Countdown to Chicken Acquisition Day

LOL luvs2garden2000, it's that time when you forget all your problems and leave them at home and go somewhere different to relax, unwind, let it all go, and just when you start to feel better, you come back to it all and it's like you never left. LOL!

Oh one of those, dang not had one in a very long time, well unless you count when I went to Europe this past march, but I didnt have any animals except my dogs and I knew my mom was taking care of them. There is no way I could do it now not with 200+ chickens, I would be miserable because I WAS NOT THE ONE taking care of them. Dont get me wrong, I am not fussy, just I have to know they are being talked to and looked after. Making them boiled eggs now for being so good at exploring outside the box.

AHH, YES I NEED TO BOIL SOME EGGS.. sorry bout those caps LOL... i only know a vaacation is very stressful, taking care of all the details, then handling everything before we leave, packing loading driving. then coming home to stress and a mess.

guess i will just dream about it...

hey now we are gonna vacation at each others place, not far and not far to get back.

Well yes, which is one reason why I only want a few chickens and max a couple of the mini goats. At least a vacation is still manageable. Since my parents live in Canada, and all the rest of my friends are there too, and the other few family members I have are in England, I don't have a lot of choice about vacations if I ever want to see anybody!

Got my Amazon order today! Yay!
45 Chicken Coop Plans by Judy Pangman
Living with Chickens: Everything you need to know to raise your backyard flock, by Jay Rossier
Choosing and Keeping Chickens, by Chris Graham (nice pictures!)

More information for me to absorb!
Claire

great, now get a book by Gail Damerow...

uh oh...its begun....now there may be goats!! Claire, this is exactly the onset of my *disease*....a few chickens, then one goat (can't have one goat) then more chickens, then more goats....

Vacation time is a challenge...finding sitters for the critters (oooh, I should trademark that name...lol). Today I spent a good part of the day worried about my Betty who seemed off her feed today...paged through my books, walked her, some massage....wrestled with the baking soda....Betty feels better now and says "yes! more land, more chickens, more goats!"

I'm thinking I'd love to have a llama....

There's a great thread in this forum on chicken names...I'll try to find it

Catherine

yes, at least 2-3 great name threads... i thought i could just have two goats, now three going on four... no confession on chicken numbers becasuse i conveniently quit counting...

here's the post from Backyard Hens...wonderful names!!

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=3452577

Catherine

Well no, I'd have to have 2 goats. Here is the farm I looked at (online) today for getting goats. They are relatively local for me and seem to really care about their goats. They won't even sell single goats unless you already have other goats. They also refuse to dehorn - they disbud the goats instead, which seems much more humane.

Check out these cute babies for sale!
http://showcase.netins.net/web/blackcatcreekfarm/black_cat_creek_farm_012.htm

Oh, by the way, they also sell Llamas....

that is a good name thread

TODAY....is EGLU DAY! Woo Hoo!!!! It's raining cats and dogs (chickens?) but maybe by the time Kelly gets the Eglu it will have stopped. I will want to get it out of the box right away. I'll post pix when it's arrived.

Claire

Sweet, cant wait to see pic's.

wait! its 4pm here...wheres the pix?!

anxiously waiting :o)

really waiting here

OK, OK, pix coming right up!!

First Eglu pic - overall view of unit, assembled.

NOW that is just cute. i want one or 20. He he he just kidding at wanting 20

Second pic - this shows the door open that they use to go inside, the roosting rods. I put it next to our shrubby area which is just full of little crickets right now and they were hopping all over it as I set it up. I hope chickens eat crickets.

Third pic - this shows the "egg porthole" where you reach in and get the eggs. I need to put straw or shavings into the nesting box.

well that is just nifty, I really like that

Oh by the way all ,..................I got to see it first ha ha ha well second CMoxen and hers seen it first.

Here is the view that the chickens will have from their new home!

I know what you mean about wanting 20! Ha ha ha! I want at least 1 of each colour!

Last pic shows what they call the "grub" and "glug" which is the food dish and water dish that attach to the sides.

Real easy to assemble too. I love it!

So now my countdown is to actual chicken acquisition day...now that I have my Eglu. The Iowa State Fair has 2 chicken shows - one on August 7 and one on August 9. I think I will attend the one on August 7 and see what I can find. Then I'll determine whether I go to the one on the 9th. One is specifically the 4H show, and the other one is open to anyone. In the meantime, I have to figure out the best feed to get for my chickens. Does anyone feed organic? What do you all think are the best feed brands? I am fussy about my dog food so I'm likely to be fussy about my chicken food. I don't want something with lots of fillers and cheap protein sources - I want whatever I can get that is best for their health. Do I have to get deworming stuff or don't chickens get worms?

I'm so excited about my Eglu! But I'm even MORE excited about my chickens!

This message was edited Jul 25, 2008 7:54 PM

Thank you Claire for your intelligent, thoughtful, inclusive words.

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Those eglus are cute! As for food brands/type, we're limited to *feed store* brands here although our Mennonite community is opening an organic feed mill this fall. I do buy a higher protein bag for my layers - they seem to do better on it than the regular layer crumbles. The best purchase I made when I started up my flock was a 50# bag of DE (I know I can't spell it correctly...diatomaceous earth) which I use in lightly in the nesting boxes, underneath coop bedding and dusting *pools*.
Special ordered it from my feed store at a decent price - use it in my flower gardens too.

Make sure to take your camera to the fair...we all want to see Chicken Photos!

Catherine

Ah yes, that was one of my other questions you just reminded me about! Dust baths! My soil is fairly heavy clay, so it will be difficult for them to "dust" themselves in it. Should I make some special dust bath areas? Maybe with some sand in them or something? Diatomaceous earth would be easy to add also. I have now seen a few pictures of chickens dust bathing. Looks really cute! I used to have chinchillas who took dust baths and it always cracked me up to watch them! I should put some in the nesting box area then? Is that to prevent lice/mites?

So you use crumbles, not pellets? I'm not sure of the differences. I will be checking out the feed stores in the next week or so to see what's available. I'll take a look at the higher protein options as you've suggested! Thanks!!

Chicken nutrition is fairly complex--unless they are free ranging and can supplement with seeds, insects, grass, fruits and veggies.

With chicks it is usually safest to start with chick starter--mash or crumble--which has been specially formulated to support the rapid growth of young birds. It is offered medicated or unmedicated--the general wisdom is that a small flock does not need medicated--it is to prevent coccidiosis due to an organism which all chickens have in their intestinal tracks. Young chicks who have not yet developed immunity to the organism can be overwhelmed and sickened if exposed to high levels--but that is usually in stressful and overcrowded conditions. Adult chickens will be stressed too by moving to a new home--but they should already be immune.

Organic feed is available--but it can be hard to find a reliable supply and it is expensive. You can find "recipes" on line for making your own with organic grains etc. I would love to hear how it works if you go that way.

No matter how good the deal, don't try to stock pile feed--it loses nutritional value fairly quickly. Just a few weeks worth, not months.

I wish I had been able to start my chicks on pelleted food rather than mash, maybe a coarse crumb--pellets are harder for them to reduce to inedible powder and grind into their bedding.

You can also go on line and learn the established protein and mineral content for feed at different stages of their development--chick, adolescent, layer etc. Then compare those percentages with those on the feed bags you are considering. A lot of feed stores use local suppliers who make up their own formulas--there are some big suppliers as well--Purina and Blue Seal are two I think.

The more they can free range, the more they can balance their nutritional needs themselves and the happier they will be. There are few things happier than a chicken scratching around the yard!

My girls make their own *dust pools*....always outside of the fence, lol. Once established, I toss a little DE into the holes and they spread it around. I think there's been some discussion previously about the benefits of DE for livestock...let me find them

And I'm with Catscan...nothing happier than a chicken scratchin' about the yard.

Catherine

Thanks Catscan - the instructions with the Eglu said that for 5 days, I should leave my chickens in the Eglu enclosure, to let them "learn their new home" and that way they will want to roost there. Usually, when I come home from work, I spend a couple of hours outside gardening and puttering before I come in. My plan, once the chickens have acclimated themselves, is to allow them out to putter and scratch with me when I am outside, and then I will put them in for the evening to protect them. When I was assembling the Eglu, I think about 50 baby crickets/grasshoppers investigated the unit. There are a TON of bugs out there including leafhoppers, deer ticks, flies, moths, spiders, worms, caterpillars, etc. They will be on mixed grass/clover ground. I do plan to supplement with veggies. I believe that the chickens I will get will be likely young adults, not baby chicks. Unless I can't find anything suitable at the fair (unlikely), in which case I will order chicks. So, I hope that they will get sufficient supplemental feeding from being out free ranging with me, and also getting the bugs that wander into the enclosure, while also benefiting from a good feed brand. Thanks for the tips on stockpiling - very useful info! If I have to get baby chicks, then I will need to do a lot more research!
Claire

so claire, have you decided which chickens you are going to acquire?