Author: Anna & Mark

Chicken pasture dog door update

February 14, 2014 Posts No Comments
door dogs can go through but not chickens

During the process of
spreading multiple chicken
pastures around our
perimeter we came up with spots that needed a door for our dog Lucy to
pass through while at the same time stopping chickens.

map of our current chicken pasture system

This new version of a dog
door to keep chickens out has been in service for close to a year
now and in all that time only one hen figured out how to push through.


I discovered in the
next version that 2 hinges work better than one. The door is made from
a plastic lattice material and cut with a coping saw.

How high can a chicken fly

February 7, 2014 Posts No Comments
making a fence much higher

We sometimes have a problem
with our hens jumping/flying over their fence.



Wing
clipping has not helped
this problem in the past, so we’ve been upgrading sections when we get
the chance by making the perimeter fence higher.



Why did we make this one as
high as it is? Well we also think the occasional deer sneaks in this
way, and eventually we plan to have a perimeter that keeps all deer and
chickens away from the garden.

Teaching new chicks to drink

February 5, 2014 Posts 1 Comment
do chicks know how to drink water when born?

Observing chicken behavior is
one of the fun elements of a backyard flock.



One question we’ve had around
here since we got started was if a new chick needs to be taught to
drink water? We use a Brinsea
Octagon 20 advance incubator to hatch our chicks and lately
we’ve been putting them in their brooder area with an Avian Aqua
Miser original. The
chicks have no problem figuring out how to drink by themselves, and it
turns out there’s some scientific research to back this up.



chicken drinkingAccording to data published at extension
websites when chicks are raised without a hen producers must dip their
beaks in water so they learn about drinking. Chicks have been observed
standing in water and even though they were thirsty they would not peck
at the water below their feet.



Why does the Avian Aqua Miser
original work without the chicks being taught? Science shows that a
chick will peck at shiny objects or bubbles in the water. We once
thought it was the bright red color of the poultry nipple, but it turns
out it’s the shiny stainless steel part they are most attracted to.