Sand in the run too

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Sand is useful in more than just the brooder. Researching what to use in the coop and run was actually where I first came across the idea of using sand. Many people use it in the coop and/or run with a lot of success. Most people who use it love it and wouldn’t use …

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Sand: The perfect brooder substrate?

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When we got our first set of chicks, we put them on shavings. It seemed to be what most people did, and shavings are cheap, so it worked. Turns out, shavings are also messy and hard to clean. Because they’re light, they tended to fly out of the brooder when the chicks were just …

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More homemade nipple waterers

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Here are a some more nipple waterers. They were made in very similar ways to the PVC one I’ve already posted, but obviously in buckets instead of in PVC. I consider these ones to all have been free, since I had extra nipples, and the buckets/containers were all free from either our own …

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When to put chicks outside

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This question comes up a lot on the chicken forums I occasionally go to to ask questions or look at pictures. It’s one I myself asked. For those of us who brood chicks inside, it’s a bit nerve-wracking to consider putting the babies from the nice warm brooder outside to the cold coop, especially …

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Things new chicken owners should be warned about

Silkie chick

This is definitely something all new chick owners should be warned about.

Imagine you’re a brand new chicken owner, and you bring home some 2-6 week old chicks, and one keeps doing this over and over. I thought for sure she was having a seizure and dying horribly. Now, they all do it, …

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Coop Thoughts

Getting ready to roost

I thought I’d post a few thoughts about our coop design so far. The chicks have been out in it for two and a half weeks now.

Roost

I’m mostly really pleased with our roost. Now that the chickens are actually roosting at night and outside during the day, most of their inside poop …

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Homemade PVC Nipple Waterer

Testing it out

My dad has left, so I’m going to try to catch up on a few posts I have planned and/or started. Here is the nipple waterer I made.

I did a lot of reading about various watering systems, and decided to try a nipple one because of the promise of cleaner water and less …

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Chicken run

Chicken run

My dad is still in town, and over the last few days him and I got the chicken run functional. It’s not pretty, but it works. It still needs to be covered with some sort of wire, so it’s not hawk or climbing predator proof, but I would say it’s definitely fairly dog proof …

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Moving day!

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We pretty much haven’t stopped working on the coop since the weekend. We were hoping to have them move out then, but things kept coming up. I did most of it with a one year old on my back. She must be heavier than Meredith was at this age, as I don’t remember Meredith …

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Potatoes

Potatoes

We love potatoes, and growing potatoes is so easy. It’s something I have done every year the last few years, and we always run out by October or November. So I ordered a lot this year. I ended up ordering from Eagle Creek Farms because they sell Green Mountain potatoes, a variety …

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