Avian Aqua Miser is a god send

We’ve been receiving
some kind praise from our customers that I wanted to share:


Automatic duck waterer

I
am a very happy customer…  I believe that your [homemade chicken
waterer] kits
are the best thing to come along in a long time and
it’s certainly changed my life. I have it in one coop and the other
still has the old system, so I can attest to side by side comparison
workwise and cleanliness wise.

We
received the [pre-made
chicken] waterers
yesterday – what a God send! The ducklings
took to them in, literally, about 30 seconds.  We are so
pleased!  We
may end up ordering a 5 gallon water
bucket kit
from you as well. 
Thanks for the super product!
— Christina



Thanks, ladies! 
I’m sure your birds thank you too.



Australian chickens
I also wanted to share
the images above from
Alex’s
chicken operation Down Under
.  In fact, I wanted to
give a salute to all the Avian Aqua Miser customers in the United
Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, France, Australia, Norfolk Island, and
Aruba.  I’m thrilled to hear that chickens’ love of clean water
knows no national boundaries.

Forest pasture experiment phase

Chicken on a mound of compostI’m
afraid our
chicken
pasture contest
is a
bit of a wash.  As the weeds grow taller and taller and our pudgy
chickens become slower and slower, it’s becoming clear that there will
be no scratching the earth bare at this rate.  Our
Dark
Cornish
chickens
don’t seem to be as avid foragers as I’d hoped they’d be, although they
do like picking through the huge mound of weeds I keep wheelbarrowing
into their pasture.




Dark Cornish cockerelWhat
you all probably care about the most is — who wins?!  I’ve
decided to name Bethany our grand prize winner since she picked the
furthest away date which is closest to infinity.  Bethany, drop me
an email with your address and your onions and flowers will be in the
mail next week.




The more scientific
among you may be asking — what now?  I still want to have the
chickens scratch up some of the earth to expedite grain planting, so
we’re going to subdivide their current pasture in hopes that a smaller
enclosure will actually get scratched bare.  Given the
proximity
of butchering day
,
we may wait to build more pastures until next year, and will be
rethinking our broiler experiment — maybe we’d be better off having
the slow, fat broilers in tractors and our perky layers achieving self
sufficiency on pasture?  Stay tuned for future experimentation!



Our chicks drink copious,
clean water from their
homemade chicken
waterer
.

Week Out on pasture

Month old Dark Cornish chicks look like miniature vulturesWe
turned off
the
chicks’
light when
they reached a month old.  With our
insulated
brooder box
, we
probably could have taken away their heat earlier, but the weather
turned chilly and we had to go out of town for a few days, so we waited.




By then, most of the
chicks were fully feathered except for parts of their heads. 
Dark
Cornish chickens
are
known for their appressed body feathers that give the birds a less
fluffy look than ordinary chickens, and I think they look a bit like
little vultures.




I’m used to keeping
chickens in tractors
,
so I was shocked by how quickly the cockerels scratched the floor of
their coop down to nothing.  Then the area started to stink. 
Good thing Mark was ready with the first pasture area!



Chicks going out on pasture for the first time

When we opened the door
of the coop to let our cockerels out for the first time, the chicks
weren’t quite sure what to think.  What was this big world? 
Was it safe?



Chick running back into the coop

There was a lot of
scurrying in and out for a few minutes, and I remembered why “chicken”
is a synonym for “coward.”



Sun-bathing chicken

But before we knew it,
they were dustbathing, sunning, pecking, and scratching.  Chicken
bliss!



Check out our homemade chicken
waterer
, the other
way to keep your chicken coop or tractor clean.