Comment

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 7, 2012 at 4:19pm

Spud, you accidentally hit one of my buttons.  I've been wanting to raiseIndian Runner Ducks for years.

\Pic from wikimedia commons.

I can't now, because I think they need someone there daily, and I can't do that yet. I new someone who had 3 , naming them Huey, Dewey, and Louie. I would want them, too, for the eggs. And they eat slugs and bugs.

As for their poop, I have golashes and a place to change! Such a price to pay!

My partner wants rabbits. I'm vegetarian but if he wants them, like I say each to their own.

Comment by Idaho Spud on December 7, 2012 at 12:26pm

I mean to say geese, not ducks.

Comment by Idaho Spud on December 7, 2012 at 12:25pm

Yes, we each have different things we enjoy enough to put in the work required, and what's work to one is pleasure to another.  Pulling weeds is a good example.  It's pleasurable to me, but most people hate it.

Chickens may not be too much work once a person learns how, but one thing that always looked like work that I would hate about raising chickens is dealing with the soft poop.  Rabbits have hard poop that falls through the wire mesh that us used as a floor for their cages and is easily scooped-up.  It would also not bother me to walk on it in the garden as much.

Talking about foul poop, I was always attracted to ducks and though I would like to own some.  My mind was changed instantly the day I visited a relative that owned some.  They let them run around in the back yard, and I had to watch every step I took when I went out there.  Soft poop was everywhere, even on the open back porch and trampoline. 

Comment by Chris Breman on December 7, 2012 at 11:52am

If it depends on your enjoyment I'll restrict myself to cats - but the chicken fortress looks wonderful!

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 7, 2012 at 11:17am

Spud,

Each to his own!
It's interesting, at the beekeeping class I went to a couple of weeks ago, the instructor said chickens are more work than honey bees.  I can't picture that.  They are not much work.  Maybe it depends on if you enjoy it!

Comment by Idaho Spud on December 7, 2012 at 10:03am

Also, I don't eat many eggs.

Comment by Idaho Spud on December 7, 2012 at 10:02am

Nice chicken fortress Sentient.  

I've thought of raising chickens, but It seems like too much work at my age.  What I want to raise is rabbits.  I enjoy the taste as much or more than chicken, and they don't seem to be as much work.  I also can start with quite a bit of knowledge because I watched my dad raise them.

Comment by Joan Denoo on December 7, 2012 at 1:18am

Yes! a Pulletzer Prize indeed. It is a wonderful, and whimsical creation and one that will not only keep the raccoons out, but the chickens happy and productive. It looks nice and roomy, with places for everything you need. Are the water and feed hanging? It looks as though they are on a rope. However, they look like they sit on the floor. This is just great!

Comment by Dallas the Phallus on December 6, 2012 at 10:40pm

Well for that you deserve a Pulletzer Prize.

Comment by Sentient Biped on December 6, 2012 at 9:46pm

Work is done for the winter on the chicken fortress.  There wasn't time to complete the upstairs windows, so they are covered with plastic to keep the rain and wind out.  Keeping it warm and cozy. Next Spring I'll complete the upstairs, do something about the windows (maybe find some recycled house windows), and if I'm ambitious, construct a balcony in the upstairs part with a chicken stairway leading to the second floor.

 

 

Most of the parts are recycled. The main structure was originally a children's playhouse.

Inside there is a roost (an old wooden curtain rod), screening to the feed storage area (recycled from a prior chicken house kit), private egg-laying booths (recycled from recycling bins they no longer use in my town), a light to stimulate winter laying (recycled from a room light), and the usual feeder and waterer.  To keep the chicken feed safe from rodents, a reused heavy plastic bin.  The greens are dandelions. The hens love them.  Dandelions are growing like crazy now, and pulling them is fun since they get fed to chickens.  The leaf greens result in darker yellow, tastier yolks.  I expect the dandelion growth will stop when we get a freeze.

The white hens are leghorns. The brown pullets are sex-linked, a brown egg laying breed. There was some squabble on adding the pullets, but the pecking order is now extablished and they are back to clucking and cooing.

In addition to the eggs, we get chicken manure for compost, and I get a way to cycle weeds, grape vines, and kitchen scraps, into healthy tasty food.

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