Rookie chicken question

[tjse9006]

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!

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Not sure I'm a good example to follow, but here goes...

My Daughters are 13, 11, and 2.75. This is our VERY FIRST time...

I currently have 15 Guinea fowl, 6 ducks, 2 roosters, and ~28 hens (there were 28 on last Saturday, kinda hard to count them).

At the moment they mostly roost at night in a large metal shed/barn that is where my Tractor will park after I remove the rolling door and make the opening bigger so the ROPS/Canopy can fit in. Some of the hens prefer to roost in the trees next to "the Barn".

They ALL free range out in the yard all day eating bugs, frogs, small snakes, whatever God intended them to be able to eat. We have not had a tick since the first 5 guineas showed up on August 8th.

I feed them cracked corn in "the barn" once in the morning and once when we round them up for the night. I just pour it on the dirt floor and they scratch away like mad, happy fowl.

When we first started we lost a few to coyote, fox, 'coon, and 3 during the Hurricane.

I started with 5 adolescent guineas, got 6 more slightly younger, and 19 1 week old keets my girls & 1 raised by hand in a plastic box and on the front porch in a pen under a cover. We've lost 15 of the guinea's total (half!!!) as we've been learning. I bought my middle daughter 2 ducks for her birthday the last week of Sept. and the neighbor gave us a beautiful barred rock rooster that she had who was feuding with her other rooster.

Marshall Cogburn (that is the rooster) was frustrated with the guinea's and hung out with the ducks. I went looking for some hens on Criagslist.

A week ago I came home with 7 assorted hens (1 game, 1 half game half ?, and 5 leghorns) 4 ducks (2 drakes, 2 ducklings) and an Americana rooster (George is his name after George Washington). Cogburn and George get along now as long as George knows he is #2.

Things settled down a bit after last Saturday when the girls and I picked up 21 Rhode Is Red/Leghorn mix hens who had been living in a 4x6 u-haul trailer turned into a coop (never cleaned OMG it was gross) $80 for all of them and we decided if they only lived for one or two days free ranging, their life would be SO MUCH BETTER that we were saving them. I know at least 19 were in the barn the other day, and we've already gotten over a dozen eggs (maybe over 2 dozen, we keep eating them and it gets hard to count).

First 2 pics are Cogburn, The 1st 2 ducks, then George. Then 19 1 week old keets the day we brought them home, then some pics of guinea's & Cogburn on "Lawn Patrol" (My baby girls is on one too) and the 4 new ducks and some of the hens in the barn. I have not taken pics of the 21 red hens yet.

We simply have organized chaos and it seems to be working. My girls are learning at an amazing rate (we homeschool) as well. It has been a grand experiment (tasty lately too).

I am cleaning out an old woodshed shack and we will build a front for it and make it the "Chicken Shack" (My wife does not like it when I say we are running a "Chicken Ranch" ). This build will have a project thread for it here on TBN someday.

Best of luck sir! You can't do worse than me!

Be well,
David

 

[seymojo536]

Are you hanging the feeder? Get it up in the air, with the feed tray level with the chicken's back. If you're filling the feeder and they are throwing it out, try cutting back on the amount you are putting in the feeder at one time and feed twice a day.
They will, if there is no feed in the feeder, scratch around and pick up the spilled feed. (note: turkeys will not) A 4 month old bird should consume 4 ozs. of feed a day.
As for you kid, birds are attracted to shiny objects. So no jewerly or sequins in the pen. Unfortunately, this includes eyes. When mine were younger, I insisted they wear safety glasses/sunglasses when helping me. Teach you kid to keep her distance and don't squat down to pet or "talk" to the birds. Show her the proper way to catch and restrain a bird. Once she gets the hang of it, it'll save you a lot of bending over and give her the ability/confidence to protect herself.

 

[kidr]

Make sure to wash hands after handling birds they can carry nasty diseases transmittable to humans. Chickens are a lot of fun and fresh eggs are the best.
Enjoy.

 

[forgeblast]

We have 3 chickens left, (started with 6, one jumped into our dogs play area, one died, and one was stew). We get enough eggs with our 3 girls to keep us happy. I have a hanging feeder about beak height, it keeps the waste down. and I make my own mix with crumbles, scratch grain, and corn, and for a treat black oil sunflowers. I keep oyster shells handy too.
I also hold the chickens when she wants to pet them, and we talk about fingers looking
like worms. she got pecked once and was so upset that they pecked her, but she keeps her fingers out of the coop. We also wash our hands after every time we play with the chicks.

 

[bucktaker]

I guess I can comment on this my daughter and I are on our second batch of laying hens. First off with your daughter so young if you have any roosters you must get rid of it, they can never be trusted.
Feed ....free range if you can this will reduce feed costs. As mentiond hang the feeder so the chickens are on their toes to get to it

Coop make it as predator proof as possible Place a baited live trap outside the coop if you have predator problems.

Good Luck fresh eggs are the best.

We have 15 golden comets, 5 barred rocks, 5 easter eggers, 2 rhode island reds, 3 wyandottes all about 6 weeks old

 

[cmhyland]

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!

Use a hanging feeder and use layer pellets. Layer mash close to the floor is just wasted....
if your going to put down something for them to scratch at use cracked corn....

Regards,
Chris

 

[zonta223]

Are you hanging the feeder? Get it up in the air, with the feed tray level with the chicken's back.

This is good advice if you can manage it or fit a wire mesh screen over the feeder..........this will stop them from scratching at the food. The mesh should be big enough for the bird to get its head in.
Not a great fan of throwing feed on the same floor area all the time.......the ground tends to get contaminated with parasites etc and the chickens constantly "infect" themselves.
Throwing the food out over a new area of lawn/open area every day gets the chickens doing what they love to do....scratch and search for food.
Chickens and children are great fun...If you give them the income from eggs (sold to friends) and "bought" by you it teaches them commerce and shows them that a well looked after bird generates more income and is happier then a neglected one.

Bob

 

[Raindem]

If you don't have a place to hang your feeder they make these contraptions, I'll try to get a picture of one today, it's a portable food hanger. It has a little angled roof over it so it provides shade, keeps the food off the ground, and prevents the chickens from roosting on top of the feeder.

 

[forgeblast]

Oh backyard chickens dot com great site too!

 

[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.