Who's got chickens?

[OHGrow21666]

On Tuesday I picked up 4 speckled sussex and 4 new Hampshire. One of the new Hampshire died lastnight. I’m goi g to be doing the deep litter method of bedding for the coop to get all the bennifits from the poop. I had a few questions about the composting process though.

1. How long after you clean the coop or run out can you use the compost?
2. What kind of bedding materials have you used? And which give you a favorable compost? (Texture, decomp rate, ect)
3. Which breeds of chicken do you have/like?
4. Worm bins for your girls.(chickens and ganja) how big of a bin do you have? And how many worms did you start with?

Any input is appreciated!
Thanks
OhGrow

[Pigeonman]

I WANT TO SO BAD!!

I have to wait for another city meeting to see if they extend Toronto’s “Urban Hen Project” to my ward. The bird flu epidemic pushed everything back ANOTHER year

Such is living in a police-state.

[toastyjakes]

Got a small animal auction the lady works at the end of next month and I’ll grab a few layers…

Had the coop since last year, just gotta wait for the ground to thaw a bit more and put the fencing and top net on

[Jinglepot]

We have lots, barred rocks, silkies, arucanas, svart honas, a cochin rooster as well as a bunch if pheasants

[OHGrow21666]

Have you ever tried raising quail? I’ve watched a few videos recently and they look interesting.

[OHGrow21666]

Oh no! Well I hope you get the chance soon! So far these little babies have been fun!

[breadwinner]

It’s worth mentioning that ducks poop more than chickens pound for pound NPK ratio is 2.8:2.3:1.7

Beautiful chickies!

[OHGrow21666]

Hell yeah I’m right there with you! I’ve got my girls in a good broader set up they seem to be healthy. They will be there for the next like 4 weeks. My coop is an old play house. All I’ve got to do with that is put in the nesting boxes put plexiglass over the windows and put a bottom on it. Then put the run together which will be made with cattle panels 2x4s and 2x10s. What breeds are you looking into?

[OHGrow21666]

Ducks are abit too rapey for me hahaha also my neighbors have a pond and I feel like I’d never be able to get them out of there.

[Jinglepot]

We have 2 families of 20+ wild quail running around the property, but we haven’t raised them before

[breadwinner]

@OHGrow21666

too rapey

Haha fair enough

[Jinglepot]

Haha good to know we used to raise muscovy ducks for meat

[OHGrow21666]

That’s what’s up! Do you ever shoot them?

[OHGrow21666]

The quail not the ducks. I mean you gotta kill them but I’d like to think you didn’t just fill them full of lead

[Jinglepot]

Nooooo, my mom would kill me, lol

[Jinglepot]

Sorry in advance for the photo bomb!

[Kasper0909]

I’m preparing for chickens. I currently have meal worms growing. Started with a screen in my top bin to allow eggs to fall through but the meal worms ate through it so now I have this.

[Jinglepot]

Nom nom nom nom! Delicious!

[firehead]

When I was young I worked on farms that raised chickens pheasants and quail.
Baby quail are so tiny and frikking cute!! We had thousands of them running around!

[pharmerfil]

Your chickens will love those meal worms! Probably my birds favorite treat.

I’ve only had chickens for a year so I’m definitely still learning a lot but it’s been a very rewarding experience. It’s also hard sometimes, we started with 18 and now we’re down to 12. I let them free range and we have coyotes and stray dogs around so we lost 5 that way. I had to remove an aggressive rooster last weekend and even though I’ve never processed birds before I actually didn’t hate it. I watched a few videos about how to do kill and clean it properly and it was just taking care of the flock then. And now I have a nicely cleaned chicken to eat. I think I’ve even going to try raising some birds for meat this year.

Edit: as far as breeds I have Easter eggers, 2 Rhode Island reds, a leghorn, and a couple others. They’re all great in their own way.