, most good livestock books will tell you a minimum of 1/4 lb of food per chicken is what they need. I am surrounded by spanish people who starve their chickens
you will find that you will need a separate
pen for each rooster. You need to worm them dust them and use sulmet on occasion. If you feed less than a 1/4 lb a day you are starving them
hurchel 2 years ago
I don't ration out the feed, I feed my chickens free-choice (i.e. have food available to them at all times), but with a diet rich in bugs and corn foraged from the silage, they only eat about 1/8 of a pound of store-bought feed each. If I weighed everything that they ate it would probably be more than 1/4-pound, but even in their little 4-by-6 tractor, they are able to forage a lot of food. They are quite content, in good condition, and lay well.
banjodan99 2 years ago
Good for you banjodan..
hurchel 2 years ago
28 roosters mmmmmm not fighting the cocks are we??
HLCpromow 2 years ago
Nooo..I have 20 hens too, a turkey, two muscovy ducks, 7 dogs, 12 cats, 500 wild pigeons, and a pet possum..I don't eat chicken..just love them..
I live in a city that was agricultural, and over the last twenty years especially the last 5 years of rabid chinese development , and I cannot tell you how many times and ways the city has changed its codes and restrictions but in order to make sure I could protect them I studied everything...laws and medical, the feds told me my farmette was beaut
hurchel 2 years ago
I eat chickens ( not mine) lol I eat eggs too again ( not mine )lol I enjoy watching them run free. So I let them. I'm fixing to catch them again Just to treat and vac...
HLCpromow 2 years ago
Nice work.. wish I could afford land and have a small farm too.
qantmrckr 2 years ago
If you look around, you could probably find a house with some acreage to rent, especially if you don't mind a rough old house thats been empty for a while. I'm renting where I am.
banjodan99 2 years ago
I let my run around during the day and sometimes one will go missing, then a little while later she reappears with a dozen chicks in tow. So now I have too many chickens and have to keep an eye on them so I dont get any more.
manque15 2 years ago
How do you get rid of chicken lice? and my chickens, well some of them have a build up on their legs do you know what this is from?
manque15 2 years ago
I'm pretty sure that you can get a powder that you dust the chickens with to get rid of the lice. I'm not sure about the legs though, that doesn't sound like anything I've seen. There is a guy on youtube with a channel called Josiahsbackpack (not sure if that is spelled correctly) that might be able to tell you. He has a few good chicken videos.
banjodan99 2 years ago
You can use garden and poultry dust, or use sevin, to kill mites use permetrin as a spray in the yard. It is important to dust because they can kill the chicken and they can get pneumonia,
hurchel 2 years ago
Are you able to tell if the eggs are fertile?
Mofila 2 years ago
Most of them should be fertile if the rooster is doing his job, but its never 100%. The only way to tell is to incubate the eggs and candle them after a week, which you do by holding the egg up to a bright light, usually a light bulb inside of a can with a hole in the end so the light goes into the egg and doesn't come out from around the side, and you can see through the shell to see if there is any development happening.
banjodan99 2 years ago
chicken tractor!!! with the high price of free range birds (turkey/chicks) you are right on track for small production. I've wanted to construct a portable coop, but it really helps to see a working model. I have a health food store in my office and know how needfull bird meat and eggs are for good health, but honestly most clean (organic/free range) is cost prohibited to my patients. Fortunatly one of my patriot friends operates a feed store and chickens are available. thanks AC
tj5555555 2 years ago
Thanks. I've read some articles in the Mother Earth News magazine about how much healthier free-range eggs are than conventionally-raised ones. There's no comparison in the flavor, either. Store-bought eggs taste like chalk to me after eating my own. I'm raising grass-fed beef too.
banjodan99 2 years ago
You should probably consider hogs too.
CMLovejoy 2 years ago
I'm hoping to get some. With my steers, one of which is in the freezer, and all these chickens on the way, if I were to get some pigs I could pretty much never buy meat again. Actually I could stop buying meat now, but I can't live without pork.
banjodan99 2 years ago
Great job. I think it will work out fine for ya. You going to sell the eggs? My birds are all mixed 30 or so of them. I want to see how your coops work out I may try that type..
HLCpromow 2 years ago
I haven't tried moving them around to let the chickens eat grass yet, but with the small chicken tractor in the video, I'm using a deep litter bedding system, which is another good idea for a coop or pen. In my case I'm using mostly silage that gets spilled and wasted, but you could throw grass clippings and veggie scraps or whatever else in there and they will turn it into compost. They scratch all the turds right into it too, solving the manure problem.
banjodan99 2 years ago
I'll sell as many eggs as I can, but mostly I'm going to try to make some money by selling the birds themselves.
banjodan99 2 years ago