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Survival and Preparations Long and short term survival and 'prepping'. |
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#201
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Didja weigh it? The first ones are usually pretty small. You have appropriate nest boxes I assume? Our hens seemed a little confused about where to lay at first so I tossed a golf ball or 2 into each nest box and they took the hint right away. You might try that. Heh... funny about the squat thing. She's accepted you as her rooster and she wants a little lovin' from you! |
#202
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they know the boxes so im not too overly worried about it.
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#203
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Hahaha, my first thought also. Apparently he has yet to see a rooster in action.
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#204
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LOL.
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#206
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I have no chicken experience, but you can eliminate algae by blocking the sun. Either cover the water bottle or paint it. Of course you won't be able to tell visually when your chickens need water.
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#207
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i have had mine in direct sunlight for several months and no algae in it yet. so far no problems with it.
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#208
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Nuthin' lives in that stuff! |
#209
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yep. and don't forget Flouride. LOL
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#212
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On a side note, a teaspoon of apple vinegar per liter of water is kinda nice for the water jugs too...helps eliminate the need to clean the insides of the container so often. I'm using a black PVC pipe for my water hanger so I don't have a problem. http://youtu.be/ikQIfs2S50w Weird thing about the algae build up...we have a brita water pitcher that sat near the kitchen window for about a year and that thing started to have algae so maybe it's the water in the area we live in.
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"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." Last edited by renardsubtil; 08-05-2013 at 11:10 AM.. |
#214
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#216
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Most of my material was surplus. My 2x4s were actually left over 2x12s from something else and the plywood was from shelving here at work that they were getting rid of. I did have to buy the roofing material & nails.
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#218
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I think I spent about 400.00 altogether it wasn't all at once I bought some stuff here and there some things I had left over from other projects and so on.
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. |
#222
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Of course you spent way too much! Projects like that always go way the hell over budget. Mine sure did! You spend what you can afford to spend and you try and make it decent for the chickens to live in and easy for the humans to clean and deal with. Ummm, did I miss the photos of your coop somewhere? Show us! I've probably only got $150 or so into the "coop" itself, because the doors & windows and the siding was free. I had to buy 2x4's for framing, a scrap of linoleum for the floor, door and window hinges and latches, and oodles of screws and staples. But building the run was tremendously expensive. I wanted it large (it ended up about 600 sq ft), fully enclosed and roofed against predators, and tall enough for a human to comfortably stand up and walk around in and clean. There's a couple hundred feet of 6' tall welded wire fence, a bunch of peeler core posts, a ton of pressure treated lumber, bags of concrete, and several sheets of fiberglass "roof panels" that cover part of the run and wrap around the sides on one corner so that there's a sheltered area during rainy weather. I've go at least $400 in materials for the run. But it's sturdy and it's predator proof and it's easy to get inside to clean and it has lots of room for the hens to move about and it should last a good long time. As of today I've collected 1097 eggs from the ladies. That's over 134 lbs of eggs in just over 6 months. |
#223
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#224
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I made my plans myself. I did read up on designs (they are as numerous as the owners) before I started and tried to incorporate the best ideas of each. http://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops
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#225
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Hmmm, that's $0.50 per egg or $6.00 per dozen so far just in construction costs. Then you got to figure in feed and labor to maintain. How long till you break even. Do you even pay $0.50 per round of ammo.
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#227
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I like the flavor and texture of good fresh eggs from hens that have a varied diet. I like having control over that small bit of my food chain. (for lots of reasons) I like that the hens don't live in battery cages like most of the egg laying hens in the US do. I expect the cost of the coop to be averaged over many years. It's built to last a long time. I get about 3 dozen eggs per week and sell surplus eggs at $5/dozen to pay for the $25 monthly feed cost. Nobody complains about $5/dozen. I could sell tons more if i had 'em. I break even on feed cost and I get my eggs for free plus a few extra to distribute to friends and neighbors "gratis". So far I think it's a pretty good deal. Quote:
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#228
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http://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php Thank your neighbor and fellow gun owners for passing Prop 63. For that gun control is a winning legislative agenda. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Dj8tdSC1A contact the governor https://govnews.ca.gov/gov39mail/mail.php In Memory of Spc Torres May 5th 2006 al-Hillah, Iraq. I will miss you my friend. NRA Life Member. Last edited by chris; 08-12-2013 at 7:32 PM.. |
#229
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Personally I used a bunch of left over 2x4s, fence boards, and a leftover pallet *shrug* it's not pretty but it works for my two birds. The main things I kept in mind during my build was the airflow, separation of the nesting box, a roosting bar, ample room for cleaning, and how to fit my sandbox so that cleaning the poop would be easy.
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"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." Last edited by renardsubtil; 08-13-2013 at 8:57 AM.. |
#230
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Trust me I am not worring about the cost. Just trying to make sure I'm not going over board with the build. Really just trying to justify with myself the cost. I will try and post up some picture tomorrow when I get home.
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#232
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I was just messin with ya, I also spent a fair amount and time on mine. I tend toward over building when I do things, but maybe not quite as much as yourself. I get a kick out of eating things I grow or raise and love to pick blackberries straight off the bush and eat em. We have multiple fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Last few years I had been growing pumpkins and trying to grow corn. We even had some potatoes going as an experiment.
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#233
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Assume the party submission position.
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...but their exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom. |
#234
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not even close. Free range is a whole different ball game
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LIVE FREE OR DIE! M. Sage's I have a dream speech; |
#235
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all kinds of vegetables and fruits
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LIVE FREE OR DIE! M. Sage's I have a dream speech; |
#236
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Been reading this thread for months, making plans, but it looks like our first home may have a pool! Our fallback home has a large yard, but the house itself just isn't as nice... Any ideas if you can still raise chickens with a backyard pool with no grass?
Regardless, thanks for keeping us updated; great thread. |
#237
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You don't need grass for chickens...but then again it depends what you want the chickens for, eggs or eating? And how many do you want?
There's only my wife and I right now and we only have two chickens who lay 1-2 eggs everyday between them which the perfect amount for us. They don't need a lot of room to be "happy" but a decent sized run is needed so they can exercise at least...and by "run" I mean the area outside the sheltered place that they sleep in, my run is just 4 sq feet of dirt/sand and the birds seem happy enough since they've consistently laid eggs.... Check out the build section of the Backyard Chicken forum, there's a lot of ideas and various landscapes to compare your situation to.
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"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." Last edited by renardsubtil; 08-15-2013 at 10:02 AM.. |
#238
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I probably would say eggs first, but we may progress to eating. As far as a limit, 4-5 which I believe is the limit in the city. I will check out that forum though as I am genuinely interested in seeing other people setup for chickens over concrete with a pool.
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#240
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Ducks
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