Tag Archives: life with chickens

Hens Personality

Posted on January 17, 2017 | 5 comments

The way a chicken behaves daily changes, DAILY. Truthfully, the same joyous happy hen today, can be a pain in the ass the next day. I don’t even know why, but they do swap moods frequently.

For instance: Thelma, a normally standoffish New Hampshire Red loves me to scratch her waddle but if I go to pick her up, she’s not happy about it. Now, all of a sudden she’s following me around talking to me as I do chores in the pen, begging me to pick her up (Go figure)… She’s a three year old now.

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Then another hen, Victoria; a blue Ameraucana. She’s a babe and my sweetie, but let me tell you, she has a mood. When a hen molts, they get very angry if you want to pick them up. I mean heck, I likely would feel the same if 70% of my feathers were off my body and I had these little stick-like quills poking me,  pressing into my body, when someone picks me up. OUCH!!  That has to hurt.  You think that the mood would pass after the molt passes, but nope; it does not. Until their hormones return to normal and they get the urge to lay again, you can pretty much forget any loving feelings they might have toward you. During this molt, she eyed me suspiciously and ran every time I wanted to kiss her little chicken face.  Poop! What a downer.

Shnewhampshireredirley, my LOUD MOUTH New Hampshire Red, has become a love bug. She’s never been overly affectionate but she’s sure the one to watch. She likes being picked up and nuzzled. That’s another one I couldn’t have called. She has been a real pain in the butt, up till now.

I could go on an on, with each hen getting rated on behavior, but really, most of them have changed significantly. I don’t really know why. When I sat and thought about it, I realized that most of my ladies are three years old this year.  There must be some maturation which occurs in the three-year old category, which just makes them more likable.  Then again, maybe they just like me more after three years.  Ha! I’ll never know…

With all my pondering on this subject, I find few facts. I just go on personality and habit. How they act, as opposed to how they acted last week or month or year. Victoria is in a very cordial mood this year, so far. She’s not molting and she must feel good. All she wants is for me to carry her around and talk to her. I’m not going to get too secure with this, because I know that next week or even as soon as tomorrow, it can all change.

I can’t even get into discussing why now, Cleo (A Cuckoo Maran) thinks I’m demon spawn… cukoomaranShe runs from me like I tried to make her my dinner. I did not!!  I can’t convince her that I’m a nice lady. What change after her molt, I can’t fathom either. She was such a sweet girl, but now she’s not a happy camper. Although, I don’t miss her trying to eat my freckles…

No this is not Cleo. She wouldn’t be still for a pix!

(This image from -http://chickenpic.blogspot.com/2008/03/maran-chickens-cuckoo-marans-chocolate.html)

Anyway, I really wanted you to get an idea that you can’t buy a chicken breed and think you will have the perfect hen. They change personalities like the wind. You can buy the type you ‘think’ you might like most, then spend a mega amount of time with that bird, from baby to adult, so it gets use to human contact, and hope it comes out nice and docile.

None of my birds peck. OK, just one (come to think of it). That’s a Barred Rock hen who I got from a 4-H youth as an adult hen. She never had any personality but she lays like crazy, so I  kept her. However, none of the others peck. They are all cool and if they don’t want me to pick them up, they just struggle to get down. I get that… I would too. Most of them tolerate my desire to kiss their face, and nuzzle their neck (and likely, hug a bit too much). I can’t help it…

A lot of new backyard chicken keeping folks, get frustrated when the hen they have turns out to be a scratching pack of feathers and a beak. This ideal bird, which is pictured in the youtube videos and the photos of children holding them, you see in the web, has been cultivated and nurtured. The Natural behavior of a chicken is to run like hell from humans or anything else.

So, in closing. If your child or yourself decide on a chicken. Spend time finding out what you like, then also what is a good fit for your family. Then spend time talking to folks about chicken breeds. Decide to spend a goodly amount of time with that chicken from the time they hit the door. … By The Way, They Poop. Get over it…

Yes, I’ll answer your questions if you have any! I’d be happy too!

The Chicken-Mom

5 Comments

Posted in araucanas, bird behavior, chicken behavior, Chicken Care, Chicken Hug, chicken poop, colored eggs, Cuckoo Maran, molting, New Hampshire Red

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Chickens On A Shoestring Budget

Posted on November 2, 2014 | 4 comments

I have had so many worries about raising chickens through the last 4 years and wondered if I was “doing it right”. Somewhere about the last two years I realized that, as may ways to raise chickens exist, as there is sand on a beach.

I look at the pristine chicken farmers posts with their neatly built structures and think, “SEE! I’m doing it all wrong!”  No. Actually I’m doing this right for Me.

One of the things I did right, but swore I had wrong, was building temporary shelters instead of permanent ones. Everything I have in the chicken yard, is easily dismantled and put up in a different spot.  For my O.C.D. tendency’s and quirky nature, this proves very valuable. Tomorrow, I may wake up and think, “Oh gez this set up isn’t working like I wanted it to”. Then go about redesigning the whole shebang! My husband is usually patient with me and my constant changing.

Below you will see the most valuable piece of equipment in my arsenal of tricks.

IMG_0021 Did you see it?  That black plastic fencing?  Let me tell you, it’s amazing to have when you need to separate birds of different ages. In the front you will see some juvenile Ameraucana, and Cochin in the front and behind them is another group of birds who would not get along with the newbies. This fence gives the older wiser meaner birds time to adjust to the new-comers.

This is something else I use to keep the birds cooler in the blistering 90-100 temperatures here in Florida. Note the temporary used billboard covers. I use them as drapes sometimes to block any sunshine which may reach into the nesting area. Now that I know more of what they need, I have plans ready for a fixed structure.  IMG_0500 Chickens do not do well in Heat. That is without exception.

“A chicken’s normal body temperature hovers near 104 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s not difficult for them to maintain a healthy body temperature when the air is at least 10 to 15 degrees below that.

During times of extreme temperatures, producers must dissipate the excess body heat of their flock quickly. When a chicken’s body temperature reaches 113 to 117 degrees Fahrenheit, it is in danger.

Without sweat glands to cool their skin, birds rely on their respiratory system. Chickens pant to cool themselves, as the panting evaporates water from the throat to lower body temperature.”

( I didn’t type that one part, so I’m putting the link to the information page here).  This is a very good article and a must read!

This photo below, looks really rag-tag, but I wanted to show you how to make use of things you may already have, without going to the local Hardware store and buying the place out. It’s alright to use what you have on hand. You can always upgrade to a better building later, which I am doing myself. We change things at least three times a year, as our needs out there change and evolve.

We are in the process of planning a more permanent structure in this spot (Which means my husband is going to want to slowly strangle me…. ).

It’s hard to see but we have a 9 foot fence dividing the back area from the foreground area where the door is.  That is my brooder for the babies. I actually have birds who can scale an 8 foot fence; so, I made it 9 feet and attached it to the roof. The babies are all grown now, so I have some old ladies now in the brooder area. The “new ladies” (babies) are up front where the nesting boxes and large coop are. The old girls get to enjoy being free to do whatever… Occasionally they even give me an egg!IMG_0334

A Local store had a sale on office type storage boxes, and I bought ten of them. They became the nesting boxes of choice. The girls don’t mind one bit that they cost me a dollar each! I have them Zip-Tied to the support boards. I can move them around quite easily!IMG_0237

 

Well, there you go…  At least a little bit of what I do on a Shoe-String budget.

4 Comments

Posted in ameraucana, Biddies, bird behavior, birds, chicken behavior, Chicken Care, Life With Chickens, managing a flock of chickens

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Amazed Disgusted and Shocked

Posted on July 19, 2014 | 5 comments

July 19, 2014

Amazed Disgusted and Shocked I need to warn you in advance, this is not for the faint of heart, OK? If you get squeamish easily, ya best click off and leave now.

Putting off the chicken coop cleaning was done for long enough! I’d fiddle-farted around most of the spring and the spiders and icky stuff was beginning to get to me (Insert disgusted face here (Really I wish I had one of those “insert face here” on this blog-post editor!).

Weekly, one needs to clean the shavings of poop, and then do general maintenance, of raking, picking up random bits of trash and god-knows-what, that the hens dig up in the yard. Then you have to clean up the storage area of the stuff you thought you wanted to keep and now find you can surely do without.

It’s all good, but it can wear you out. I’d let this go for several weeks now and was sort of tired with all the catching up I’d done for the last hour.

Along with the usual cleaning, I also decided to do that Spring Cleaning, I skipped doing! I’m going to hate myself in the morning, I can tell already.

When my husband brings me the pressure washer, I’m elated that I get to blast the shit out of stuff with water, but appalled at the thought of how much my arms are going to hurt in the morning. I begin by washing down the walls, back corner, then out to the front corner. After that, I blast the roof where the spider webs are! If you are as arachnophobia prone as I am, you know that you would also back out closer to the door, one step at a time, while you blast away. Just so you don’t end up with an unhappy spider landing down your shirt…

 As I finish up the coop area, I move over to the nesting area where they work their magic laying eggs. It’s pretty dusty in there and thankfully the girls are finished laying. With the exception of one hen laying claim to that area, it’s free and clear. I move the grumpy broody hen out-of-the-way, for now. She officially hates me, at the moment… =/

I take down the nesting boxes which are held in place with Zip-Ties. I can always put them back when I’m done washing the area down.

When I do that, and move a bit of plastic which had fallen down on the floor, a passel (a bunch) of baby rats scrambled out of the area. They shot everywhere! Left, Right, Between my feet, Over my feet… It was pandemonium in that place!! About that time, the hens saw the scrambling baby rats and …. well…. Nature took it’s course…

I’d never seen so many chickens running around with rats for dinner in my life! It was disgusting, disturbing and fascinating! I didn’t want to watch, but like a soap-box show on TV, you just can’t miss what’s going on. I knew that chickens ate other critters. I’d seen them devour snakes, and kill other animals who had the distinct misfortune of finding their way in the coop; like a squirrel and a few birds, and random mice. I had never seen them GULP down a whole baby rat before. Kill something yes, but Eat it? Ick… Dear God. I was now damaged goods. You just can’t unsee some things…

With that said, I was totally fascinated with how they beat the snot out of them, then swallow them head-first. The fights that broke out in the coop, I was powerless to change, except maybe push them apart; which I did. I even moved some of the small dead rats into a hole so I could bury them, but the hens took them out before I could get the others collected.  I finally gave up and said, FINE! Eat Rat!  They did….

And they ate and ate and ate….  What they didn’t eat they left half dead, and I had to finish off the little rat babies.

Can you imagine what that did to me? Dear God, I wanted chickens but not this! Just one more thing “they” don’t tell you when you decide to have backyard chickens. You can read up on this, till the cows come home but you aren’t prepared for the real life with chickens (another blog of mine).

By now I’m pretty shell-shocked and just keep clicking photos, so you can live though my experiences. It’s not always easy, lemme tell ya! Below are more (yes graphic) photos of the hens enjoying Rat, a la carte’. This tiny New Hampshire Red pullet, is only 12 weeks old and she’s a master of killing and consuming baby rats. It’s kind of unnerving to think that I could be dinner as well, if I ever passed out in the coop. =/

 This young Red SexLink was one of the most persistent and aggressive. No sooner than I removed a rat from her, she found another one, or grabbed the one I had, back in her beak. She was so determined to eat it, I finally just gave it back to her, and grabbed my camera.

OK One More… Don’t say I didn’t warn you…   You just can’t Un-See some things… ♥The Chicken Mom♥

5 Comments

Posted in Biddies, bird behavior, chicken behavior, Chicken Care, Life With Chickens, managing a flock of chickens, Pest Control

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Peep Peep

Posted on March 9, 2014 | 4 comments

When the little fluffy bits of wiggling, scampering, peeping down arrived in baby form, my phone rang. It was the post office. The babies arrived in the mail!! Yea!

I flew down to the post office in the closest pants I could find. It was 7:00 in the morning! It was exciting! It was terrifying…

I had no clue how this whole thing would turn out. I didn’t know how they would turn out. I knew what breed, yes, but I didn’t know if they would be nice birds or mean birds.  Blah, blah, blah… (Insert worried panic-stricken face here). I was freaking out.

After raising other older biddies. I’m well aware of the potential for  different personalities. You can end up with chickens from hell, and rue the day you ever embarked on raising any, or you can get some really sweet birds. Still, I had ordered 14 and ended up with 15. I guess that extra chick was for luck. They added her to the order for the extra body heat at no charge. Biddies can get cold traveling and need each other to maintain a constant temperature.  Either way, I was in deep and now no matter what transpired I was a surrogate Mother to 15 – 24 hour old baby peeps. God Help Me.  God Help my bathroom…

Yeah… Ya see, I didn’t think this out very well. They ended up in the guest bathtub. Unceremoniously deposited on some utility towels and given food and water. Oh Gezz! They  need heat! I ran around thinking, thinking, looking, looking… Oh Thank God! A reptile light!  – Don’t laugh. I was desperate! Then I positioned an expansion rod over them and hung the light. Whew!  They were fine and happily pecking bouncing and drinking. Amazing! That was such a long flight over and I worried about them getting here dehydrated or not making it at all.  All worries for nothing. They were bright-eyed and happily being chickens.babychickens3

I had them warm and happy, and now I was happy. Then, one of the little babies fell face forward into a pile of straw, all stretched out like she’d been shot with a cannon. Just sort of splayed like a dressed bird for dinner. Did she die?  I almost panicked. One after another they all started falling over. Just like the light clicked off on their energy field and they fell in a flat faced “chicken down”! position. I didn’t like this… My heart was racing. I’d never had little babies before. Usually the birds are a few weeks old when I bought them.  When the first little hen stretched with a big long leg stretch, I realized they were just tired and fell over from exhaustion; like my kids would after a long day playing. Sometimes the kids didn’t even get to the bed, but would land on the floor and pass out. Whatever, I didn’t care as long as they were healthy and just napping. I checked.  Yes, all breathing!

I didn’t have any sort of water container for them either. What was I thinking? I don’t know. Flying dumbly? Likely. I did figure out a make-shift one to put their drinking water in though. Here’s my idea. The cup kept them from falling into it.

waterer

That’s Georgia standing in the dish. She’s an Australorp.

So, even as ill-prepared I was for biddies, they still did just fine.  I didn’t know anything about raising biddies, especially not the tiny ones.

I was in love…

The babies got checked all day long and I woke in the night to look in on them. They saw me and usually roused and were happy to hear me talk to them or to be picked up.

They stayed in the tub until they were 4 weeks old. Now that was fun… (not). If I do this again I will have a proper brooder pen with heat lamps outside (I think). It was really nice getting to know them and learn their personalities. I don’t think if they had been outside, I’d have had nearly the time to know them like I do.

They are now 7 months old and laying. Most of them have names befitting their personality. I think most of them still identify myself as Mom, because they are especially attentive and most are pretty affectionate. I have a couple turd-heads who just don’t want to be mucked with. Fine with me… I have lots of snuggles for the ones who want to be snuggled with!

Here are a few of them at 5 weeks. They have a wonderful outside biddy yard.

Below is Georgia Photo-Bombing the snapshot!

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Happily hopping on the little roost in the biddy yard.

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I need to post some of their adult photos and will do that another day!

Enjoy your chickens!!

The Chicken Mom

4 Comments

Posted in Biddies, Chicken Care, Life With Chickens, Raising Biddies

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Boo-Boo’s and Funky Stuff

Posted on March 21, 2013 | 2 comments

Boo-Boo’s and Funky Stuff

This is Honey; the 10 lb cross-breed Buff Wyandotte, Copper Maran chicken.

IMG_1076In the photo Honey is standing in a huge 5 gallon pot. Yes, my sink is also huge. I had my hand gently on her back so she’d know I was there. The explosion of feathers, feet and claws I’d anticipated did not happen. 

She was quite calm, which is still something I am not use to. If a huge thing came and picked me up carried me into some weird enclosure, and plopped me down into a big pot of warm water, I’d come unglued. However, she didn’t, and I’ve seldom had any hen that did. I’ve had the girls for almost four years now. Still no real ambivilant behavior when I soak a hen in warm water.
I’m only guessing that it has something to do with sensory overload, so they just usually relax into a passive mass of fluff.

Honey was limping on a foot when I fed the ladies this morning. I picked her up and upon closer inspection I see she has a big black growth on the pad of her foot. It’s not swollen or puss filled, but it is most certainly a thick black scabby looking something stuck there.

I tentatively tug at it with my nail and see it’s attached onto the skin. Deciding it needs to come off I take Honey into the house for a good soaking in Epsom Salts and warm water. I took oodles of photos, but mostly because I thought she’d blow up…

honey-back

I laid her on her back on a towel and was ready to cover her head, but of course I snapped a picture of her on her back first. Then covered her head so she’d relax as I worked on her foot.

I hate to show you her foot but here’s the picture.
This condition is called (in the chicken forums) Bumble Foot. Some of the situations are way worse than this, with puss filled pockets. Honey’s was not that bad.

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After a long soaking of about 20 minutes I gently pried off the scab. It took a bit of doing, and it did bleed a little bit, but she is no worse for wear. It stopped soon after I took it off.

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I cleaned it off with Betadine and then used a good topical antibacterial dressing. The kind which does not have any pain additives. Analgesics are bad for chickens. After this I wrapped her foot with Vet Wrap and put her in a private recovery area so others wouldn’t peck at her wrapper.

The prognosis is good. She stayed in the enclosure a few days and she’s not limping anymore. The bandages came off and the old wound area looks clean and closed up neatly. Now she gets to go play with her other friends.
I can’t help but wonder what in the world is going to happen next…

Here’s a picture of Honey’s Eggs. I love how different they are each day. Sometimes almost copper and other days a more natural brown egg color. I actually dated each one as they were laid, so I could take note of the daily color changes.

honeys-eggs

I call eggs “Magic”… They are Amazing!

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Posted in Chicken Care

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Dyslexic Roosters

Posted on March 3, 2013 | 2 comments

When I walk out the door in the morning, I am assaulted with the neighborhood roosters and their loud greetings of the new day. Our neighborhood is more or less rural-suburbia, with folks having one or two acre lots. On those lots they can have chickens or horses or cows, and god knows what else…  I guess most of my neighbors have chickens and choose to keep roosters. I on the other hand, I choose to not have roosters. They are beautiful, I admire them, and that’s where the attraction stops; and after concerned painstaking effort on my part to choose chicks which were hopefully female, I ended up with FIVE beautiful Roosters and Nine hens. I was awaken one morning with a horrific squalling, squealing, and hooting weirdness coming from the direction of the chicken yard. Stumbling to the door I peered outside in that general area and proudly attempting to crow was one of the new pullets. You could hear him trying to form a crow but the noise was a pitiful example of crowing. Continue this progressive morning scenario for two weeks: The family who lives the next road over must have several roosters, and I watch the little gray one I have listen closely as they one after the other, crow with a vengeance. Then he begins to attempt a mimic of their crowing. Except his crow was totally backwards… I was hoping and praying this was just an overly testosterone laden female crowing (they occasionally will attempt to mimic). The days following however, proved me wrong. Dayam!  The little Gray Roo pullet who is attempting to crow is a Blue Ameraucana (Not really blue). Here’s a photo of a Blue Pullet.

backyardchickens
http://www.backyardchickens.com / Without their help, I’d never have gotten through my first set of babies. Wonderful site! I highly recommend it.

Most chickens when they crow make a Urt Urt Urt Urrrrrr sound. This little dude hit notes nothing like that. I busted out laughing… Ouuuuu-Urrrrr-Urt-Urt-Urttttt!  Ouuuuu- Urrrrr-Urt-Urt-Urt!  I could see him with a face which said, “No that’s not quite right”!  He kept practicing and practicing, his face contorted with the effort. He even bent his neck sideways trying to squeeze the vocalizations just right.  This kept up for about two weeks. Then suddenly another one popped out with a tentative crow. Oh God…. More Roosters! That week and the week that followed I counted a total of FIVE Roosters! They were promptly packed up and driven back to the breeder who guaranteed that they would be hens. If I ended up with any Roos’ he’d take them back. He was good to his word, but he was really surprised that his method of sexing them had failed so badly. I told him that the Blue Ameraucana crowed backwards.  He figured they just had baby crows and had not quite got the crowing down yet. Then as I stood there talking to him, the Blue let out a healthy, Ouuuuu-Urrrrr-Urt-Urt-Urt! The man turned quickly at watched him let out another Dyslexic Crow and he laughed saying, “Well I’ll be Dang” The little guy does crow backwards!”. Skip (the chicken guy), ended up showing him with the 4H kids.  I wonder how a Dyslexic Rooster fared out with the 4H judging? The Chicken Mama

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Posted in Chicken Care, Life With Chickens

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Compost and Fertilizer

Posted on January 5, 2013 | 6 comments

So, what ya gonna do with all that chicken poop?

If you have chickens, you have free Fertilizer.  I guess the question is, how to manage all that stuff.  Here’s what I do. COMPOST IT!

I know I’ve written about poop before, but I wanted to actually show you here what I do with it and how. I’ll have photos along the way, but this is a long story. I’ll warn you of that now.

My Dad, (Of course you know there’s a story here) had some incredible ways to utilize what the earth gave. I likely did not appreciate his oddities as much as I should have. Age teaches you that stuff later.

Daddy had the best tomatoes ever. They were delicious! I had no idea what sort of work went into the creation of those red delicacies. Sure he had a garden and spent a good bit of time in it, but still, I didn’t learn his magic. I’m still not sure I have it down, even to this day. His plants were at least 4 feet tall, with strong stalks; and the tomatoes, depending on the seed type, were golly whopper size. Just one regular ‘Big Boy’ tomato was enough to serve a family of four; for hamburgers and cut up for a small side salad. I grew up thinking, all tomatoes were this size. They were easily, a pound each. Sweet, does not even begin to tell you how good they were.

Dad was never exactly the pristine clean man, unless he was getting ready for work. I still remember his ‘Wild Country’ aftershave. Thinking about that now, it suited his personality. When he worked in the garden he was a total grub, with tan back and fanny crack. The garden usually had a enough space to hide stuff and Dad would lug about a 5 gallon bucket with a ladle (OK, a cut off jug). I remember it smelled fairly bad but the tomatoes loved it!

Then there was this large 55 gallon drum with a lid (Thank God). When that lid came off the air was temporarily filled with a real stink. Either it burned your smelly glans (olfactory glans) so you didn’t smell it any more,  or the stench was only temporary and dissipated. It’s a toss-up, as to which was happening. Either way, Peeeeee U!

When he would go to fill his five gallon bucket with more of that mixture in the drum, even the squirrels in the trees fled.

What was in that bucket, I only partly remember. I do remember the trip to the chicken farm though. His old (I mean OLD) Dodge PU truck was squat-hunkered down in the back like one of my chickens getting mounted. Here an there in the heavy load of chicken Poop, were white feathers. He’d evidently visited a poultry farm, who seemed to be all to happy to load his truck. It did stink…  He dumped it then he covered it with a large tarp and weighted it down. One large bucket of the chicken poop went into The Drum. It hit the liquid inside with a SPLOOOOSH~! He put the drum lid back on.

By the time that chicken poop in the drum had sat in there for a few days and a few more days, along with vegetable scraps, shrimp heads, fish heads, and whatever organic tidbits he could toss in, it was a brown goop. Thank god for the lid.

Dad also had a huge compost heap. Bags and Bags of people’s yard leaves were collected off the side of the road. Mom would see him coming with the truck load, and not know whether to laugh or cry. It made such a mess in the back, but at least Dad was quiet and happy doing his thing.

The goop in the 55 gallon drum, and fresh chicken poop, were also ladled onto the piles of leaves; as he built the compost heap. Another tarp went on that.

Dad’s garden patch was not that big either. Thinking back now, I remember it was fairly modest; perhaps 30×50 feet. The tomatoes which came out of that plot of land yielded enough tomatoes and other stuff to keep us in food all the time. Mother got so tired of canning tomatoes… It’s a lot of work. The neighbors got tired of tomatoes too.

The chicken poop collected for the fertilizing was the miracle. Chicken poop has a large amount of natural ammonia. Its corrosive, digesting ability  is powerful. So, when used, it breaks down the organic matter it is mixed with, very fast. The leaves and debris in the compost heap releases nitrogen, that in turn enriches the pile into magic Black Gold.

Fresh Poop Burns Plants

Fresh Poop Burns Plants

Ammonia is not good for plants; which is why you never use fresh chicken poop on plants. It would fry the poor little things in a day. This is why you use it to add into something else and not place directly on a plant.

New and Old Compost

New and Old Compost

In this photo you see a mixture of office shreds, chicken poop, and old compost, leaves and the kitchen’s biodegradable stuff; like rotting fruit and veggies. It is digesting this winter, for a spring crop. This is about  half way done now.

Poop does take a while to break down into usable bits. Don’t rush it. What you collect this winter will be ready for tilling into your soil in a few weeks. Just in time for the planting. Prepare your soil in the off seasons. You can also just till in the poop and let it begin to break down in the soil while it is not in use.

Compost Bins

Compost Bins

When I build my compost heap, I layer it. What I call “Hot and Cold”. One Poop layer, then on top of that, one of cold organic matter; like the paper shreds and leaves. Between each layer I water it down good with a hose.

Here’s another neat bloggers list of stuff she adds. I’ll give her link here as credit. It’s only fair. 

  • Gum
  • Hair
  • Toothpicks
  • Pet bedding (Rabbits, hamsters, and other herbivores only!!)
  • Paper egg cartons
  • Tissues and paper towelling (Depending on what was on them)
  • Cotton balls (Depending on what was on them)
  • Paper bags (I shred these)
  • Toilet rolls
  • Shredded paper, newspaper, receipts and documents (non-glossy)
  • Wine corks
  • Matches
  • Dry dog food (Be careful about attracting vermin but makes a good compost activator for getting your pile rocking.)
  • Cardboard
  • Old spices and herbs from the cupboard
  • Nut shells
  • Wine (Another decent compost activator)
  • Felt, old wool, bamboo or cotton socks
  • Dust from sweeping and vacuuming
  • Old pasta
  • Spoiled flower bouquets and their water

http://www.yougrowgirl.com/2008/11/17/things-you-can-compost-that-you-didnt-think-you-could

This is also a very good article about Composting using poultry waste.

http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/composting-chicken-manure-straw-20094.html

It is very likely you won’t have a perfect garden in one season. When you do the steps to nourish your ground though, you will have it yield to you in abundance.

 

The Alpha Chicken

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Tropical Storm Debbie

Posted on July 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

It’s odd that we have had two back to back storms here….  I have officially quit praying for rain for Florida; now onto Colorado, but that’s another story.

I took some of the funniest video of my silly girls playing in the water as it gathered in the lower half of the chicken enclosure, which is linked at the bottom of this page.

The coop is 50 ft long and 20 ft wide. It was just hilarious watching them explore the storm water alone. I went out to see what in the world could be so interesting in the pen, I saw a foot of standing water on the low half of the pen! Oh my…. Now when it quits raining enough for my camera…

We had to have had some significant rain to fill that low water table up again. Trust me, we did have significant rain. It rained for 5 solid says with only a small break on June 25th for my granddaughters birthday party. The heavens opened back up and blesses us with more; after everyone went home. Then it rained for 2 more days.

My prayer was that we would get enough rain to bring the natural water table back up. I could feel my trees aching for water. I know that sounds silly, but I could feel it. They needed some real rain, and not the afternoon’s occasional drizzle. Some real Honest Too Goodness RAIN! – OK God! So it didn’t have to do all that catching up in one week. Remind me to end prayers with a small footnote for now on, eh?

Anyhow, when I went into the chicken yard to check out the damage from 20 hours of torrential rain (only one day’s worth), I saw they were goofing off in the water below the halfway mark in the area. Some of them were chest deep in the water. I have no idea if other people’s chickens do this! Maybe mine are just a weird, warped extension of myself… I love water. They love water ( it appears).

Finally the rain stopped. Camera in hand I can see the water has receded some. When I walked down into that area to check it out the girls were right behind me. I mean 28 intense little faces all following me there. I felt like the Pied Piper of Chickens! Then most of them ventured into the water even more. It was like “OK, Mom is here, it’s alright to play now”.

I wish I’d been able to get photos earlier but the rain would not stop and I didn’t want to drown my camera. The rain-soaked in the ground quickly.

Goodness! Have I mentioned how horrible dirt with wet chicken poop and chicken feed smells? Ick…. Good thing I have had years of practice smelling disgusting things (diapers for one).

Here’s the video. Enjoy! 🙂    (Its a Youtube video)  http://youtu.be/tt1Cxat3iOM

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