20Gauge
TB Fanatic
This may be more of an update than what I have learned, but live with it....
For those who have been here for more than a minute, you are aware I have built a secure level 4 prison for my chickens to allow for them to have plenty of running around room, protection from predators and as much hands off work by me as reasonably possible.
Total we started with 19 chickens and have lost 3 over time. Basically for the reason of inmates being inmates. Yeah, I have tried to remove all the shivs, but they seem to keep making them from just about anything.
Part of what we decided to do in order to allow us some slack time is auto feeders. We started with the store bought versions and quickly realized that they were inadequate even for 6 week old chickens. So we built an auto feeder out of 3in pvc that allows us to scoop small quantities of food and lasts about 24 hours. Additionally it requires we push the food forward to allow it reach the point where gravity takes over. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled. It worked, but not good enough.
So this weekend we built a new version. We took a 5 gallon bucket, inserted a spot for the chickens to grab food and gave it a top fill spout that allows us to fill it from outside the coup. We currently estimate we can last 3 days with the new version or 4 days overall.
Now to what I have learned.......
1) No matter what you do, they @#%^#$%^ will spill feed all over. NO MATTER WHAT!
2) All you can do is minimize the amount of spilled feed each day.
3) Chickens will sit on and poop on EVERYTHING. Yes, everything! If it is in the coup, they will poop on it.
4) Grass works really well to keep the coup from smelling. The chickens also love moving it around. Much better than hay.
5) We have too many chickens. WAY WAY WAY too many.
6) After a single month of laying 1-6 eggs per day, we have 7-8 dozen eggs sitting around waiting to be eaten.....
7) People do run away if you try and give them eggs.....
8) People lie when they say they want fresh eggs and will take your extra.
9) Some chickens like to lay double yolks regularly. We have one that gives us one almost every day.
That's all for now.
For those who have been here for more than a minute, you are aware I have built a secure level 4 prison for my chickens to allow for them to have plenty of running around room, protection from predators and as much hands off work by me as reasonably possible.
Total we started with 19 chickens and have lost 3 over time. Basically for the reason of inmates being inmates. Yeah, I have tried to remove all the shivs, but they seem to keep making them from just about anything.
Part of what we decided to do in order to allow us some slack time is auto feeders. We started with the store bought versions and quickly realized that they were inadequate even for 6 week old chickens. So we built an auto feeder out of 3in pvc that allows us to scoop small quantities of food and lasts about 24 hours. Additionally it requires we push the food forward to allow it reach the point where gravity takes over. Needless to say, we were less than thrilled. It worked, but not good enough.
So this weekend we built a new version. We took a 5 gallon bucket, inserted a spot for the chickens to grab food and gave it a top fill spout that allows us to fill it from outside the coup. We currently estimate we can last 3 days with the new version or 4 days overall.
Now to what I have learned.......
1) No matter what you do, they @#%^#$%^ will spill feed all over. NO MATTER WHAT!
2) All you can do is minimize the amount of spilled feed each day.
3) Chickens will sit on and poop on EVERYTHING. Yes, everything! If it is in the coup, they will poop on it.
4) Grass works really well to keep the coup from smelling. The chickens also love moving it around. Much better than hay.
5) We have too many chickens. WAY WAY WAY too many.
6) After a single month of laying 1-6 eggs per day, we have 7-8 dozen eggs sitting around waiting to be eaten.....
7) People do run away if you try and give them eggs.....
8) People lie when they say they want fresh eggs and will take your extra.
9) Some chickens like to lay double yolks regularly. We have one that gives us one almost every day.
That's all for now.