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Black bear killed after getting into hen houses near Helena
The Missoulian HELENA – A 3-year-old black bear with a history of getting into chicken coops in the Helena area has been euthanized. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks … |
Source:Black bear killed after getting into hen houses near Helena – The Missoulian
Chicken coops around western Montana attracting more bears to town - The Missoulian
These coops look …
These coops look very nice. I look forward to trying to build my own. Thanks for the ideas.
Very Nice! Good …
Very Nice! Good work, thanks for sharing!
i built’ my own …
i built’ my own chicken coop. MUCH CHEAPER. they look good though
i could live in that
i could live in that
how much??
how much??
you could try some of those little round lights that you push and they turn on….or you could try getting a longer extension cord,or connect more than one extension cord together,and then when winter comes put tape around where it connects to one another….keep the rain out…
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Well i have not bought chickens and hatched them but my best friend has so how about 2 chickens and find someone else to help u!! Sorry
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They won’t ship them until it is warm enough in your area, I think, anyway…
You need a chicken house. Something big enough for you to stand up and move around in. You will have to shovel it out once or twice a year. Put it in the garden and use a rototiller to till it in.
Laying boxes on one wall. A small lip on the bottom to keep the straw and eggs inside the box, big enough for the hen to set comfortably and turn around. When she is done, she will get out, but some like to sleep there, too.
Roosting perches for them to sleep on. Put them at an angle so the birds on top are not pooping on the birds below them.
You need room for the food and water feeders. Chickens get a water jug attached to a base that lets them get water without fouling the whole thing. You will find this at your local farm store.
They use a mini trough for the laying mash, but you may need a smaller one for the chicks. Also for the chicks, you need a heat lamp and a box. They can get lost if just tossed into the chicken house. Make the sides of the box about 2 feet tall and 3 feet long. Actually, a child’s swimming pool (smallest size, the 3 ft across and 8 inch tall one is perfect for the first week that you have them. I kept mine in the house for the first week or 2, til I couldn’t stand the smell anymore, lol.
I don’t remember where I ordered them from, but there are lots of places these days that hatch chicks and ship them.
It is cheaper if you get a box of 25 or 50 unsexed chicks, but then you would likely have way too many roosters. You can get only females, they will lay eggs, but you will have no chance to have your hens hatch out babies of their own and keep your coop at full occupancy.
Maybe they will let you order a few males, I would get 3 with 25 or 5 with 50. Chicks get a special mix of chick feed.
I got rare breed Chinese Bantam chickens. I loved my rooster, Snowman. He was large, had pure white feathers all over, even down his legs! Rainbow was my Easter Egg layer. Her eggs were pale green. Dad had one that laid pale pink eggs. They are awesome! Dad also had a Bantie with a top notch on his head, a crest, I guess. He was little and a mean bugger! He protected his flock like no other rooster I have ever seen!
My mother-in-law had plain ol white laying hens. Boring. Couldn’t tell them apart, so none got named.
Racoons will kill your chickens. Make sure your chicken house is racoon proof. Rats may want to move in, endless source of food and warmth, esp if you live near a river, creek or woods.
There are lots of sites that will tell you everything that you want to know, it has been 25+ years since I had chickens, so I haven’t a clue on prices.
Your eggs will taste different, because they are more nutritious than store bought. You chickens would taste different, too, no steroids or junk in them.
If I was allowed, I would have chickens right now!!
Good luck!!
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It depends on how much room you have but 2-4 is a good number to start with because it’s not too much work! I started with 4, 2 welsummer hens and 2 lavender araucana bantams.
If you can, get the chickens from a battery farm. They are cheaper and deserve a good home
http://www.downthelane.net/battery.html
http://www.downthelane.net/Page_35.html
Any time of year is fine!
It depends what coop you get and if you buy or make a run. This costed me aproximately £400. Then I bought a feeder which was £7, it is metal so is more expensive than plastic ones. A drinker, which was also metal costed £5. I don’t know the price of shavings or straw because we get them free. I also line the bottom of the coop with newspaper, then put the shavings on top to make cleaning quicker and easier. Then there’s the food, I get layers pellets instead of mash, which costs £7.50 for a bag which lasts a month between 11 chickens!
I then get a bag of corn which is about £7 as well and lasts the same amount of time. They have the layers pellets in the coop all the time and they get a handful of corn each in the morning and get treats in the afternoon.
Then you need to buy the actual hens. For ex-battery hens, you can pay between 25p and 75p each. For rare breeds, you can pay anything over £10.
You need to find an avian vet in your area, else they won’t know too much about their illnesses.
If your hens are in the coop for the night as long as you shut the door, you won’t get any predators in during the night. But, they do attack during the day too, so have a pen with a 6ft pen around the edge or put a roof over the top.
These sites have helped me alot! Save them to your favourites and you can access them easily if you have any problems:
http://www.downthelane.net/Page_7.html
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2653
http://www.thepoultrysite.com to join the forum. It’s free and you can post any questions about chickens you want. The people on it are great and are very experienced!
If I haven’t provided enough information, you can always type things like the following into google:
‘backyard chicken keeping’
‘chicken keeping’
‘chicken care’
‘chickens as pets’
And of course, you can post questions on here.
Hope I helped and good luck!
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Own 11 chickens!
I just ordered the …
I just ordered the plans. I’m not that skilled at this stuff, but I’ll work it out as I go. This design really draws me. Simple, lots of room, and really charming for us “urban farmers” LOL.
I purchased these …
I purchased these plans and my chickens love it so much they have their friends over every night and party to the small hours of the morning, thus keeping me awake.And due to hangovers they arn’t producing any eggs..this coop is too good for a chicken. I mite get rid of the chickens and move my kids into it.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing!
Excellent design!
Excellent design!
We purchased the …
We purchased the plans for this coop and found it easy to build. Our chickens love it and we think it keeps our chickens safe and is easy to access and clean. This video helped us understand the interior. Thanks!!!
Clever idea!
Clever idea!
Pine shavings, rice hulls are both very good bedding material but you should ask around and see if you can buy it in bulk somewhere. I used to go the the cabinet and furniture builders and they would give me as much shavings as I needed for free long as I haul it away. I never bought them in bags. As for your other 2 questions, I can’t help you with cause my chickens never smelled too bad only cause they were free-range during the day and only locked up at night.
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I understand that pine shavings are not good because they still have oil in them that is bad for the birds. Straw is fine if you clean it out often. You can put it into your compost pile.
What you feed chickens is what causes the egg to change color. Marigolds make for a dark yolk among other things. What was the change in their diet? That is your answer.
What are you feeding the bantams? That will effect their odor.
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Hi. We use pine shavings in our nesting boxes for our chickens (three of them), and they seem fine with it. We don’t cover the floor of their chicken coup though, so not too sure what to suggest there. What is the floor made of? If it’s just dirt, couldn’t you just clean out their droppings once every couple of weeks (or when necessary)?
I’m not sure if Bantams smell worse than their larger cousins as I’ve never had Bantams. Could it be due to different feed or different housing with not enough ventilation? Or is it possible they aren’t as healthy as they could be? This would also affect their eggs, which brings me to your third question…
I don’t want to comment on whether the eggs are safe to eat or not, but the first thing that came to mind is feed. Are they getting enough? Is the quality good? Did you change their feed in this time? Are all the eggs like this, or only some? If one hen is being excluded at feeding time, then maybe it’s just her eggs that are this way? You may also need to include different things in their diet. They may not be getting the nutrients they should be getting for optimum egg production. If you can, find out what the previous owners were feeding them and see if you can do the same thing. Some feeds claim they help make the eggs tastier, and the yolks a better colour, so maybe look into those. Chickens also need meat in their diet, so a bit of meat each week won’t hurt. They usually aren’t fussy. Mine will eat ham, minced beef and even chicken (it is safe for them to eat, but if you feel weird feeding it to them, they will eat other forms of meat). Alternatively, you should be able to buy meal worms or something similar from your pet food store. Meal worms are good as you can keep them in the fridge and feed them to your chickens when you want to.
Another meat option is to let your chickens out when you’re doing the gardening. Mine love to help us do the gardening. They’re right there with the shovel looking for insects to eat!
Hope this helps a little. Sorry for the long answer! LOL!!
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1. How big is your coop? Are you getting the bedding from a livestock feed supply store? It’s much cheaper there. Most people use wood shavings. Some put a layer of peat moss about 2 thick and then the shavings on top of that. You can also do the same thing with straw. The key to keeping the smell down – stir the bedding every day with a bow rake or pitch fork, and if you like spread some slaked lime on wet spots, making sure you cover that lime with more bedding. If memory serves me right, I used to use a brand of powdered clay that kept the smell down. Once again, get to that domestic stock feed and supply store. Keep adding bedding on top of the old stuff every few days. My coop was clean, smelled great and I only cleaned it fully out twice a year. Yep, twice a year – fall and spring. I let the compost action beneath each layer of new bedding take care of the manure and smell. Plus, you need to have plenty of draft free ventilation.
2. No, bantams smell no more or less than standard chickens. It’s possible they are suffering from some sort of malady. Do they have diarrhea? Try adding vitamins and minerals for poultry in their water.
3. Light yellow and cloudy yolk. Sounds to me that their feed may not be doing the trick. Are you providing them greens to eat. I always gave mine apples. Make sure they are on a good laying ration and once again, check out the many supplements available in your feed store.
4. No, I’m not a feed store representative – just raised lots of poultry in my life.
Afternote: Cedar shavings are very irritating to the chicken’s respiratory system. Not really a good idea.
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Cedar chips are one of the best liters and bedding’s and cost a little less then pine.Pine is alright to use and will not hurt your chickens.Cedar as well as pine help prevent mites and lice from getting on your birds.Straw or hay does not.Bantams generally won’t stink as quickly as larger birds,simply because they do not poop quite as much.Their poop still stinks but the volume is less.Light colored yolks and cloudy whites are caused by a combination of a couple of things.Feed and heat,the eggs are still safe to eat.
The problem is as the days get warmer the hens will eat less.Eating less means they aren’t getting as much nutrients,this wares on the hen.As her body gets depleted so do her eggs.Dark orange yolks come from fat.Add chopped corn to their feed to get a deep dark orange yolk.Also get a higher protein based layer if it is available or you can add some non-medicated 22% percent grower feed in with their layer rations.This will clear the whites.Before feeding any greens to a chicken you should first find out what the nutritional values of them are.Alfalfa has between 25 and 35 percent protein and chickens love it,though it is rather expensive to buy.Chickory contains 30 to 45 percent protein and chickens love it as well though again it isn’t cheap.I raise all my own to offset the expense.Table scraps are okay to feed chickens trouble is cooking removes much of the nutritional values.Think about this when feeding your chickens they may be full and happy but is what they are eating benefit them.It makes no sense to fill a chicken with feed or food which is not helping it’s nutritional needs.Layer feeds contain all of the basic components the chicken needs on average.Though during different times of the year they require different needs.In cooler temps chickens eat more and need more carbs then anything in order to stay warm.Warmer temps require less carbs and more protein.Fat is standard most of the year.In order to produce good fertile eggs a chicken needs lean times in the winter.This helps burn any fat deposits around their ovaries,same applies for ducks.To much calcium will cause infertile eggs or stop a chicken from laying all together.So calcium (shell builder) should never be put in their feed.Layer feeds already contain calcium.Putting oyster shell in a separate bowl allows the chickens to eat is only as they need to.
If you aren’t already feeding your birds cracked corn add this as well as increase their protein.This should fix the yolk and whites.
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1) I have always used pine shavings. I get them cheap at the sawmill, it’s a 1m x 0.5m x 0.5m bale of compacted, dust-extracted woodshavings. It costs me £6 for one of those bales, which is in the region of $12, but there are local variations to take into account. I’ve seen exactly the same stuff being delivered to my local pet shop, so that it can be divided into smaller bags and sold at a massive profit.
I work on a city farm, which is permanently skint. When we clean out their massive chicken coop, we only clean out underneath the perches, because they don’t poo so much in the other part.
2) Bantams don’t smell any more than other chickens, as a rule. Have you done anything different, like a different food? Are they ill? Are you cleaning them out as often as you did the production hens?
3) Firstly, yes all eggs are safe to eat unless you have given them medication and they were layed during the withdrawal period. I doubt this is the case for you.
The yellow colour in the yolk comes from eating green stuffs, like grass and green veg. The yellow pigment is stored in the legs & skin, and visibly disappears as the laying season goes on. To get the eggs back how they were, give your chickens some grass clippings (so long as you haven’t used fertiliser) and / or a head of cabbage hung up in the run, so that they have to jump or stretch a little to reach it. This has the added advantage of keeping them entertained.
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Kept chickens for years
http://www.allaboutchickens.tk
1) Pine shavings are fine, but a bit expensive. I only used them right before a show when I washed & separated birds and wanted to keep them nice & clean. I have also used straw, but it is a bit "stinkier" ie not as absorbent as pine shavings. Where I work now, we used ground up corn cobs because we get them pretty cheap from a nearby farm. You can also use rice hulls.
2)Bantams shouldn’t smell worse. If you are feeding them something different or if they are sick, that can cause the excreta to smell worse or different. How do the droppings look? Are they loose or firm?
3)Are the eggs larger now than they were when the birds started laying? They should be. That can cause a bit of difference in yolk color. But mostly it is the diet the chickens that determines yolk color. If you have switched feed that could account for lighter yolks. Or, if the birds are nor foraging throught grass, etc. and they were before, that would cause the yolk color to lighten. Actually, a cloudy yolk is a sign of a fresh egg. Normally people think there is something srong with it, but it is just the CO2 still in the egg. It doesn’t take long for most of the CO2 to dissipate so most people never see a cloudy yolk. But, be cautious, sometimes a cloudy yolk can mean some sort of contamination, too. If the birds look healthy and their droppings look good, the egg white probably just has a lot of CO2 still in it.
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Here’s a tip. Before laying out any bedding, spread a layer of wood coal. You can use ash from a firepit, activated carbon, or even those cheap barbeque charcoals that are just burnt pressed wood (make sure it’s the plain old charcoal with no additives, and crush it into a fine layer). This will absorb the phosphates in the poo, and it’s the phosphates that are stinking. Then cover the layer of wood coal with whatever bedding you’re using. Mix shavings, straw, or hay (I like hay) with some alfalfa hay. They’ll eat the alfalfa hay and that gives them extra greens.
Yes, the wood coal is a bit messy at first. But, the smell goes away.
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