hi, I just bought a farm house and hope to keep some brahmas. I would really like to have them free range but I was wondering, how to keep them off the road? How far would they wander? would I need a run for them anyway? Also, I herd brahmas were really good foragers, but they are a larger chicken, do they need lots of feed? what constitutes a good forager? and for the coop....I will convert the woodshed into a coop. At the moment it has a gravel floor that would be way to easy for predators to dig under....what would my best bet be for flooring?
I bought a bunch of books on keeping chickens but none of them seem to help with the absolute basics, sorry for asking such stupid questions :-)
a bunch of newbie questions.....
Bathflower welcome to the forum. There are no stupid questions. And keep in mind that these are just opinions. There is no hard and fast set of rules, what works for one does not work for all. I really like the cement floor the best, but am sure others will share a wealth of facts and opinions. What ever you decide have fun and look forward to the learning experience. Good luck>Haystack
Personally I think the Bramahs are beautiful, but never raised them.
Hi Batflower! Welcome to the forum! We all started somewhere.. I agree with Haystack, there are no stupid questions! We all started somewhere, and had to ask the same questions at some time or another!
I let mine free range and when they start getting to where they stay too close to the street, they go back to being locked up for a few days.. it's worked for me so far.. After they are settled, they seem to stay pretty close. They do need a safe place to roost at night though.
Personally, I'd have a run, just as a back up even if I didn't need it.. If you have the facilities, chances are you will need them!
I have no experience with Brahmas, so I can't answer how much they forage, or how much feed you will need specifically. I can say that free ranging cuts down on the feed bill.
I have a wood floor covered with vinyl, but if I had it to do over, I wish I had concrete. I have 2 other coops that are dirt floor which I like. I can dig a hole and bury droppings.. keeps it cleaner..
I hope this helps some.. there are so hard and fast rules, it's what ever works for you. Good Luck!
Hi Batflower
Don't worry about Haystack calling you "bath" flower. I'm sure he is not suggesting you need a bath! :-) (gotcha Hay!!) Tee hee!!
Welcome to the forum and I agree with Hay and ZZ that there are no stupid questions.
Hay's point about the cement floor is good - it is predator proof and it's easy to clean also. Personally, we have dirt floors though, partly because we use what is called the "deep litter" method of using a deep layer of litter that is exposed to the dirt floor to allow more microbes to get in there and start decomposing and making good compost. We installed heavy wire mesh across the entire floor of the coop (on top of the dirt) to prevent predators. In addition, our coop backs into our llama/goat/sheep area so the llamas are pretty good at deterring predators. We have a second, mobile coop with a wood floor and we installed cheap (remnant) linoleum on the bottom of it for easy clean out.
I have a few light brahmas that I "inherited" from a friend who moved to another state and couldn't take his birds with him. They are gentle giants and lovely birds. I have 8.5 acres and they do not range off my property and they don't go onto the road. I suppose that may be because they find they have enough to keep them amused without needing to go on the road. I worried about it at first but I stopped worrying when I saw that none of them go out there. I live on a gravel road.
I don't find that they need any more or less feed than other standard sized breeds. They need more in the winter in our zone (similar to yours) because of course they can't forage for bugs and worms and such in the winter. In summer, I feed some scratch grains and cracked corn and they eat bugs and grass and whatnot all day long. In winter, I feed pellet feed.
Hmmmm...what did I miss? Feel free to ask any other questions!
I can't imagine any critter wandering away from the Moxon homestead, never a dull moment there I expect!
My chicken coops have wooden floors and I use a light sprinkling of sawdust as litter. It only takes a few minutes to scrape up the night's droppings and redust with more sawdust, but warmth is not an issue here. Linoleum would be easier to clean, but when I built the coops I was in one of my "ok this isn't going to cost me anything; I'll use what's on hand" moods.
I have a dirt - floored run which I know is invaded by various beasties at night when the hens are safely housed in the coops. In the day they free range, normally covering about two acres. No nearby road but they could go down to the river and don't. There is a fence restricting their territory and protecting them from our dogs, but they don't go that far. All of my hens are the heavier all-purpose breeds and may be less active than other lighter breeds.
thanks for the advice everyone, cmoxon, I am very intrigued by your "deep litter" floor could you elaborate? and are the chickens warm enough with a dirt floor?
Yes,the chickens are warm enough. The worst thing they can have is cold drafty air. But, the coop needs good ventilation. They really huddle together in winter and seem to keep warm, but I also use a ceramic wall heater panel in my coop.
Deep Litter Method: (some good links that explain it well and probably better than I can!!)
http://smallfarm.about.com/od/farmanimals/a/deeplitter.htm
http://www.plamondon.com/b2evolution/blogs/blog4.php/2008/11/14/deep-litter-for-healthier-chickens
thanks for the article, a few more questions...How would you start deep litter? I understand how it works once you've been using it for a while but at the beginning? And one of the articles said that cedar chips are toxic for chickens, should I worry about them foraging threw my perennial beds that have cedar mulch in them?
some friends who are helping me build the coop came by this morning and they suggested that I cut down the size of the coop in order to have more storage space in the shed.(for feed and such) My books say that I need 4 square feet of space per chicken. Is that really enough ? how much do I need for them to be comfortable?
I does depend on the size and disposition of the chickens...bantams need less space per bird and some breeds really do not like any crowding and will start to pick at each other.
I think 4 square feet is probably a good average--it will also depend if you let them free range during the day or have a large chicken yard.
I use pine shavings that I buy from the feed store. Most people use them for horse bedding. I think the cedar (like with rabbits) would only be toxic if they were in an enclosed area (like a coop) with little ventilation and lots of fresh cedar aroma. Outside it will not matter. My mobile coop is 8 feet by 4 feet and 4 feet high. About 20 chickens sleep in it but they free range all day. My other coop is 10 feet square and 8 foot ceiling and about 40 chickens sleep in it, again free ranging all day. They also lay eggs in the coops in the nest boxes that I have set up. I built a roost out of natural tree branches and it has 2x4 lumber on the sides so it looks like a ladder and it's diagonally set across the larger coop and they roost on the branches.
I start out with about 8 inches deep of pine shavings all over the base/floor of the large coop. I use the same litter in the mobile coop but just sweep it out more often. In winter, I use a deeper litter in the mobile coop and it does get messy but it's frozen all winter so I do a big clean out in the spring.
CMoxon, I'd love to see photos of your coop, if thats possible :-)
I ordered my chickens today so no turning back now lol! I am getting 5 hens and 1 rooster all buff Brahmas to be picked up in 2 weeks...they will be 3 months old
OK Claire: You got me good, but oh revenge is sweet!!! I could not understand what you meant at first, so I went back and looked, and oh me I started rolling. I guess I thought bathflower sounded so cute. Never mind it's just a guy thing! HEY!!! ANY GUY'S AROUND HERE?? I NEED HELP. Hay
Nobody here, but us hens.....
Claire, do you think the deep litter method generates any heat to keep the coop warm in winter? It seems like I've heard that--but I can't remember if it was coops.
Batflower: educate me, whats a batflower? No really, I'm serious. Hay
I hope I can squeeze in a newbie question here too. I have my first dozen chickens. I'm wondering what to do with them in winter? I'm in zone 5 and it can get below zero some nights. I have their coop inside a barn with a doggy door to an outdoor fenced in run. Here are my questions.
1- Should I close off the outdoor run for winter and make a stall in the barn into an indoor run? Their coop is up off the floor. I can put a heat lamp on in there for them.
2- Should I lower the ceiling in that stall in addition to putting down a foot of straw over the cement floor? I figured the lowered ceiling would help keep the heat in.
3- Do you change their diet in winter? There won't be any fresh grass or greens to give them since the ground will be frozen and covered with snow. Do you supplement their laying mash with anything in winter?
Any help or suggestions are welcome. I don't want to lose any of my birds this winter.
batflower is my favorite plant. link to it in the plant files http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/583/
WOW LOON: I'm inpressed with your ideas, maybe I should be asking you the questions. Just on a personal note: I think you have some great
ideas. Seriously I'm impressed. I don't change their diet but I'll leave that answer to others. Hay
Thanks batflower i'll click and find it. Hay
Thanks for that link, they are incredible, and gorgeous. Are they difficult to raise? Hay
I keep mine in the greenhouse, they like shade and hate to dry out...I don't find them hard :-)
Hi Cat: I deep litter also and can tell you for sure it makes a big difference in warmth. Mine is about sixteen inches deep in the year I have had it going except at the waterers and feeders. I will go another year beore I remove the shavings and expect it to be around 24-28inches deep by then. It stays composted so well I don't know if I'll even change it then. I'm incredibly happy with how it works. There is no smell in the coop at all. My customers come in and just shake their heads, especially when I tell them the girls keep it clean. It just amazes me that I have about forty-five birds in there and you just cannot find any fieces at all. You can sift it through your hand and no yuk. Hay
Does deep litter work with ducks?
Loon,
I've also got mine inside the barn with a doggie door to the outside. I've found over the years that if they want to go out, they will, if they don't, they won't, or they'll come back in. We've gotten so we'll leave our entrance door open (also inside the barn) and let them out into the barn if they don't want to go outside, so they at least can get away from each other, or get some exercise. It seems like all of them do go outside, even on the coldest days for a little while. They're probably afraid they're going to miss something if they don't. :)
The only thing you will need is a heater for your water so it doesn't freeze. It freezes really easily in winter, but there are tons of heaters out there, and I think I've even seen instructions here to just build a box with a lightbulb inside and set the waterer on that. We bought ours at Tractor Supply, it's a metal waterer that fits on a heater base.
I agree with hay, you've got some really good ideas.
We use a plug in heated metal dog bowl in the coop for water in the winter. Works well for us.
Thanks for the responses. I've been giving this a lot of thought. I have a great big roll of visqueen plastic left over from a crawl space insulating project. I'm thinking of using it to staple around the whole outside of the leanto behind the barn. That would cut out the wind but allow the sunlight in. We can drill a small hole through the metal siding of the barn and run a electric line through to a heater lamp we can suspend out there for them to huddle under and also run a watering dish off of it to keep the water from freezing. We'll have a heatlamp on inside the coop inside the barn for cuddling and nighttime too. I'll leave up their ladder to roost on and I think they'd like that better than being inside the dark old barn all the time.
If I wasn't so lazy I'd clean out the whole barn and just let them fly all over the place. I have a great big hay loft they'd probably love to go up and explore but they might lay an egg up there and I dont' want to play hide and seek with the eggs. ha ha ha
I'm still thinking about this and may change my mind. Lots of time before winter........... **I hope**
Loon --I use visqueen every winter on the front of our shed. Keeps in sunshine, keeps out wind. Usually we attach by duct tape then staple....or for big expanses DH puts pieces of wood over it and screws it down. We're in 6B, but that plastic sheeting keeps the water thawed if it's over 20º...
Thanks. That's a good idea to put wood over the visqueen and screw it down. That way we can hopefully reuse it next season. We do get a lot of wind here.
We learned that one the hard way. Once it starts tearing the wind just takes it. DH just used a bunch of lathe type scraps we had left over from various projects.
Loon I thought you had a great idea about letting the girls in the hayloft, Just think how much fun you and hubby can have pretending to hunt for eggs. A good roll in the hay keep's the fun alive in a sometimes mundane world. Also who know's you just might find an egg or too. Haystack
Hay...you are welcome to search our hayloft....daily if you wish, lol!! I am sure there are plenty of eggs that we are just too lazy to climb around and hunt for...
But grow it's no fun searching alone. Get what I mean. Haylstack
LOL, Hay!! After about the 3rd day it's no fun searching together either. But you are welcome to come and stay...
Well Hay, in the spring, summer and fall it might be fun but in the winter it would suck!
I want to train my girls to lay their little eggs right inside their nesting boxes where I can just lift the lid and pick them up. I'm getting excited and can't wait to find my first egg. I hope I don't miss it.
um.. not to sound silly but what is visqueen? I got that its a type of plastic but i've never heard of it.
It's that plastic sheeting stuff they sell in home improvement centers...big rolls, clear and heavy...usually 10 or 20 by 50 to 100 feet. Some places ya gotta call it Visqueen, some places it's just plastic sheeting. (When I moved from 'gotta say Visqueen' Oklahoma to Kentucky I got some really funny looks..."What?! We don't have any of that! What did you call it?! Oh! YOU mean PLAStic!! lolol...)
also used for vapor barrier...like under your insulation in crawlspaces, etc.
ah.. ok.. thanks!
How much scraps do you give to your chickens? We've been tossing in things from our garden like broccoli, kale, squash etc. They love it but I wonder if I may be wrecking their diet.
Is there anything you shouldn't give to chickens?
I have read that chickens should not get any avocado or citrus. Any of the other greens from your garden are very healthy for them.
I didn't know about the citrus....my yard is full of oranges, kumquats and lemons....the chickens regularly eat the windfall oranges--I haven't noticed them eating the lemons. Maybe citrus is a problem for confined birds who would eat it excessively? Mine are pretty much just wandering around munching on whatever they choose.
Ah, well it could also be one of those myths. I am now jealous of your yard. I have a lemon, an orange, a lime, a limequat and a kumquat, all in tubs, that have to come in all winter. If I could have a "yard" full of citrus I would be in heaven. You are a meanie and I stick out my tongue in your general direction! Pbbbtttt!!!
p.s. I got two lemons off my potted tree this year. So there!