Fatjay picks up chicks!

[fatjay]

Only real concern is feed. Feed prices are going up, which affects chicken prices. Used to be 1.99/lb but now is 3.99/lb for boneless chicken breast. But feed used to be 12.99/50lb bag and now 22.99/40lb bag. I'm going to make a section of my garden and green house revolve around self producing home made chicken feed. Sure it's work, but what isn't? I have to work for the money to buy the feed. And any time I can take out a middle man, I jump on it.

First egg ready!

Looks good so far...

Just about ready...

Tastes like egg. Which I guess is a win?

 

[Alan W.]

Thats outrageous for feed. I am paying $11 for 50 lb of layer mix at the feed mill.
They mix their own.
Surely somewhere you can find a feed mill that grinds their own feed.

 

[Yander]

Eggs look good @fatjay ! You don't get an egg that orange in the store without paying the big bucks, even then, hit or miss.

I buy the cheap layer mix $16 for 50 and keep out oyster shells and let them free range for about 5 + hours a day. So far all of my eggs are very hard shells, harder than store bought. And they are very orange and starting to get to a large egg size. Some are still a little small. I'm getting between 6 - 7 eggs a day out of my 8 that are laying. I have others that should start laying in the next few weeks although winter may have an impact on that.

How do you guys get your chickens to lay in their boxes? I have all of them laying in the boxes except one stubborn hen who lays in a corner of the chicken house. Not a big deal but her eggs are always dirtier.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm curious what you are going to grow to make your own chicken food. I've thought about doing this too. I have plenty of land to dedicate an acre or 2 for this, but I've held back because I'm not sure I can do it for less then what I'm paying for feed. Right now I'm paying $12 for a 40 pound sack of fancy scratch. I feed my ducks, geese, guineas and chickens this. I know that I can save a lot of money if I buy one ton sacks of feed, but I don't have a good place to store it. Once I finish my barn, that will become a priority. Same for my goats and future cattle operation.

 

[fatjay]

Where are you paying $12 for 40lb? Here it's $24 for 40lb. I havne't figured out what I'm going to do for DIY feed yet. I will look into it more in the spring when I get ready to plant. I want to determine my consumption first.

Chickens are cranking out eggs. Outpaced my consumption so I'm handing them out to family. Everyone's happy and healthy. I'll build a couple swings to see if they like them.

 

[jyoutz]

Eggs look good @fatjay ! You don't get an egg that orange in the store without paying the big bucks, even then, hit or miss.

I buy the cheap layer mix $16 for 50 and keep out oyster shells and let them free range for about 5 + hours a day. So far all of my eggs are very hard shells, harder than store bought. And they are very orange and starting to get to a large egg size. Some are still a little small. I'm getting between 6 - 7 eggs a day out of my 8 that are laying. I have others that should start laying in the next few weeks although winter may have an impact on that.

How do you guys get your chickens to lay in their boxes? I have all of them laying in the boxes except one stubborn hen who lays in a corner of the chicken house. Not a big deal but her eggs are always dirtier.

I bought some fake wooden eggs and put them in the boxes. This tends to entice them to lay in the boxes.

 

[fatjay]

I bought some fake wooden eggs and put them in the boxes. This tends to entice them to lay in the boxes.

I used golf balls. There are 6 boxes, they lay in 3-4, but they also sleep in 2.

 

[dodge man]

That’s a lot of chickens, looks like a cluster cluck.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Just stumbled onto this thread. We try to keep about 5 or 6 chickens. This group we have is laying good, but they won't go into the coop at night, they jump on top of it. The previous broods went inside anytime the weather gets cold. These don't. Dumb clucks. This group is the "least tame" of all our broods. I wish we'd spent more time handling them when young. Our first batch was so tame, they just kind of squat beside you if they knew you were going to pick them up.

I buy the feed that claims high omega 3 nutrients. Also supplement with chicken scratch. Right now they like the scratch, but I purposely limit it so they eat the pellets.

We let them free range during the day. We have lost most to neighbors dogs getting loose. Fortunately they have moved. And new neighbors are trying to keep their dog from eating them. We don't do roosters. No noise is nice. If we hear a frightened squawk, we bolt out of our seats to go try to save them.

Our coop is inside a covered 10x10 dog kennel. On most warm nights, we just shut the kennel's gate. Cold weather gets their coop door shut too. I have a small heating element that plugs into an aluminum light fixture that is like a parabolic shell. It only uses 60watts.

Our dog and outside cat are totally cool with the chickens. I have killed 3 chicken snakes (at least) that got into the coop. Everything likes chicken right?

Anyway thanks for documenting your build and cluckety cluck journey Jay.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I was going to say, by letting them free range, the grass stays good all around, and they don't have to live in the mud. They do like to scratch thru the compost pile and spread it out.

 

[fatjay]

We have to many predators in the area, I'm concerned they would become dinner for something before long. I toss straw in there and it helps dry the mud. It's frozen now anyway. I'm thinking about ways to expand the run, or open it up on days that i'm working in the yard.

 

[GLyford]

My wife opens the run on nice days. We have lost a few to hawk strikes doing that. We have had foxes, raccoons, and coyotes in the neighborhood, a "pest rated" fence 6" off the ground around the outside seems to be working at keeping those out/away. We put deer netting over the run also due to hawks (one strike, one close call).

Invest in a rat proof feeder or two. Rats are persistent and creative.

For gates into your run, consider adding a 2x8, 10, or 12 on edge as a threshold, and moving the gate up or trimming the bottom. Means you don't have to shovel as much snow and ice to maintain the area.

 

[ericm979]

Invest in a rat proof feeder or two. Rats are persistent and creative.

We had a big rat problem. Once they get into the coop to eat chicken feed they end up eating eggs too.

The previous feeder had a plastic trough and the rats gnawed into it. I patched it with aluminum sheet and they gnawed through that! The new feeder is galvanized and (finally) rat proof.

 

[jyoutz]

We had a big rat problem. Once they get into the coop to eat chicken feed they end up eating eggs too.

The previous feeder had a plastic trough and the rats gnawed into it. I patched it with aluminum sheet and they gnawed through that! The new feeder is galvanized and (finally) rat proof.

Catch ‘em in small live traps (too small for chickens to enter).

 

[ericm979]

We tried trapping first and didn't make much of a dent in the population. It might work for someone else though.

 

[fatjay]

Fortunately we don't have a rat issue. It's rare I have a mouse issue even. Feed bags in the garage on pallets, no mice. I have traps in the garage and nothing.

 

[jyoutz]

Fortunately we don't have a rat issue. It's rare I have a mouse issue even. Feed bags in the garage on pallets, no mice. I have traps in the garage and nothing.

Just wait. If you have feed, you will have mice.

 

[GLyford]

We keep our feed in steel trash cans. Medium size holds one bag, that's the one we feed from. Biggest size holds two bags, unopened. We are also overrun with squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits, so if its not one thing, it's another. But rats when we get them are the most persistent. I gather they are becoming more of a problem in general in local communities.

Friend had just built a large coop with about 20 hens, had it for less than a year before stopping because of a larger rat problem in town.

 

[EddieWalker]

The mice never mess with our feed in the sacks. Chickens are so messy that the mice have plenty to eat at the feeders after the chickens go to sleep. Mice will be in the coop, eating all night long.