Today, I finished partitioning the coop. I found a few pieces of fence and fastened them to the walls so that the pieces could be opened or closed in the middle of the coop. The fence was sagging a bit, but that was remedied by wiring a piece of lath in the center. The fence […]
Moving the Broiler Chicks Read More »
This morning, a couple we know from Church came by for some poultry manure to use in their garden. When I went to the compost pile I found that the coop litter I deposited there a few days ago has begun cooking. It was steaming, even in the summer heat (58F), and I could easily
Our Compost Pile Is Cooking Read More »
In order to partition the coop to keep the rooster separate from the broiler chicks, it was necessary to dig out some of the litter that accumulated during the winter. We use the deep bedding system. The portion of the coop that houses the adult birds has a floor area approximately 10’ by 11’.
Preparing the Coop For Partitioning Read More »
It is Memorial Day, today and there are some yellow flowers blooming in the yard. We haven’t raked the yard since fall and the grass is still asleep. So, these flowers have not had anything to disturb them. They are wildflowers that pop up here and there. I don’t know what they are called, but
The First Flowers of the Season Read More »
In the morning, Melissa and I moved the hens to their summer quarters. Since the front section of the triangle pen has about the same floor areas as the coop, I decided to move the hens to that section, rather than the larger section. Overall, the triangle pens are 32’ long. Some years ago,
Summer Quarters for the Hens Read More »
It is time to move the adult chickens to the outdoor pens for the summer and fall. Because the coop is heated, we wait until the outdoor temperatures are similar before moving the birds outdoors. We don’t want our layers to have too much adjustment to make because their laying cycle can be impacted and
Moving Day Preparations Read More »
In the first few days after they arrived, we lost two more Big Reds, a Pearl White, and a Maran. In the last few days there have been no mortalities so we may be past the worst of it. In past years, we have had a much lower percentage of mortalities and few losses after
The Post Office had a delay delivering the chicks from the hatchery. Unfortunately, there was a tornado in MI and that affected the shipping from that area. So, the chicks sat in boxes in the MN post office for three days before leaving for AK. It was frustrating to check the tracking number and see
The Chicks Are Doing Well Read More »
We hatched a few eggs from the Ideal 236 and Australorp hens. At present, we have only a small tabletop incubator. It is enough for the experimental stage of our business. It holds 20-22 quail eggs, but only 6-8 chicken eggs. Building a cabinet-style incubator is on my to-do list. Our rooster is a very
Our current laying flock is made up of Delaware, Ideal 236, Black Australorp, Buff Orpington, and Cream Legbar hens. The Delaware hens are calm and lay medium-sized putty-colored eggs. However, for their size and appetites, they aren’t good enough layers. The Ideal 236 hens are excellent layers and the eggs are large and white, but
This Year’s Lineup Read More »