Using Deep Bedding for Chicken Coop Sanitation

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Chicken coop sanitation is one of the biggest frustrations ChickenCoopGuides.com readers seem to face. In fact, it’s the second most common concern we hear about– right after protecting the flock from predators.

Ameraucana Chickens

My preferred method is to keep chickens on pasture– and constantly move them to fresh ground. But that method requires a lot of land (about one acre for every 50 chickens) and doesn’t work in the cold winter months we have in Idaho. For those of you who need to keep your chickens penned up year round or just during the winter months I highly recommend using something called the “deep bedding method.”

This approach involves providing a thick layer of bedding which provides material for the chickens to constantly dig through. In the process the chicken’s droppings are incorporated and ultimately composted.

Author and organic farmer Joel Salatin provided a guest post on the Murray McMurray website with detailed information on how to use this method to keep your own coop and run clean. I have had the opportunity to meet Salatin and read several of his books. I am always impressed with his ability to find the most simple and sensible solutions to farming challenges. You can read his article by clicking here: Deep Bedding Alternative for Cramped Spaces.

What tricks have you found to keep your coop clean? Do you have any other chicken raising tips to share with our online community? We’d love to hear from you! Just send us an e-mail.
And remember, whether it’s time to build your first coop or upgrade to a new hen house we have high quality plans available in our book bundles. With every $29 purchase you get immediate access to a digital copy and if you choose the $49 (plus shipping) bundle we’ll also ship a hard copy to your home.

Keeping a Fox Out of the Chicken Coop

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I will never forget stepping into my chicken coop to find a horrific scene filled with feathers, blood, and only two young Rhode Island Red pullets nervously huddled together in the rafters of the shed. Their eight coop mates were all wiped out in a single visit from a fox– an attack made possible by a small coop door accidentally left open after dark.

The next evening we were even more shocked when we discovered that a fox had managed to get a day-old goat separated from the herd in the pasture next to our yard. The predator’s jaw was firmly clamped over the young goats’ head and it only abandoned its potential dinner when I charged out of the house shouting. I’ll admit my bravado was failing when the fox didn’t run away until I was a few feet away.

Soon I heard reports of fox in our neighborhood stealing chickens in broad daylight. What ensued was a slightly unhealthy obsession with outwitting an animal known for being sly. In the end our solution came in the form of electric fencing. Welsummer Chickens

I soon discovered that electric netting or hot wires placed strategically can help train fox to avoid your specific area. If fox, or other predators such as racoon, pose a risk in your area I recommend setting up electric fence in good weather. Heavy snowfall and ice storms in Idaho can temporarily take electric fence out of commission– especially if you are using portable netting.

During the hot dry summers I also found that I had to trim the weeds around the fence regularly and even used a soaker hose to keep the perimeter of the fence line damp enough to make sure the fence continued to conduct electricity effectively.

Overall, my experience the use of electrical netting in good weather seemed to convince predators that they should explore other hunting grounds on a permanent basis.

Even with the help of electric fencing I still recommend securing your chickens inside a sturdy coop at night.

Have you experienced your own struggles protecting your chickens from predators? Or do you have a chicken raising tip to share with our online community? We’d love to hear from you! Just send us an e-mail.
And remember, whether it’s time to build your first coop or upgrade to a new hen house we have high quality plans available in our book bundles. With every $29 purchase you get immediate access to a digital copy and if you choose the $49 (plus shipping) bundle we’ll also ship a hard copy to your home.

High Summer Hen Hideouts

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These blazing hot July days may just have your chickens looking for cover for a couple of reasons. And if your hens range far from the coop it’s a good idea to provide some temporary shelter.
This is especially important if you have large open spaces without bushes, vehicles, or anything else your chickens can quickly duck under. You’ve probably considered the obvious need for shelter from the hot summer sun. But in some areas this may be even more important because the overhead predator threat may increase this time of year.


This is especially true in our high-desert climate in western Idaho where it’s common to see birds of prey circling in the distance. Early in the year the land offers an abundance of gophers, but after several days of triple digit heat those little guys have the good sense to burrow into the ground and hibernate. Once they’re gone I want to make sure my hens have plenty of opportunities to duck for cover at the first sign of a hawk. This is especially important when I have white chickens or other colors that don’t camouflage well in the landscape.
One simple and inexpensive solution is to grab a few five-gallon buckets and a piece of plywood. Space the buckets about three-foot apart to form a frame for the plywood and place it on top.

Here’s hoping you and your chickens stay cool!

 

Are you planning some improvements to your chicken raising set-up this year? Or do you have a chicken raising tip to share with our online community? We’d love to hear from you! Just send us an e-mail!
And remember, whether it’s time to build your first coop or upgrade to a new hen house we have high quality plans available in our book bundles. With every $29 purchase you get immediate access to a digital copy and if you choose the $49 (plus shipping) bundle we’ll also ship a hard copy to your home.

 

 

 

Help Me Make a Shopping List

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This year I have an opportunity to spend some serious time in Taiwan— and I’m planning an all-out search for better chicken water system components. I also want to find other innovative products for small farms and urban homesteads and I want your input.

One of the things I love about Asia is the variety of international products available. Businesses in Taiwan tend to source some of the best products from all over the world— especially Japan and Europe. (Reading Eliot Coleman books has convinced me that the number of small farms that have survived in Europe over the past century makes it a place to watch when it comes to equipment innovation for small-scale agriculture.)

There’s also a strong entrepreneurial spirit and plenty of manufacturing in Taiwan— so I’m hoping I will find some amazing products geared toward small-scale farming.

chicken water system
High on my list are better quality, more durable chicken water system components.
I would also love to hear about any chicken related— or gardening or small farm— related products you’d like to find. Is there something you’ve tried to find on your agriculture supply store shelf that simply isn’t there? Send me an e-mail and I’ll see if I can discover solutions from around the world.

Are you planning some improvements to your chicken raising set-up this year? Or do you have a chicken raising tip to share with our online community? We’d love to hear from you! Just send us an e-mail!
And remember, whether it’s time to build your first coop or upgrade to a new hen house we have high quality plans available in our book bundles. With every $29 purchase you get immediate access to a digital copy and if you choose the $49 (plus shipping) bundle we’ll also ship a hard copy to your home.

Your Chickens Need a Notebook

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Ok… so your chickens would probably just peck on a notebook, but I’m serious about the need for some solid coop related bookkeeping. At times I like to use a notebook using the bullet journal method to keep track of coop happenings. When I have more complex or business related farm activities to track I use an Excel file for my chicken coop records related. What’s important is to have a method to constantly take note of the good, bad, and ugly happenings in each season.
Some of the things I find helpful to track include the hatch date of my chicks, types and amount of feed consumed, egg production, and any flock sickness or deaths. I also like to track infrastructure problems for each season.

Feeding Chickens
This is especially important when starting out on a new place like we did last year. Each season produced its own surprises. In the spring sudden changes from cold and windy to hot and sunny called for more insulation and a better brooder for young chicks.
In the summer we found our watering system was inadequate. When it’s around 100 degrees fahrenheit 50 pastured chickens will drain a five gallon bucket in no time flat. (And hauling another bucket to the pasture will feel something like crossing the Sahara… )
In the Fall our heritage breed roosters suddenly reached an age where they needed a lot more space to coexist.
And, well, this winter was a doozy. With record snowfall and following a series of ice storms I found myself struggling to walk on— then breaking through— an ice crust several inches thick with more than two feet of snow beneath that. A trip to the feed storage shed that seemed handy for the past ten months was now an epic journey.

Are you planning some improvements to your chicken raising set-up this year? Or do you have a chicken raising tip to share with our online community? We’d love to hear from you! Just send me an e-mail.

And remember, whether it’s time to build your first coop or upgrade to a new hen house we have high quality plans available in our book bundles. With every $29 purchase you get immediate access to a digital copy and if you choose the $49 (plus shipping) bundle we’ll also ship a hard copy to your home.

What’s Cookin’ At ChickenCoopGuides.com!

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So as some of you may have noticed, we have a new website. And we have a ‘we’, too! Let me run everyone through some of the changes that are happening at CCG.com.

After a lot of thinking, I realized that I really needed a staff to help me with fielding emails and things. I like to keep things personal and real. I hate stiff automatic sounding form emails when I email someone so the last thing I wanted was to do that to someone else. All the general help questions will now be addressed by the ladies I hired.

I am still here and any comment or question that is directly addressed to me they know to forward to my email. Not only that, but they aren’t chickensperts so any chicken related question goes right to me. Just please be patient with this old fella because I have a lot of new stuff brewing for you folks, but I still want to see you taken care of well.

That leads me to the fun new stuff.

Not only is there a spankin’ new website and awesome new package plan, but I have something extra special I’ve been working on for a couple of months.

Every day I get emails from subscribers and members alike asking questions about chicken rearing or a comment about some new thing I’m telling you about like olive oil scams. Some questions I get all the time and then others I have to step back and say ‘that’s a good one!’.

Here’s where I need your help.

I know you all have a million questions about chickens, poultry, rabbits (yep gotten those, too), cows, natural health, and anything else you could imagine. Can you think of some of the top questions you’d like addressed by myself or a panel of experts in the field? Got them in your mind? Good! Now just fill out the form at the end of this blog post and send it to me!

“Why are we doing this, John?”

Oh yeah, the important part. Podcasts!

Starting the first week of June (date to be announced) I’ll be doing monthly podcasts where we answer your questions. I also hope to invite various experts about various subjects (although let’s be honest, it’s going to be 70-80% chickens) to speak and also answer your questions.

So get those questions to me now. And while you’re at it, tell me who you want to hear from. Do you have a farm related expert you’d like to grill? Chickenspert? Favorite natural health guru? Tell me who you want to hear from and what you want to ask them. I’m going to collect these questions and comments to make the very first podcast.

More details about this soon. I don’t know about you folks but I’m excited!

Have a fabulous week!

John

 

Creamy Coconut Chicken Soup Recipe

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Below is a great recipe for a creamy coconut chicken soup. Give it a try and let us know what you think about it. If you make it the same way as in the video you can throw the leftover coconut (after making the coconut milk) to your chickens for a treat. If you have a different favorite recipe please share it so we can feature it in a post for our other readers to enjoy. Happy cooking!

Lacto-Fermenting Vegetables

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Okay so I know some of you know what this is and some of you are probably thinking ‘lacto-what?’

I can say sauerkraut and people should understand what I mean by fermented vegetables. I believe most people think that fermentation is only for fruit and grain, like wine and beer. It’s a lot more than that. Even breads (sourdough) and drinks (kombucha, kefir, water kefir, buttermilk) are cultured and fermented. Also yogurt, sour cream, cheese, etc. Why do people ferment foods?

  • Health
  • Repopulating good gut bacteria
  • Pre-digesting food to make it easier for delicate digestive systems to add enzymes that help break down other food being consumed
  • Long-term storage
  • To make foods that are normally unable to be digested (like milk to those who are lactose intolerant) easy to digest
  • To increase the vitamin content of the food being eaten
  • It’s fun
  • It tastes good (food can be more sour or tangy after fermenting)
  • A cheap hobby

When we first kicked drinking soda several years ago, my wife decided to make a fun, fizzy drink for the kids. We tried making milk kefir first, which was a big adjustment. We hadn’t heard of water kefir yet. However she saw a tutorial online and from a few slivers of root ginger, water, and some sugar she made a healthful fizzy drink for our family that she flavored with fresh strawberry puree. When winter came around she hid elderberry syrup in the fizzy fermented beverage (that batch of syrup was a bit experimental and not too popular with the kids). I get the impression from my readings that in most places in Europe fermentation is not the lost art that it is here in the States. Through our rapid commercial expansion there have been a lot of traditions lost and sometimes I feel like America no longer really has a culture. My wife must feel the same way because she’s always cooking something from India, France, the Middle East, or just about anywhere but here. Maybe it’s just her way of travelling without leaving the farm. 😉 I’d like to heartily recommend that everyone who reads this try a little something new today. A spoonful of homemade sauerkraut with your dinner could do wonders for your digestion. A few sips of lacto-fermented soda could help you drop that corn syrup laden health nightmare. I’ve got some recommended reading if you’re interested in learning more, just scroll past the videos. These are three books that are absolutely invaluable to me:

The Self-Sufficient Life (and how to live it)

and

Back To Basics

And as for how to make that awesome lacto fermented soda my wife makes? Here’s the video that first taught her how.

 

Finding Or Starting A Buying Club

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What is a buying club? Many people have never even heard of this concept and I’m continually amazed at how most people still consider things like organic fruits and vegetables to be something that ‘snobs’ eat! I’ve really heard people say this and it hurts to hear because I feel if they only knew the benefits (or even worse, how bad conventional food is!) that they would switch in a heartbeat.

Even sadder are those who KNOW and just can’t afford it!

 

As everyone is usually looking to lower their food costs I recommend buying clubs. These are local co-operatives where people usually volunteer a little of their time to keep the group running (things like sweeping after close, helping to stock the shelves, put together orders, etc.) in exchange for getting access to wholesale prices on perishable and non-perishable items.

Some buying clubs have connections to local farmers for fresh, raw cow and goat’s milk, but also other local products at cheap prices. In addition, they buy from Azure Standard, Frontier, Tropical Traditions, and other companies that cater to buying clubs. Local farmers also bring in their eggs to sell or trade at prices that are much more reasonable than those crooks at the farmer’s market or grocery store sell them for. If you bring back the egg cartons to refill often these clubs will give you a little discount for each carton they get back.

So you’re ready to find or start a buying club, huh? I’ve got some links below that can get you started with that:

http://startabuyingclub.com/
http://www.coopdirectory.org/
http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/
http://www.foodcoopinitiative.coop/buyingclubs

Let’s say, though, that there are no local buying clubs and you can’t or don’t want to start one in your area. There is now a really great alternative I heard a week ago called Thrive Market. They have a good selection of natural products now, but their customer service said that the selection will get even bigger soon. They’re a new company, just started, and their mission is to make healthy food affordable for everyone. They only deal in non-perishables for now, but think of Costco or Sam’s Club but for a place like Whole Foods? Their prices are even cheaper than Amazon in most cases, and a LOT cheaper than Whole Foods.

How Chicken Eggs Are Formed

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Something we don’t often think about is the miracle of how chicken eggs are formed. We pretty much tend to take it for granted that we’re going to have some eggs in the coop and most folks don’t tend to think beyond that. Here is a great, short little video explaining how eggs are formed. This can also help explain why some internal parasites can get inside eggs as well!

If you’ve ever had a hen that got sick or died due to being egg-bound this video might help you understand how that could happen a little better. Since I brought up that topic one tip that’s worked for me before with an egg-bound hen was soaking her in warm water for a few minutes. This tip is best used on a warm day so your hen doesn’t get too cold.

Photo by: Julia