Rookie chicken question

[bp fick]

Lots of choices on not wasting feed.

Ration feed. Morning and evening. I can explain to figure the ration portion if you wish. No feed left out at night helps with the inevitable rodent problem too.

Have a large metal tray around the feeder, which catches the spilled feed. They'll eat that feed, if the first feeder runs empty.

Elevate the feeder so that it is as high as the level back of the chicken. A feeder too lower is an invitation to waste and beaking out the feed.

Don't "mix" feeds in the feeder. They'll beak around picking out their favorites and spilling their less favorite feed type.

Hope those tips help some.

 

[nybirdman]

I raise pheasant,,,hang your feeders.Mine are in a flight pen,about one half of an acre.The best thing I did for predators was to put an electric fence around my pen.This has a dusk/dawn timer(off during the day).This cut my loses from ground predators to zero.Free range all you are doing is feeding the wildlife.You should check out movable pens..pens on wheels.

 

[sal64]

My five year old daughter and I are on our second attempt at raising chickens, the first ones got eaten by a coon. We built a good chicken house and have gotten the 7 birds to 4 months. A couple of questions we've come up with. How do you guys keep them from wasting the food, I bought a gallon feeder from TSC and as quick as I put the feed in they scrape it all in the floor. The second question is What precautions do you guys take for the kids when around the chickens. Thanks for your responses!

i have a 5ft troft feeder it has a long bar on top that spins if the chickens try to roost on it, also it only alowes there heads in to feed. the only problem ive had with chickens around my kids it a bad rooster so i put him in a the pot . when holding the chickens make shure your kids keep them away from ther eyes somtimes chickens see your eyes moving and think its a bug.

 

[creekbend]

re:MossflowerWoods. It sounds as if your Family is really getting the chance to enjoy Country living. Good job. But I have a question. How dare you name a rooster after a character that John Wayne portrayed in a movie? Ah shucks--He would probably tell you--Good job, Pilgrim.:laughing::laughing:

 

[tjse9006]

Great Advice ,Thanks! I went up and got the feeder in the air this evening. I am hoping to start getting some eggs in a month or so. How often do you think I should clean the straw out and what do you guys consider cleaning the pen out. It's a 4x10 with three nests. is that enough room to keep 6 hens and a rooster. A lot to learn.

 

[zonta223]

Great Advice ,Thanks! I went up and got the feeder in the air this evening. I am hoping to start getting some eggs in a month or so. How often do you think I should clean the straw out and what do you guys consider cleaning the pen out. It's a 4x10 with three nests. is that enough room to keep 6 hens and a rooster. A lot to learn.

Why the rooster?
Are you going to raise young chicks?
That will cut down on your egg production.
Chickens are like humans......the female of the species is a lot happier with her female friends than with any male companion. :laughing:

Bob

 

[seymojo536]

How often do we clean the coop? When we hit our head on the rafter.
Maybe once a year. For such a small area, I would suggest switching to pine shavings. Pick up the wet areas, say around the waterer but otherwise we believe in the deep litter method. Add an inch of shavings each week and stir. Straw doesn't absorb as well, but you use what you got. Would rather scoop shavings then straw.

If there are roosts in the coop, then that is plenty of room for 7.

What breed are you raising? Just wondering. The temperment of the rooster is a concern with a 5 year-old around. Our farm motto is "Be nice or be tasty!"

If you want eggs in a month, should consider putting a light on a timer in there. Doesn't have to be a high watt light(25-40 watt), we have used a couple of strings of white LED christmas lights. Makes the place very festive. Egg production requires 12 hours of daylight. We have ours come on at 5:00 am and goes off at 9:00 am. This allows the birds to "go to bed" with the natural sunset. Without supplemental lighting your egg production will be spotty till spring.

Oh and if you do goto the Backyardchickens website, take anything you read there with a big handful of salt. A lot of misinformation gets spread around by wellmeaning but totally clueless people. Think it gets testy here with the gear vs HST? Just ask over there about DE (diatomaceous earth) or hatching double yolked eggs.

 

[forgeblast]

I use a deep litter method. I put about 6'' of bedding down and change it spring and fall. Spring i put it all in the garden, and fall i put it all in the garden. I also use what is called a "poop" board under the roosting board. Its just a sample of laminate flooring that i had that i put down, its easy to scrape clean and keep the chickens from walking in it. and keeps it all in one place. My coop doesnt smell like a coop.
The walls and floor are all clad in the fiberglass/white board plywood, very easy to clean.

 

[SandburRanch]

A chicken has the natural ability to distinguish between a light weight grain seed an heavier grain seed. If you watch closely, you can see them flip the undesirables out of the feeder with their beak. If you were to mix 32 lb. whole oats 50/50 with 22 lb. oats the 22 lb. oats would be discarded and not eaten until hunger warranted it.

Changing suppliers may be a partial answer.

 

[Mousefield]

We use 2 hanging feeds for our flock of 89 egg layers. The top and bottom are separate pieces held together with 3 clips in the bottom part. The clips can be set to 3 different heights. If the clip is in the lowest setting then the top part is the farthest down in the bottom pan. This will allow the least amount into the bottom for the chickens and is where we have ours set. The more food (higher) in the bottom pan then the more likely they will waste it by shoveling it onto the ground using their beaks.