Been busy with work lately so not had time to put fingers to keyboard except for work so I thought I’d give a little update on how we are doing with the chickens.
Chickens are doing well. They still love to see people coming out the house and rush over to see what they have to eat. They seem healthy enough and they certainly get about a bit.
The egg laying has tapered off over the last few weeks with just one laying atm. I thought they would all have stopped by now so it is a bonus.
One thing that I was warned about but didn’t see as an issue was the fact they would tear up the garden. They have totally demolished wherever the run was placed and it is just bare earth. Which was fine until it started raising. The place is a mud bath with large placements of chicken poop. It is all going in the composter atm.
They have also become a bit noisier than they were, they are squabbling a little amongst themselves if they spend too much time in the run. When they have the run of the garden they have very few squabbles. I think one is turning into a bully.
I’ve also just aquired 10,000 new contributors to my microholding. I’ve a hive full of bees. I’ve a friend who is a bee keeper and I’ve arranged a course for early next year so that I can learn a bit more about them. Although from what I can see they are as easy to keep as the chickens. I bought a Omlet Beehaus on eBay and the book that came with it was superb. I was concerned about putting them in the back garden but from what I have read they should not be an issue. I did try an keep it quiet because if someone gets stung then it would obviously be one of my bees but I just couldn’t get it past the nosy neighbour. It isn’t something you an just hide. After the journey home the hive was thrumming like the Ark on Raiders of the Lost Ark. I didn’t want to take too long getting it in place. It’s all wrapped up for the winter and I just need to do some checks over the weekend. Try out my new gear.
Then it is the NW meet on Sunday. Should be an interesting time with the solar panel and CCTV demonstrations. I’m looking forward to it.
Give it a year and if you’ve not got every trace of chicken shit up from your ground, your garden will look like the Somme and stink like a farmyard.
Thats why I got rid of mine.
Good look with the wife regarding that.
It attracts flies, and the smell attracts foxes as well be warned.
I had rabbits before the chooks and after a year the garden smelled of rabbit, so came mr fox…
Mine were laying six plus a day, day in day out.
Make sure your giving them the oyster shell supplements or crushed eggshell back in their feed, as its totally necessary for shell formation.
Also make sure the egg shells are crushed beyond looking like egg shells otherwise if they’re short of calciun they eat their eggs.
IMO chooks, rabbits etc are ok if you have say two, no more AND in a concrete run so you can clean and hose down with disinfectant etc to minimise the smell.
Trust me when I say you wont be putting those chooks inside your hose post shtf because they stink and shit everywhere, walk in it and walk it everywhere.
More than two, and unless you have an allotment away from your house for all the crap, the smell is unbearable.
Now remember post shtf chooks make lots of noise, lots of smell and lots of shit.
I’m sure you can imagine the attention you’d get with them.
Like I say mine were laying six a day, good if that’s all the food you have BUT remember post shtf when their food runs out so does yours because they stop laying unless foods plentiful.
Trouble is with chooks, plentiful food equals plentiful shit…..
Prepper1, if you think a few chickens smell, come down here and i’ll take you around the chicken farms, then you’ll know what it smells like, its not so much a shitty smell, its pure AMMONIA!