Coop life - backyard chickens

[mich1972]

So we adopted our girls in April and they bring us so much joy, eggs and beautiful fertiliser !!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

[mich1972]

Thank You @Aussie-Garden  !!! I love how we are becoming more aware of Bush Tucker !! 

ohhhhhh I have got to see your little chicks !!!! I wish we had more space at home for more chickens 😂😍

[mich1972]

Changing up the boredom busters for the girls, next level 🤣🐓😍👊

I hang treats off the fence for the Chooks , but added a few bamboo stakes and hooks to make it even more interesting for the girls. They do free range in the afternoons but during the day in the run they need to be stimulated 🐓🥰

 

 

 

[MitchellMc]

Clever idea @mich1972! I'm sure they'll happily peck away for hours on those.

Great stuff.

Mitchell

[mich1972]

 

 

 

 We have expanded the Chook Run and the Girls have more room to free range. We had them on the lawn as well but moved them into the garden as we did not want them to ruin the lawn. 

We have added a basic gate made from the Reo Mesh and star pickets and wire. Then we open it up in the afternoons for the girls to work the soil 🐓🐓

[Jason]

Chook heaven @mich1972. Many thanks for the update. I'm sure the girl's happiness is reflected in the quality of their eggs.

Jason

[Caron]

Love the combinations that you use - what is Snoozle?  Do you grow your wormwood in a particular position? Mine have not grown from seedlings and would love them to get bigger!

How do you find the charcoal ... that's a new one for me and I've had my girls for a couple of years. I don't use diamanthus earth as the powder can get into their respiratory tract and cause illness. I use drops (made up of essential oils) that I manage the mites with.

[mich1972]

Hi @Caron  Thank You. We love our girls !!! Snoozle is pine wood shavings I buy from our stock feeders and we use it for their nesting in the Coop . 
Yes  grow our own Wormwood it’s a great stinky shrub that I chop up and add the the coop. I grow it in a sunny position. 
The charcoal is great and does help. I don’t use DE as you have to be careful with respiratory problems with the girls and yourself !!!

[Caron]

Thanks for the tips - aaah yes I’ve used wood shavings, I currently  use river sand on the floor of my coop - they love it, it hides odour and great in the wet weather we currently have in Qld as it dries quickly ...thanks for sharing, I’ve found owning the girls is always a learning curve and it’s great to share info with / learn from other chicken people! 

[mich1972]

Well I might try some river sand !!!!!!!! 😊😊

[Kys]

I've not read of charcoal before being used, I might need to look into it.

The house we bought had a caged dog run, so I turned that into a chicken Run with a coop and run for them. I have a cracked blue kiddy pool with sand for dust baths that they love, and use the deep litter method. An inch of builders sand, pine bark, saw dust, hay, they love getting a fresh mini bale of hay.

They also go I to our veggie garden a few times a week to help clean up the weeds as we only grew lettuce, beetroot, and silverbeet over winter, so they have a field day with the weeds, they wonder the lawn too and cluck away.

Being winter we went a month with an egg or two a day, but they are back to three eggs a day, so one each. 

We also have a bought coop that had three pekins till two disappeared when we were away overnight, but getting two four month old aracuna's tomorrow to join little miss as the Hyline girls pick on her, hopefully by spring we have some bright blue eggs in the mix!  Our four youngest kids have autism and they love the chickens