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Post by whollygoats on May 7, 2016 22:29:20 GMT
'Tis done. They are duly monikerated...May Day!
You can tell them apart by the lightness of Day.
They've proven that they know the way back to the chalet in the lengthening shadows of evening. But I guess they're hanging out there during the day, too, because I hear squawking in the coop (and Dora is outside) and I suspect Ingrid does not appreciate cowering interlopers in her nesting spot. They should be out running around....young pullets these days... *deep sigh*
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Post by whollygoats on May 7, 2016 22:42:23 GMT
Got my bugs today ("fly raptors")....I'm setting them out on the balcony until I'm assured that they are hatching. Then, I'll move them to the backup composter bin.
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Post by Mari on May 10, 2016 6:50:14 GMT
What are they supposed to do?
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Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2016 13:59:03 GMT
What are they supposed to do? The 'raptors' are a species of tiny wasp which lays its eggs in the pupae of flies (maggots) and the growing eggs consume the maggot in feeding. So, when the raptors hatch, they immediately start seeking food...maggots...and their actions prevent the development of flies, breaking the reproductive cycle. With consistant applicatin during the warm months (about every three weeks, I hatch out another batch of raptors) I can prevent the flies from becoming pestilential.
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Post by Mari on May 10, 2016 21:20:15 GMT
Ah. Nasty, but that's nature I suppose.
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Post by Christy on May 12, 2016 22:54:56 GMT
How much room do you need for your chickens? In square footage, if possible. And do you have problems with stress behaviors, like egg eating? I wish to have chickens, but want healthy chickens, and hesitate to get them if I don't have room to treat them nicely.
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Post by whollygoats on May 12, 2016 23:56:26 GMT
How much room do you need for your chickens? In square footage, if possible. And do you have problems with stress behaviors, like egg eating? I wish to have chickens, but want healthy chickens, and hesitate to get them if I don't have room to treat them nicely. That's actually a question which requires a quite complex answer. First, it depends upon what kind of chickens. Serama chickens are smaller than bantams (which are just downsized mainline varieties); I have a local tender contact who raises serama chooks in his basement. I don't recommend. Some hens are pretty good size, like the Jersey Giants, and you cannot have just one hen. You must have at least two and advisably three hens. I have standard sized chickens. They are flock animals and desire inclusion (despite the pecking order behavior that looks brutal). My approach is to coop my hens at night and the coop space adds two laying booths. That coop (which I call my 'chook chalet') has a footprint of 4' x 8', with more than half of it having a second story perch area and laying booths. The lower level is open, but has strong welded steel wire grid all 'round, to form a smallish 'run' under the secured coop area. I estimate an enclosed and double-latched area of some 70 cubic feet. I consider it to be best for three hens, too crowded for five hens, and passable for four hens. I presently have two hens and two pullets. I let my hens out in the daylight areas to free range my backyard. It is 50' x 40', with a side area of 6' x 30', where the composters are located alongside the major concrete walkway from front to back (lovingly known as the "Ho Chih Minh Trail"). The space is largely enclosed by six foot wood slat fences. At nightfall, the hens go to the coop. I must remember to, or make sure that somebody else, shuts up the coop and throws the bolts on the latches. The objective is to keep nocturnal marauders out...primarily raccoons, but opossum and an occasional bold rat. I have raised chicks in small crowds. I got so enthralled at one point, I thought I could keep ten hens....that was a telling lesson in 'carrying capacity'. That horde decimated my back garden. I have decided my yard is a four-hen yard. I can get away with five, but four is my preferred maximum. In the city in which I live, any property owner my keep three hens (no roosters) on their property. To keep more than that, one has to obtain a permit from the county vector control program (the biggest concern is rats, as chicken food attracts rats). I have fellow tenders who take different approaches. Some build huge coops with built-on enclosed runs that they never leave. I think there is a 'standard' in terms of cubic feet per hen within the enclosures, but I do not know what it is. Others tenders try to trod midway, with mid-sized attached runs (often covered to protect from avian predators) with the coops, and releasing their birds for 'supervised ranging'. The biggest stress inducer in the vicinity is most definitely the raccoons. I get along famously with the local crows (who are great alarms for avian raptors) and hummingbirds (despite ceasing to feed them since adopting new felines). I've had hens eat an occasional egg, but it is usually because the egg got stepped on. Shells can get fragile under some circumstances. I have an alternative laying basket next to the coop on the porch of my garden shed; if the scene is crowded in the chalet, they can go there to lay. When they do and I fail to notice, the local scrub jays will pierce and eat those eggs. This is how it happened before the chalet, and the chalet's enclosed laying booths have pretty much ended the jays destructive tricks. If you are looking for egg production, keep in mind that each hen begins producing eggs at about 25 weeks old. They continue to lay eggs anytime between daily and erratically more than three days apart for three to five years. If you do not provide light augmentation (to 14 hours of light daily) then the hens will stop laying, usually right as they moult. The first moult is not until the second winter, then annually. It will make your yard look like a pillow fight broke a couple of pillows. The hens restart laying in late winter or early spring. If I haven't answered your question, or have new ones, feel free. I'm happy to impart what I know. My advice is that if anyone in your house is particularly fastidious about the garden, do not get hens. Unless the garden is huge and the number of hens small. The can be destructive of nice, neat gardens. However, I got mine for cutworm control...which they did admirably, while turning my compost, scratching up my pathways, trampling my fragile plantings, and requiring that I throw up temporary fencing to protect aspects of the garden.
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Post by Christy on May 13, 2016 2:57:27 GMT
What are cutworms?
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Post by whollygoats on May 13, 2016 4:05:26 GMT
The larval stage of a common moth (a white cabbage moth, IIRC), which, in the larval stage lies inert during daylight hours within about an inch below the soil surface. At night, the larvae emerge to climb nearby plant life and cut chunks out of leaves to consume. In spots, I had cutworms emerging which completely defoliated a rosebush. You might think that because chickens roost during the hours of darkness, when the cutworms are most active, and when the hens are foraging, the larvae have returned to their sanctuaries below ground. The thing is, chickens scratch. They scratch up the soil in search of....grubs, worms, and larvae for protein in their diets. They consume most insect matter they can catch and some have been known to hunt, capture, kill and consume mice. My girls help me turn my compost with their incessant scratching for protein sources. My point is that I originally got the hens to control a garden pest problem. What has happened is that they have become the garden pests. They will consume certain plants (if you have a nice large grass lawn, you're ahead of the game...I keep 32 square feet of grass for my hens to graze) and in their inate gracelessness, they will trample countless other tender plants. However...There have been those days where, after spending eight to ten hours hassling with humans, that coming home to chat with my hens was positively therapeutic.
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Post by Christy on May 13, 2016 4:26:36 GMT
I have an overgrown back yard. This makes me wish to dome it in with chicken wire and put a small herd of chickens in it.
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Post by whollygoats on May 13, 2016 21:32:58 GMT
If it's really bad, I'd start with 'rent-a-goats' and finish with a flock of chickens.
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Post by Christy on May 14, 2016 15:21:32 GMT
It's kind of really bad. The bank stopped mowing it when the contract was opened, but the contract wasn't closed within the expected two weeks. The bank (the owning bank, not my bank) dragged their feet for six months. So the yard grew, all through the rainy spring, hot rainy summer, and on into the kids' new school year. I had to get special permission for them to start in their new school so they didn't have to switch 2-3 weeks in. I haven't yet rented a bush hog, but would gladly picket out someone's goats for awhile, as long as I wasn't responsible for neighborhood dogs that roam. I currently have no fence (yet).
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Post by whollygoats on Aug 16, 2016 4:16:12 GMT
Yeah...Roaming unleashed dogs are second only to the raccoons for killing inner city hens. My best layer was mauled by a 'bird dog' (somebody's spoiled cocker spaniel escaped the paddy wagon).
So, May & Day have both proven their mettle and started laying. And, they are both green egg layers like my elder EE, Ingrid. So now I have three green egg layers. I was focused on figuring out which of the pullets, May or Day, had started laying and we had a selection of small green eggs and then got two regular sized green eggs. I thought erratic Ingrid had been 'egged' in to laying. It was only after the larger egg was used was it found to be a 'double yolker', fairly common with new layers. Then, I started getting tiny green eggs practically every day. And I wondered why it was that Day was doing eggsongs while May sat in the nesting basket. It all came together when I got two small green eggs laid the same day. Confirmation that both pullets were laying. I got another big dark brown egg from Dora today. Her last had been crushed by the crowd in the basket. I don't know if Ingrid has laid at all, but she has been doing squats and soliciting attention from me, so maybe she is winding up to lay one, too.
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