Girls new home

[S.A. Boggs]

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I now have 12 hens for eggs and they were in the chicken house up in back of the cabin. The "old" house was built to accommodate 50-75 birds and does not have good shading. Main factor is now it is just too hard to get to and take up feed. When I got my deal on the chicks I also bought the chicken house as well. The idea was to place the house in the side yard under the trees and close to the creek making it easier to get to. I had a great deal of left over metal roofing from a previous building construction before the remodeling. My daughter and I built a frame and then attached the metal roofing. This will keep predators out and chickens in. To the left of the building we attached roofing for added shading and then enclosed the rest with chicken wire. I will be placing metal fence poles one foot out and 6 feet tall to attach the electric fence. Fencing will be placed at 4" spacing and will also go over the chicken wire on top. I also will have two security cameras to watch for two and 4 legged critters as well.
There is a small creek to the left of the building where I will be placing 3 ground rods parallel to provide grounding. With it being continually moist, grounding should not be a problem...the old chicken house was. In the 11 years that we have lived here, the area where the chickens is has never flooded as it sits just high enough. Later in the week my daughter and I are going to cut the brush back just a little further, this is the dog's latrine area so we stay out of it!
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Sam

[Sandpebble]

I started with a dozen many years ago when I had 3 acres in Australia. A healthy hen will give 5 eggs a week and it being a rural area I couldn't even give em all away.

So I pared it down to six hens. Plenty of eggs for me and plenty to trade for stuff... { 30 eggs a week is a bunch of eggs }

I ended up allowing the hens free range of the 3 acres at least 5 days a week..... not including the vegetable garden of course .

The upside was they ate wild all day , including grass and insects giving those eggs the most beautifull deep yellow yolks and very happy and healthy hens.

Shake the grain bowl at 6 p.m. and all hens run for the hen house to munch grains and be safely locked in for the night.

Downside to this was that on occasion a hen would get lost to a predator and five to eight eggs a week would get layed under a bush somewhere. Two young kids would walk a 1/4 mile three times a week to hunt for them and their Mother never needed purchase an egg. And I'd get an occasional home made pie because it kept her kids out of mischief .

Forget the rooster.... he will only make the hens lives miserable .

[S.A. Boggs]

Glad to see the hurricane not headed your way and hope none come your way. My surplus eggs, as well as produce from my greenhouse is going to my church to be shared among the breather. Before Sunday School class we have coffee and doughnuts available in the kitchen. I will place the offerings on the great table, all I ask is the return of the cartons.
As for a rooster, been there and done that won't do it again. First time we had a rooster he decided to attack me as I came into the door, I grabbed him by the throat and advised him he could come to Sunday dinner! After that he stayed in a corner when I came into the building.
I believe in securing what is mine, I don't mind giving I hate a thief or a coward...no use for either. Got a new T-shirt coming in. Birthday is on the 21, a spry 68!
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[Allen]

I have nothing to add--just a chicken experience. When I was young we had a chicken pen that was about 40'x40' with some shade and a chicken house. At the time we had about 30 chickens (White Leghorns). One cold winter night they all crammed into the corner of the pen to stay warm and smothered each other to death. We lost about half of them. After that we put rolled up fence wire in the corners to keep them from cramming, secured the "house" a little better to reduce the drafts and put in light bulbs to add a little heat. I don't recall the actual temp but I think it was in the teens. I write this because I know your winters get much colder than here. If you install too many lights they will stay up all night and eat.

[S.A. Boggs]

House will have insulation as the temps can get to -40 with what comes in from the north. I plan on covering the exposed roof with 6 mill poly to keep the available solar heat in and a submersible heater to keep the water from freezing as well. When I do anything or buy anything I balance the negatives with the positives and plan accordingly. I have a fence charger that is rated for 25 miles with a backup if necessary. The most I will be powering is 2 miles so more then plenty. @ the old chicken house large critters would only come to a max of 10' by the tracks in the snow and then turn away. I was wearing rubber boots and man it hurt to get juiced. We have a 140lb aggressive American Square Head black Lab whose tail touched a wire. He stays 100" away from it now!
Sam

[PWC]

Just a chicken story.......
My grandparents were farmers. In the summer in OK, when all the kids came home for vacation, the grand kids would sit on the stairs of the farmhouse and listen to the aunts and uncles reminesce, about what they did as kids, at least until we were caught. I overheard my father tell about how you could catch a chicken and tuck their haed under their wing, and holding them in front of you, make several circles then set them down and they would just sit with their head under their wing...at least until you touched them. Hmmmmm.....

One winter day, much later, While I was staying with my grandparents (we lived in OK) I sneeked out to the hen house and snagged a hen by the leg with the 'grabber', just like I watched my grand mother do, and proceeded to tuck her head and make circles in the air while holding her. I set her down on the floor and she stayed. Hmmm... Well, evidently the hens made a racket I didn't 'hear', evidently, because they didn't know me. I had a half dozen lined up on the floor when my grandpa came in...

Do you know how hard the caluses are on a farmer's hand when applied to a young miscrerant's seat of learning? Well, the hens didn't lay for 2 days, and I learned a valuable life lesson. I learned many valuable life lessons from my father and grand father, because for a city boy, thier farm that backed up to the North Canadian River was a wonderous place, it was my "Narnia".

[Allen]

thier farm that backed up to the North Canadian River was a wonderous place, it was my "Narnia".

Farms are a great upbringing for any child vs the "cages" they are raised in now. Very few get this experience any more.

[S.A. Boggs]

Farms are a great upbringing for any child vs the "cages" they are raised in now. Very few get this experience any more.

It's nice to know where your food comes from and not beholding to others for it!
Sam

[Allen]

It's nice to know where your food comes from and not beholding to others for it!
Sam

As it once was.

I was primarily speaking of the way of life on a farm.

[S.A. Boggs]

As it once was.

I was primarily speaking of the way of life on a farm.

We enjoy the county, the freedom of it all. Walk out of the cabin and toss a rock, where ever it lands is mine...can't do that it the city. Fresh eggs just a few hours old, quiet, dark at night just with the stars.
Sam

[Allen]

We enjoy the county, the freedom of it all. Walk out of the cabin and toss a rock, where ever it lands is mine...can't do that it the city. Fresh eggs just a few hours old, quiet, dark at night just with the stars.
Sam

There ya go. I would call that elbow room. We all have different interest but farm life to me is all about hard physical work, getting close to nature, raising different kinds of animals, experiencing many different flowers and plants and their fragrances, operating farm equipment and fighting the elements of drought, rain, weeds, wind, fire and insects. Though everything becomes a chore at the same time it is relaxing, just like reloading.

[dryheat]

Boggs, you seem to know how to ranch. I lived on a farm a couple of times, but just visiting. The one time, a hawk swooped down and grabbed a chicken and the kid that lived there picked up a chunk of 2 x 4 and threw it and nailed the hawk in the air. I remember them plucking and washing the chicken. I was amazed at all the dirt. We had chicken for dinner. Here's a link to a woman that I like a lot. It's kind of a downer, but I doubt it will appall you guys. She left for Alaska as a kid and made her own way. Her and her husband live a pretty simple life. Anyway- it's about chickens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BjWLnV7_fY

OK, you might not want to watch the whole vid cause it's girls camping out but the first part is about living on a farm. But you might want to check out her vids or her husbands(bushradical), they're down home people.

[S.A. Boggs]

Next year I will be constructing a pen for meat chickens close to the girls house, plan on raising 30 for meat. I use killing cones, pan for scalding the birds and a rotary picker. For me the plucking was always the worst, with the rotary it takes about 1/2 minute and washes at the same time. Then it is simply cutting off the head and feet, then gutting. Toss into an ice bath and then vacuum seal to go into one of our freezers. My wife and daughter are squeamish, wife won't cut up a chicken from the fridge. Since I now do the majority of the cooking it is no big deal.
I am small and do not have economy of scale, what I do have is food that I know is as safe as I can make it for my family. A fresh egg has an intense color and flavor that a store egg cannot capture. Battery hens, IMHO, is a cruel existence for life. Although ours are outside it is a natural life and as safe as I can make it for them. Any green vegetation from the greenhouse goes directly to them, along with non-gmo grain. Fresh clean water that is changed out daily. When they start to lay their eggshells will be ground up and returned to them as additional calcium. I order in 50lb. pails of wheat that I sprout for the girls to give them better nutrition in the winter, during warm months I have a "bug zapper" that hangs over their pen. My wife calls this the floor show and it is on a timer to save energy. Inside of their house are LED lights set on the same timer. Come 1 October revile is et @ 0500 with the light staying on until 0800.
Sam

[PWC]

I remember the hatchet and tree stump and the washtub of hot water. UGH....smell of wet feathers and picking pen feathers. I'm 75 and that smell comes rushing back.

[Allen]

I remember the hatchet and tree stump and the washtub of hot water. UGH....smell of wet feathers and picking pen feathers. I'm 75 and that smell comes rushing back.

My Grandmother use to chop off chicken heads when I was very young. Me and my older brother would trap a chicken for her using a wooden hamper propped up with a stick with a 1" diameter rope (overkill ?) attached to the stick. Bait was a dry corn cob (with kernels). Instead of a stump it was a large root coming from a tree. On the root there were 2 nails driven about 1" apart and sticking up about 2 1/2". She would place the chicken beside the root and lay the head across to where the neck was between the 2 nails. For some reason the chickens always stayed in place. After the "chop" with the axe the chicken always had to fulfill their bucket list of running everywhere all over the yard slinging blood. Their balance was always perfect and would run till they ran out of blood or blood pressure. It usually took about a minute. This method was preferred over ringing their neck so that the chicken would be bleed down.