Poultry Keeping General Discussion #1

[Epacris]

A very warm welcome to the inaugural Poultry Keeping General Discussion sticky thread.

This thread is for you to share your experiences keeping chickens, ducks, geese, etc. If you are new to keeping poultry this is a great place to ask questions about how to get started, if you are well along on your poultry keeping journey please come and share your story, if you are an old-hand at keeping poultry we’d love for you to share some of your wisdom and experience.

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[HotI]

I only have one chook at the moment following a fox massacre, but have a set up that fits 12 comfortably. Our chooks have been free range (1/2 acre) until now, but i am going to put a chook run in before we restock. We built our chook house, it is over engineered and gorgeous- the taj mahal of chook sheds.

[RhiChiChi]

We have two chooks and usually get two eggs a day, although one of then has been a little slack lately (just don't know which one!) Unfortunately due to having two dogs and neighbours having cats they are locked on their pen most of the time unless we are home and outside. They go nuts when they are let out & dig up my garden :/

I have a question though for those with chooks - both of ours have feathers missing under their necks - I think they rub up and down on the coup wire but could it be something else?

[NaeNae]

I wanted to be the first to post

I have just got my first 5 chooks, young girls who are yet to lay. I am slowlygetting them use to their surroundings so they have not been free ranged yet but they will be very soon. I love them heaps and I think I will be guttered when I lose my first one.

RCC - as I am only just starting out I was just going to suggest dusting them and their enclosure for mites that might be making them itchy?

HotI - I would LOVE to see your over engineered chook house. I am looking for some ideas as DH has agreed to starting the rebuilding phase of the original chook area here on the farm. I was given permission to use the original Clydesdale transoprtation crate, but sadly its a HUGE, HEAVY crate and even if I remove the old timber it would still require a crane or similar to shift it .... something we just don't have.

SO that said I need to re think how I am going to do things and aside from the run would love some ideas on how to build a chook coop that will house quite a few more birds. Would you like to share?? photo's dimensions, materials etc etc????

I have a few Q's.

I have noticed one of the birds has slightly, what looks like blood, stain droppings. These birds have never had grass beneath their feet or to taste so I have put it down to new things aggrivating their system. I cannot tell which bird though and they all seem happy enough.

Also - a few of the birds seem to do a little bit of a cough, thinking they might have a cold. Are there vitamins that can be added to their water to help them recover or is their something I can "whip up"

Also - Scraps, the girls don't seem interested yet in scraps but are there things they SHOULD NOT be fed?

and - I have been covering one section of their run where I keep their feed because its been raining and I don't want their food getting soggy. Do chooks care about soggy food?

Finally - how frequently should I be changing their hay? and what to do with the used stuff as I don't have "garden beds".

Thansk Nae x x

[Rainbow_Mumma]

oohhh great thread! We have 23 chooks, did have a duck but a nasty fox got her but she will be replaced soon, we are also getting geese and a turkey or 2. The joys of living on a farm lol

[NaeNae]

OK so I have discovered that the bloodied poop is something called Coccidiosis or something we have put some medication into their water, hopefully they will drink it.

I want to build a permanent chicken coop somthing that can house a few birds ....... any ideas? has anyoen got that book "building chicken coops for dummies"


Would love some ideas

Nae x x

[Floweryfields]

Nae, that's what I was going to say the cocci thing, however it could also be worms - have they been wormed? You should worm every 3 months, and 2 weeks after the first time iygwim.
I have a great forum, which is not for profit with loads of info with all things chooky related that I used heaps when I was new to keeping chookies. It is called back yard poultry dot com if you are interested.

I currently have 1 rooster (George who was initially Mildred and was not meant to be a boy), 1 light sussex Bessie, 1 Coronation sussex Lizzy, 1 buff sussex Buffy and 4 cross breed girls, Mrs Sloakham (who is what they call blue in colour), Betty, Francis (who when I first got her always hid in the corner haha) and Gladys.
The sussex girls I hatched under one of my other girls who was broody year before last, I have also hatched 2 other broods of chicks who moved to new homes.
Chicken keeping is lots of fun and can be addictive!!

[~me~]

yay!! We are in the throes of getting chickens.
My DH is building a coup, have the holes dug already for the foundations. We will be getting 3 chickens, hopefully Australorps.
I can't wait!
I have just purchased Alanna Moore-Backyard Poultry Naturally. It has great tips on building coups and different breeds and keeping them.

Nae, once DH has built ours, I will post pictures up on FB, he has been very thorough with his design.

[NaeNae]

I have joined a forum called backyardchickens which I think is a USA thing but there are some excellent resources on there and its lead me to find a design in coop that I am REALLY interested in. Its a huge coop and the smallest I believe it should be made is something like 8'x12'.

Its the Woods design. I love it!! big and open and airy ... lots and lots and LOTS of fresh air for the birds which makes perfect sense.
It has two open windows at the front which NEVER closes so that allows plenty of fresh air in the coop all year round. Positioned correctly, then there would be little weather problems too.

Looking at the old coop here ont he farm I believe it would also be considered and "open air/fresh air coop" what a shame FIL keeps all his nuts and bolts in there its perfect.

The book was written in the 1920's and everything that I had read so far (thank you amazon) makes good logical sense. the people on the forums who use this design (while incredibly enthusiastic) have SNOW in their yards and all over the coop and the birds still seem to be happy and healthy.

OK so it won't be for all species of birds but if you think about it logically, Mother nature has provided the birds with the right equipment - feathers and downy feathers ...I sleep under a down doona and its so snuggly and warm ... the birds can and will sleep happily in trees too so an open air coop really (in my mind at least) makes good sense rather than the danky dark box they are currently in.


I am also looking into the deep litter method and using sand and woodshavings.

Its part of the grand scale plan but DH supports it providing I do most of not all of the hard work

first step - buy book - CHECK
Second step - Find corner post underneath 30 years of Ivy growth - FUN (not)

Nae x

[HotI]

I have a few Q's.

Also - a few of the birds seem to do a little bit of a cough, thinking they might have a cold. Are there vitamins that can be added to their water to help them recover or is their something I can "whip up"

Yep, i can't find the name of it now (we have it around here somewhere though), i think it was a powder that you add to their water. we have used it when chooks look abit off.

Also - Scraps, the girls don't seem interested yet in scraps but are there things they SHOULD NOT be fed?
and - I have been covering one section of their run where I keep their feed because its been raining and I don't want their food getting soggy. Do chooks care about soggy food?

Chooks don't like similar foods that shouldn't be given to dogs or put in the compost- onion skins etc

You don't want their food to get wet cos it can get mouldy or start to grow (especially if it a seed mix).

[NaeNae]

OK I have been spending a fair bit of time on 2 different poultry forums lately but wanted to share that I have started working on the reconstruction of part of the original run. Granted I am working faster than I have materials or money but it feels good to have something else to keep my focus on rather than really noticing the "so we are not pregnant this month" thing.

I enjoy a good hard days work being out in the fresh air and seeing the changes I make thats the thing ... I hate doing stuff that is sublte, that you cannot tell stuff is happening.

Anyways My girls faces are starting to redden as is their little sticky uppy things and they certainly are becoming more friendly and trusting though I do resist the urge to catch and cuddle them LOL

Nae x

[Floweryfields]

The redding of their faces and sticky uppy things (combs) means they are very close to laying!! Do you have a nesting box for them?

[NaeNae]

Yeah my coup has 4 nesting boxes though they all seem to want to sleep in two of them. They girls are still on the pullet mix and their faces and combs are not quite red but they are redder than when I got them. i winder who will be the first to go??
They are sweeties, today I had to chase them onto the other side of the fence as I was rehoming some jasmine that I had planted to cover up the old wires and I have decided that I will build the trench and attach the wires on the out side of the new run so my plants would be in the way. The girls took it upon them selves to investigate the area where the new run and coop will be cheeky little chickens!!

I am heading out tomorrow to price and maybe order some ACQ treated pine 2x4's will be interesting to see how much that will cost LOL Am also going to buy a professional stapler too.

Nae x

[~me~]

Well DH has been madly digging holes for the foundations He is so particular and thorough I expect it will take a few weeks to build.
I have checked out a few places to get the chicks from and are now hoping to get AustralorpXLeghorn. Think it's the same place you got your hens from Nae? How did you go transporting them in the car?
We are soo excited, I have been saving my egg cartons already in anticipation I also have a few 'orders' already for eggs!
My book arrived today, it's as good as I remembered.

[Floweryfields]

Yeah my coup has 4 nesting boxes though they all seem to want to sleep in two of them. They girls are still on the pullet mix and their faces and combs are not quite red but they are redder than when I got them. i winder who will be the first to go??
They are sweeties, today I had to chase them onto the other side of the fence as I was rehoming some jasmine that I had planted to cover up the old wires and I have decided that I will build the trench and attach the wires on the out side of the new run so my plants would be in the way. The girls took it upon them selves to investigate the area where the new run and coop will be cheeky little chickens!!

I am heading out tomorrow to price and maybe order some ACQ treated pine 2x4's will be interesting to see how much that will cost LOL Am also going to buy a professional stapler too.

Nae x

I had one of my babies lay for the first time and it was the cutest widdle egg I've ever seen - about the size of a quail egg and when i cracked it, the yolk wasabout the size of the tip of your pinky!

[tellytubby]

Ooo I just realised this thread existed! Yey!

We have two chooks. Used to have 5, but I found them a bit too much. And considering we very, very rarely eat eggs I didn't really need that many. hehe! Henny Penny and Chicken Lickin' (original names eh? )

Will pop in later tonight and have a read of what everyone is saying

[HotI]

We are restocking our chook house later this week. Yay! In the next couple of days, we will clean it all out, wash it down and then put more shavings down.

[kimmi]

We live in suburbia, what's the deal with giving two or so chooks a good home.... How much square 'meterage' would you suggest for two or three chooks?